Heated Tobacco Brands Explained: IQOS, glo, Ploom, lil

If you have looked into heated tobacco recently, you will have noticed the category is no longer one product. Every major tobacco company now sells a device, each with its own stick range, its own accessories and its own reason why it is the better one.

This is a map of who makes what and what genuinely differs, followed by the shorter and more useful list of what does not.

Who makes what

IQOS is Philip Morris International’s system, and the one that defined the category. Its consumables have been sold as HEETS and, for the induction-heated generation, TEREA. The heating method changed between generations: earlier models used a heating blade inserted into the stick, while the induction models heat a metal element built into the stick itself, which is why the stick formats are not interchangeable.

glo is British American Tobacco’s system, sold with neo sticks in most markets. It heats the stick from the outside, via a chamber that surrounds it rather than a blade inside it.

Ploom is Japan Tobacco’s system, developed in and closely associated with the Japanese market, where the category is most established.

lil is KT&G’s system, originating in South Korea, and distributed internationally in some markets through a commercial arrangement with Philip Morris International.

Availability, naming and stick ranges vary considerably by country, and the category moves fast enough that any specific model list dates quickly. That variability is itself worth noting: what you can buy is decided by local distribution, not by anything about which system suits you.

What actually differs

Heating method. Blade, induction, or external chamber. This genuinely changes the aerosol somewhat, and it changes the cleaning burden a lot: systems that heat from outside the stick tend to accumulate less residue on the heating element, which is the main practical complaint about blade designs.

Session length. Roughly four to six minutes depending on the system, or a fixed puff count, after which heating stops. Some devices allow a slightly longer or extendable session.

Cleaning. Blade-heated systems need regular cleaning and the brush or sticks that come with them. Induction and chamber designs reduce but do not remove the requirement.

Stick range and taste. Each brand has its own tobacco blends and flavour capsule options, subject to local flavour regulations which differ sharply by country.

Price. Devices are frequently discounted heavily or bundled, and stick prices vary with local tobacco taxation. In some markets heated tobacco is taxed below cigarettes, which is the main reason the cost comparison differs from country to country.

Hardware ecosystem. Cases, colours, charging accessories. This is a product-design difference, not a health one.

What does not differ

Shorter list, and it is the one that matters.

• All of them heat tobacco. These are tobacco products, not tobacco-free ones. The WHO classifies heated tobacco products as tobacco products under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and states plainly that all forms of tobacco are harmful.
• All of them deliver nicotine in a broadly comparable range. Published work puts heated tobacco nicotine delivery at most of the way to a cigarette. Your dependence does not distinguish between a blade and an induction coil.
• All of them produce an aerosol containing toxicants. Fewer than cigarette smoke on most measured compounds; not none. The WHO has noted some substances present at higher levels than in cigarette smoke.
• None of them has long-term outcome data. The category is too young. The WHO’s framing is that reduced exposure to harmful chemicals has not been shown to equal reduced harm to humans, and that applies to every brand equally.
• All of them are closed systems. Sticks are not compatible across brands, or often across generations. The device is the cheap part; the sticks are the commitment.

Nobody should read a ranking into any of this, because there is not one to give. No health authority compares these systems and endorses any of them, and this article is not going to invent a comparison that the evidence does not support.

Why switching brands feels like progress

There is a specific pattern worth recognising, because a lot of people have lived it.

Buying a new device is an event. It involves research, a decision, a purchase, unboxing, learning a new routine. It feels like taking action on your habit, and psychologically it delivers something genuinely similar to a fresh start.

Then, within a fortnight, your daily count returns to exactly where it was. This is not a failure of the device. It is what happens when you change the hardware and leave the dependence untouched. Your body regulates towards the nicotine dose it is used to, and it will find that dose through whatever system is available.

The same applies to the upgrade cycle within a brand. A newer generation is a better piece of consumer electronics. It is not a step towards using less.

The question worth asking about any of them

Not “which is the best one”, which has no answer. This one instead:

How many sticks a day does this system get me to?

That is the only variable in the category that has a clear relationship to your exposure, your cost and your dependence, and it is the only one you control. A brand that makes sessions more convenient, faster to start or easier to take indoors is, for your purposes, the worse one, whatever its aerosol chemistry looks like on a lab bench.

Which means the useful comparison is not between brands at all. It is between your number this week and your number next week.

Puff Counter, free to start and rated 5.0 on the App Store, is deliberately device-agnostic for that reason: one tap per stick, whatever is heating it, with next week’s ceiling built from the average you actually logged.

Today’s two minutes

Forget the comparison. Take the measurement.

Count today’s sticks — not the brand, not the model, just the count. Do the same tomorrow and the day after, and take the average. That number is the one thing about your heated tobacco use that no manufacturer decides for you, and it is the only one that changes anything.