Korea Tobacco & Ginseng Corporation, better known as KT&G, are the leading tobacco company in South Korea. It looks like they have seen the light with regards to tobacco harm reduction, because they’ve just launched their very own heated tobacco product – the Lil.
The product is more similar in design to the BAT Glo than it is to the PMI iQOS, but it uses an internal spike to heat the processed tobacco rather than having a central heated blade like PMI’s iQos does. The tobacco stick that Lil uses will be called Fiit. It will also be interesting to see if KT&G run into any patent issues in the future from either PMI or BAT, due to the nature of the tobacco sticks.
The heated tobacco device itself will be available in two finishes – Creamy White and Saffron Blue. KT&G are saying that the unit holds enough charge for 20 Fiits to be used without the need for charging. In the past we’d have been sceptical of a claim like that, but when we reviewed the BAT Glo we found that it did indeed hold enough charge for 20 uses with a fair amount of charge remaining. As the unit is almost the same size as Glo we expect that the Lil’s battery will also be as good as Glo’s is.
Lil is currently on a very limited release in South Korea, but it’s set to gradually roll out to the whole of South Korea.
Will KT&G release it worldwide? That’s a tough one to call, but we doubt that it will. It may well end up in the Asian market but we doubt that it will go as far as Europe or the USA. We would love to be proved wrong though!
As for cost, the Lil has been released at a price that’s similar to Glo and a bit cheaper than iQOS. The Fiit tobacco-filled sticks are going to be priced similar to the Heets and NeoStiks used by its competitors. There is currently a very real possibility of a tax hike going through the South Korean National assembly; that would ramp up the tax on a packet of Fiits, punishing people for having the temerity to switch to a less harmful option – and, of course, keeping those tobacco taxes rolling in.
Heat Not Burn UK will be trying to get our hands on a Lil so that we can give it a full going over in the near future for one of our extensive reviews. Also if we can get our hands on enough of them we will be selling them right here on this website along with PMI’s iQOS that we are already selling in large numbers.
UPDATE (13th Nov 17) As expected Korea’s national assembly have decided to tax heat not burn products to the same level as regular combustible cigarettes, thereby punishing people for choosing to use a safer alternative to traditional smoking. There’s not a lot else to add other than saying this is an incredibly moronic decision and will do nothing to help reduce South Korea’s smoking prevalence which currently stands at 19.9%. Expect the price of HEETS etc. to rise from next month in South Korea.
UPDATE (11th Dec 17)
According to a new report from Korea Joongang Daily pretty soon there will be a chance that Heat Not Burn refills will cost MORE than conventional cigarettes in South Korea. How on earth can reduced risk products be priced higher than regular cigarettes? How is this going to help reduce the high smoking rate in South Korea? We have a feeling that there’s something dodgy going on here.
This post has been updated to reflect the fact that the Lil heated tobacco device uses a spike to heat the processed tobacco rather than being externally heated (like the BAT Glo) as stated in the original post.
I use a Lil with Silver Label HEETS. Pretty decent I must say.
Got a ₩27k (£18) discount voucher too (available to anyone with a registered Korean mobile number). On another note, I’ve noticed a few Glo stores opening up here too; saw a large store by Gangnam Station the other day.
And oh, I tried the Fiits but they get too warm and don’t produce that potent aerosol. Maybe it’s just me. Anyhow, a Lil plus a pack of HEETS seems to be quite common amongst Korean men too…