Conversation with RJ Reynolds Rep.

[Thalinor]

I am going to put this post in the lounge as I don’t know where it should really go. I just had a great conversation with a RJ Reynolds rep over the phone that I wanted to pass along to everyone.

I called them because I wanted to find a place that sells Eclipse cigs. I vape 90% of the time now and have gone several month stretches without analogs. With that said there are those times I have a few regular cigs. I have had the Eclipse's (It heats the tobacco vs burning with regular cigs) and loved them, mainly for the flavor. There were several articles I have read that say they are actually worse for you than regular ones, but who really knows. To be honest, I really don't care its more because I just wanted a once in a while treat, not that I plan or regular smoking again.

Anyway, I called to find out where they are sold because I can’t find them anywhere. After the woman provided some basically useless information she asked what I now smoked. I told her I had almost completely switched to e-cigs and she got all excited and started asking a bunch of questions. I did my best to answer them and then mentioned that when I do smoke analogs, it is usually camel crushes because I can tolerate the taste [its odd how after vaping for a while, you seem to lose the liking for analogs] and if i was going to smoke an analog [she got a kick out of the term "analog cig"] I would rather smoke one made by a company that is not actively fighting egics like Phillip Morris is doing.

This is where it got interesting...

She said the following: "yes, from what limited information I have been told, RJ Reynolds has no desire to fight those [ecigs] in fact, one of our product managers was just talking about the company looking into releasing our own electronic cigarette." At this point I tried to get more information out of her but she said “I mean it’s just a rumor around the office” and backpedaled a little.

Take it for what’s its worth… a grain of salt. I am not supporting analogs, or any analog company, I just thought it was very interesting and figured I would pass the information along. Again, don’t want to start rumors, but if this information is true and analog cigarette companies are jumping on board with ecigs, it might mean we would have a major finical backer in the fight against the FDA. On the other hand, a analog cig company backing ecigs could screw us in public rep too. I don’t know that one is a double edged sword.

At least for now RJ Reynolds doesn’t seem to be actively campaigning against ecigs like Phillip Morris is doing. We’ll see if they are still “tolerating ecigs” when they really start losing money because of the ecig, or rather if instead they decide to jump on board the revolution.

 

[maureengill]

Well...we all know that PM has been trying to kill us for sure..shocking. I think it's good that RJR is considering this...if it keeps going they would stand to lose a lot of money by not doing that as PM will.

Maureen

 

[Katmar]

Seems like a double edged sword and a slippery slope. JMHO

 

[Thalinor]

I just had to look it up because I had no idea if they could make nicotine in a lab (synthetically) or if it was only naturally occurring and extracted from tobacco exclusively. From what I just read, which could be wrong too, but it seems that nicotine is pretty much just extracted from tobacco plants. If this is true then you think big analog cig companies would still make a crap load of money off of ecigs; most of us ARE vaping nicotine and the analog cig companies have the market on tobacco farms. It only makes sense that if they switched to ecigs, they could sell there product, which when you get down to it is tobacco. While it would not be in the leaf form, the tobacco they grow would be used to extract nicotine for their ejuice. In the end it may change the way they process their product, but it’s still their product they are selling, so in theory it would not be too much of an industry overhaul.

I just don’t know if that’s a good thing, especially right now with ecig manufactures trying to show they are selling a product nothing like analogs.

 

[innercircus]

I to have enjoyed smoking the eclipse and can't really find them anywhere (I've bought out all of the rite-aids in my area) most of whom can not purchase them anymore.

There is one 7-11 in california that I know of that stocks them and buy them out everytime I visit (about 2 times a year) but they are impossible to find.

However, the news about rjr and other analog companies are getting into the e-cig picture is very exciting to me. The way I see it is that they could put out a quality product for a reasonable amount of money. I'm sure their testing methods and quality measures could/would be an incredible boost to the e-cig community.

I've tried 4 different types now and I can't say I'm overly pleased with any of them. I'm using the Blu now, but again it's not perfect, though it's good enough I suppose. The worst part of this whole thing is the complete over saturation of internet in fake ratings and affiliations.

Is it that hard to find an ecig that's the best of all worlds? hahhaha apparently it is... But thanks for the excellent post! I'm keeping my fingers crossed they get something out soon! I'm open to suggestions on other ecigs too

 

[Tuesday]

I distrust big business