I think you're missing the point. When the evidence started to mount, there was an orchestrated campaign to mislead. https://www.who.int/tobacco/media/en/TobaccoExplained.pdf
It's interesting that idea is exactly what we are talking about today.
RJR tried doing smokeless cigarettes in the 80s and 90s but they apparently tasted like a fart. They still sold them up until 2015. It seems to work somewhat like a hookah, a hot carbon tip is used to heat air before it passes over the tobacco. Supposedly these kinds of cigarettes were the only ones you could still consume in the RJR office.