BAT debuts herbal-flavored nicotine heated cigarette in EU

According to Reuters, BAT began selling in September its herbal rooibos tea version of glo (not available in the U.S.) in nine European markets — Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania — as part of a planned global push.

Heated cigarettes are marketed as potential reduced-risk alternative for nicotine to traditional cigarettes.

The rooibos tea version is being marketed as a zero-tobacco heated cigarette option with flavors such as peppermint and tropical fruit.

According to BAT, rooibos is sourced from South Africa and is used widely in everyday consumer goods.

“It has a subtle earthy flavor when heated, which makes it an effective base for a tobacco-free nicotine delivery system,” BAT said.

Since 2019, BAT has been promoting a “purposeful and profitable pathway” for its A Better Tomorrow new-category initiative that’s also built around top-selling U.S. electronic cigarette Vuse and modern oral products Camel Snus and Velo.

What makes the rooibos tea style viable for BAT is that tobacco-free herbal heated sticks are not covered by the current European Tobacco Excise Directive or the Tobacco Products Directive.

The Tobacco Products Directive only regulates tobacco products, herbal products for smoking and electronic cigarettes.

The move provides “adult nicotine users and smokers with the widest possible range of reduced-risk products,” BAT said in a statement.

The full public-health ramifications of rooibos tea-flavored heated cigarettes is not known, Reuters reported.

Tobacco companies have yet to publish any research showing the health implications of rooibos or other zero-tobacco sticks, Reuters quoted Erikas Simonavicius, a research associate at King’s College London.

Philip Morris International also has plans to introduce a similarly nicotine-infused, zero-tobacco heated cigarettes by the end of 2023.