28 September 2026
In 2023, the CEO of Philip Morris International (PMI) made a headline grabbing statement saying cigarettes belong in museums. That year, PMI sold 633 sticks and last year, 607 billion sticks. Cigarettes still form the bulk of their revenue. Despite industry statements on the harms of combustibles, the global tobacco industry’s verdict on cigarettes is in – it’s no goodbye forever yet.
Big Tobacco (PMI, BAT, JTI and Imperial Brands) have stated that they need to continue selling cigarettes to fund their alternate nicotine products. Although the tobacco industry themselves say, cigarettes smoke contains high levels of harmful chemicals and cause serious diseases in smokers, these companies will continue to sell cigarettes to sustain their revenue while building their portfolio of nicotine products.
Although tobacco related deaths are piling up, it is clear the nicotine addiction business is lucrative, one which Big Tobacco is not giving up. As governments implement strong tobacco control measures, cigarette sales are declining globally. JTI puts the onus on consumers: “…When consumers desire combustibles, we want consumers to enjoy the very best products we can provide.”
As a business strategy to remain in the nicotine addiction trade, Big Tobacco is referring to cigarettes as “combustible products” to differentiate it from a range of other nicotine products it claims are less harmful (Table 1).
Table 1: Big Tobacco’s Top Brands in Tobacco and Nicotine Products Portfolio
Ref: https://www.pmi.com/investor-relations/overview/building-leading-brands https://www.asmokelessworld.com/gb/en/chapters/smokeless-products-an-introduction; https://www.jti.com/en/our-brands and https://www.imperialbrandsplc.com/our-brands
According to PMI, staying competitive in the cigarette category provides the infrastructure needed to support its smoke-free growth, while BAT claims, “We know that combustible products pose serious health risks. … That’s why we are changing: creating new products, … we will further improve profitability.”
The industry and individuals promoting harm reduction have gone on the offensive to dismiss the WHO FCTC and WHO’s reports on new tobacco products – for not buying into the industry narratives. The harm reductions advocates simoly cannot accept the fact that all forms of tobacco use is harmful. They are unhappy that the tobacco control community applies the precautionary principle, dismissing it as “unreasonable”.
Industry rehashing old arguments
In the 1980s and 1990s when evidence against the harms of smoking and the addictive nature of nicotine became apparent and could no longer be ignored nor dismissed, tobacco companies started using arguments to water down the harms such as how nicotine is also found in many vegetables such as eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes; see here and here. Now decades later, these arguments are being resurrected.
Recently BAT stated, “Nicotine is a naturally occurring organic compound found at its highest concentrations in tobacco plants, but it is also present at much lower levels in other natural sources, including potatoes and tomatoes.”
Fact: A single cigarette delivers about 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine into your bloodstream. Because a milligram is 1,000,000 nanograms, you would have to eat 9 – 10 kilograms of eggplant in one sitting just to get the nicotine equivalent of a single cigarette.
PMI on its website, downplays the harms associated with nicotine by stating, “Nicotine while addictive, is not the primary cause of smoking-related disease” and that vaping: “…have the potential to emit significantly fewer and lower levels of harmful and potentially harmful constituents compared to cigarette smoke.”
In 2000, the Royal College of Physicians in a report spanning 200 pages warned that “Nicotine is as addictive as “hard” drugs such as heroin.” Additionally, it is as addictive as cocaine, and nicotine impacts brain development.
Numerous harms associated with vaping have emerged, including damage to lungs. More recently, scientists from the University of the Philippines Diliman have found new evidence that vaping can cause cells to act like cancer. According to the researchers, “When exposed to e-cigarettes, our cells start taking on cancer-like traits.”
Industry peddles coexistence rather than elimination
Perhaps the strongest argument against the imminent disappearance of cigarettes comes from the tobacco industry itself. Although manufacturers are investing billions into alternative products, few companies believe that combustible cigarettes will vanish anytime soon. A spokesperson for JTI summarized this position recently stating that the company expects combustible and non-combustible products to coexist for the foreseeable future. The tobacco industry is quitting cigarettes yet.
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