Heat, Don't Burn!

Description

I know, I know, it's been way too long since my last video... but this time I have a good excuse!... I tried to do a video a few months ago, but unfortunately, the file got corrupted, and I literally spent *weeks* trying to fix it — to no avail, so I had to do a new video!
Show More I know, I know, it's been way too long since my last video... but this time I have a good excuse!... I tried to do a video a few months ago, but unfortunately, the file got corrupted, and I literally spent *weeks* trying to fix it — to no avail, so I had to do a new video!

This video is 'infotainment' — not merely the usual smoking routine, but rather introducing a new tobacco device which heats tobacco instead of burning it. This is Philip Morris' answer to the vaping trend — they invested a few billions of dollars into this device, known as iQOS, which is similar in appearance to a vaping stick, but it consumes cigarette-like 'heat sticks' (commercial name: 'Heets') made of very compacted tobacco leaves.

The iQOS was first introduced in Japan (it caught up like crazy, with restaurants and bars allowing it to be used, even in areas restricted to non-smokers), then it was tested out in some selected countries in Europe (including Portugal, where I live — we're always a great market for new technical gadgets), and finally it's also been rolled out in the US and elsewhere, so I guess it's appropriate to 'show it off' on YouTube.

The way it works is demonstrated in the video. There is a charging device, about the size of a small mobile phone but thicker, where you insert the heating stick. It includes its own battery — similar in concept to Apple's AirPods and competing products, where you have a portable charger to recharge a smaller device (headphones) while you're on the go — which takes a minute or less to fully charge to heat a single stick inserted into it.

Inside the iQOS, there is a metal blade which will perforate the heat stick and therefore heat it from *within*. Heating tobacco will release its full flavour; however, it won't produce much smoke (that's the whole point of these devices, after all). So, to enhance the experience, Philip Morris has adapted a vaping atomizer to produce water vapour similar to a 'normal' cigarette; unlike vaping sticks, though, it does not require replaceable heating coils or whatever those people put inside vaping sticks to get consumers to come back to their shops and keep buying consumables... Philip Morris sells packs of 20 Heets, with similar pricing to 'regular' cigarettes, so, besides the investment in the device itself, you just need to buy the Heets packs (available in six flavours, and using a tobacco mixture similar to Marlboro), just as a 'normal' consumer of cigarettes — I believe that the whole 'magic' of releasing extra water vapour is placed inside the extra-large filters inside the heat sticks (although they are half the size of a 'normal' king-sized cigarette, the filter part is larger than the actual tobacco part!); when these get heated, water vapour gets released (in a vaping stick, it's usually a tiny bit of cotton that produces the vapour — cotton is cheap and great in storing water — which sort of 'wears out' after a while).

Philip Morris has very carefully reviewed how people smoke and concluded that, on average, a 'normal' cigarette is left burning for around 6 minutes, which translates into 12 or 13 puffs. Thus, the iQOS heating device is calibrated to those measurements — if you puff more frequently, the charge will not last the whole 6 minutes. The iQOS charging base will last for a whole Heets pack until it needs to be fully recharged (which does not take long and uses any USB charger for that purpose).

Technology aside, the whole point is to design a 'healthier' tobacco product. Because of the many tobacco laws restricting Big Tobacco to the way they do marketing (ads are restricted; the packs have to be labelled with notices about health issues or even have gory images showing the effects of smoking, etc.) as well as research — tobacco companies are forbidden to design a cigarette that is announced as being 'healthier' — Philip Morris had to carefully go around all these restrictions, using a 'heating device' and funding research showing that tobacco burning emits 95% less harmful particles that get inhaled by the smoker, and zero second-hand smoke (it's just tobacco-flavoured water vapour). Of course, we all know how tobacco companies have lied over decades about their 'studies', and naturally enough, Philip Morris is fully aware that the public won't take more lies... so a few of those researches are actually independent (such as the British National Health Service)...

Is it the same as a 'regular' cigarette? Nope. But it comes close! And, of course, there are no ashes, no tar (the 'grease' that will adhere to walls, clothes, etc.), little-to-zero smell, no second-hand smoke, nothing. Personally, I think that there are still a few quirks to deal with, but I'm pretty sure that they will fix it — after all, a few millions of smokers have already transitioned to iQOS...

Music: 'Laserpack' by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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