Falling down the rabbit hole.

[Erebus]

CAUTION: This is a wall of text. An interesting wall, though.

So, I too am waiting ever so patiently for my Blu order to ship. When all of this hubbub with the shipping delays started, I got a bit curious and poked around the web, looking for information on the company. Ever wonder where Blu got its seed money?

The first step was to do a WHOIS on the site. Interestingly, the site is registered under BLEC LLC. This name also shows up in the affiliate information section of the website. So, what can learn about BLEC LLC? Surprisingly, nothing. Googling "BLEC LLC" returns not many useful results: a link to ecoupons and a link to the affiliate section of blucigs.com. Alright, the site is registered in North Carolina. I went to the North Carolina Secretary of State page where a list of all corporations registered in the state is maintained. Here are the search results for companies starting with "BL":

I'm not allowed to post URLs yet, so google "North Carolina Secretary of State", click the first link, then search by Corporation Name.

Nothing related to blucigs. Also note that it's not a matter of the records not being updated, Blackburn Leasing, LLC is shown as being formed on 7/14/09. Alright, maybe it's registered in another state. I'm not really willing to go and look through all of the states and find where this company was formed.

So, no info there. How about the Better Business Bureau! Searching for the name of the company ("BLEC LLC") doesn't come up with anything. "Blu" doesn't return any useful hits either. Searching for the blucigs website, however, does!

Go to the Better Business Bureau site, search for a company by website, enter the blucigs site

D+, ouch. Well, to be fair it's the shipping issues that are causing the low rating, and the three complaints are listed as being resolved. Ok, new company, having trouble, no biggie.

Now, everywhere else I've seen Blu's address mentioned, it's been a PO box. But, look! The BBB has a street address listed!

500 Archdale Dr
Charlotte, NC 28217-4217

I'd like to note at this point that all of this information is 100% open to the public and provided by means available to anyone.

Alright, now we have an address, let's find out about it. A quick google returns two companies listed at the address. One is a car rental company, the other is a company called AEBN.

NOTE:AEBN sites are very NSFW, don't go searching for them if you're at work, silly

I had never heard of AEBN, so I googled it. Hey! It's a .......... Sweet, I love porn. Doing a street view of the address was a bit strange, as it looks like one hell of an empty building. It seems as though AEBN has moved to a new address and the one listed was old.

So why does the BBB have AEBN's address listed under blucigs.com? Google "AEBN blu" (NSFW results!) and you'll find out why. Yes indeed, AEBN is, at the very least, funding Blu. Maybe they own it, who knows. Is that a big deal? Of course not. I like porn and I like smoking, sounds like a match made in heaven.

Well, it brings up the question: How, in the name of all that is holy, does a project funded by a massive porn distributer run in to such serious, crippling problems? I'm not one to call foul unless there's serious evidence for it, so I'm not going to say there's sneaky sneaky stuff going on here, but damn. Come on porn guys, get on it!

Man, I love the Internet.

 

[Michele]

wow.

That was better than most TV shows...

 

[Erebus]

wow.

That was better than most TV shows...

It was a lot of information and I had to try and keep it entertaining, or else people would bail after the first googling

 

[Moobyghost]

wow.

That was better than most TV shows...

I agree. lol.

 

[GmrJasz]

Nice post. I too have been doing some checks but you uncovered what I was looking for! lol yes it does seem quite curious.

 

[wv2win]

What a great association for personal vaporizers to be welcomed and accepted by the general public. One of the worst performing PV's on the market but with one of the highest profiles and it is possibly funded/operated by a porn distributor.

 

[Michele]

What a great association for personal vaporizers to be welcomed and accepted by the general public. One of the worst performing PV's on the market but with one of the highest profiles and it is possibly funded/operated by a porn distributor.

I wonder what the disclaimer looks like on their box....? *snort*

EDIT: *snort*

 

[Erebus]

Just thought I'd share this bit:

(I still can't post links, arg)
www dot xbiz dot com/news/108260

This article says that Blu and AEBN are indeed separate entities that are working closely together. How it is that AEBN's address wound up on Blu's BBB entry, I'm not sure. If a terrible boredom streak hits me, I'll try and find out

 

[Erebus]

My my, it gets better.

The guy who registered the Blucigs website (I don't want to post his name. Business addresses are one thing, names are another. It's out there if you want to find it.) has registered, get this, 2,454 domains. Here's what's so awesome about it, though: 206 of them are registered under BLEC LLC, that company I can't find to exist. Here's what's also awesome about it: he's used different last names on different domains, but the same email address.

Alright, so what, just someone using an alias online, no big whoop. Or maybe there are two guys with the same first name that share an email address. It's the BLEC LLC sites that are interesting. This company seems to have sprung up in May of 2009 and has since grabbed up a whole bunch of domains.

The fascinating part: They're all registered at the AEBN address, or at a PO Box in Charlotte, NC. That same PO Box is tied to the 888 number for Blucigs (as is the guy's name).

I suppose it's possible that AEBN and Blu are separete entities still, but it's safe to say that AEBN is hosting their website and paying for their phones.

I also found an old interview with the president of blucigs. He seems like a pretty cool guy.

Oh, and don't me started on the weirdness that starts showing up when you look into myluci's website.

 

[RoKeM]

A little further down the rabbit hole, below is the information of the parent company of AEBN.


Data Conversions, Inc

5300 Old Pin Ste 160
Charlotte, NC 28217
Phone704) 529-1600 Website:www-aebn-com
Ads by Google
HP® Official Site shop HP Ink for Superior Quality. 33% of Bargain Inks Fail. Buy Now!
The Kiplinger Letter Economic Forecasts and Trends for Business and Investment Profit.
Package Design ResearchLeverage VR and Emotional measures to Test and Optimize packaging.
The ads are not affiliated with Data Conversions, Inc

Business CategoriesMarket analysis or research in Charlotte, NC
Commercial Nonphysical Research
Data Conversions, Inc Business Information


Data Conversions, Inc is a private company categorized under Market analysis or research and located in Charlotte, NC. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of $1,500,000 and employs a staff of approximately 30.

 

[RoKeM]

Sorry for the adds by google... I ment to clean that up, I cannot post urls yet... sorry

 

[tannerk]

Nothing related to blucigs. Also note that it's not a matter of the records not being updated, Blackburn Leasing, LLC is shown as being formed on 7/14/09. Alright, maybe it's registered in another state. I'm not really willing to go and look through all of the states and find where this company was formed.

Man, I love the Internet.

They are registered in NV, in case you wanted to know

https://esos.state.nv.us/SOSService...ails.aspx?lx8nvq=FhPBqEZ4h6RvtWbDLErJ4w%3d%3d

You can also search for "RAYMOND S COFFMAN", most of the time he goes under "SCOTT COFFMAN"

 

[Erebus]

Nice find, RoKeM. Good on you for digging that up. Looks like they got into some trouble with Vivid a while back Silly porn companies.

And tannerk! Thanks, man. Good find, good find. I wonder what the reason for registering there was? Must have been some financial benefit or something. Coffman seems like a pretty sharp dude from what I can find.

I wonder what the drive was to get into PVs for those guys? I have to imagine, with all of the sites they own that they make a pretty hefty chunk of change every year. Ah well, I guess if you're not growing, you're dying.

 

[911 Dispatcher]

wow.

That was better than most TV shows...

This is better than a day time Maury Show!!!!!

 

[Sad Society]

Domain Names huh? If you do a search on Ebay for an electronic cigarette I ran in to a few people trying to sell website names as high as five thousand dollars. Propably not the same people though if you already have a successful ecig business that is constantly backed up with orders such as Blu. But you never know.

 

[DaBrat]

Be back... going for popcorn!

 

[Tink]

Nice find, RoKeM. Good on you for digging that up. Looks like they got into some trouble with Vivid a while back Silly porn companies.

And tannerk! Thanks, man. Good find, good find. I wonder what the reason for registering there was? Must have been some financial benefit or something. Coffman seems like a pretty sharp dude from what I can find.

I wonder what the drive was to get into PVs for those guys? I have to imagine, with all of the sites they own that they make a pretty hefty chunk of change every year. Ah well, I guess if you're not growing, you're dying.

If for some reason you can't get a business license in your on state or town you can get one in Nevada, or New Hampshire under a DBA, as far as "I wonder what the drive was to get into PVs for those guys?" Maybe "multiple streams of income", just a thought.

More VAPE Please!
Tink