Heated tobacco series: China Tobacco system’s Henan China Tobacco

What was the hottest trend in 2021? It was undoubtedly heated tobacco. With the implementation of national policies, e-cigarettes have officially been incorporated into the cigarette system, following the management of traditional cigarettes, and heated tobacco products are directly classified as cigarettes.

Currently, the domestic heated tobacco industry is maturing rapidly, with major tobacco companies accelerating their investments in heated tobacco devices and patent technologies. Many local tobacco companies have launched corresponding products, among which the representative ones include Henan Tobacco's Far Star and Goldenleaf.

Let’s take a comprehensive look at Henan Tobacco's heated tobacco products!

What is Heated Tobacco?

Heated tobacco, known in English as HNB (Heat Not Burning), also referred to as low-temperature tobacco, is a new type of tobacco product (Novel Tobacco Products, abbreviated as NTP) that combines heating devices and tobacco sticks. It is designed with the concept of "heating without burning," utilizing a special heating device (the smoking device) to heat treated tobacco (special tobacco sticks) to a certain temperature, sufficient to release aerosol for inhalation. Its advantages include reduced harm and the restoration of the authentic taste and throat hit of traditional cigarettes, providing smokers with a substitute that closely resembles traditional smoking.

The heating methods for heated tobacco products mainly include three types: electric heating (such as IQOS), fuel (such as carbon heating), and physicochemical reaction heating (such as physical crystallization, chemical reactions, etc.). Currently, electric heating and carbon heating are predominant, while physicochemical reaction heating is only protected by patents and lacks products.

Henan Tobacco's heated tobacco (HNB):

Henan Tobacco is one of the early companies researching heated tobacco.

The main reason heated tobacco has not gained significant popularity domestically is due to lagging research and reliance on foreign technologies. Currently, there are about 1,825 patents related to heated tobacco nationwide, and Henan Tobacco holds several independent patents in this area, as shown in the image below!

As early as 2019, Henan Tobacco collaborated with Yuyan Industry to develop a new self-cooling heated tobacco stick and jointly completed the patent application.

This technology cleverly utilizes the cooling effect of the tobacco itself, allowing the tobacco to cool the high-temperature aerosol generated by heating without the need for complex assembly processes, making it easy to produce cooling tobacco sticks. The production process can fully integrate with traditional cigarette machines, significantly reducing the costs associated with modifying production equipment.

In June 2020, photos of Henan Tobacco's heated tobacco (HNB) sticks appeared online. The packaging prominently features the brand name "Yueshang" on the top left and "Goldenleaf" on the bottom right. It is understood that "Yueshang" is the brand name for these tobacco sticks.

In August 2020, at the Shenzhen E-Cigarette Expo, Henan Tobacco collaborated with Yuyan Elio, whose heated tobacco device boasts the world's first automatic ejection technology and has already patented this technology. After the tobacco stick is finished, it automatically rotates and ejects, providing a strong visual appeal.

It also includes a self-cleaning feature that automatically cleans the tobacco chamber.

In December 2021, at the IECIE E-Cigarette Expo, Henan Tobacco continued its collaboration with Yuyan Elio.

Currently, the main products are FAR STARA and GoldenLeaf, which are exported overseas, primarily to regions such as Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Strong capabilities of Yuyan

Shenzhen Yuyan Industry Co., Ltd. was registered in 2017 and is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the research, production, and sales of new tobacco products such as vaping and heated tobacco. Yuyan is the only qualified exporter in the new tobacco industry approved by China Tobacco International and also serves as a technical support provider for some tobacco companies in the new tobacco sector, having obtained independent intellectual property rights and over 200 patents in related fields.

NSCs (Nature Smoke Cigarettes, NSCs) Natural Smoke Heating Cigarettes

At this expo, the Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute quietly released a new technology called "NSCs Natural Smoke Heating Cigarettes." This technology cleverly seals the tobacco segment to prevent air from flowing through, separating the oxygen-free or low-oxygen reaction of the tobacco from the smoke transfer process, while combining fluid dynamics with tobacco release dynamics to extract generated smoke, forming mainstream smoke. This simplifies the generation and transfer process of smoke aerosol and optimizes the sensory quality of the smoke.

This technology was developed in collaboration between the Key Laboratory of Tobacco Processing Technology of the Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute and the Technical Center of Yunnan Tobacco Industrial Co., Ltd., aiming to adapt to the new trends in tobacco product development and jointly propose and establish a new category of novel tobacco products.

Relevant Policies

Heated tobacco cigarettes are a type of novel tobacco product characterized by "heating tobacco or tobacco extracts instead of burning tobacco." According to the National Tobacco Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, the filler of heated tobacco cigarettes primarily consists of tobacco, containing characteristic tobacco components, thus classified as a tobacco monopoly product.

As early as 2017, the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration clearly stated that heated tobacco cigarettes fall under the regulatory scope of the Tobacco Monopoly Law. In June of the same year, the administration issued a notice to strictly implement the regulation of heated tobacco cigarettes, indicating that imported heated tobacco cigarettes on the market lacked legal import proof and, according to relevant laws, were not allowed to be sold domestically.

Additionally, according to the Implementation Regulations of the Tobacco Monopoly Law, enterprises or individuals holding a tobacco monopoly retail license must procure from local tobacco monopoly wholesale enterprises and accept supervision and management from the issuing authority of the tobacco monopoly license. However, China has not yet imported heated tobacco cigarettes, and since they are not sourced from tobacco companies, even licensed retailers cannot sell heated tobacco cigarettes.

On the evening of November 26, 2021, to strengthen the regulation of e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products, the State Council decided to add Article 65 to the Implementation Regulations of the Tobacco Monopoly Law: E-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products shall be subject to the relevant provisions of this regulation for cigarettes. This inclusion of e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products under the monopoly law confirms their legal and compliant production and sales status in China.

Currently, under existing domestic policies, selling heated tobacco products is illegal and not permitted.

However, with the technological investments and research from local tobacco companies, heated tobacco products will soon be officially available to the public.