We recognise every individual’s journey away from combustible tobacco is unique, so to help make a meaningful contribution to the public health concept of tobacco harm reduction (THR) we’re offering adult smoker consumers a range of satisfying non-combustible Next Generation Products, or NGP.
They included heated tobacco, vapes and tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches.
All our NGP separate nicotine from harmful tobacco smoke. They also replicate many, or all, of the sensorial, pharmacological and behavioural elements of the smoking experience.
To illustrate the potential risks of NGP relative to cigarettes, we’ve developed the relative risk scale. Click or tap a product for more information.
Combustible cigarettes possess the highest risk profile of all products on the relative risk scale; they contain the most toxicants – and at the highest levels – as a result of burning of tobacco and the inhaling of smoke directly into the lung. Combustibles therefore pose, by far, the highest risk of smoking-related disease to adult smokers.
Although Heated Tobacco (HT) products contain tobacco leaf, they don’t burn tobacco. The resulting aerosol (vapour) contains fewer and substantially lower levels of toxicants compared to combustible cigarette smoke. HT products contain tobacco, which naturally contains some toxicants, while vapour is inhaled into the lung. This carries slightly more risk than products that don’t contain tobacco leaf, or products that don’t require inhalation to deliver nicotine.
Traditional Swedish-style snus contains tobacco leaf. However, tobacco isn’t burnt and so many of the toxicants present in cigarette smoke aren’t produced. Snus contains tobacco leaf, which naturally contains some toxicants, and therefore carries slightly more risk than a product that doesn’t. Nicotine is delivered orally via the gum membranes, meaning lung-related toxicity and disease risks aren’t to be expected.
Vapes are non-combustible NGP which can contain nicotine but, crucially, no tobacco leaf. As they don’t combust tobacco, vapes produce significantly fewer and lower levels of toxicants compared to cigarette smoke. As vapes are tobacco-free, they contain lower levels of the toxicants naturally found in the tobacco plant and in tobacco-containing NGP. Nicotine is delivered via inhalation into the lung, which carries slightly more risk than products that don’t.
Tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches use pharmaceutical-grade high purity nicotine derived from tobacco leaf that’s either combined with a plant fibre-based substrate (e.g. wheat or bamboo) or in a dry powder format. Oral nicotine pouches don’t burn tobacco and do not contain any tobacco leaf. They deliver nicotine orally via the gum membranes, meaning lung-related toxicity and disease risks aren’t to be expected.
Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) are tobacco-free, non-combustible pharmaceutical nicotine products, available as gums, inhalers and patches, and regulated as medicinally licensed smoking cessation products. They contain the same nicotine as combustible cigarettes but with fewer and substantially lower levels of the other toxicants found in tobacco smoke. NRT have the lowest relative risk profile relative to combustible cigarettes.
As a responsible manufacturer, our NGP have been designed for – and are only marketed towards – existing adult smokers and current adult NGP users.
While we believe our research to-date demonstrates all our NGP are potentially harm reduced compared to combustible cigarettes, some offer greater harm reduction potential than others.
Rather than focusing on any specific brand or product type, our relative risk scale presents an illustrative summary of the totality of the current scientific evidence base underpinning the broader nicotine-containing product categories.
Critically, it also demonstrates a clear distinction between high-risk combustible cigarettes and other, significantly less harmful nicotine-containing products – including NGP and Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) – that don’t involve tobacco combustion.
We hope our relative risk scale helps a variety of audiences – including adult smoker consumers – better understand the options available to those seeking to transition away from combustible tobacco to NGP.
Dr Sarah Weaver
Harm Reduction Engagement Senior Manager
You can explore the relative risk scale in greater detail, including more information about the three key criteria – tobacco combustion, presence of tobacco leaf and method of nicotine delivery – that inform the rationale of each product’s position using the viewer below. Alternatively, download a digital copy.
