Everything You Need To Know About IQOS Effects On Air Quality

Heated tobacco products (also known as “heat-not-burn” tobacco products) are innovative products that dry tobacco instead of burning it, release tobacco flavor with no fire, no ash, and no smoke. Which means they contain less harmful chemicals compared to the smoke of a burning cigarette. This is good news for your health but also for the people around you. Why? Because it’s also time to talk about second-hand smoke and indoor air quality.

In a cigarette, tobacco burns at higher temperatures up to 800°C. And when the tobacco and paper in the cigarette burns, they produce a fume; a cigarette contains over 6,000 different chemical compounds. 1-2% of them are dangerous and harmful to health. If we take a look at IQOS, we notice that it does not burn tobacco but heats it to 300-350°C, the device operates based on HeatControl technology; there is a blade-shaped heating element inside the device. When the stick is inserted into the holder, the blade enters the compressed tobacco and begins to heat it from the inside. Therefore, by heating tobacco instead of burning it, IQOS does not produce second-hand smoke, and that means a better air quality.

Tobacco smoke from regular cigarettes contains a number of harmful chemicals such as nicotine, benzene, carbon monoxide, and heavy metals. About 1% of over 7000 chemical substances formed by burning tobacco are identified as the leading causes of smoking-related diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases. In IQOS, almost all of these cancer-causing chemicals are present moderately to greatly lower than to conventional cigarettes. While secondhand exposures are likely lower with IQOS than those associated with conventional smoking. The indoor levels of chemicals are lower for conventional smoking, but not negligible.

Catherine Goujon, Manager, Chemistry Research in Product Research at Philip Morris, explains to us: “an acceptable indoor air quality is considered where pollutants are not reaching critical level of exposure, and where people do not express dissatisfaction. Looking at the composition of aerosol generated during use of heated products, we can reasonably expect significant drop of pollutant indoor compared to combustion products, such as cigarettes.”

This article is brought to you by Philip Morris International