In the 1930s, Lucky Strike was the bestselling cigarette brand in America.
Its producer, the American Tobacco Company (since bought by British American Tobacco), promised its method of “toasting” the tobacco meant no throat irritation or cough. But that was then, and recently big tobacco has been in decline.
Today, the FTSE 100 behemoth BAT is setting out its stall with a new range of products. Traditional smoking, it seems, is going out of fashion.
Such is the anticipated success of vaping and “heat-not-burn” cigarettes that BAT thinks its sales will reach £5bn a year by 2022 — a conservative estimate, according to UBS. By 2030, these products are expected to make up 50% of revenues — 25 times their share today.
This next-generation gear