Lorillard purchases Blu E-Cigs

[Placebo Effect]

Lorillard, the third largest manufacturer of cigarettes in the U.S., has announced its purchase of Blu E-Cigs for $135 million in cash.

Blu Ecigs The Leading Electronic Cigarette Company Acquired By Lorillard

To say the least, this is very important news.

 

[Petrodus]

Very interesting ... BT finally jumps into the game.
Smart move ... Why compete when you can buy a successful
well established e-cig company. Lots of implications and possibilities
here.

 

[capt.n.coke]

Wow. I can only wonder where this is headed.

On one hand I can see that Lorillard may have the cash and experience to push a reduced harm product through the FDA.

On the other, this could be the start of a trend where more BT companies move in on ecigs. ecig companies probably cost chump-change in the scale of BT's budget.


-C via mobile

 

[sqirl1]

I got a baaaaaaaad feeling about this........ I don't trust Blu, and now that big tobacco owns them, they're going to do EVERYTHING THEY CAN to screw us over. The Tobacco Control Act was mostly drafted by Phillip Morris to get rid of pesky competition like Djarum, you better believe that Lorillard is going to have secret talks with the FDA to do whatever they can to get rid of companies like V4L. They're going to get Juice banned, Online sales for sure since you can already buy blu at walgreens, now you can be sure they'll be available in just about every store that sells tobacco products meaning online sales just promote competition. Flavors they MIGHT go after, it just depends on how much money they make BT.

Either way, in short what this all comes down to is the FDA WILL regulate these now and they'll do it MUCH faster now that e-cigs are going to be associated with big tobacco.

 

[chinsk]

I think we all knew this was coming at some point in time. I have a feeling we will start to see a lot of things unfolding relatively quickly here.

 

[warlike36]

Who says they wont just shut the doors on there new e-cig company.

 

[Shiryo]

Yeah, I think it's thinking VERY optimistic to view this as a good thing, like them "improving" the outlook of PVs across the globe, etc.

I think it's more of what other big companies do to rising competitors... Buy them out to stay hush and then kill the company.

 

[Retriever]

I think they will just eventually do away with Blu. Maybe not, but a good way to eliminate the competition.

 

[kren]

This is very bad news. Even if Lorillard actually wants to get into the e-cig biz (which I doubt), the best-case scenario for us is regulated products (with all of the chemicals of analogs) at very high prices.

I thought this would happen down the line, but am very surprised at the speed here.

 

[TomCatt]

Very important ... and interesting news

 

[Petrodus]

I doubt they bought Blu to shut it down

If they shut down Blu ... It would we a welcomed wind-fall for all the other
e-cig vendors. 100% of Blu customers would just Google for another vendor.

No one is going to fall on their sword, and go back to tobacco, just because
their favorite vendor is no longer in business.

 

[classwife]

Most interesting

 

[kevbow]

The announcement from Blu Cigs

blu ecigs the leading electronic cigarette company acquired by Lorillard | blu Cigs E Cigarettes

 

[Vocalek]

The Tobacco Control Act places pressure on tobacco companies to come up with modified risk products if they want to stay in the game. Be sure that the plan is eventually to end the sale of traditional tobacco cigarettes, probably by lowering the nicotine content to a level where smokers will stop buying them and look to other sources of nicotine.

I predicted that tobacco companies would get into the act, and that the easiest way for them to get into the business would be to acquire a thriving e-cigarette business, rather than starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel, so-to-speak.

 

[Petrodus]

The Tobacco Control Act places pressure on tobacco companies to come up with modified risk products if they want to stay in the game. Be sure that the plan is eventually to end the sale of traditional tobacco cigarettes, probably by lowering the nicotine content to a level where smokers will stop buying them and look to other sources of nicotine.

I predicted that tobacco companies would get into the act, and that the easiest way for them to get into the business would be to acquire a thriving e-cigarette business, rather than starting from scratch and reinventing the wheel, so-to-speak.

I agree
Its just business ... Nothing personal

 

[Vocalek]

Here is Lorillard's announcement (brief).

Lorillard » Search Results » blu

 

[Shiryo]

Well lets just pray this means that PVs will stay, for the better, and not call for an increase in pricing or prescriptions...

 

[buGG]

wasn't blucigs part of the hon lik/ dragonite patent settlement...something new, something old on the horizon perhaps

 

[Petrodus]

Wouldn't you just love to be a fly on the wall
during their e-cig business plan meeting ?

Hopefully, there are those here who have some
inside connections and can shed some light
on this subject

 

[tica02]

I really hope that this means something good for electronic cigarettes. We need to win a fight here instead of lose it to big tobacco. I think it's a really sad thing that its perfectly fine to die smoking because they get you hooked on it, but finding any way to quit it is wrong. Shame on the FDA and government and big tobacco.

While I don't necessarily think electronic cigarettes should be regulated persay, it might be nice to know what we are ingesting is safe. I order juice from US companies, but I believe nicotine still comes from elsewhere. It would be nice to know that it's safe, though it's obviously safer than smoking.

I have tried every other way to quit under the sun and this is the only thing that's worked for me. I hate to see it stomped all over.