SPECIAL REPORT | The April 2019 launch of Philip Morris International’s (PMI) flagship product, the Iqos in Tirana, Albania, drew a fashionable crowd.

Guests walked down a white carpet flanked by palm trees and lit by spotlights until inside an Iqos-branded tunnel they were met by hostesses in futuristic dresses. Hands emerged from velvet curtains to hand them champagne.

TV screens on the wall played videos of erupting flames. “Stop burning, start heating,” the text read as a gold Heatstick slipped smoothly into the Iqos device.

A Heatstick is a tobacco stick specially designed by PMI for the Iqos. The Iqos heats up the tobacco to produce nicotine that is inhaled by the user. The lower temperature makes it a less harmful alternative to conventional cigarettes, PMI said.

There have been similarly glamorous launches for Iqos products all around the world, some headlined by pop stars Jason Derulo or Jamiroquai. PMI has also sponsored Iqos-branded parties for Playboy magazine in Germany and Cosmopolitan magazine in Russia...