FDA Would you still buy your favorite vape stuff if BT acquired those manufacturers?

[Gato del Jugo]

Whether it be your favorite PVs, your favorite toppers, your favorite e-liquids..

If those smaller manufacturers ended up being part of the "chosen few" & got gobbled up by BT due to expensive & overwhelming FDA regulations, what would you do?


And if you would no longer purchase anything from them at that point.. would enough customers letting those companies know well ahead of time maybe influence their possible desire to be potentially acquired by BT someday, enough so that those companies would perhaps consider alternate plans well in advance?


I understand that these smaller companies might be going through enough BS & stress as it is these days since the proposal came out, but BT will be courting some of them (if not already) & it will probably be pretty tempting.. At the same time, us reminding them of not only the consequences of selling out to BT, but also of the fact that many owners still love their businesses & their independence & their customers, still enjoy what they do every day, and that they're employing a great group of people -- which odds are, would all disappear once in the hands of BT -- would perhaps help us keep things more in our (the consumers') favor during this tug-of-war..


Really tired right now, so I hope at least some of that makes sense..

Just looking to attack this from any & all angles, here...

 

[Gato del Jugo]

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-provari-if-big-tobacco-acquired-provape.html

 

[Harlen]

No"...........

 

[Gato del Jugo]

No"...........

That seems to be the consensus over there, too..


I really don't mean to be mean or anything, but these companies need to realize that it's not really an option & they need to fight like hell...

And I'm not picking on ProVape.. They're doing what they think is good for them, as they're a member of SFATA.. But every vape company needs to erase that thought in the back of their mind that they could always possibly sell out to BT in the end -- because with that still there, I don't think they'd fight as hard as they could & should...

 

[aubergine]

It's moot, I believe, as businesses not acquired by BT under the new regulations wouldn't survive to sell "my favorite vape stuff." That's the whole problem.

If they were actually still selling my favorite stuff, yes, I guess I would, especially since all of the other small businesses would have "exited" (read, 'been disappeared'), which is also in that scenario.

Because it'd be the only option.

Barring a black market - is that what you're talking about? Or do you believe that those companies would be able to to continue under the new regs?

Maybe I'd quit nic altogether rather than support BT in any way if it came to that, but I doubt that I'm that principled in actual practice.

 

[Gato del Jugo]

It's moot, I believe, as businesses not acquired by BT under the new regulations wouldn't survive to sell "my favorite vape stuff." That's the whole problem.

If they were actually still selling my favorite stuff, yes, I guess I would, especially since all of the other small businesses would have "exited" (read, 'been disappeared'), which is also in that scenario.

Because it'd be the only option.

Barring a black market - is that what you're talking about? Or do you believe that those companies would be able to to continue under the new regs?

Maybe I'd quit nic altogether rather than support BT in any way if it came to that, but I doubt that I'm that principled in actual practice.

It's more the notion that these companies need to fight this hard, before it even gets to the possible acquisition point..

Because odds are, getting bought out by BT would become a death sentence for them.. Sure, the owners would pocket a nice jackpot pay-day.. but that's the only good thing to potentially come out of it.. If you have any personal experience with a company getting acquired, you know what comes next in the following year or so -- and it's never anything good.. Even the original owners would most likely be miserable, if they were "fortunate" enough to stay on for a while as BT slaves...

Give it a few more years after that, and at best, the product might be lucky enough to retain its original name.. Other than that, things would be unrecognizable.. And I wasn't kidding around about a low-quality Chinese-made ProVari under BT control...

Even Lorillard already does that with blu.. shipping USA-made Johnson Creek e-liquid over to China, having them fill blu cartridges, then sending the pre-filleds to the US.. If Lorillard gobbles up JC, you think the company's operations would remain in the US? Heck, even JC already sends their juice to China so they can fill up JC's own pre-filleds over there!


Anyway, of course there could be potential deep-pocketed suitors out there other than BT, who might do a better job handling their investments for the good of the vapers & the industry, or at least not inflict as much damage...

 

[AgentAnia]

BT is an industry; corporations exist to make profit, and their methods (IMO, as always) are no more or less dishonest or unethical than the pharmaceutical, oil, food processing, etc. industries. (And at this point, I'd say they stand heads above the public health and tobacco control industries in the ethics and honesty departments.)

That being said, BT is on my snit list because they are actively trying to subvert the ecig industry and take it over on their own terms. This is beyond the pale, so no, I would go to China or the black market before I'd buy products from an ecig company that's sold out to BT.

 

[DrMA]

Don't worry, FastTech won't be acquired by BT and won't close because of the FDA regs

 

[patkin]

I've bought disposable Njoys and not had a problem with it... not considering them competition with other setups and the best disposable for me but watching theirattempts to destroy the vaping industry as it exists... NO, I would not patronize BT unless I absolutely had no other choice to protect my health by vaping instead of smoking.... IE: I would not cut my nose off to spit my face. My hope though is that, if that's what its going to take to keep the industry alive, smaller mfgers will consolidate to have the funds required to keep this industry going without falling into the hands of BT. If they don't and all that's available to me is black market, then I'll become a criminal for my health's sake. I really, really, hope that various mfgrs are getting together right now to fight and laying their competitive interests aside. I wish we could find out what they're doing. I'm not talking about vendors who just peddle what's manufactured nor those depending on their own juices. But I do wish they would also band together knowing its in their best interests to unite.

 

[Maurice Pudlo]

NO!

Maurice

 

[DeeLeeKay]

No, I do not trust BT to keep the ingredients simple and less addictive.

 

[Jman8]

Absolutely, yes.