As regular e-cigarettes with nicotine-laced liquid are effectively banned in Japan, the country has become the main market for "heat not burn" (HNB) products, which emit less smoke and smell less than conventional cigarettes.To get more news about HNB, you can visit hitaste.net official website.

Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes, was first to start selling HNB products in Japan in 2014. But after an initial surge in sales last year, it has run into competition from British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco Inc, and its market share has stopped growing in recent quarters.

The companies slashed prices of their heating devices earlier this year, as competition intensified."Clearly IQOS sales have slowed down" since their launch in Japan, Philip Morris CEO Andre Calantzopoulos told reporters on Tuesday.

But he said the increased competition was not necessarily a bad thing in the long run if the increased choice made the products more popular among consumers.A new "HEETS" line priced at 470 yen ($4.18) a pack would be available from Tuesday, he said. That is cheaper than Philip Morris's current HeatSticks, tobacco rolls used with IQOS devices, which are priced at 500 yen per pack.

"Clearly, for some people, spending 30 yen more, 40 yen more per day is expensive," Calantzopoulos told Reuters in a separate interview.In mid-November, the company will also release newer versions of its "IQOS 3" and "IQOS 3 MULTI" devices. The existing versions will still be available at current prices.

Philip Morris, the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company, has seen weaker-than-expected growth in IQOS recently, after building a leading position in the global HNB market.