As a challenger, Imperial is committed to consumer choice – so we’re offering increasing numbers of our adult smokers a wide portfolio of next generation products (NGP).
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.
Both our own – and independent – scientific evidence suggests NGP are also potentially less harmful to consumers than continuing to smoke cigarettes.
To aid understanding of the harm reduction potential, we’ve created an illustrative representation of the current scientific evidence – the relative risk scale.
Rather than focusing on any specific brand or product type, the scale presents a summary of the totality of the current scientific evidence base underpinning the broader nicotine-containing product categories.
The scale also highlights that NGP possess varying characteristics. Some contain tobacco; others don’t. Some deliver nicotine via inhalation; others deliver it via the gum linings.
These characteristics determine their respective positions on the scale, as you can explore below.
Crucially, 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.
Thomas Nahde
Head of Harm Reduction & Engagement
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.
