Compared to cigarettes, heat-not-burn tobacco has less sidestream smoke, no combustion, no ash, true nicotine experience, is less likely to cause odors, and can reduce harmful substances by about 90%. Its representative iqos has become one of the representative hit products in 2016. IQOS is still in short supply, but after that, “Ploom TECH” was released by Japan Tobacco (JT) and recorded a hit that stopped accepting reservations. And although the “glo” introduced this time is a test sale in an irregular form limited to Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, it was released on December 12, 2016. All of them are difficult to obtain, but there is no doubt that they are the products that will bear the future of tobacco. Here, I would like to report the difference between the impression of trying glo and iqos and Plume Tech.
Heat-not-burn tobacco with integrated battery that heats tobacco leaves
glo is sold by British American Tobacco (BAT). Brands such as “Lucky Strike”, which has been popular as one of the synonyms of American tobacco since the time of the expeditionary force, “Kent”, which has a moderate taste for good or bad, and cool, which is popular for its strong tobacco feeling in menthol. It is a prestigious with.
The method of generating steam containing nicotine is the same as that of iqos, which is to heat the tobacco leaves with a heater. However, while iqos sticks the heating blade into the center of the cartridges/heat sticks, glo adopts a method of heating and evaporating from around the cartridge/heatsticks. The feature is that the heatsticks is slender so that it can be easily heated. By the way, “Plume Tech” uses a method of sucking steam through capsules containing tobacco leaves (tobacco capsules).
Glo has the main body and battery integrated. Iqos takes a complicated procedure of inserting the main body into the battery case and charging each time it sucks, but glo has the battery itself also as the main body. This is the same method as the mainstream model of electronic cigarettes, which is called “VAPE” and is calling a secret boom.
Stylish like an Apple product. Heavy but easy to hold
As with iqos and Plume Tech, purchase a Glo Starter Kit to use Glo. In addition, a “neo stick”, which is a heatstick, is also required.
Four colors, “Champagne Gold,” “Mauve Pink,” “Stone Black,” and “Mist Blue,” are also on sale exclusively at the flagship store.
The main body weighs about 100g and is heavy. It’s a little lighter than when the iqos body is stored in the battery case. The texture is a cool design machined from aluminum like the “MacBook Air”, which will make Apple fans happy. The start button is located at the top center of the main unit. It takes 2 to 4 hours to fully charge, but if you use each one for about 3 minutes, you can smoke about 20 bottles continuously. It’s a dream-like specification for iqos users who need to charge each one.
There are 8 types of neo-stick flavors
As of December 2017, eight types of neo-sticks equivalent to cartridges have been released. Both are based on the popular brand “Kent”. A box of 20 bottles is priced at 420 yen (tax included).
The regular type “Bright Tobacco” with a normal tobacco taste, the standard menthol type “Fresh Mix”, and the strong menthol “Intensely Fresh” that awakens the eyes were released at the same time as the “glo” body type.
In October 2017, “Smooth Fresh (Smooth Menthol)”, “Rich Tobacco (Deep Regular)”, “Citrus Fresh (Refreshing Scented Menthol)”, “Spark Fresh (Refreshing Scented Menthol)” , “Dark Fresh (luxury scented menthol)”, 5 new flavors have appeared.
Neo sticks are surprisingly thin. And it is long for a king size. Inside is a tobacco leaf impregnated with glycerin for steam generation, similar to “Aikos”. The method is the same as “Aikos”, and the advantage of reducing harmful substances by 90% because it does not burn leaves is also the same. However, the heater temperature seems to be lower in “Glo”.
The taste is lighter than iqos, like a light cigarette
Let’s finally experience glo. All you have to do is insert the neo-stick into the hole at the top of the charged main unit and press the start button. In the case of iqos, it is necessary to insert the heating blade slightly carefully so that it sticks in the center of the heat stick, whereas in the case of glo neo stick, it is only inserted into the hole, so there are few mistakes. You can smoke for about 3 minutes. Since the usable time of iqos is about 6 minutes, it is about half the smoking time.
In addition to the protruding neo stick, inhale as it is. If you suck too quickly, the heat will not catch up. Inhaling relatively slowly increases vapor.
The feeling of kicking the throat when smoking a cigarette containing nicotine is called “throat kick”, but “glow” is also weaker than “Aikos”, but there is a firm “throat kick”. However, it is clearly too light for a person who smokes tight cigarettes. In terms of tar value, it is a light tobacco taste of about 3-4 mg. In the case of menthol, the sucking comfort is slightly improved, but it is still light.
When the end of smoking time is approaching, the main body vibrates again to notify you. When the LED is off, pull out the neo stick and throw it away. Since it was not burned, steam is emitted, but there is no concern that it will cause a fire even if it is thrown into the trash can as it is.
Since it does not burn, the neo stick remains long even after it has been smoked. Even if you try to put it in a general portable ashtray, it will not fit unless you fold it.
There is room for consideration of switching by eliminating the drawbacks of iqos
What I found by actually smoking is that the battery life is more comfortable than I imagined. I could smoke multiple cigarettes in a row, and I didn’t really care about the short smoking time of about 3 minutes per cigarette. The taste is so-called iqos type, and there is nothing special to mention, and it has a popcorn odor, but since the neo-stick itself is thin and the heating temperature is low, there is little odor that makes it peculiar to iqos. Also, I am happy that it is easy to insert the neo-stick into the main body and clean the inside of the main body. If you are an iqos user and you are satisfied with a lighter cigarette, you should consider switching.
So how does it compare to “Plume Tech”? In terms of odor, “Plume Tech”, which has reached a place that is almost odorless, wins overwhelmingly. However, when it comes to tobacco-like taste, although it is not as solid and tobacco-like as iqos, Glo has a tobacco-like sensation because the leaves are heated directly.
Therefore, if you want a strong sense of tobacco, then iqos, glo is the most natural way for people who normally smoke light cigarettes to move, and “Plume Tech” is the most natural way to go through those two and try to reach the odorless range. I think.
