Big Tobacco's Next Big Thing? Tobacco

Unlike e-cigarettes, new heat-not-burn products heat tobacco instead of a nicotine concoction

Big Tobacco is working on its next act, as cigarette sales decline around the world and once-breakneck growth from the first wave of e-cigarettes fades.

Three of the world’s biggest tobacco firms are rolling out new, electronic tobacco-heating devices they say are healthier alternatives to traditional smoking, but feel more like puffing on a real cigarette. That is a sensation many smokers complain is missing from the wide array of electronic cigarettes currently on the market.

None of the new heat-not-burn devices—which heat real tobacco instead of the nicotine concoction typical in most e-cigarettes—are available yet in the U.S., but that may