Inventing a reduced risk tobacco experience
Our Solution
Help a global tobacco major enter the Reduced Risk Products space with a brave home-grown solution.
The Result
Enabled an entry into a new rapidly growing and soon to be competitive market.
The Story
The tobacco industry is in a state of rapid, beautiful transformation. As regulations tighten and human preferences shift, companies are racing to develop products that offer a satisfying, haptic experience while embracing a reduced-risk reality. For ITC, a global leader in tobacco, the challenge was clear: to sculpt a device that not only delivered a superior heated tobacco (HTP) experience but also materialized their brand essence into a unique, sensual design language. We partnered with them to translate innovations from other global brands into a new reality—creating a device that transcended its function as a mere holder for a tobacco stick to become a genuine statement in both aesthetics and digital-era engineering.
THE CHALLENGE
The Challenge: A Sensual Void
Heated tobacco products were a breakthrough, offering a smoke-free alternative to traditional cigarettes. Heated Tobacco Products (HTP, also known as Electronic-Heat-not-burn (eHnB)) devices deliver nicotine by heating, not burning, a specially designed tobacco stick. Because the heating elements could touch 330°C, there was a risk that the outer shell would become uncomfortably hot to the touch. This wasn’t just a technical glitch; it was a profound failure of the haptic experience. The device was meant to be an extension of the hand, a pleasurable object, but its thermal properties created a jarring disconnect. The challenge, therefore, was to design a device that not only heated the tobacco with scientific precision but also remained cool and comfortable to hold—a true sensory object within a sleek, minimalist form factor.
OUR APPROACH
Cool Under Pressure
Our approach was a seamless fusion of meticulous engineering and user-focused creativity, an act of designing not just a product, but a total sensory experience. We obsessed over every detail, from the invisible internal mechanism to the external form that begs to be touched, to create a product that was both technologically advanced and a sheer pleasure to hold.
The true magic, however, was in blending a sublime industrial design language with an intelligent thermal management system. We knew we couldn’t just rely on passive cooling. So, we designed a multi-layered approach to create a sensorial comfort zone:
Our design process was a blend of meticulous engineering and user-focused creativity.
Central Heating Pin
We began by sculpting the heating element, opting for a central heating pin instead of a flat blade. This allowed for more uniform heating, ensuring a consistent and robust vapor release, a ritualistic act of perfection.
PID-Controlled Temperature Regulation
To guarantee a consistently perfect user experience, we integrated a sophisticated PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) controller. This algorithm is the brain of the thermal system. It constantly monitors the heating pin’s temperature and makes real-time, precise power adjustments. This dynamic system allowed us to compensate for device-to-device material variations and environmental factors, ensuring that every user receives the same consistent temperature and vapour delivery.
Heat Spreaders
We integrated advanced heat spreaders to swiftly dissipate heat from the core, directing it away from the external skin of the device. This was a dance of thermals and form.
Airflow Management
We harnessed the user’s very action, the act of drawing on the device, to pull in cooler air through discreet vents. This air is then routed to actively circulate around the internal components, acting as a dynamic cooling agent before reaching the tobacco. This clever choreography of air and heat kept the outer casing at a comfortable sub-40°C temperature, ensuring the haptic pleasure was never compromised.
THE SOLUTION
Design as a Statement
We envisioned the device as a single, uninterrupted form, a pure monolithic statement that was both modern and timeless. We meticulously eliminated unnecessary seams and joints, not only to achieve a visual and functional purity but also to prevent any aesthetic friction. The sleek form was enhanced with a clever slider cover for the cigarette holder, a subtle but satisfying interactive element that protects the mechanism and elevates the act of preparation into a ritualistic gesture. The result was a device that looks and feels like a truly authentic object of desire, on par with the sensuous quality of a PAX3 or a high-end smartphone. It is a digipop creation for a new era.
THE RESULT
The Outcome
The final eHnB device successfully resolved the primary sensual complaint of previous models. By engineering a superior thermal management system, we delivered a product that was not only functionally excellent but also imbued with a more comfortable, premium haptic experience. The device’s sleek, monolithic design and thoughtful features made it an elegant and effective competitor in the HTP market. This project demonstrates our profound belief that design can take a complex technical problem and solve it with a creative, human-centric approach, leading to a product that truly stands out as a triumph of sensual modernism.