Good Ole Luckies! No irritation to my throat and no coughing. And I appreciate Lucky Strike- the full-body tobacco with the toasted flavor that’s been the same since that day we met.

First of its kind patents for processes that remove nicotine from tobacco.
A 1929 patent removes nicotine using an ammonia gas and carbon dioxide process, and a 1935 patent uses fermentation and pH modification to “denicontinize” tobacco.

Inventor, Joseph Robinson, states in his patent: “My invention relates to vaporizing devices for holding medicinal compounds which are electrically or otherwise heated to produce vapors for inhalation, and the general object is to provide a device of this character for individual use which may be freely handled without any possibility of being burned, and which is sanitary and very effective and so simple that anyone can use it.”

An American Pamphlet: A light smoke states that “It is quite possible to ‘denicontinize’ a cigarette”

Responding to the scientific evidence that showed a causal link between smoking and cancer, the tobacco industry responded by introducing more filtered brands to reassure smokers that their cigarettes are safer, and to promote an alternative to quitting. Cigarettes with an attached cellulose acetate filters introduced. Cigarette ads touted the protection of their unique filter without implying the dangers of smoking. 

Biological evidence Studies by Wynder and Graham; Epidemiological studies by Doll and Hill, as well as Hammond and Horn, make some of the first connections between smoking and disease. These widely publicized studies led to the tobacco industry to join forces in the creation of a public relations and “research” regarding smoking and disease.

To give smokers a sense of health safety, cigarette makers began working on a “safer cigarette” starting in the 1950s. Referred to as the “tar derby,” cigarette makers marketed filtered cigarettes that would allegedly reduce tar. Filters turned out to be more of a gimmick additive. In 1976, Brown & Williamson’s vice president and general counsel, Ernest Pepples, noted the marked growth of filtered brands. “In most cases, however, the smoker of a filter cigarette was getting as much or more nicotine and tar as he would have gotten from a regular cigarette. He had abandoned the regular cigarette, however, on the ground of reduced risk to health.”

Filters give smokers the false sense of security to smoke.  “Here’s proof you can see….Kent gives greater protection than any other cigarette”

As the evidence implicating smoking as a cause of disease becomes more publicly known, cigarette makers, along with public relations firm, Hill & Knowlton, launch a coordinated campaign with the intent to create doubt about the connection between smoking and disease.

“Evidence is building up that heavy smoking contributes to lung cancer,” wrote a Philip Morris scientist in July 1958. He then suggested that the company have the “intestinal fortitude to jump to the other side of the fence,” and that the company would have a “wealth of ammunition” to attack competitors who did not have safer cigarettes.

In an announcement entitled “A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers” The full-page newspaper ad ran in 443 newspapers across the United States. The ad denied the scientific studies that showed a connection between smoking and disease. And claimed that: “We accept an interest in people’s health as a basic responsibility, paramount to every other consideration in our business.”

“We believe the products we make are not injurious to health.”

“We always have and always will co-operate closely with those whose task it is to safeguard the public health.”
“We are pledging aid and assistance to the research effort into all phases of tobacco use and health.”

Throughout the 1970s, the National Cancer Institute worked with the cigarette industry to produce a number of experimental cigarette designs which were lower in tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide as measured by the FTC test method. Years later It was found that actual human smoking behavior varies widely as smokers compensate, resulting in wide variations in tar and nicotine exposure. The FCT test, which only provides a single exposure estimate, was not accurate.

Major design efforts to reduce machine-measured tar and nicotine yields continued throughout the 1960s and 1970s with the introduction of “light” and low-tar cigarettes. Efforts to further reduce machine-measured tar and nicotine yields included the use of porous cigarette paper, reconstituted tobacco, filter tip ventilation, and the use of expanded tobacco (Hoffmann et al. 1996).

The Advisory Committee concluded that cigarette smoking is:
A cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men.
A probable cause of lung cancer in women.
The most important cause of chronic bronchitis.

British American Tobacco Co., (BAT) experimented with the development of a heated cigarette-like device that would use a heated conductor such as copper to heat a tobacco extract, releasing nicotine vapor.

The first “caution” labels appeared on cigarette packs: Caution, Cigarette Smoking May Be Hazardous To Your Health

Herbert A. Gilbert patents the smokeless non tobacco cigarette. The invention was to provide a safe and harmless method of smoking by replacing burning tobacco and paper with heated, moist, flavored air; or by inhaling warm medication into the lungs in case of a respiratory ailment under the direction of a physician.

Brown & Williamson and British American Tobacco designed a cigarette that reduced hazardous toxins in tobacco smoke by heating rather than burning the tobacco and flavorings, while still delivering nicotine. Project Ariel was conducted by Batelle Labs in Switzerland. Brown & Williamson and British American Tobacco did not want to be associated as the patent inventor.

Industry “Off Ramp” Influence entry and exit rates…
“ We cannot ever be comfortable selling a product that most of our customers would stop using if they could.”

In the 1970s, Liggett Group worked to develop a safe cigarette called the “XA Project.” The project focused on creating a cigarette with additives that would neutralize cancer-causing compounds. Liggett found that by blending palladium with magnesium nitrate, they could achieve a reduction in the development of cancerous tumors of 95-100%. Liggett demonstrated this in mouse skin painting tests—the same type of tests that the tobacco industry had spent years debunking. The skin painting tests related to the XA Project showed that cancerous tumors were virtually eliminated when the catalyst was added to tobacco. While Liggett wished to test PALLADIUM cigarettes in the market, they were concerned that a safer cigarette could involve legal liability for their other products. Following warnings from company lawyers and strong requests, even threats, from other tobacco companies, plans to market the product were abandoned.

In 1988 Philip Morris launched Next, Merit, and Benson and Hedges Di Nic Cigarettes in 3 test markets. In the 1980s cigarette manufacturers began investigating genetic bio engineering of tobacco plants as a way to control nicotine delivery. SPECTRUM® features cigarettes with eight different levels of nicotine Strictly for research purposes, Spectrum is not a commercially available cigarette. Quest, manufactured by Vector tobacco using genetically altered tobacco plants was available in three versions: Quest 1, Quest 2, and Quest 3. Each version of the product contained a different level of nicotine. 2016, 22nd Century Group Inc., launched MAGIC 0, a very low nicotine cigarette in Europe.

Eclipse, 1996, Like its predecessor Premier, heated the tobacco instead of burning it. Like Premier, one lights the carbon heat source, which supplies heat to the tobacco. Glass particles contaminated the filter tip of the Eclipse cigarette. Eclipse was removed from most test markets.

Old Technology Makes A Comeback Heated products use an electric element (Accord, 1999), or a carbon tipped heating element (Premier and Eclipse) to release the nicotine. Additives such as  polypropylene glycol are used to create a visible vapor. It is unclear whether heat not burn products in the market reduces cessation or increase initiation. Premier never achieved popularity, as smokers complained about a charcoal like aftertaste, and it was difficult to light. It was taken off the market in 1989, less than a year after its release.

Philip Morris developed Accord, a micro-electric cigarette holder, to “address consumer concerns about health risks,” Unveiled in 1998, the battery-powered “smoking system,” which reduced visible smoke and ashes from the end of a cigarette, was a radically different kind of smoked tobacco product. The device contained a microchip that sensed when an Accord cigarette was being puffed, and sent power to eight heating blades around the cigarette. After eight years of test marketing, Accord was removed from stores in the Richmond, VA area in early 2006, having met with little commercial success.

Hon Lik’s E-Cigarette Prototype

Hon Lik

Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik , seeking to quit smoking after his father’s death from lung cancer, patented a device to vaporize a liquid containing nicotine rather than smoke cigarettes. His goal was to create a mechanism that would deliver nicotine more efficiently than the nicotine patch and create a vapor similar to cigarette smoke. The first e cigarette, that employed piezoelectric technology, was manufactured in China a year after filing the patents. The company Lik worked for, Golden Dragon Holdings, became Runyan (Imperial Tobacco). Runyan marketed e device variations (e cigars, e pipes, and later e-cigarettes) in China and then world-wide. Most Current vaporizers do not employ piezoelectric technology that was first patented by Lik.

Philip Morris International’s remake of its Accord device, Heatbar was said to release 90% less smoke into the atmosphere than a traditional cigarette. Both Accord and Heatbar were not commercial successful, and were taken off the market.

Reynolds (BAT) and Philip Morris offer updated carbon heat source, heat not burn, cigarettes:. IQOS, 2017, like Accord and HeatBar, heat a specially designed cigarette rather than burn it. British

American Tobacco is selling heat not burn products, glo and glo iFUSE

e-cigarette, or electronic cigarettes, are battery-operated devices modeled basically after regular cigarettes. Initially developed to serve as an alternative to conventional smoking, they are now regulated by the FDA. Research into their safety and flavorings is ongoing.

JUUL Labs, Inc., maker of the JUUL e-cigarette uses nicotine salts instead of free based nicotine liquids that’s used in most other e liquid. Released in 2017, with a unique design and high nicotine liquid “Pods,” JUUL was engineered for the naive novice user and became the most popular e-cigarette on the market, attracting youth to its brand as well as a $12 billion investment by Philip Morris. Facing criticism of marketing to youth, JUUL discontinued its popular mango flavored Pods and directed some of its advertising to appeal to smokers seeking to quit cigarette use.