Truly, Big Tobacco in the United States doesn't know where to turn. Its profits now must come from food divisions and turning developing nations into new smoking sources. Some tobacco companies, however, are test marketing snus with traditional brand names like Camel, Lucky Strike and Marlboro. Then we have this funky Heatbar from PM! Suggestion: Make the end capable of holding a toothbrush and it might sell.
The information that follows was found in days of researching the chances of e-devices being allowed for sale in the US. I think it highly unlikely they will be. Neither Big Tobacco NOR Big Pharmaceutical can profit from a device made in China that vaporizes nicotine liquid.
I found how the nicotine inhaler made it to market. Remember that it went through the same rigorous procedure given all nicotine-replacement products. This is time and money intensive. But to the FDA, these are drug delivery devices -- and they better meet all FDA standards.
On May 5, 1997, the FDA approved the nicotine inhaler, writing "This nicotine replacement product ... delivers its nicotine dose through a cartridge that the person inhales from. The smoker inhales through the mouthpiece and the inhaled air carries nicotine that is absorbed through the mucous membranes of the mouth."
An article at the time in the New York Times noted, "The product, the Nicotrol Inhaler, was developed by Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. but is marketed by the McNeil Consumer Products Company, a unit of Johnson & Johnson." Ah yes, these are the folks funding the anti-tobacco, anti-smoking movement in America (cigarettes, cigars and pipes weren't enough for these fanatics; they're fuming over smokeless tobacco now).
Another article described the inhaler: "The Nicotrol inhaler is a plastic mouthpiece with a nicotine ``plug.'' It allows smokers to inhale vaporized nicotine and satisfy their urge for an oral ``smoke'' while giving them a total of only about one-third of the nicotine in a cigarette. In addition, while it takes smokers about 10 puffs of a cigarette to inhale 1 mg of nicotine, the inhaler requires between 70 and 80 puffs, the company said."
This is the reason the things fail. Who wants to pay $10 a day and still crave a cigarette? Low nicotine is the reason inhalers are only about 3 percent of the nicotine-replacement products sold. But note the following and think of our beloved e-cigs and e-cigars:
"The company overcame FDA and panel member concerns that the device looked too much like a cigarette. Panel members said they were convinced by the inhaler's benefits though they originally found the similarities ``disturbing.'' Pharmacia & Upjohn officials insisted the device is more than a smokeless, tar-less cigarette. The nicotine is absorbed through the mouth and not into the lungs, and the device helps lower nicotine levels and encourages smokers to quit."
Think on the above and tell me the e-smoking products have a snowball's chance in hell of not being banned as soon as the FDA takes notice of them.
