AIR Limited, the Dubai-based global leader in hookah and advanced inhalation technologies, announced the acquisition of NameLess, one of Germany’s most recognized brands for premium flavored hookah products.

Reynolds American Inc. announced it will create 200 new manufacturing positions in 2026 at its Tobaccoville, North Carolina, Operations Center, bringing total new roles added over the past two years to more than 1,000. The company added 800 jobs between 2024 and 2025. These roles will support the continued growth of Velo Plus nicotine pouches and Reynolds’ expanding multi-category portfolio, aligned with its mission to build a smokeless world.

The EUIPO has ruled that Imiracle failed to demonstrate actual commercial use of its “Elfbar Crystal” brand in Slovakia, and therefore rejected in full the company’s opposition to Shenzhen SKE Technology’s application to register the “Crystal” trademark. The EUIPO noted that the sales records submitted by Imiracle were limited in scope and that the product packaging was in Ukrainian, which it found insufficient to prove that the products had been placed on the Slovak market.

The payoff is here: BAT’s Vuse has seized a rare regulatory vacuum to reverse its U.S. slide, capitalizing on a crackdown that seemingly compressed the illicit market to 54%. But the victory is fragile. A record $590 million export shock in October signals the gray market is striking back—pitting a fleeting compliance dividend against a massive inventory wall.

Nicoventures Trading Ltd., a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), has won an appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO), convincing the appellate board that examiners had violated its right to be heard by failing to review all of its submissions.