British American Tobacco launches bid for smokers who find cigarettes a drag

SOUTHAMPTON based cigarette maker BAT has set up a new firm to commercialise innovative nicotine products that will rival the smoking experience without the health risks.

British American Tobacco confirmed today that it has established a start-up company called Nicoventures Limited that will “focus exclusively on the development and commercialisation of innovative regulatory approved nicotine products”.

It said it aims to provide adult smokers with a range of alternative products - currently unavailable on the market - that will offer them “much of the experience they expect to get from a cigarette but without the real and serious health risks of smoking”.

It said Nicoventures will be managed separately from the group's tobacco businesses.

BAT, which manufactures the Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall brands, employs 1,200 people at its site in Southampton where it has its research labs.

In 2006 more than 100 years of production came to an end with the loss of 550 jobs.