Reynolds launching heat-not-burn cigarette

RICHMOND, Va. - The nation's second-biggest tobacco company is launching a cigarette that heats tobacco rather than burning it.

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) announced Monday it is launching Revo in Wisconsin in early 2015. The cigarette uses a carbon tip that heats tobacco after being lit by a lighter.

The Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based company says it's a "repositioning" of its Eclipse product first launched in the mid-1990s.

Eclipse had minimal success but has remained in very limited distribution and is one of the top-selling brands at the company's headquarters.

Officials have said that the growth of electronic cigarettes has reinvigorated the appetite for alternatives to traditional cigarettes, including products that smokers once considered foreign.

Unlike popular e-cigarettes that use liquid nicotine, Revo contains real tobacco, which could make them more attractive to cigarette smokers.