Big Tobacco: Champions of E-Cigs?

[Vego]

I just saw a tv commercial for Blu E-Cigs in prime time - during Law & Order... not a bad lead-in for high viewership. The commercial was well done and seemed professionally made. It was decidedly less gimicky and cheaply produced than the fly-by-night, mail order/infomercial type tv commercials we're used to seeing during late night, grade b movie television. It came off like a smartphone or similar tech type of commercial, making vaping seem hip and modern. It plainly stated at the end that these e-cigs are being sold at Sheetz, which is quite a big chain in the western PA, Ohio Valley market.

My immediate impression was that tobacco giant Lorillard, who has purchased Blu, and caused much consternation in the more conspiritorial wing of the vaping community, by this infusion of advertising dollars into it's newly acquired e-cig division, fully intends to forward the advance of vaping, sell product, make a profit (a beautiful thing, lest we forget), and (hopefully) increase the quality of product by investing big tobacco $$$ in R&D, and increase the customer base and awareness of our beloved cottage industry.

I don't feel big tobacco's incursion into vaping is going to be a bad thing. I'm sure opinions will vary. I'm curious what others still think are the pit falls of big tobacco's move into e-cigs. I just don't see it... as long as this community remains informed, vigilant in identifying shysters and wayward vendors, and keeping any and all company's feet to the fire, like the way we try to do here at ECF and at the myriad vape casts.

In my opinion, big tobacco will be way more of a partner to us in vaping than the antis will ever be, who are mainly partnered with Government, and will be the real culprits in advancing vaping's demise. Of course, Government can and will corrupt everything it touches, and will endeavor to seize control and power with vaping like it does with everything else - and there's no guarantee that big tobacco will not eventually cave in to this kind of pressure; but, as usual, it will be the Government's constant meddling into straight up commerce that will be the catalyst for this corruption. Stinking Government! Provide basic and balanced protections for the people, like quality control and oversight in the safe and sanitary production of e-liquid, and then get the hell out of the way. (yeah... wishful thinking)

 

[EleanorR]

That's an interesting . . . and (dare one hope) promising development.

Although I can guarantee you right now heads are exploding at FDA because of the "cig advertising" ban!

 

[redbucket]

I hope it was for the disposables? I seriously think there is room in the market for a $4 disposable, and the blu disposable is really good tasting. I think the blu disposables are still twice this price, but considering the price of a AA battery, a thin piece of metal, a sponge, and some nicotine.... a big company could do it well for $4 and turn a whole generation of new smokers into new vapors. Don't forget, this whole business assumes new consumers will enter the market. That means targeting young people.

 

[Iffy]

Didn't see the TV commercial... but sure enjoyed the one here!

 

[jkmtwo]

Just my opinion, right or wrong.........

I think that a lot of the had ringing about big tobacco stepping in to our world is overblown, and even foolish.

A few things that I don't think that many get, the thing I have heard the most talked about is the regulatory end, most notably when it comes to juice, that Blu will not be fighting against FDA regulations on juice, the actual problem with that is..........Blu already was against us in that fight anyway.....

Another issue I have heard raised is that this now associates us with big tobacco.........you have to be a total dunderhead if you think that something called an e-CIGARETTE doesn't already pull itself up to the bar right next to big tobacco in the minds of most.

Big tobacco is nothing if not a business, and our biggest enemy is actually big pharma, now we have a very powerful ally in our fight against big pharma, not to say that we should be pleased by this, but hey, the enemy of my enemy.......

The fact is big tobacco wants our money, chantrix and the patch, does them no good, because once people quit, no more money, but a satisfied vaper is a satisfied money spending customer for years to come.

This brings me to juice, I welcome more tobacco companies, the more the merrier, because at some point one of them will recognize the market there is for juice, and again, they will sooner or later figure out something we all know. Slim models are pretty junky, so they will either find ways to improve the tech of the slims, or find a way in to bigger battery mods, thus juice is likely here to stay.

This may be a bit of a rosey outlook, but hey, I'm a dreamer, so its just my opinion.

 

[Vego]

Didn't see the TV commercial... but sure enjoyed the one here!

Iffy, you are truly gifted in the art of subtle sarcasm.

Now please, shhhhhhh... you're going to blow my cover as an agent for Lorillard.

 

[TravTech]

We could sure use BT's big lobbying $$$ in the fight against Pharma. I don't think we could successfully take on either of them on our own.

 

[Vego]

That's an interesting . . . and (dare one hope) promising development.

Although I can guarantee you right now heads are exploding at FDA because of the "cig advertising" ban!

Government... such a bloated, self-righteous, self-important blight on our existance. They'll squeeze industry to the point where lobbyists are nessessary to be employed by business to protect themselves, then they'll blame industry for the apparent cronyism.

 

[Vego]

Just my opinion, right or wrong.........

I think that a lot of the had ringing about big tobacco stepping in to our world is overblown, and even foolish.

A few things that I don't think that many get, the thing I have heard the most talked about is the regulatory end, most notably when it comes to juice, that Blu will not be fighting against FDA regulations on juice, the actual problem with that is..........Blu already was against us in that fight anyway.....

Another issue I have heard raised is that this now associates us with big tobacco.........you have to be a total dunderhead if you think that something called an e-CIGARETTE doesn't already pull itself up to the bar right next to big tobacco in the minds of most.

Big tobacco is nothing if not a business, and our biggest enemy is actually big pharma, now we have a very powerful ally in our fight against big pharma, not to say that we should be pleased by this, but hey, the enemy of my enemy.......

The fact is big tobacco wants our money, chantrix and the patch, does them no good, because once people quit, no more money, but a satisfied vaper is a satisfied money spending customer for years to come.

This brings me to juice, I welcome more tobacco companies, the more the merrier, because at some point one of them will recognize the market there is for juice, and again, they will sooner or later figure out something we all know. Slim models are pretty junky, so they will either find ways to improve the tech of the slims, or find a way in to bigger battery mods, thus juice is likely here to stay.

This may be a bit of a rosey outlook, but hey, I'm a dreamer, so its just my opinion.

It would be so great if you could take Government completely out of the picture, and watch Big Tobacco and Big Pharma duke it out. I'm sure in the end, they'd all make money, and we'd all still have the freedom to decide on our own what's best for us.

 

[Medieval Barber]

I agree with everyone's point, but in a way its good that it was advertized because the more exposer vaping gets its good, if big tabac gets involved (I don't like it am for the little guy) but it becomes more well known and would have to deal with only big pharm, because the tabac companies would have there hand in it and the lobbies to influence discussion in congress. Big pham is terrible anyway vitamins don't help at all but buy our drugs. getting off my soap box now.

 

[six]

I have nothing against big tobacco. I made my own bad decisions. They didn't force me to do anything.

Also, no matter how we slice it, the nic we use is a tobacco product. There is no realistic way to get worthwhile yields of nicotine extracted from things like eggplant and tomatoes.

It's a bummer that any of the harm reduction products get lumped in by the antz and others with traditional tobacco products and that's going to be double tough to change with or without big tobacco getting directly involved with owning/building/selling e-cigs. However, with a lack of a well funded trade association for e-cigs and e-cig related products, big tobaccos lobbying power may well mean the difference between e-cigs being banned near term vs e-cigs being available long term.

 

[Xaiver]

My only reservation about Big Tobacco becoming involved with this side of things is this: E-Liquid.

As it is, it's pretty much additive free. Mostly wherever you order from, you get: Nicotine diluted to your strength, PG/VG at announced percentages, flavoring(s) of your choice and possibly some sweetener/sourer/etc.

Big tobacco wouldn't see that as profitable, it's not addictive. Outside from the nicotine, which - lets be honest - isn't resposible for most of the cigarette addiction. The tobacco in a cigarette has been refined and re-programmed to be as addictive as possible. The 'strong addiction of nicotine' is only a fraction of what's in a cigarette.

When I was still a smoker, I tried to switch to smoking pipe tobacco of a natural variety, and I always 'needed' a cigarette right after, unless I made myself sick from the other stuff. That's what they'll do to the liquid eventually, or try to.

That's the part of it that makes me worry.
-X

 

[bnrkwest]

I think we all have a love hate affair with the BT. For years we as smokers funded BT, the mansions, the lawsuits, the fancy cars, and on and on. Yep we smokers funded BT and we are ticked off. BT ruined our quality of life, granted our choice to smoke, but we all tried hard to quit thru the years, but the hook was in. BT laughed all the way to the bank. Our Nirvana was/is the ecig, pure little invention so far removed from BT, we loved it! We still love the ecig in all it's many shapes and sizes, colors led ash tips and led read outs, etc. because it helped us divorce ourselves from BT. Now BT is in the ecig business, sort of like having your ex move right next door and want to join in your barbecue party. So yes we get a bit peeved over this and we don't want ecigs to be linked to BT, we want it to be separate from the tobacco giants, now we have them in the party. It feels sort of uneasy and does not make us comfortable. So it is an odd relationship for sure! bnrk

 

[joey16]

hey guys, i think i may have found the tv ad

blu Electronic Cigarette TV Commercial - blu e-cigs National TV Commercial - YouTube

 

[jkmtwo]

I think we all have a love hate affair with the BT. For years we as smokers funded BT, the mansions, the lawsuits, the fancy cars, and on and on. Yep we smokers funded BT and we are ticked off. BT ruined our quality of life, granted our choice to smoke, but we all tried hard to quit thru the years, but the hook was in. BT laughed all the way to the bank. Our Nirvana was/is the ecig, pure little invention so far removed from BT, we loved it! We still love the ecig in all it's many shapes and sizes, colors led ash tips and led read outs, etc. because it helped us divorce ourselves from BT. Now BT is in the ecig business, sort of like having your ex move right next door and want to join in your barbecue party. So yes we get a bit peeved over this and we don't want ecigs to be linked to BT, we want it to be separate from the tobacco giants, now we have them in the party. It feels sort of uneasy and does not make us comfortable. So it is an odd relationship for sure! bnrk

The "hook" was put there and kept there by every smoker, no tobacco company ever kidnapped anyone and put a cig in their mouth.

I guess I'm weird in that I don't hate big tobacco, they were a business, that business made a product that I thoroughly enjoyed, and every single pack I ever bought from 12 to 32 years old had a label on it that told me these things would kill me. It never mattered. The government propaganda machine has brainwashed most to believe that we need them to protect us from big bad tobacco, but notice how that now that they have gotten taxes sky high on a pack of cigarettes that we never hear about it anymore? Where are the government hearings? Why is it still legal if they want to protect us?

I refuse to turn my responsibility over to the idiots in DC, I knew what I was doing, and I loved it. Big tobacco did me no harm.

 

[Wackyjak]

BT isn't stupid. I can see it now, FDA certified e-cig juice only. Large fee for licence to make juce and get it certified. Bottles of taxed juice on the store shelf instead of cig's. Bootleggers steeping tabacoo and making juice.

just a little fun here.

 

[Harrykel]

I have a family member who works in R&D for one of the three top BT companies. In the 80s his entire family was smoking ecigs made by the R&D dept. They wouldn't produce them for the public because it would have been an acknowledgment that their main product was life threatening.

I love the ecig producers: they remind me of small farmers and my years as a dairyman. I hate to think of BT and the FDA destroying them. They've taken care of us and put everything on the line to do so.

In my years in advertising in NY for one of the big 5, I had to do analog advertising. I can tell you first hand that BT is duplicitous, conniving, and works actively to market to young people, even children. One client was making a little game that could go with a pack of cigarettes: Farmer Jones Gets His Tobacco To Market. Everyone--I mean everyone--says this stupid little game was designed for adults. Also, no one was allowed to object to working on BT business. So if your mother or father or spouse died of lung cancer you still had to promote cigarettes. I bucked this rule for employees working in my department. Because I ran good margins--really good--I could get away with it.

When BT takes over ecigs, we will end up paying more for our product than analogs would cost: specialty items and taxres!

 

[wv2win]

Time will tell, but history informs us that BT will do whatever is good for their bottom line regardless of whether it is good for those of us who vape. I can easily see them conspiring with the FDA to mandate eliquid in sealed cartridges only at 2mg to 4mg strengths only. And in the physical size that only fits Blu batteries. I also doubt that they will ever move into the "better battery" model of personal vaporizers. That would be admitting that their Blu product is the piece of crap that we all know it to be. I hope I am wrong.

 

[Squish]

Interesting thread. I agree that there could possibly be benefits to this...but I also very strongly believe that BT is corrupt and greedy. They absolutely do not care about anything but the bottom line. Sure we made the choice to smoke, but they push that choice in deplorable ways. Don't think that just because they can't advertise/sell to children in North America that they don't do it where they legally can do as they please. Don't believe me? Check out The Tobacco Conspiracy on uTube. But you didn't know that in Africa you have to walk a mile for clean water, but only a few meters for cigarettes.

Edit: Support your local vaping suppliers and boycott Blu!

 

[bnrkwest]

The "hook" was put there and kept there by every smoker, no tobacco company ever kidnapped anyone and put a cig in their mouth.

I guess I'm weird in that I don't hate big tobacco, they were a business, that business made a product that I thoroughly enjoyed, and every single pack I ever bought from 12 to 32 years old had a label on it that told me these things would kill me. It never mattered. The government propaganda machine has brainwashed most to believe that we need them to protect us from big bad tobacco, but notice how that now that they have gotten taxes sky high on a pack of cigarettes that we never hear about it anymore? Where are the government hearings? Why is it still legal if they want to protect us?

I refuse to turn my responsibility over to the idiots in DC, I knew what I was doing, and I loved it. Big tobacco did me no harm.

The hook was the tobacco companies making analogs more addictive which has been proven they did that to make us more hooked. It made quiting that much harder. I do hate BT for doing that. I forget the name of movie about BT that is based on a true story, Russel Crowe played in it, worth watching. BT is not our friend. bnrk