Anyone ask Chinese manufacturers

[Vicks Vap-oh-Yeah]

Most of PM's previous vaporization devices still focused on tobacco - you have to buy these special cigarettes (treated tobacco leaf and paper) and put it in the heating chamber to vaporize all the moisture out of the leaf and inhale that.

Their focus throughout all of this (at least on the public level) has been continued, safer, more public-friendly usage of tobacco rolled in paper, sold either by the pack or the carton. After all, that's what they do, what they've always done, and will continue to do in the future for as long as they can.

The PV is certainly a new thorn in their sides, but my vote is still out wether or not they've got a Chinese company under the table... my gut says they do...

Not going to get into conspiracy theories here, but my gut does tell me that we, the poor blind consumers of these little toys, have not seen the bigger picture.

[DaBrat]

PM behind ecigs in response to the crackdown on tobacco

What better way to keep their addicts and still make a profit? I am sure PM is not exclusive to the US. Not a too far fetched idea. LOL a long as they agree to kill me slower I would buy a PM PV.

[Bones]

I remember the "Premier" (i think was the name) That was out in the early 80's - It was much like the Nicotrol - There was no vapor or heating involved though - Just impregnated nicotine pad or something - I tried those - They were NASTY!

As far as what China will do -

Many of us in the US are not very cognoscente of the realities of the GLOBAL MARKET - These realities can not be stated enough - I love the good Ole USA - But it is not quite as important as it likes to think it is when discussing events of the GLOBAL MARKET - There are over 1 billion people in China - More of them smoke than there are people in the US - Not to mention Europe, Russia, India (also over 1 billion), The Mid-East and well - -you know - The rest of the Planet - There are well over 6 Billion people in the world today and only 300 million are in the US - a tiny fraction of the whole - China is not banking on US sales to grow their economy or sell their e-cigs - It's just one of it's many customers

Don't worry about China - "The Dragon" is awake, alive, and doing very well - They got a little off course for a couple of hundred years or so - But they are well on their way to reclaiming the control of the world economy that they fully enjoyed for over 3000 years before that

[Bones]

PM behind ecigs in response to the crackdown on tobacco

What better way to keep their addicts and still make a profit? I am sure PM is not exclusive to the US. Not a too far fetched idea. LOL a long as they agree to kill me slower I would buy a PM PV.

PM is FAR FROM exclusive to the US - There are Camels and Marlboros sold in every little podunk store and tobacco stand in every corner of the earth - I've been to a few countries where they are traded as money - Preferred to it really

[tannerk]

what they are going to do with their e'cigs and all if that ban gets passed?
Looks like they have some big factories, and USA is a pretty big chunk of business.
I'm wondering, since we owe China a trillion or so bucks, how much pressure can they put on the gov here? I mean if someone loaned me that much money, I'd be really really really nice to them.

I've been doing some diging into FDA and their approval process. Let me begin by saying that getting an approval based on their current view of e-cig is very difficult and extremely expensive.

First obstacle is the classification. E-cig is a new product and therefore has not been classified. For an approval process to begin, one would have to submit 513(g) to FDA asking for classification. The costs are relatively small (about 5K). Within 60 days FDA will render its opinion and assign the class.

The likely outcome is CLASS III, which fall into the same spectrum as new and experimental. As such, one would need a Premarket Approval (PMA), clinical trials, years of back and forth and millions of dollars.

The very unlikely scenario, FDA assigns CLASS II which allows for 510(k)(simplified version of PMA). One would need to provide a "substantial" supporting evidence of the similar devices/drug combination and their "documented" safety records. While this process is significantly quicker and less expensive than PMA, it could easily take 3-4 years and few millions.

US is approximately 10% of customer base for Chinese manufacturers and I seriously doubt they would go through the time and expense to get an approval. Business is business and it just doesn't make sense financially.

[seminolewind]

What percentage of e-cig sales is in the US?

[STILLSMOK9]

my guess would be 10-20% if not more?

[Bones]

What percentage of e-cig sales is in the US?

He just answered that - 10% -

"US is approximately 10% of customer base for Chinese manufacturers and I seriously doubt they would go through the time and expense to get an approval. Business is business and it just doesn't make sense financially."

Like I said above - Americans too often forget about the rest of the world - In reality if all Americans vanished from the face of the Earth - We would not be missed much by the remaining 6 billion plus - Kinda like a 600-Lb guy that lost 5-Lbs -

We actually owe China closer to 10 trillion all told - you have a good point there - There could be some Chinese influence going down if push comes to shove - But we'll never know about it - You must also remember - The Nation of China is not making these things - They are private companies in the infancy of China's new economic reality - They simply do not have enough to gain to make the investment needed for approval processes - and I doubt that the Nation of China is gonna call in international favors for a few small companies that don't really need the market anyway - They'll save that type of influence for negotiating things like Oil and Carbon Emissions - Not e-cigs - Heck - even good ole PM would still be making a fortune without the US market -

[WILDJC]

what they are going to do with their e'cigs and all if that ban gets passed?
Looks like they have some big factories, and USA is a pretty big chunk of business.
I'm wondering, since we owe China a trillion or so bucks, how much pressure can they put on the gov here? I mean if someone loaned me that much money, I'd be really really really nice to them.

I'm in contact with a Chinese distributor, and ban or no ban, they will continue to do business with the USA. They never had a problem with Customs except for a few inspections which ultimately still reached the US.

[koko]

Interesting. You what they say in the manufacturing biz "If we design it, Japan will perfect it, & China can make it for a penny".

lol. too funny, but so true!