With the success of IQOS, major tobacco giants have also carried out research and launched their own heat-not-burn e-cigarette products. In 2016, British American Tobacco, the world's second-largest tobacco giant, launched its heat-not-burn product Believe in Sendai, Japan, and in just 10 weeks, Believe's share of Sendai's large convenience store chain reached 5.4%. At the end of 2017, Believe pods accounted for 3.6% of all cigarette sales in Japan.
British American Tobacco only began to deploy NGPs (Next Generation Products) products including steam and tobacco heating products in 2010, which is later than Philip Morris International. Since 2011, British American Tobacco has acquired well-known e-cigarette companies such as Protabaco, Creative, CHIC, and Ten Motives, and in 2017, it acquired Renault Tobacco, the second largest tobacco giant in the United States, and pocketed six e-cigarette brands under Renault. In addition to the acquisition, BAT itself has also increased its investment in the research and development of NGPs, and as of 2017, BAT has invested more than US$2.5 billion in research and development of NGPs.
At present, British American Tobacco has a total of NGPs products such as VUSE, Vype, Chic, Believe, etc., of which Believe is a heat-not-burn tobacco product, while the other products are e-vapor cigarettes. E-vapor cigarettes use batteries to heat the e-liquid stored in the atomizer and atomize it to simulate the feeling of smoking.
Compared with electronic vaping, the advantage of heat-not-burn products is that it restores the pure taste and throat sensation of cigarettes, and provides smokers with a way to replace cigarettes that is closest to traditional cigarettes. At present, e-cigarettes are more popular in Europe and the United States, while substitute cigarettes in Asia are dominated by heat-not-burn new tobacco.
The working principle of heat-not-burn is not complicated, the industry threshold is mainly in the research and development of special tobacco and product manufacturing patent barriers, because heat-not-burn adopts low-temperature baking heating method, it is easy to lead to uneven smoke flavor, because British American Tobacco has a long and rich experience in flavor development and blending, its special tobacco has a rich sense of flavor satisfaction.
According to the 1985-2016 heat-not-burn patent statistics announced by the China Intellectual Property Office, the number of heat-not-burn patents of British American Tobacco is 27, because British American Tobacco later acquired Renault Tobacco, so it also obtained 36 heat-not-burn patents of Renault, from this point of view, British American Tobacco's heat-not-burn patents are second only to Philip Morris International, and British American Tobacco's Believe is also the main competitor of IQOS.
The higher the number of patents, the higher the patent barriers, and the more difficult it is for peers to enter. In 2018, IQOS's parent company, Philip Morris International, sued British American Tobacco in Japan, claiming that certain features of Believe infringed Philip Morris International's existing patents, and demanded that Believe pay Philip Morris 100 million yen in compensation and prohibit it from selling in Japan. Although the lawsuit has not yet been finalized, it can also reflect IQOS's advantages in heat-not-burn patents, and can use patents to crack down on peers who want to take shortcuts at any time.
Believe has undergone two generations of changes since its launch, and at present, only the second generation of Believe is available for 8,000 yen, and the kit includes a cleaning brush, USB charger, heating body, and power adapter. Believe II uses annular heating, the heating temperature is 240°C, which is lower than IQOS, and the pyrolysis temperature of different components in the pod is different, generally speaking, the temperature is lower, the number of substances in the pod that is pyrolyzed is less, and the potential risk of Believe can be considered to be lower. Because the heat of the ring spreads from the outside to the inside, it is the paper on the outermost layer of the cartridge that is heated first, rather than the tobacco, and the taste experience is not as good as that of the IQOS heated from the inside out.
The biggest advantage of Believe is the length of the pod, because the Believe device integrates a large-capacity battery and a heating device, it supports continuous smoking, and can smoke about 30 cigarettes when fully charged. It is also because of the slender length of the Believe pod and the similar size of the traditional thin cigarette, so the Believe device is not compatible with other brands of pods, and needs to use Believe's own brand of special pods, at present, Believe's pod brands are KENT and NEW, which can provide up to 18 flavors. Thanks to the annular heating, the Believe is also very easy to clean at the end of use.
KENT cartridges are currently available in 2 original flavors, 3 mint flavors, and 3 fruit flavors. The original taste is close to that of traditional cigarettes, and the strong original taste is the strongest, which is suitable for users with high smoking addictions; Peppermint has a cool taste, there are three kinds of strong mint, fresh mint, and light mint, and its mint degree is from strong to light, which is worth a try; There are three kinds of fruit flavors: grape, lemon and plum, all of which are highly recommended by smokers, especially plum flavor, which mixes mint and plum flavors, and has a well-layered taste and a good reputation.
