Our science videos
Science is the driving force behind our vision of delivering a smoke-free future. To date, we have invested more than USD 10.5 billion in the research and development of our innovative smoke-free products.
To learn more about the pioneering work being undertaken by our diverse group of 1,516 scientists, engineers, and technicians, browse through our science videos shown below.
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The difference between tobacco, smoke & nicotine
Title: what's the difference between tobacco, smoke and nicotine?
Upbeat instrumental music starts
Tobacco is a plant which naturally contains nicotine.
Nicotine is addictive and not risk free.
But it is not the primary cause of smoking-related diseases.
It is the smoke produced from burning tobacco that is the main problem.
Tobacco smoke contains over 6,000 chemicals. Nicotine is one of them.
Around 100 of these chemicals are classified by public health experts as causes or potential causes of smoking-related diseases.
The best choice any smoker can make is to quit cigarettes and nicotine use altogether.
Smoke-free alternatives are only for adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking.
They are not risk-free and contain nicotine, which is addictive.
Music ends
Why burning is the main problem
Upbeat instrumental music starts
Why burning is the main problem
When tobacco is burnt, it can reach temperatures of around 900 degree Celsius.
It’s this extreme temperature that’s one of the problems with smoking
Burning breaks down the tobacco and produces smoke which contains more than 6,000 chemicals.
Around 100 of these chemicals have been identified by public health experts as causes or potential causes of smoking-related diseases.
Because there is no combustion in smoke-free products,
They have the potential to be better alternatives than continued smoking
*This is subject to scientific substantiation on a product-by-product basis.
The best choice any smoker can make is to quit cigarettes and nicotine use altogether.
Smoke-free alternatives are only for adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking.
They are not risk-free and contain nicotine, which is addictive.
Music ends
The difference between heat-not-burn products and e-cigarettes (vapes)
Title: What’s the difference between an e-cigarette and a heat-not-burn product?
E-cigarettes vaporize a flavored liquid solution.
The solution is aerosolized and the generated aerosol-commonly referred to as ‘vapor’ – is inhaled.
E-cigarettes liquids usually contain nicotine, but they do not contain tobacco.
Heat-not-burn products always use tobacco.
They heat the tobacco without igniting it to release the flavor and the nicotine
Neither devices burn tobacco,
So they should release significantly lower levels of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals compared to a traditional cigarette.
*This is subject to scientific substantiation on a product by product basis.
As a result they are a much better choice for adult smokers than continued smoking.
The best choice any smoker can make is to quit cigarettes and nicotine use altogether.
Smoke-free alternatives are only for adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking.
They are not risk-free and contain nicotine, which is addictive.
What is nicotine?
Title: What is nicotine
Nicotine occurs naturally in tobacco leaves and can be extracted by heating, burning or soaking the plant
Nicotine is addictive but is it not the primary cause of smoking related diseases.
Once inhaled, it is absorbed straight into the bloodstream where it travels through the body and to the brain
Nicotine binds itself to specific receptors and triggers the release of dopamine, which boosts attention but could also cause reward-seeking behavior.
Nicotine has short-term pharmacological effects, including increased heart rate and blood pressure.
It can take anywhere between 2 and 18 hours for nicotine to leave the body.
Nicotine should never be taken by adolescents, pregnant women or people with heart conditions
The best choice any smoker can make is to quit cigarettes and nicotine use altogether.
Smoke-free alternatives are only for adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking.
They are not risk-free and contain nicotine, which is addictive.
Music ends
Heat-not-burn vs cigarettes: How do they reduce harm?
Text appears on screen: Everyone knows that cigarette smoking is harmful. But not everyone knows why
( Clicking gas stove )
Jacques Zuber, Former Director, Technology and Product Development speaks:
Haha, heat-Not-Burn
Music starts
Text on screen: The problem is burning
Jacques Zuber speaks:
Heat is natural throughout whatever we eat, consume. Coffee—you need to release the flavor of the bean. You need heat to change the texture of the meat.
As the tobacco starts heating and reaches a certain temperature nicotine and other flavorants vaporize.
Serge Maeder, Director, PMI Testing Labs and Analytical Research, Philip Morris International
When you burn tobacco, the temperatures that exist in this burning environment are so high that you produce a lot of toxicants. All these toxicants, or most of them anyway, come from combustion.
So if we were able to develop a product where no combustion takes place and we heat tobacco instead, we could potential produce an aerosol with much less toxicants which will reduce the risk compared to smoking.
We measure here, systematically, all the toxicants, so we can see how much they are reduced, compared to cigarette smoke.
The extent of the reduction, we didn’t know until we started the project. It was like ‘wow’. We have achieved something that is a world of difference. We achieved more than 90 per cent reduction in toxicants, compared to cigarette smoke.
Jacques Zuber speaks:
I think people are oftentimes mistaken. They think the problem is tobacco. The problem is combustion.
Text appears on screen:
I think it’s more than a big shift.
It’s a revolution – a transformation and complete redesign of the organization towards our new objective: a smoke-free future.” Jean-Claude Schneider, Director, Product and Process Development NCP, Philip Morris International.
The importance of taste
Text on screen: We’re moving to a product that no longer burns tobacco
How can you transform a raw material into a product which is appreciated by consumers.
Obviously we had all that experience from cigarettes, but then moving to a product that was not burning anymore, then you have to start basically from scratch
Instrumental music
This is the greenhouse
Text on screen: The Importance of taste
There are hundreds and hundreds of different tobacco. These are the three main varieties we have in our conventional products.
We started off with what we thought was the best of the best.
But even only at this variety level, we did not have all we need to create the rich sensory experience when we’re only heating the tobacco
So we went way further and looking into this yard tobacco and pipe tobacco, hundreds of them, to say ‘wait—there’s something out there and now we need to I understand how we can master it.
Putting it in the right format allowed us to get much more efficient in heating the tobacco and finally getting very pleasure aerosol.
If we could have no more combustible cigarettes, I can take my retirement with pleasure.
'Ten years ago,' I said, ‘One day people will be queuing up in the streets’.
Seeing that day come true brought tears to my eyes. Words cannot express how much it means to us.
Jacques Zuber, Former Director, Technology and Product Development, Philip Morris International.
Why did you want to be a scientist?
Dr Patrick Picavet, VP Life Sciences Strategy, Program Delivery speaks:
That's a very good question
Dr Serge Maeder, Global Head of RRP System Innovation speaks:
As far as I can remember I've always wanted to be a scientist
Dr David Sciuscio, Program Leader speaks:
I wanted to be a scientist, I think, since I was one year old
Dr Gizelle Baker, VP Global Scientific Engagement speaks:
Even as a child my favorite subjects were math and science.
Dr Patrick Picavet speaks:
I cannot remember that there was actually a particular trigger except for the fact I was always fascinated by the technical part of medicine.
Dr David Sciuscio speaks:
Toxicology fascinated me since I was really young.
Dr Gizelle Baker speaks:
When I was considering going into the medical profession, I thought doing research that could help provide doctors with the evidence to help make decisions for the benefit of their patients and not just treating the patients could be a way that I could have a huge impact on the health of the of the population.
Dr Serge Maeder speaks:
I wanted to understand the rules how it works so that drives me to be a scientist.
Dr David Sciuscio speaks:
Reading the history of Romans and Greek and this history of poisonings etc
It was always something that fascinated me.
Dr Patrick Picavet speaks:
And that's why I went on to become an ambulance driver, that's why I went to work in intensive care and that's why eventually, you know, I started to work in anesthesiology, because it has all to do with emergencies, with people using the technology and innovation and always being two or three steps ahead of everyone else.
Dr Serge Maeder speaks:
Creating products that will reduce the risk compared to an existing product is also the best use I can do with what I learned in university.
I'm extremely proud of that and to this day it's the best choice I've ever made.
Women in STEM at PMI
Classical music plays
Female employees appear on screen and speak, one after another:
I'm a molecular biologist
I am a chemist
I’m a trainee biologist
Aerospace engineer
Biochemist
Computer engineer
Words on screen: Who inspired you to explore STEM?
Christelle Haziza, Director Clinical Studies and Biostatistics speaks:
Nobody really inspired me. It was really a passion that I had
Catherine Goujon, Manager Chemistry Research speaks:
Marie Curie was, I think, the first scientist recognized
Words on screen: What unique traits do women bring to these fields?
Alice Vaskova, Director Analytics Demand & Capability, Enterprise, Analytics & Data speaks:
We are different people, with different thoughts and opinions
Dina Lombardi, Head of Third-Party Manufacturers and Middle East Africa speaks:
Organizational skills. Normally women are very well organized
Maryann Johnson-Hill, Director Industrialization speaks:
Inquisitive, curious, no fear of failure. We have humility we love to explore
Words on screen: What change are you driving at PMI?
Catherine Goujon speaks:
Research to propose an innovative solution for the smoke-free future
Cecilia Lindholm Delaloye, Senior Cigarette Design Engineer speaks:
I work with the deployment of new products to roll out new products on the market
Maryann Johnson-Hill speaks:
I'm in operations excellence development and operations excellence absolutely plays to my strengths as a science. You’re looking at systems, you're looking at tools you're looking at processes, how to be efficient, how to be effective, all within the operations environments.
Dr Gizelle Baker, Director Global Scientific Engagement speaks:
I have the privilege of sharing all of the science created by R&D externally, so that people know and have access to information about why our products are a better alternative than continuing to smoke.
Words on screen:
Women in Science
Women in Technology
Women in Engineering
Women in Mathematics
* Please note that some scientists may have changed roles since these films were made.
