Philip Morris International's CEO Andre Calantzopoulos poses with the new IQOS 3 devices at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Home » Philip Morris Opens Its First Cigarette Device Store in Africa in Johannesburg

Philip Morris Opens Its First Cigarette Device Store in Africa in Johannesburg

The cigarette maker Philip Morris has opened a flagship store in Johannesburg, hoping to promote its heated tobacco product IQOS, according to the company. The store for IQOS, which stands for I Quit Ordinary Smoking, is in Sandton. South Africa, with an estimated 7 million smokers, is the only market in Africa where the company […]

26-07-19 15:31
Philip Morris International's CEO Andre Calantzopoulos poses with the new IQOS 3 devices at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The cigarette maker Philip Morris has opened a flagship store in Johannesburg, hoping to promote its heated tobacco product IQOS, according to the company.

Philip Morris International’s CEO Andre Calantzopoulos poses with the new IQOS 3 devices at a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, October 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The store for IQOS, which stands for I Quit Ordinary Smoking, is in Sandton.

South Africa, with an estimated 7 million smokers, is the only market in Africa where the company is selling IQOS. A pilot store opened in Cape Town in 2017 and operated for about a year, and according to reports, Philip Morris plans to reopen a permanent store.

IQOS devices are different from e-cigarettes, many of which vaporise a nicotine-filled liquid. IQOS devices electronically heat tobacco-filled sticks wrapped in paper just enough to generate an aerosol that contains nicotine.

One convert to IQOS, 33-year-old Evans Manyonga, said when he smoked normal cigarettes he was “coughing a lot” from them.

“(Now) I don’t smell of cigarettes. I don’t cough. It’s smoother and classier,” Manyonga, who has been smoking for 10 years, told Reuters at the store’s opening.

(Reporting by Ted Botha, SAPeople; Reporting by Nqobile Dludla and Editing by Bill Berkrot, Reuters)