Countries have passed a battery of laws to fight smoking, including taxes and bans on advertising and on smoking in pubs. 各个国家已经通过了一系列关于禁烟的法律，包括税收措施，禁止吸烟的相关广告以及禁止在酒吧吸烟等。

　　Tobacco companies have fought these ferociously, suing countries such as Australia for prohibiting logos on cigarette packs, for example. 烟草公司强烈抵制这些措施，例如起诉澳大利亚等国家在香烟包装上标有禁止类标志。

　　But some rules had hidden benefits. 但有一些规则对他们有潜在的好处。

　　Bans on advertising lower marketing costs and make it harder for young upstarts to challenge established brands. 禁止广告的规定降低了营销成本，并且增大了想要建立新品牌的暴发户的创业难度。

　　Electronic cigarettes would seem another existential threat. 电子烟似乎是存在的另一个威胁。

　　But they increasingly appear to be an opportunity. 但也渐渐变成机遇。

　　Large tobacco firms are investing in such “reduced-risk” products, as they term them. 大的烟草公司正在创造一种“低危害香烟”的产品，正如他们的名字。

　　New requirements for e-cigarettes in Europe and America, finalised last year, may also hinder smaller companies’ ability to innovate. 去年在欧洲和美国敲定了对电子烟的新要求，这也许阻碍了小公司发展的创新能力。

　　That could help Big Tobacco gain even greater market share: large firms may be the only ones with resources to navigate complex rules. 但也会帮助大的烟草公司获得更大的市场份额：大公司也许是唯一拥有资源来掌控复杂规则的人。

　　Companies are particularly bullish on new products that heat tobacco, without burning it. 企业尤其看好这些不用点燃但能加热烟草的新产品。

　　These gadgets are more satisfying to smokers than e-cigarettes, which contain nicotine but no tobacco, so may encourage more smokers to switch. 这些包含了尼古丁但没有烟草的产品对于吸烟者来说比电子烟更令人满意，因此也许会鼓励更多的吸烟者进行转变。

　　Cigarette executives claim that would be a health boon: just heating tobacco avoids much of the nasty stuff that comes with combustion. 烟草公司的高管认为这将是健康的福音：仅加热烟草避免了燃烧带来的危害。

　　Less encouraging for health is the prospect that some smokers might switch to the new products rather than give up tobacco completely. 就健康而言不太乐观的前景是，一些吸烟者可能会转向使用新产品而不是完全放弃烟草。

　　For years companies have sold to a shrinking share of the population. 多年来，烟草公司的买方人数已经缩水。

　　If enough would-be quitters switch to “safer” cigarettes instead, firms could slow or even reverse what had seemed a permanent downward trend. 如果足够多想要戒烟的人转而购买更加“安全”的烟草，烟草公司可能会减缓甚至扭转那些看似永久的下降趋势。

　　Far from fading away, Big Tobacco might be on the verge of a new boom. 大烟草不仅不会衰落，甚至可能会迎来繁荣。

　　If so, the company formed by BAT and Reynolds stands to gain, as it will combine the two firms’ research into reduced-risk products. 若是如此，英美烟草公司和雷诺兹组成的公司会是获利的一方，因为将结合两家公司进行低危害香烟的研发。

　　That will help it compete against Philip Morris, which has spent nearly twice as much on research as BAT. 并且这将有利于其与Philip Morris的竞争，后者已经在研发上花费近似英美烟草公司两倍的资金。

　　Philip Morris is now seeking approval in America to market its heated tobacco product as safer than traditional cigarettes;  Philip Morris 现在正在美国寻找批准来推销它的加热烟草产品，称其比传统香烟更安全；

　　it submitted its application to American regulators in December. 12月份，它们已经向美国监管者上交了相关申请。

　　The firm already reckons the product might add $1bn in profit by 2020. Philip Morris已经计算出：到2020年，这类产品将会为其增加10亿美元的收益。

　　Andre Calantzopoulos, Philip Morris’s chief executive, describes a possible future in which his giant cigarette company phases out cigarette sales. Andre Calantzopoulos，Philip Morris公司的首席执行官，形容了一种未来的可能性：他的烟草巨头企业将逐步淘汰零售香烟。

　　Many health advocates view such declarations sceptically. 许多健康生活的倡议者认为一些声明值得怀疑。

　　For now, combustible products still account for almost all of cigarette firms’ revenue. 现今，传统香烟仍旧占据香烟公司收益的全部。

　　And tobacco remains responsible for more than one in nine of all adult deaths. 并且，香烟依然是超过九分之一的人死亡的原因。