Altria, with declining US sales, tries to develop safer cigarette

Our friends at the Wall Street Journalreport that Altria (aka Phillip Morris) is trying to develop a safer cigarette amidst a slow decline in US sales.

To generate growth, Philip Morris has put effort into engineering reduced-risk products -- so far without much success. Marlboro Ultra Smooth was the product of a top-secret Philip Morris project internally code-named SCOR, or Smoke Constituent Reduction, and included an activated carbon filter that delivers nicotine but with potentially less exposure to the carcinogens of conventional cigarettes.


Other failures include the Accord, which uses a battery-powered holder to primarily heat, rather than burn, tobacco. Deemed too strange for U.S. smokers to embrace, it was discontinued in 2006 after nearly a decade of consumer research.

In January, Philip Morris withdrew a so-called smokeless product, Taboka Tobaccopaks. The "spit-free" product is tobacco in small pouches known as snus (rhymes with "goose") placed between cheek and gum. The company continues to test Marlboro Snus.

It has also been working on moist snuff, a category that has been growing overall. A market test of Marlboro Moist Smokeless Tobacco, begun in Atlanta in October, was recently expanded to surrounding counties. But Philip Morris has had to slash the price of the product sometimes known as "Marlboro in a can," sometimes to as little as $1 a tin, down from the hoped-for $3.

Marlboro Ultra Smooth, which had been sold in Atlanta, Tampa, Fla., and Salt Lake City for more than three years, drew little attention from consumers. Philip Morris USA, which had hoped to market the cigarette as a reduced-risk smoke, stopped making new shipments to its wholesalers April 1. Remaining stock is still on sale. Its other cigarettes with the new activated-carbon filters -- the Marlboro Ultra Lights in Phoenix and North Dakota, and Basic Ultra Lights in Washington state -- also were just discontinued, the company said.

"We basically conducted tests in these markets and generally learned that there was low consumer acceptance...presumably because they didn't think the taste and flavor was acceptable," said an Altria spokesman, Brendan McCormick.

Several other cigarette makers have struggled to develop "reduced-risk" smoking products without success. Most used obscure brand names -- Eclipse, Quest, Advance -- that haven't caught on with consumers.

These efforts have been under scrutiny by state governments. Vermont, with assistance from attorneys general in California and other states, sued Reynolds American Inc.'s R.J. Reynolds over its marketing of Eclipse, claiming the company doesn't have evidence to back up its health claims. Ads for Eclipse, which mainly heats rather than burns tobacco, say it "may present less risk of cancer" than traditional cigarettes. A Reynolds spokesman said its claims for Eclipse are "supported by credible and reliable information."

Executives expect sales to decline 2.5-3% annually in the coming years. I say, good for them!

However, the fact remains that a large number of Americans smoke. I suppose it would be a good thing for smokers to use lower-risk products. However, might that detract from the efforts needed to reduce the number of smokers?