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PIXL6000’s child-proof expansion tank is simply clicked on. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Frank Sze, managing director, Ideotech Ltd. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Roxie Yang, business development manager, Yunnan Reascend Tobacco Technology (Group) Co. Ltd. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Tweaking your cigar flavor is as simple as sliding the cigar into one of Reascend’s skins. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Marek Klein, PHD, lab manager, Ekotech Lab. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Ekotech Lab provides a multitude of tobacco industry analytical services. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Lesoo Technology’s sales manager Felix Chan with a canister of laughing gas (N2O). Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
The world’s largest tobacco show attracts old hands and newcomers alike.
One of the hallmarks of a successful trade exhibition is that apart from long-standing regulars it also attracts new companies that recognize it as an excellent venue to introduce themselves, their services, and their products. Germany’s InterTabac certainly fits that bill. Every year, the 3-day show not only hosts the biggest names in the sprawling tobacco, vaping, and NGP industries but it also welcomes scores of companies that have yet to make a name for themselves internationally. InterTabac’s most recent installment was the largest event yet in its decades-long history, extending over 10 permanent exhibition halls plus an additional 2 temporary pavilions to accommodate everybody. And, as always, visitors were treated to a mind-boggling array of the latest gadgets, accessories, and technologies the industry has to offer from around the globe. Here is a random selection of some of the more remarkable first timers Tobacco Asia encountered at InterTabac 2024.
PIXL6000: Pushing the Evolution of EUTPD-Compliant Vapes
(Ideotech Ltd. - United Kingdom)
A Chinese resident of the UK for the past 12 years, Frank Sze gathered ample experience in the e-liquid and e-cigarette sectors curating key accounts for companies like Imperial and BAT before he went solo with Ideotech Ltd. in 2023. That didn’t come out of the blue, of course. Rather, it was triggered by the sudden appearance of big puff vape products, which Sze deemed decidedly unwieldy and bulky from a design point of view. So, he engaged in some serious brainstorming: “How to make a vaping product user-friendly, still support a big-volume puff size while not wasting e-liquid refills; and importantly, also comply with all EUTP regulations now and in the future, particularly with regards to the looming ban on disposable devices?”
The admirable result of Sze’s gray matter acrobatics is the PIXL6000, which he showcased at InterTabac for the first time. Being surprisingly lightweight and fitting in the palm of a hand, the device is capable of delivering up to 6,000 puffs nevertheless. The magic lies in the design. While each PIXL6000 comes with a small built-in tank factory prefilled with 2ml of e-liquid, the capacity can be expanded by clicking on a 10ml tank that smoothly fits into an external bay. Those additional 10ml (the maximum allowed by EU law for refill e-liquid containers) then automatically feeds the internal tank, effectively expanding the device’s capacity to the mentioned 6,000 puffs. To achieve that, the PIXL6000 uses an ingenious yet simple “u-connector,” which Sze likened to “something that you would find in the plumbing underneath your kitchen or bathroom sink.” Depending on the user’s flavor preferences, the external tanks can be freely exchanged at any time without causing leakage.
Furthermore, the PIXL6000 can be run in boost mode if the user desires a richer, denser vapor. Importantly, both the device and the click-on tanks are child-proof, which is another requirement pushed by EUTPD. And the PIXL6000 is rechargeable, of course. In Ireland, where the PIXL6000 has been retailing since June 2024, it has become the second bestselling device overall according to a group of Irish distribution partners who were present during Tobacco Asia’s interview with Frank Sze. “Users obviously like its handiness and the easiness of operation. In fact, this is the best [big vape device] we’ve ever tried. It’s second to none, beating all the competitors out there. And it’s the one we’re actively purchasing [for distribution in Ireland],” they enthused. The PIXL6000 is also available in the UK and has been EU approved for retailing in Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Romania, and Slovakia, with Sze hoping to land deals with local distributors soon.
Helping Tobacco Lovers Gain an Enhanced Experience
(Yunnan Reascend Tobacco Technology - China)
By its own claim, tapeworm-named Yunnan Reascend Tobacco Technology (Group) Co. Ltd. is China’s largest r&d firm for new technologies spanning the full spectrum of the tobacco industry from seed to end product. Founded in Kunming in 2001, the company runs more than 25,000 square meters of lab research area and has invested over RMB60 million (US$8.43 million) in state-of-the-art research equipment. While it also engages in product development for tobacco agriculture, curing and processing, as well as new manufacturing materials and flavors, Reascend primarily focused its exhibits on end consumer accessories during its inaugural attendance of InterTabac 2024.
For instance, Tobacco Asia was intrigued by the firm’s cigar skins (or sleeves), which come in customizable formats. Simply slipped over a cigar, they help maintain and regulate correct product moisture, protect the precious stick against potential damage (e.g. during travels), but also can infuse a cigar with an extra layer of flavor, enhancing the smoking experience.
“The flavor profile of the skins also can be customized,” said Roxie Yang, Reascend’s business development manager. “Coffee or maybe tea notes, a herbal profile, or even a tobacco flavor boost to supplement the cigar’s natural aroma… anything is possible.” Whatever the profile may be, Reascend assured Tobacco Asia that all aromatic compounds in the skins are derived from natural plants and that no chemically synthesized flavors are used. The substrate itself is made of a specially developed moisture-regulating paper.
“But the skins are not only used for flavoring a cigar. In fact we also have developed varieties that improve the flavor of a mediocre-quality cigar to become more reminiscent of that of a premium product,” Yang claimed.
Another flavor enhancer, but geared towards cigarette smokers, is Reascend’s cigarette atomizer. “The carefully selected 100% natural herbal extracts that are dissolved in a 70%/30% water and alcohol substrate and act on the olfactory and gastric sensory areas of the human brain cortex,” explained Yang. “So, there’s a science behind it and many of the extracts in our various preparations, such as orange peels and certain flowers, are also used in traditional Chinese medicine for their medicinal properties.” A tiny amount of the spray solution is directly misted on the whitestick surface, infusing the tobacco filler. “This instantaneously makes a cigarette taste smoother and a little sweeter, enhancing the overall sensory,” said Yang. “It’s also increasing the body’s ability to cope with and reduce the harmful effects of smoking,” she claimed. A variant of the atomizer basically alters the flavor of a conventional cigarette altogether. The atomizer bottle is equipped with a blunt syringe, which is inserted into the filter plug to inject a small amount of flavored liquid. Several dozen flavor mixes from fruity to ice mint are available, though the bottle’s base solution is still the same as in the mist-on variant. A third option for flavor adjustment are credit card-sized cards impregnated with flavors. They can be inserted into actual cigarette packs, transferring their aroma to the white sticks contained within. Yang assured that the ingredients in all three product variants are perfectly safe for human consumption.
Helping Clients Tackle Europe’s Regulation Minefield
(EkotechLab - Poland)
The EU’s increasingly bloated regulation jungle often causes headaches to manufacturers, importers and distributors alike. A new product may not be approved, or already existing products face the danger of being banned, if they deviate the tiniest bit from enforced standards or contain even a trace of unlawful ingredients. Thorough analysis of new products and regular batch testing of already marketed ones can help avoid those annoying pitfalls. That is the conviction of Marek Klein, lab manager of Gdańsk-based EkotechLab, who presented his outfit’s services at InterTabac 2024 for the first time.
“We are testing e-liquids and cannabis products according to EUTPD rules for nicotine content, metals and many other compounds that are crucial for successful registration. It can get really quite complex,” he told Tobacco Asia. “Many manufacturers get lost in that jungle of rules, especially if they are country-dependent and can change without much forewarning.” Klein also cautioned that analytics reports issued by labs in non-EU countries such as China or India occasionally may not be recognized by local authorities, so re-testing can become necessary. “We’ve even seen cases where analysis papers turned out to be fake.”
EkotechLab is ilac-MRA and ISO17025 certified and equipped with state-of-the-art analytics machinery operated by trained lab technicians. Although Klein pointed out that his lab was predominantly testing vape liquids, heated tobacco, and cannabis products for substances such as nicotine (per puff), heavy metals, aldehydes, and various volatile organic compounds, he asserted that he also could run analytics on conventional cigarettes. Customers only need to send in product samples of as little as 6ml (or the volume equivalent in the case of non-liquids) and inform the lab which substances are to be analyzed. “If it’s a cigarette, a single stick will suffice, too. And we accept samples from anywhere in the world,” Klein said.
N2O Canisters: No Laughing Matter
(Guangdong Lesoo Technology - China)
We wondered: Why would a Chinese manufacturer of laughing gas (a.k.a. nitrous oxide; or N2O) take “the Great Leap Forward” (yes, we love that pun!) and decide to make a showing at the world’s largest exhibition for tobacco products? But Felix Cheung, sales manager of Guangdong Lesoo Technology Co. Ltd., assured us that there was rhyme and reason to the curiosity. Europe, he said, enjoyed a prolific party scene, which involved drinking, smoking, vaping, cannabis consumption, and yes, inhaling nitrous oxide for that additional buzz.
In that context, Lesoo offered its Cream Charger-branded pressurized N2O canisters to all those hedonists seeking out a great time. Usage is decidedly simple… even if you already guzzled down a bottle of vodka. Or probably especially then! “Just put a balloon over the canister nozzle, open the valve and fill it up. You then inhale the nitrous oxide through the balloon opening,” explained Cheng. The gas, he added, creates a short-lived feeling of lightheadedness comparable to a cannabis buzz - and it is apparently enhanced if the user already is inebriated from a few drinks. Chen said that he was aware that dentists well into the 1960s used N2O as a light anesthetic, but he assured Tobacco Asia that the product was perfectly safe to use. Well… unless you are Dr. Orville Scrivello, D.D.S (“Little Shop of Horrors”, 1986) and are overdosing on it, we suppose.