A tobacco company complains that too few smokers are willing to give up their vice.

What sounds absurd makes perfect sense for Marlboro manufacturer Philip Morris.

Knowing that the air is getting thinner for smokers, the company behind the “Marlboro Man” has spearheaded a movement to end cigarettes.

Tobacco cigarettes are to be banned at the end of this decade, demanded by Philip Morris boss Jacek Olczak last year.

But of course Philip Morris doesn't want to unwind himself.

The company says it has invested $4.5 billion and ten years of research to make heated tobacco sold under the Iqos brand name palatable to smokers.

670,000 against 17 million

This only works to a limited extent in this country.

670,000 Iqos consumers – that was the number in 2021 – compared to 17 million smokers.

The study by the well-known consumer research institute GfK believes it knows the reasons.

11 percent of cigarette smokers refuse to switch because they believe heated tobacco is more harmful than cigarette consumption.

23 percent are unsure about the potential for damage from heated tobacco.

There is a “need for information” here, according to the evaluation.

The fact that the combustion process releases more toxins in the inhaled smoke than mere heating, as some scientists claim, can certainly also be understood by laypeople.

However, doctors also have a point, pointing out that the long-term consequences of heated tobacco have not yet been researched.

Other reasons listed in the study that prevent smokers from switching are entirely within the control of the company if it wants to make Germany smoke-free but not nicotine-free.

41 percent do not consider Iqos to be an adequate substitute for cigarettes.

That may be a matter of taste, but in other countries such as Japan, Switzerland and Spain, but also in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Philip Morris has already launched a new model that comes much closer to cigarette consumption - when the "Iqos Iluma" baptized tobacco heater also comes to Germany is unclear.

Little tax, high selling price

26 percent complain that the costs are too high.

The argument stands.

Philip Morris was able to tax the tobacco contained in Iqos Sticks - and that's just 6 grams per box - as pipe tobacco, at least in the first few years, which is significantly cheaper than the tobacco tax on cigarettes.

Nevertheless, the introductory price was 6 euros per packet, now it is 6.50 euros.

For comparison: the packet of Marlboro is available for 7.60 euros.

In addition, there is the heater itself, which costs 29 euros in the best case.

In the past, however, heaters for more than 100 euros have also been sold over the counter.

If the company is really serious about getting smokers to switch to the supposedly less harmful alternative, it should also introduce the British price model in Germany.

There, a pack of Heets is sold for £5 - less than half the price of a pack of tobacco cigarettes.

What is hard to digest is the finding of the study that older and socially disadvantaged smokers in particular do not think about switching to heated tobacco.

In addition to the price aspect, this may also be due to the fact that Philip Morris completely ignores this target group with the Iqos brand image.

The design of the stores that Iqos runs in most major cities is reminiscent of Apple stores, they look young and hip and are therefore not very inviting for older smokers.

Perhaps there is also a "need for information" from the group's own marketing department.

But what makes the survey really vulnerable is that more than half of Iqos users consider flavors important when consuming heated tobacco.

That may be true, but the European Union wants to ban these flavors in order not to make consumption attractive to young people as well.

If Philip Morris is serious about offering an alternative to "adult smokers," then the company can do a lot, at least more than commission a survey to empirically support its own opinion and attitude.