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Michael McSorely, managing director, Origin Ltd., is convinced the company’s child-resistant cans fill a void in the industry. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid.
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Besides snus and pouch cans, Origin also offers child-resistant cannabis cans (center). Photo credit: Thomas Schmid.
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REJO MULTI in aurora green, REJO MULTI in luminous gray, REJO MULTI in aurora purple. Photo credit: Rejo
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Amy Chen, brand manager, REJO, poses with REJO MULTI. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Bimar Project’s owner Andrei Zavalei. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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The revolutionary shisha flavors emulate various internationally renowned brand fragrances. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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RELX International offers an eclectic mix of pouch brands. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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RELX pouches are less than 1mm thick. Photo credit: RELX International
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Yunshan Biotechnology’s export sales manager Grace Ying says her company’s flavored crush beads have a strong following especially in Europe. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
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Bottles of crush beads with an injector-dispenser (left). The company also offers ready-made filter pieces to put over cigarettes and which likewise contain flavor beads. Photo credit: Thomas Schmid
Tobacco Asia scoured this year’s exhibition, selecting a few of the most intriguing new products that took our fancy.
InterTabac has long been the preferred launch pad for companies across the tobacco and nicotine sectors to unveil their latest innovations. The 2025 edition was no exception. From child-safe packaging and dual-heating devices to perfume-inspired shisha flavors and ultra-thin nicotine pouches, this year’s highlights reflect the industry’s ongoing push for differentiation, safety, and consumer experience. Below, we spotlight five standout products that caught our attention.
Origin Ltd., UK: child-safe pouch cans
British firm Origin Ltd. made a strong impression at InterTabac 2025 with its child-safe cans for snus and nicotine pouches. Designed to mirror the size and appearance of standard off-the-shelf cans, the innovation lies in the cans’ proprietary child-resistant mechanism. “The big difference of our cans is their its child safety thanks to a built-in child resistance mechanism, which is our proprietary patent pending technology,” explained Origin’s managing director Michael McSorley.
The cans feature a simple pull-away system that requires a hand span and strength beyond that of a small child. “Our view here is that it stops kids from being able to get hold of the product, whether unused or used,” McSorley said. A separate compartment for used pouches further enhances safety and hygiene. “We own a lot of patents in child resistance, and we sit on a number of boards supporting the government with child resistance legislation,” he added, underscoring Origin’s deep expertise in pharmaceutical-grade packaging.
Manufactured in Sweden, the cans are priced competitively with non-child-resistant products. “There’s no reason not to make the switch,” McSorley asserted. The company also showcased child-resistant bags for loose tobacco and medicinal cannabis jars, tailored to varying market regulations. “Oral tobacco products is a growing industry, and we want to make sure that it grows in a safe and sustainable way,” McSorley pointed out. “Our vision is not to make it more difficult for people to get into the products, but simply to add that element of safety.”
Origin’s offering is a timely response to increasing scrutiny around youth access to nicotine products. By integrating child resistance without compromising consumer convenience, the company sets a new benchmark for responsible packaging in the oral tobacco segment.
More at: originltd.com
REJO, China: REJO MULTI
REJO, a global provider of heated tobacco solutions, unveiled its latest device, the REJO MULTI, at InterTabac. Sleek and compact, the device incorporates a dual-heating system that integrates both AirFlow and Round Heating modules within a single chamber. This innovation allows broad compatibility with a wide range of heated stick brands, including REJO’s own TOZE herbal sticks and popular options like TEREA, HEETS, and LEVIA sticks — previously limited to IQOS devices, according to brand manager Amy Chen.
The device features two buttons: one for activating compatibility with TEREA sticks and another for REJO’s TOZE sticks. “The upper button is to turn on heating compatibility with TEREA sticks, and the other button below calibrates it for REJO’s own TOZE sticks and others,” said Chen. TOZE sticks are herbal, tea-based, and infused with 2% nicotine, offering a tobacco-free alternative. In addition, the device also can be used with almost all China Tobacco-manufactured sticks.
Another intriguing feature of REJO MULTI is its “puff twice” capability. “Every stick can be smoked twice,” Chen noted. “With the REJO MULTI, after your first session, you just take out the stick, let the device cool down, then pop the partly exhausted stick back in and finish it completely.” This addresses consumer concerns about waste and cost, especially as heat stick prices rise.
Chen confirmed that REJO is the sole Chinese company currently offering such dual compatibility. “We are the only ones,” she stated. Following REJO MULTI’s InterTabac launch, the company plans to launch the device in the Middle East, as well as Europe—including the Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Austria, and Russia. “You basically have a free choice of what kind of sticks you would like to use,” Chen summarized, positioning REJO MULTI as a flexible and cost-efficient solution for modern consumers. With its blend of versatility, cost-efficiency, and compatibility, REJO MULTI is poised to appeal to a broad spectrum of users navigating the evolving heated tobacco landscape.
More at: rejonow.com
Bimar Project, Belarus: perfume-inspired shisha flavors
Belarusian company Bimar Project attracted exhibition visitors to its novel concept of perfume-inspired shisha flavors, a world-first. “The idea was to make something absolutely unheard of hitherto,” Bimar Project’s owner Andrei Zavalei told Tobacco Asia. “If you, as a consumer, get tired of the omnipresent fruit or berry flavors, this product will definitely surprise you.”
Of course, rather than infusing shisha tobacco with actual perfumes, Bimar Project recreates perfume notes using food-grade chemical compounds. “We simulate specific scents by rebuilding them from food-safe molecules that can actually be heated,” Zavalei explained. “Let’s take ‘Lost Cherry’ by Tom Ford, for example. It took us several months of lab work and formulation to replicate the aromatic character of that legendary fragrance.”
The formulations use propylene glycol or dipropylene glycol as carriers, avoiding ethanol, which would evaporate or burn under heat. “You can’t just spray perfume on shisha tobacco,” Zavalei said. “Firstly, perfumes contain ethyl alcohol… and secondly, under smoking conditions, the aromatic compounds behave very differently. Instead of a refined sillage, you get soapy or harsh etheric notes that make smoking extremely unpleasant. Want to feel it for yourself? Try spraying your favorite fragrance onto a hot shisha — you’ll understand immediately what I mean.”
One of the greatest technical challenges was working with musk — a cornerstone of many perfume compositions. However, in shisha mixtures, traditional musk performs poorly. According to Zavalei, “it creates heavy, unappetizing off-notes because it wasn’t intended for ingestion or heating.” The main difficulty was either masking those undesirable tones or finding alternative molecules that could replicate the musk profile without distorting the taste during smoking. “After extensive research, we learned how to create flavor–aroma profiles that closely match the originals, while remaining pleasant and suitable for shisha use,” asserted Zavalei.
However, out of more than 200 tested perfume profiles, eventually only 10 proved suitable for shisha use. Among them is “Tobacco Vanille,” so named after another Tom Ford fragrance. “Instead of using natural tobacco leaf extract, as in the original perfume, we recreated its perfumed scent using different compounds,” Zavalei explained.
The ultimate goal of Bimar Project’s “Tobacco Vanille” shisha flavor is “to bring a new and wholly different experience to shisha consumers, something to discover and become excited about,” enthused Zavalei. The Belarusian firm’s approach not only broadens the sensory palette of shisha but also introduces a new level of sophistication to flavor development that should appeal to consumers seeking novelty and refinement.
More at: bimar-project.com
RELX International, China: AirPouch™ and Waka
RELX International introduced its latest innovation in nicotine delivery: AirPouch, a technology deployed in the company’s latest nicotine pouch brand, RELX, touted as the world’s thinnest nicotine pouch. “Each pouch is less than 1mm thick,” said Vicky Fu, lead of global product portfolio strategy & modern oral business. “It’s revolutionary.”
The ultra-thin design offers multiple benefits. “You won’t feel the pouch as you would a regular-size pouch when you put it between your cheeks and gums,” Vicky explained. “It won’t create a bulge.” The thinness also accelerates nicotine absorption. “The nicotine effect will onset 2 times faster than with a regular pouch,” she claimed. “The taste is cleaner and also there will be less gum pain.”
Each pouch is shaped like a tree leaf, symbolizing green sustainability. “Different sizes mean different nicotine strengths,” Vicky noted. “The small leaf-sized pouch contains 3mg of nicotine, the medium sized one has 6mg, but we can manufacture the full range, from 3mg up to around 16 mg.”
RELX International showcased its AirPouch for the first time at InterTabac 2025. “We hope to get it into EU markets,” Vicky said. The product represents a strategic shift for RELX International.
“We wanted to create not just another product, but a new experience — something that breaks away from the mainstream and redefines what modern consumers can expect from this category,” Vicky explained. “That’s how AirPouch was born.”
With its discreet profile and rapid onset, RELX is poised to redefine user expectations in the modern oral nicotine category. “It’s their amazing thinness,” Fu emphasized again. “That’s the point.” RELX International’s innovation signals a new chapter in pouch design, one that prioritizes comfort, speed, and aesthetic appeal.
More at: relxtech.com
Honorable Mention: Yunshan Biotechnology Co. Ltd., China: injectable crush beads
Injectable crush capsules—also known as burst beads—were among the more playful innovations showcased at InterTabac 2025, courtesy of Yunshan Biotechnology Co. Ltd. These tiny flavor capsules are designed to be injected into cigarette filters, allowing smokers to customize each stick with a flavor of their choice. “Our burst beads are basically the same as a flavor capsule embedded in a capsule filter,” explained Grace Ying, Export Sales Manager. “You crush [it] prior to lighting your cigarette in order to release the flavor liquid inside.”
With approximately 100 flavors available, the product caters to a wide range of consumer preferences—from fruity and minty to more exotic profiles. “A standard cigarette pack typically contains 20 sticks,” Ying noted. “And if you want to, you can infuse each of these 20 sticks with a different flavor, one after another.”
The Chinese firm’s burst beads are not new. They have been around for a number of years by now. Yet Tobacco Asia deemed the very concept interesting enough to add it in this article as an honorable mention. After all, with flavored cigarettes being phased out in retail in increasingly more countries, the bead offer an opportunity to consumers who still like to enjoy their smokes in a variety of flavors. “We have been in the market… for quite a few years already,” Ying confirmed, citing Germany and France among the company’s active territories.
The product’s appeal also lies in its simplicity and the sense of personalization it offers. “It’s a fun product,” Ying added. “And it gives consumers the freedom to mold their smoking experience in a way that wasn’t possible before.”
Fertile grounds
InterTabac 2025 once again proved fertile ground for innovation, with exhibitors pushing boundaries in safety, flavors, and user experience. Whether through child-resistant packaging, dual-function heating devices, perfume-inspired shisha flavors, ultra-thin nicotine pouches, or customizable flavor capsules, the industry continues to evolve in response to consumer demand while simultaneously showing regulatory foresight. The products highlighted here only offered a brief glimpse into the future of tobacco and nicotine and the creativity driving it forward.