Hubei China Tobacco MOK Heated Tobacco Joins the Market
Three years after IQOS 2.0 reached users, the heated tobacco market has expanded worldwide at an astonishing pace. In China, IQOS is already a common sight in offices, cafes, and airport smoking rooms.
It has been three years since I first got the 2.0 version of IQOS, and the heated tobacco market has been expanding globally at an astonishing pace. Today, you can already spot IQOS in office buildings, cafés, airport smoking lounges, and other places in China’s first- and second-tier cities. For a product like this to achieve such visibility in China’s enormous consumer market is enough to show just how popular this category has become.
Because of the unique regulatory environment, the domestic heated tobacco category has naturally been divided into two major camps: the state-backed China Tobacco players and private enterprises. Based on currently available information, both camps have maintained high operational efficiency within policy boundaries. On one hand, private companies are driven by independent innovation and capital. On the other, state-backed companies are combining proprietary technological innovation with deep cooperation with private manufacturers, using finished products to test international markets.
Under this favorable trend, another state-backed product has entered the scene. On September 21 this year, Hubei China Tobacco’s heated tobacco device MOK and its COO tobacco sticks made their first joint appearance at the InterTabac trade fair in Dortmund, drawing significant attention. The mayor of Dortmund visited the MOK booth and spoke highly of Hubei China Tobacco’s new tobacco products.
After its impressive debut at the exhibition, Shenlan received the latest news that Hubei China Tobacco’s heated tobacco products officially launched for sale in South Korea on October 18.
Hubei China Tobacco has long been known in the industry for its distinctive innovation and quick response, so launching a heated tobacco product this time can be seen as a natural move. I remember that around 2016, when I visited the newly completed brand exhibition hall at the Huanghelou Science and Technology Park, I already saw prototype or reserve heated tobacco products developed by Hubei China Tobacco. Huanghelou Science and Technology Park has long been regarded as a hub of industry-level innovation. Its move into the heated tobacco field now adds another high-tech dimension to the company and demonstrates its broader technological innovation capabilities. Three years later, the officially unveiled MOK product has already gone through multiple upgrades.
It is reported that MOK possesses full in-house R&D capabilities and intellectual property rights, giving it the strength to compete internationally. The basic nature of the heated tobacco category means it offers broader room for innovation than conventional cigarettes. Broadly speaking, innovation can focus on both the device and the tobacco sticks. As an electronic product, the device category has even greater innovation potential because of the many possible functional add-ons. For state-backed players, the greatest innovation opportunities in tobacco sticks lie in two areas: first, the suitability of flue-cured tobacco flavor profiles for Chinese consumers; second, technical enhancements that enrich the flavor experience. For Hubei China Tobacco’s MOK, a flue-cured style may therefore be the first key technical direction.
With clear policy guidance in place, more state-backed players are certain to enter the field soon. Choosing the South Korean market as an advance position, as MOK has done, is aimed not only at capturing growth dividends in international markets, but perhaps even more at achieving better and faster product testing in an open, competitive market that is relatively mature in heated tobacco, so that feedback can quickly inform subsequent product iterations.
