“Big Tobacco” and E-cigarettes — Win or Fail?
A lot has been said, pro and con, about Big Tobacco entering into the e-cig marketplace. Many believe that they should butt out; others see it as a boon to the community — more visibility, more American R&D and devices, more e-liquid choices. One of my vaping cohorts joined me the other day for after work adult beverages and rumination began….
“Man, this whole deal with Lorillard buying up Blu and Philip Morris going after juice vendors chaps my hide,” Darren (and I use his real name because sometimes he’s a tool) said. “The last thing we need is for these Big Tobacco punks to ruin our gig as vapers.”
I grabbed the last hot wing from the appetizer platter before he could reach it to teach him a lesson and said, “Where’s your mother tonight? I’d like to call her and tell her she failed miserably as a parent. What’s the problem with your so-called Big Tobacco getting into the e-cig business anyway?”
“For one thing, smart guy, they’re big corporate scum. They have all these high-powered lobbyists greasing palms in Washington and screwing everyone over every chance they get. Can you imagine what their e-cigs would be like?”
This from a guy who moments before cursed like a sailor on shore leave in the Philippines because the second carto out his new box of five had no air holes punched into the base…and the same guy who complained because his new clearomizer made his Boba’s Bounty taste like burnt urine. “So remind me again what you do for a living?” I asked.
“You know what I do. I’m a commercial real estate agent,” he said
“And doesn’t the real estate industry have almost as many lobbyists working for it as the next three professions combined?”
“Yeah, but we have to…the government has so many Byzantine laws and regulations and restrictions that you have to have people looking out for you in the Beltway .”
“Well, now isn’t that special…your industry HAS to have lobbyists, but tobacco manufacturers are scum for trying to do the same thing….” I muttered in between sips of Foster’s. “So let me ask you this…what if tomorrow I opened a real estate brokerage firm called ‘Southeby’s’ and started making insinuations I was your company, Sotheby’s? What would you guys do?”
“We’d shut your punk rear-end down in a skinny minute,” he said proudly. We’d protect our name and reputation.”
“You mean like the makers of Marlboro and Winston did with people selling ‘Marboro’ and ‘Winson’ e-juices?”
He was about to say “That’s different!” but thought wiser of it…. “But why should they be getting into the e-cig business? They’re gonna ruin it, I’m telling you. You wait and see, radio-boy.”
“For the same reason Sotheby’s, the very outfit you work for, branched out of the auction business and got into real estate. Did that ruin the real estate market? No. So quiet down and order another round.”
After our waitress, who was too cute by half, brought us our drinks and the check, I leaned across the table and said “Look…see that carto you through over there? How many duds have you bought in the past 3 months?”
“I dunno, maybe a dozen total.”
“And weren’t you the one whining to me yesterday about the clearos you bought that sucked? Listen, I’m not saying that these guys are gonna revolutionize the vape world, but who knows? But the fact of the matter is, when was the last time you bought a pack of cigarettes that didn’t have tobacco in them? Or when was the last time you bought a pack and the filters were in the middle instead of the end? When was the last time you bought Marlboro Reds and the cigarettes inside were menthol?”
“Yeah, alright…but I still don’t like it.”
“I know you don’t, fella,” I said reassuringly. “It’s hard to like companies with billions of dollars at their disposal spending it on R&D and improving manufacturing standards and mass-production techniques.”
“Alright, already, shut up already, before I stick you with the check.”
I calmly leaned back and lifted the ice-cold Foster’s to my lips and didn’t say another word. My mother has her issues, but I can say with great sincerity that she did not raise a fool who gets stuck with checks.
These are the type of analogies that needed to help people understand the bigger picture, as long as the Big Tobacco companies don’t add harmful chemicals to e-liquid I’m all for them entering the e-cig industry
You tell him radio-boy!
I agree that there are a great deal of improvements that could potentially come out of big-tobacco entering the game. The massive increase in availability will surely be introducing more people to vaping.
I for one would hope to see some of the el-cheapo brands fold due to competition from BT, but I worry that they may make some moves to push some of the middle tier business out of the game.
yayz–comments “ON”—this is such a great post with excellent points. the reality is that big tobacco people are going to need to venture into other areas, because they are losing their market. yes, many of the ejuice companies out there, atm, are mom and pops—but they too will be able to utilize the benefits of big wigs hitting the market.
good point slap!! i can still say that i am a little scared about BT coming in….. either way my hopes are that the quality goes up, price goes down and the little juice vendors stay afloat, or give me their recipes lol
I for one am looking forward to the new Vape Overlords. :-p
Glad I could finally say that I really enjoyed reading this post.
You are a very talented writer Slap, I really enjoy reading your Blogs. I do agree that some quality control would be great and Big Tobacco does have a history of providing cigarettes that burn right, are packaged right and are the right flavor in the right pack. But what other unnecessary chemicals did they add to them to make them more addictive? Yes, Big Tobacco has the money and influence to fight to keep e-cigs legal and to fight for FDA Approval but won’t they fight for what is best for them. I am a little worried that they will come in and take over. Will they agree to laws making e-liquid illegal, will they agree to laws only allowing menthol and tobacco flavors, will they fight for laws only allowing pre-filled cartomizers thus locking Vapers into continuing to buy disposable products from them. So instead of purchasing a carton of Marlboro from them I will be purchasing a carton of Flue Cured Marlboro Cartos from them. I hope I’m wrong.
I say bring it…..Could use the greasing of the palms power they have…
The only change in vaping that I fear is a Sin Tax. I was a slave to taxes that came along with big tobaccos products.
carton of Flue Cured Marlboro Cartos
ha! goodness i hope that this won’t happen!! thing is if they try putting all of the juice vendors out, those that live close will probably be able to still buy it…
thanks
Thanks, Mrs. Caset; I used to write for Money years ago. But then I had editors to check for spelling and improper sentence structure. :-p Sadly, you can’t edit these things once they go live!
Tiff, I doubt BT will close down any juice makers; maybe run the prices down some, which may make a few drop out, but it’s too easy for anyone to make even a half-assed juice.
Limited Edition Camel Joe Batteries!!!
good blog.
Good read. I say go for it!
Nice
That commercial was stupid. “The Beautiful Jennifer Aniston”, what was the point of that voice over? Yep, stupid.
You folks are certainly fortunate never to have been on the other side of an issue with big tobacco. They “own” 46 of the top state law enforcement officials out of 50 states and when they say jump (nothing says jump like witholding a few hundred million in msa payments the states have already spent) the State Attorney Generals all fall to their knees at the same time and fight over the zipper. They are corrupt, soulless and deception is always the rule, and they have more money than many states and nations. If there is a devil, its either them or they have him on their payroll. PLEASE never buy a big tobacco product made by Phillip morris, RJR lorrilard ….buy from anyone else, just not them. Look into this on your own, it is for real at least 10 times as bad as buying ‘blood diamonds’ from Africa. I just hope that no one else ever has to get a ‘ha ha’ message from altria about being indicted for something you did not do, BEFORE the official notice from the federal government is even sent. SO FU big tobacco punks and everyone who knowingly promotes your elite money power binge by buying your tobacco or nicotine products. And, buy a clue, the Marlboro red was the first nicotine crack pipe, designed to give the maximum nicotine blast, consistently. They were just issued several e CIG nicotine blast patents this week. The consumer is the only defense line left to restrain them in any way, so buy anything else made by anyone else, just don’t buy anything from those elite assholes.