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Podcast #30:

Tao Cui

With increasingly more countries starting to ban disposable vapes, Chinese manufacturers are scrambling to adjust to the fast changing landscape. For some, it will be easier than for others, as they have always put a heavy focus on innovation. Tao Cui is Director of Innovation, Strategy and Compliance at Innokin Technology, one of China’s most progressive vape tech firms. In this podcast episode, he tells the audience what Innokin has up its sleeves, including MeFree, the world’s first metal-free heating coil, EcoDrain, a technology that makes batteries safe to discard, and Trine, a groundbreaking “3-in-1” vape system. 

Podcast #29:

Christian Adi Njoto Njoo - Vice President at PT Mangli Djaya Raya



Christian Adi Njoto Njoo is the president of well-known Indonesian leaf merchant, PT. Mangli Djaya Raya. The company recently established a wholly-owned subsidiary, PT. Besuki Raya Cigars, one of Indonesia’s few premium cigar manufacturers. With brands such as El Gaucho, Airlangga, Brawijaya and, oddly, MyLockdown, the firm intends to restore an industry that had withered following Indonesia’s independence in 1945 from Dutch colonial rule and put Indonesia back on international cigar smokers’ radar. 

Podcast #28:

Reimund Ameskamp (Ray) is head of international business at 250-year-old J.W. von Eicken, which is located in the old Hanseatic city of Lubeck, and today is Germany’s last remaining independent cigarette manufacturer. Ray fills us in how his company successfully prevails against the overwhelming competition from multinationals as well as an increasingly difficult regulatory environment, not only at home but also in dozens of countries abroad. While Ray admits that it is not always easy, von Eicken’s eclectic cigarette brand portfolio exclusively “Made in Germany” continues to strike a chord with smokers in many corners of the world. 

Podcast #27:

Mitja Carstensen, Managing Director & Founder - Fluxcode GmbH

Tobacco product track & trace has become an obligation in all but a handful of markets. To handle all required processes with ease, German company Fluxcode is offering a groundbreaking all-in-one software suite that is not only fully compliant with the European Union’s TPD2 but also the T&T systems of the Middle East and Russia. Fluxcode’s managing director and co-founder, Mitja Carstensen, explains why his software product is the application of choice for any modern tobacco manufacturer.

Podcast #26:

Recyclable, Re-usable Disposable E-cigarettes?

Podcast guest is Sam Ong, co-founder and CEO of Airscream UK, a company which addressing the growing concerns that disposable vapes — one of the world’s fastest growing consumer products — pose possible environmental concerns. Airscream UK claims to offer the world’s first true disposable e-cigarette recycling system.

Podcast #25:

Search for Acceptable Non-Acetate Filter Materials.

Acetate  for cigarettes filters is the material traditionally used, and it is inexpensive. However, with recent shortages of acetate, rising environmental concerns, taxes on single use plastics (which acetate falls under), even calls for the complete ban, are there any alternatives? Tobacco Asia’s podcast guest is Katja Selle, association sales director at McAirlaids, talks to us about new bridgeable, non-plastic products offered by her company and others.

Podcast #24:

NGP/HNB: Keeping the “Consumer" in Consumer Products

Our guest Is Mohamed Agrabawi, Senior Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications at ANDS, the “alternative nicotine delivery solutions ” products company headquartered in Dubai. Agrabawi, who draws on experience working in diplomacy the Middle East and working at Philip Morris regionally on its IQOS brand, talks to us about challenges the NGP business including delivering products to consumers that they like, the recycling possibilities of disposables, the Middle east market, and more. ANDS is quite well known throughout the Middle East and now sets its sights on Europe, establishing an office in the UK and exhibiting this year for the first time at InterTabac.

Podcast #23:

Nicotine: Natural vs Synthetic and Why Purity Matters

Our guest is Robin Ward, who is head of sales and marketing at Alchem Europe, the leading global supplier of nicotine for manufacturers. Robin talks to us about the many interesting aspects of nicotine and why purity matters when it comes to vapes and pouches.

Podcast #22:

Latest Legislative Trends Rattling the Tobacco and NGP Industries

Our guest is Raphael Moreau, analyst with Euromonitor International, specializing in beverage and tobacco including reduced risk products. He fills us in on the latest legislative trends rattling the tobacco industry from generational bans, excessive tax increases as smoking deterrent, curbing disposable vapes and the effect some of these have on increasing illicit trade.

Podcast #21:

A More Holistic Approach to Sustainability Programs in Tobacco

Tobacco companies have long put emphasis on GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) and sustainability. The latest advance is in this is investing in a more holistic approach ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance). Our guest Pieter Sikkel, president and C.E.O. of PYXUS International, parent company of leading tobacco company Alliance One International fills us in on ESG and how it is realized globally in tobacco growing operations.

Podcast #20:

Challenges on the Way to Cannabis Decriminalization

Our guest is Georg Wurth, a life-long advocate for decriminalizing cannabis and founder/managing director of the German Cannabis Association. As Germany moves toward decriminalization and, perhaps, legalization, Wurth talks about his hopes for a cannabis-embracing Germany and also the countless obstacles strewn in the way for reaching that lofty goal.

Podcast #19:

China and the Global Supply of NGP

Guest is Jason Tian, the international representative of 2Firsts which is the most subscribed professional news media reporting on China's e-cigarette industry. It offers public database of the licensed Chinese manufacturers, and follows closely the global corporate and government affairs related to the e-cigarette industry. Jason talks to us about recent developments in China, which could effect the global supply and supppliers of NGP products, brands, hardware.

Podcast #18:

US Tobacco Markets Overseas

Our guest is Oscar House, the c.e.o. and president of Intertabac exhibitor US Tobacco Cooperative, a farmer owned flue-cured tobacco marketing cooperative in Southeastern United States. House talks to us about business with China, the market for flue-cured US leaf and US made cigarettes and cut rag. Due to the pandemic and disruptions in trade with China, US Tobacco declared bankruptcy in July 2021, and with trade to China restored, House explains how to successfully navigated to the company to re-emerge from bankruptcy only a year later with strong financials and operational positions.

Podcast #17:

Trends/Innovations in New Generation Products: What to Expect in 2023

Our guest is Aron Byrne-Carter, managing director of NGP Trends, which provides reports, workshops and consulting on….trends in NGP. We talk to Aron to get an overview of the direction that the NGP industry was headed this year, in both trends and products.

Podcast #16:

The History of the Smokeless “Cigarette”

Dr Roger Penn is a well known figure in the global tobacco industry. Most know him from his 22 years at leading flavor/fragrances houses Firmenich, IFF and most recently Mane Suisse. He is now the principal consultant for Las Casucha Consulting working form his bases in Indonesia and France. Roger’s experience in toxicology and developing tobacco products with major manufacturers goes back a long way and today, here’s here to talk about the history and development of smokeless cigarettes (or heat-not-burn products or heated tobacco products) going back to the late 1980s.

Podcast #15:

Talking About Global Cigars: Business and Opportunities

Justo Rico, well-known personality in the tobacco industry and principle of PCB (Premium Cigar Brands), headquartered in Barcelona, is a long time veteran of the global cigar business – selling and manufacturing premium cigars and securing tobacco. Justo talks to us about his business and the global world of cigars from Europe to Africa to Asia.

Podcast #14:

The luxury of a self-lighting cigarette.

Rom Soriano is a young Israeli who invented something that sounds just as crazy as it sounds intriguing: the self-igniting cigarette. But how does it work? And is it scalable for mass production? Tobacco Asia’s Thomas Schmid talks to Soriano’s business partner, Roy Weisberger.

Podcast #13:

David Ozgo, president of the Cigar Association of US

As several changes face the cigar industry, the Tobacco Asia podcast welcomes David Ozgo, president of the Cigar Association of US, the leading US trade cigar group to share his views on increases in the premium segment, decreasing venues for purchase and consumption, new flavor regulations, supply chain problems, and the US-Cuban cigar ban.

Podcast #12:

Sustainability in Manufacturing and Managing Resources

Packaging materials and paper notably use many resources and the processing can contribute to environmental degradation. Our guest is Liem Khe Fung, innovations director at BMJ (Bukit Maria Jaya) who discusses how his company is leading the way in managing resources and sustainability in its manufacturing processes.

Podcast #10:

Mike Ridgway, director of the Consumer Packaging Manufacturers Alliance

Gory warnings and plain packaging have disrupted the normal production/distribution of tobacco products and to most accounts, they have been a total failure in their express goal in reducing tobacco consumption. Instead, plain packaging destroys branding and makes life much easier for counterfeiters. Our guest is Mike Ridgway, long time consumer packaged goods expert and current director of the Consumer Packaging Manufacturers Alliance to talk to us about gory warnings, plain packaging and what the future holds for regulatory overreach on tobacco products globally.

Podcast #9:

George Cassels-Smith, CEO at Tobacco Technologies (TTI)

Synthetic nicotine, used in new generation products, is produced in a lab and not from the tobacco plant itself, which - until now - provided a regulatory escape route for some products manufacturers. Now, FDA regulate e-cigarettes and similar products using synthetic nicotine the same as those using plant-derived nicotine. Our guest is George Cassels-Smith, the well known CEO of Tobacco Technologies (TTI) and also director of Zanoprima Lifesciences, a supplier of SynNic synthetic nicotine. He discusses the regulations, uses, and the future of synthetic nicotine.

Podcast #7:

Mercedez Vazquez, CEO of International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA)

An overview of the challenges facing farmers and farming and what the industry and manufacturers are doing to help. Tobacco Asia talks with MERCEDES VAZQUEZ, the recently appointed c.e.o. of the International Tobacco Growers Association (ITGA), which, founded in 1984, is the global growers association whose core objectives focus on the sustainability of tobacco farmers and their communities.

Podcast #5:

KAMEL JABBOUR, Director of ESCA, European Shisha Community Alliance 

A talk with KAMEL JABBOUR on hookah/shisha, the highly sociable tobacco product category to clear up the air on the myths and misconceptions on its health aspects, consumer appeal, ingredients, labeling requirements, and unfair taxation.