Big Tobacco company buys into vape shop chain

[52anddone]

I just found this. I'll be sure to watch where I buy from now on, as I don't want any of my $$$ going to Big tobacco that might be used to fight vaping as a back door strategy so to speak.

Big Tobacco company buys into vape shop chain - Vaping360

 

[Eskie]

Here's another business news source as to what BT is thinking about right now.
A Power Shift In Big Tobacco | Seeking Alpha

 

[52anddone]

Yeah, I had read an article on the sale of VaporBeast.Com to "Turn Point Brands" about a year ago, 11/18/16 to be exact (I had made a note and stuck it to my monitor so that I would remember NOT to buy from them in the future), but didn't know about Vapor Shark. Thanks for that article Eskie.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I really don't care who owns the vapor site I shop at. If they provide a quality product at a reasonable price and have reasonably good customer service, I'll buy from them.

Economic studies show that boycotts hurt the boycotter more than the boycotted.

 

[52anddone]

I also wonder if "Big Tobacco", with their newly acquired Vape shops and eliquid brands, will go the same route as they did with plain old "in the field tobacco" and start adding chemicals to the eliquids that they have acquired so as to make it more addicting, and carcinogenic in the process. "Big Tobacco" has, afterall, decades of experience in doing that, so they know how to get it done, and they have proven to do it and then telling Bold Faced lies about not doing it to Congress for decades. These companies that sell to "Big Tobacco" are just giving "Big Tobacco" an easy "in" to our escape route from Cigarettes. Very worrisome !!

 

[52anddone]

I really don't care who owns the vapor site I shop at. If they provide a quality product at a reasonable price and have reasonably good customer service, I'll buy from them.

Economic studies show that boycotts hurt the boycotter more than the boycotted.

I'm not saying to boycott them, I'm saying that I make notes and don't buy from them because now that "Big Tobacco" is involved with a certain vape company, or site, I no longer trust them enough to buy anything that they sell. If I don't trust that a vape company, or site, is selling products that are safer than "the cigarettes that I have just come from", then how can I be confident in a company, or site, that is All or In-Part, owned by "Big Tobacco", and will my money then be used against my future vaping habits by the very company or site that I just bought from. The very word "Vape" denotes a safer alternative to Tobacco automatically to us vapers, but if Vape is now owned by Tobacco, then a dark cloud is cast over the landscape, especially for the eliquid. "Big Tobacco" is trying to corner, or destroy, the whole Vape Market, that is their goal, otherwise why would they be getting into it ?? For our health ?? Sure, they will give us The Best Customer Service, The Most Selection, they might even send with our order a "Half Off" coupon on our next purchase of a 12-pack of Beer, or open a coupon store so we can buy their merchandise at reduced prices. Oh wait, they have already done that last one. I just don't trust them, I can't, my life depends on it.

I'm not talking about what they do now as much as what the vape industry will look like in a decade or two. This it "Big Tobacco's" start, and some members of the vape industry are opening their doors to them right now, and letting them in with open arms. I just hope that the vape industry, as a whole, will not "live to regret it".

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I totally understand where you're coming from.

Big Tobacco companies are slaves to their shareholders and chances are good that everyone reading this who has a retirement fund is a shareholder in one or all of them. If shareholder wealth can be increased by investing in tobacco alternatives more than would the corner and destroy approach, then Big Tobacco will do what every other publicly traded company would and follow the money.

The Avail and Vapor Beast acquisitions are just examples of management doing what the shareholders expect them to do. As long as those guys continue to stock and sell the stuff I want, I'll give them a chance.

 

[halbgott]

It looks like a unmentionable type of device already available. For me on the rare visit to a vape shop this would make me choose another store. It's a bad business decision on the owners.

On the tobacco side maybe someone can chime in here. I've grown wild tobacco before, but with the amount needed for market I can't see how it's possible to grow that much without pesticides. The plant is a hornworm magnet (those gross green worms on tomato plants).

 

[52anddone]

I'll bet that the tobacco companies are using a sort of "Hybrid" tobacco that will resist any pesticide damage so they can spray away without concern, like Corn that is resistant to "Roundup" so they can spray away without concern, then wash it before they start processing it. Just my guess.

 

[Mazinny]

Here's another business news source as to what BT is thinking about right now.
A Power Shift In Big Tobacco | Seeking Alpha

Holy cow, i didn't realize Iqos has exploded in popularity to such an extent. 12.7 % of Philip Morris net revenue is a huge number. They don't even sell in the U.S. which is a huge market. Two years ago, they were only sold in Japan if i recall correctly. Lots been happening in the industry in the past year that i don't follow the events as much, it seems.

 

[Mazinny]

I just found this. I'll be sure to watch where I buy from now on, as I don't want any of my $$$ going to Big Tobacco that might be used to fight Vaping as a back door strategy so to speak.

Big Tobacco company buys into vape shop chain - Vaping360

Altria sells a cigalike product called MarkTen through its vapor subsidiary Nu Mark LLC. But the vape shops are probably intended to market the IQOS heat-not-burn product, manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI).


This article seems to give another hint that, that's exactly Altria's main aim in the acquisition. I predict that within two years of launch its sales will surpass all vaping sales combined.



Philip Morris outlines its plan for IQOS' introduction in the US

The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing Philip Morris International's proposal to sell IQOS and another to allow it to be marketed as a product that is less riskier than conventional cigarettes. If approved, the Altria unit will have sole distribution rights to market PMI's IQOS in the U.S.


IQOS heats tobacco instead of burning it, which is said to be safer than conventional cigarettes because it prevents combustion and the production of most of the harmful chemicals. Philip Morris International already sells IQOS in key cities in 31 markets outside the U.S.


"IQOS is a unique product, protected by intellectual property, and will provide significant first-mover advantage to Altria with the world's leading heated tobacco product," Altria CEO Marty Barrington said Thursday at the company's investor day.


Approval could come as early as February, and Philip Morris USA is preparing accordingly. It has identified the market it will launch IQOS, as well as those it plans to expand into, Sarah Knakmuhs, Philip Morris USA's vice president of heated tobacco products said in a presentation Thursday.


She didn't disclose the location of IQOS' launch market, though she did say they will be focused in major metropolitan areas. The criteria revolve around the adult smoking population, ideally those who have rejected e-cigarettes, the strength of retail partnerships, as well as the legislative and regulatory environment.

 

[EIHYPI]

Please forgive me if I'm off with this thought process but it seems to me like a good thing that they bought into the vaping industry. We all know that cigarettes will be around forever for the many reasons there are. Now that they bought in to the vaping industry they will fight alongside us to keep vaping alive forever, like cigarettes because they bought into the industry, a bigger fight for us against the FDA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[CMD-Ky]

I hope you are right. My thought is that the companies will manipulate the regulations to approve proprietary systems that ties a vaper to their cartridges and that are closed systems. The companies will then fight tooth and nail to crush all other open systems such as those that I use.

Please forgive me if I'm off with this thought process but it seems to me like a good thing that they bought into the vaping industry. We all know that cigarettes will be around forever for the many reasons there are. Now that they bought in to the vaping industry they will fight alongside us to keep vaping alive forever, like cigarettes because they bought into the industry, a bigger fight for us against the FDA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I hope you are right. My thought is that the companies will manipulate the regulations to approve proprietary systems that ties a vaper to their cartridges and that are closed systems. The companies will then fight tooth and nail to crush all other open systems such as those that I use.

I think they might be initially successful, but it would only be a temporary reprieve so long as the open systems we use remain the most cost effective choice. The individual consumer is prone to making mistakes. An entire marketplace of consumers rarely makes mistakes in the economic long run.

Governments can be influenced to try stopping consumers from making the right choices, but history shows that only the most efficient systems survive.

I got asked recently: "What are you, some sort of anarchist?"

My reply: 'Worse--I'm a Libertarian."

 

[KGB7]

There is an Avail store down the street from me and the rumor was around for over a year.

 

[ScottP]

Please forgive me if I'm off with this thought process but it seems to me like a good thing that they bought into the vaping industry. We all know that cigarettes will be around forever for the many reasons there are. Now that they bought in to the vaping industry they will fight alongside us to keep vaping alive forever, like cigarettes because they bought into the industry, a bigger fight for us against the FDA. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The concern has always been that BT will get into the industry but in order to regain their near monopoly they will actually push for regulations limiting allowed devices to "pod" type systems that they make, limited flavors to tobacco and menthol only, and manufacturing regulations that only they can afford to comply with. Once they have reestablished the monopoly they can push prices up to the point vaping is just as if not more expensive than smoking.

However, with them buying vape shops for their supply chains and distribution, this could as you point out, be a good thing as long as they keep selling the more open devices and don't push for the closed systems. Make no mistake though they are going to be looking for a way to capture as much of the vaping market as they possibly can, by any means necessary.

 

[Eskie]

And just when you thought it was safe to go back in water.......
Big Tobacco returns to television advertising by court order

 

[stols001]

IDK what to think about the tobacco companies anymore, but it's pretty certain they are going to be heavily involved in vaping, regardless of what we do or do not wish. And low prices really aren't in the tobacco company's wheelhouse, really, so my preference would be a separate but equal situation, but I don't think that's going to happen and I continue to stock up on nicotine, which, coincidentally the more I vape, the longer I think I'm going to live.

I kinda had this constant feeling of doom hanging over me the last 18 months I smoked, thanks to my pneumonias, and the steroids, not so much anymore...

Given that the husband is still unlikely to start vaping, I'm getting so's I should specify who that nic goes to in my will or something..... As I no longer have that feeling, but I'm fairly certain I am going to die at some point, seems rather inevitable....

Anna

 

[ScottP]

One thing about life that is for certain, no one is getting out alive.

 

[90VG]

I got asked recently: "What are you, some sort of anarchist?"
My reply: 'Worse--I'm a Libertarian."

And another here...