Philip Morris patents ‘harm reduction electronic waterpipe

On 18 April 2019, a patent filed by Philip Morris Products SA was published entitled ‘Shisha device for heating a substrate without combustion’.1 The patent describes a waterpipe apparatus that contains a complex electric heating element with a cartridge containing an ‘aerosol-generating substrate’.1 The design appears to interchangeably accommodate solid or liquid substrates that may or may not contain tobacco, non-tobacco plant material or nicotine salts. Two weeks later, the same group had another patent published entitled ‘Shisha consumable article’, which went into more detail about the function of the heating element and cartridge.2 Together, these patents describe products that have never been seen before in the waterpipe market,3 and have an unknown toxicant profile.

Many innovations to the waterpipe apparatus have been found at industry trade exhibitions, including the ability to use e-liquid in place of tobacco and an electric heating source…

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