Explanation: why does the heated tobacco product filter change upon heating it?

The IQOS system is used with the tobacco products that are specially designed for heating. Heated tobacco products differ from usual cigarettes in terms of size and structure. The filter designed for the heating technology is not an exception.

Filter changes upon heating

The central part of the heated tobacco product filter is made of a plant-based material – corn. Its main function is to cool down the aerosol and remove certain potentially harmful substances.

Have you noticed that the central part of the filter changes after heating? This is a natural process which you should not be worried about!

Until warm air passes through the filter, the corn molecules react to the warmth. As a result of this reaction, the filter’s colour changes and the filter stiffens.

How is the filter produced?

The corn that is used for the filter is specially processed, and the processed corn mass is turned into granules. Then the granules are processed into thin sheets which are used to form a filter.

The heated tobacco product filter is form into the shape of harmonica. Such a structure of the filter makes it possible to cool down the inhaled aerosol in the most efficient way.

Why the heating technology?

Since IQOS heats tobacco, there is no ash and less unpleasant smell after using IQOS. In addition, IQOS emits vapour instead of smoke – the vapour contains 95% less harmful chemicals than cigarette smoke. Switching to IQOS completely is less harmful than continued smoking.*

*“95% less” means the average reduction in a wide range of harmful substances (other than nicotine) compared to standard cigarette smoke (3R4F). It does not necessarily mean that the risk is reduced by 95%.