Definition
Heated Tobacco Products[1] are tobacco products that produce aerosols containing nicotine and other chemicals, which are inhaled by users, through the mouth. They contain the highly addictive substance nicotine (contained in the tobacco), which makes HTPs addictive. They also contain non-tobacco additives, and are often flavoured. HTPs mimic the behaviour of smoking conventional cigarettes, and some make use of specifically designed cigarettes to contain the tobacco for heating.
In order to produce the nicotine-infused vapor, HTPs heat tobacco up to 350°C (lower than 600°C as in conventional cigarettes) using battery-powered heating-systems. The heating-system enclosed in a device, can be an external heat source to aerosolize nicotine from specially designed cigarettes (ex. iQOS and Glo), or a heated sealed chamber to aerosolize nicotine directly from tobacco leaf (ex. Ploom and Pax). The heating device requires charging and the user draws on the mouthpiece at intervals to inhale volumes of the aerosol through the mouth, which is then taken into the body.
[1] World Health Organization, Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) information sheet, [online] at: https://www.who.int/tobacco/publications/prod_regulation/heated-tobacco-products/en/
Types
Type 1
- Integrated heating element
- Eg., Premier, Eclipse, PMI “Platform 2” (TEEPS) – carbon-tip HTPs
Type 2
- External heating element with specialized ‘cigarettes’
- Eg., Accord, Heatbar, iQOS, glo, Lil
Photo: https://www.discoverglo.com/it/it/
Type 3
- Heating chamber for loose tobacco material
- Eg., Pax, V2Pro
Type 4
- Hybrid devices – vapor plus tobacco; indirect heating
- Eg., iFuse, PloomTech
Photo: https://www.kixdutyfree.jp/sp/en/images/item/2421000008_1.jpg
