Does it bother you that BIG TOBACCO owns BLU?

[NicksCloud]

I used to be a BLU customer. I found it convenient to be able to buy cartridges at my local grocery store, pharmacy or Wal-Mart. I loved the cool charging pack with the silly social feature that actually works. But when I discovered that Lorillard bought them and refuses to refer to them as a smoking cessation tool (and would censor any post of the Facebook fan page referring to them as such back then), I quit using them.

First, Lorillard who makes Newport cigarettes, has a powerful lobby group but are not helping CASAA or other vaping advocates. What they are doing is trying to HELP make electronic cigarettes fit into the same category as tobacco products in the eyes of the FDA. Is that something we as e-cig users should be supporting?

 

[stevegmu]

No, doesn't bother me one bit. If they improve their product, I'll try them again...

 

[Elizabeth Baldwin]

Yes. It's why I bypassed the entire cigalikes and went straight to more advanced gear and juices. I'm not buying anything from Big tobacco. They got a bunch of my money at over 400 a month for over 20 years.

 

[NC_Fog]

Just this past week there was a Bill signed into law that taxes e-liquid at a rate of $.05 per ml here in N.C. This was proposed by RJR with the blessing from Lorrollard/blu. Yep, you heard that right. They went to the lawmakers and said to tax us. Only thing is, vapers will be paying the tax, not them.They would like nothing better than to see e-liquid taxed equivalent to a pack of cigarettes and only available in sealed containers(cartomizers/tanks). They tried this in Oklahoma last year but failed. Is your state next?

I'm trying to encourage folks to not purchase e-cig related items from BT. You are only giving them even more money/support to use against the vaping industry via the government. BT has no business in the vaping industry!

 

[NicksCloud]

Just this past week there was a Bill signed into law that taxes e-liquid at a rate of $.05 per ml here in N.C. This was proposed by RJR with the blessing from Lorrollard/blu. Yep, you heard that right. They went to the lawmakers and said to tax us. Only thing is, vapers will be paying the tax, not them.They would like nothing better than to see e-liquid taxed equivalent to a pack of cigarettes and only available in sealed containers(cartomizers/tanks). They tried this in Oklahoma last year but failed. Is your state next?

I'm trying to encourage folks to not purchase e-cig related items from BT. You are only giving them even more money/support to use against the vaping industry via the government. BT has no business in the vaping industry!

Thank you for sharing this information. Big Tobacco wants e-cigarettes to work as long as they manufacture them, they do NOT want us using our own juices or eGo devices, VV/VW and mechanical mods, etc. They want it there way or no way. That's scary.

 

[stevegmu]

Thank you for sharing this information. Big Tobacco wants e-cigarettes to work as long as they manufacture them, they do NOT want us using our own juices or eGo devices, VV/VW and mechanical mods, etc. They want it there way or no way. That's scary.

That's kind of the whole point of any business- dominate the market with their product...

 

[NicksCloud]

Quite true steve

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[Erncig]

I don care who owns what.

Just give me what I want and I'll give you my money.

Nobody forced you to smoke, people should stop trying to "get back at" BT, its kind of pointless.

 

[NC_Fog]

I don care who owns what.

Just give me what I want and I'll give you my money.

Nobody forced you to smoke, people should stop trying to "get back at" BT, its kind of pointless.

The point I brought up has nothing to do with getting back at BT. It has everything to do with control and taxes(and they are lobbying the government to do it for them). They want nothing more than e-liquid to be taxed at the same rate as cigarettes. That means here in North Carolina that $20.00 30ml bottle would have a tax of $76.80 added to it. Cigarette sales are plummeting and they want the playing field equal. I just hope folks can get e-liquid in the future(pre-filled sealed cartomizers anyone?). Folks may not care right now, but they will in the future. I'm glad that I'm prepared.

 

[NicksCloud]

The reality it's that companies like Blu want the entire market regulated, which would eliminate all e-juice sales, mods, RBA's, etc under the guise of these products being too dangerous for the consumer to handle on there own.

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[Giraut]

I don care who owns what. Just give me what I want and I'll give you my money.

You're okay with buying products from unrepenting mass murderers provided they sell what you want? Well, mmkay...

Nobody forced you to smoke, people should stop trying to "get back at" BT, its kind of pointless.

Don't be disingenuous. By that logic, drug pushers are entirely free of blame for selling to junkies, and you know full well it's not true. Yes, the first cigarette was entirely my fault, but the blame is shared on the tens of thousand subsequent ones I've smoked during the following 25 years. The discussion over who's to blame for maintaining somebody addicted has been rehashed over and over already. That particular horse has already been beaten to death many times over.

At any rate, regardless of whether it was my fault or theirs, like someone said, they've had enough of my money already. I'd rather give it to a more worthy bunch.

 

[Lurch]

I have never used Blu, and probably never will. Started with an ego batty and EVOD tanks, have since moved up to a Tesla and Aero tanks. If they want to invest money improving the vape experience, go for it...

 

[wv2win]

That's kind of the whole point of any business- dominate the market with their product...

As any intelligent person would realize, it is one thing to dominate the market by providing a better product than your competition and that will attract customers to your product. That is good for any industry. BT wants to dominate the market through federal legislation that favors their inferior product over smaller independent business. That is not good for this or any industry.

 

[LimitedEdition]

If the eCig industry goes to BT, what is to stop them from adding other ingredients that increase our addiction as they did with analogs?

 

[Erncig]

You're okay with buying products from unrepenting mass murderers provided they sell what you want? Well, mmkay...

Umm yes I am, and it seems everybody here was as well since we all gave them our money for years and years. I'm not niave to think that whoever I buy from is going to make any difference what so ever. If a BT company sells a superior ecig I will buy from them.

The discussion over who's to blame for maintaining somebody addicted has been rehashed over and over already. That particular horse has already been beaten to death many times over.

Umm cigarettes are a legal and safe prodouct (short term)...entirely different to drug dealers. The fault is entirely on the smoker. I'm pretty sure packs have warnings on them, don't they.

You're welcome to give your money to whoever you like, but to refuse to buy ecigs from BT just because your angry that they sold you cigarettes (which you chose to buy) is ridiculous.

A man must take responsibility.

 

[skimmer02]

Big Tobacco is not the friend of the vaper or vape industry. If they could make this all go away, they would do so swiftly and with great delight. But they can't, so their next best option is to gain control of it. I will not purchase any product from a Big Tobacco company ever again. I will quit vaping on the day the only vape product is provided by Big Tobacco. You're right, a man must take responsibility, and that's the responsibility I take.

 

[NicksCloud]

If the eCig industry goes to BT, what is to stop them from adding other ingredients that increase our addiction as they did with analogs?

That is an excellent point. When I was using Blu, I was fairly active on the company Facebook page and the one thing the company constantly did was correct posters when they would praise Blu as a smoking cessation tool.

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[Anthem13]

I think everyone has a great point, but even if they try to taxes e-liquid. They really can't becuase, the simple fact. DIY. It's not like we are growing tobacco leafs in our back yard. Most of the ingredients in juice is made from the basic stuff you can get at stores or even online. They forget there are states like Montana and Oregon, etc. Who still charge state tax. So someone could smarten up and just buy the stuff to make juice open a store online and sell out of those states. The juice would be tax free. The only cig tax we get is if the manufactures raise the prices cuss of taxes. Yet its still not much.

 

[NicksCloud]

It looks like RJ Reynolds (Marlboro) is buying out Blu: Reynolds American and Lorillard To Merge | VAPE News Magazine

Have you signed the new CASAA petition yet? I want you all to take a look ...

•At what your vaping with right now
•What devices you are using
•What flavors you like....and how many choices you have
•What strengths (MG) you are using

Then go to your local drugstore, supermarket etc .. take a look at the e-cig offerings like Blu and Insyde.

That will be your choice if this goes through and you will be lucky to find anything as high as 12mg cartridge and your flavor choices will be either Tobacco or Menthol. Yup, that's not too enticing if you like Mothers Milk or Cinnamon Roll flavors! And, at the proposed tax prices they want to charge, vaping will no longer be a way to save money.

Big Pharma & Big Tobacco both need you to continue smoking... and Blu is part of this agenda.

 

[jpargana]

Thank you for sharing this information. Big Tobacco wants e-cigarettes to work as long as they manufacture them, they do NOT want us using our own juices or eGo devices, VV/VW and mechanical mods, etc. They want it there way or no way. That's scary.

The new European TPD was clearly tailored to give the business of 1st generation devices to Big Tobacco. On a silver platter. At the same time, it bans the much more effective 2nd and 3rd generation devices - a business 'they' simply cannot control!

Ironically, some of the arguments used were the old "it mimics smoking" and of course, the old "for the children". Nevermind the fact that 'cig-alikes' mimic CIGARETTES much better than mods, and that by being cheaper, "children" will have less trouble in getting their hands on one of those - just like they do with tobacco nowadays...