British American Tobacco (BAT) PLC announced their plans to create a new company called Nicoventures Ltd. which will produce products made without tobacco and with only pure nicotine in an effort to offer a safer alternative to smokers. Even though a spokeswoman of the organization said the products the company is considering aren’t on the market yet and declined to give any more details, we do know that two subsidiaries of Altria Group are testing spit-free tobacco-coated toothpicks in an effort to offer tobacco in a less socially scrutinized way.

If successful, the products of Nicoventures could help wean smokers off cigarettes. It is the hope of BAT that Nicoventures will be a highly profitable business that will help make up for the loss in profits due to the decrease in cigarette sales and the scrutiny faced by tobacco companies. “Nicoventures could be a hugely positive development from the public health point of view, in reducing the harm from smoking”, said David Sweanor of the University of Ottawa in Canada. However, he did admit he was a bit skeptic, saying that nothing currently on the market had the ability to match the sensational and psychological effects of a cigarette that smokers crave for.