When tucked between lip and gum, a small white pouch of Zyn is intended to give the user a pleasant nicotine hit. Its maker is getting a lift, too. Shares in Philip Morris International (PMI), the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company, are at record highs. Investors’ enthusiasm, which has surged since a bumper earnings report in early February, has little to do with sales of Marlboro or PMI’s other cigarettes. It is fuelled by the firm’s booming “smoke-free” products (broadly, anything but burning tobacco)—and chiefly by Zyn.
