Tuesday, January 28, 2014

All the High Rollers are in Vegas, Betting on the Future of Electronic Cigarettes

Booming sales and better products are attracting the big tobacco companies to the electronic cigarette industry.

On the first night of the annual January consumer electronics show (CES) in Las Vegas, an upper-class crowd sat on the all-white furniture, dressed in business suits and puffing on e-cigs. The Marquee pool deck at the Cosmopolitan hotel is heated by lamps along with Jacuzzis and lined by cabanas with walls made of Plexiglas. The Cosmopolitan sells wine at $1,500 bottle to its more average-looking guests. Vapor Corp sponsored the decadent scene at the event.

CEO of Vapor Corp, Kevin Frija, encouraged his employees to pass out coffee and chocolate flavored e-hookahs while he puffed on an e-cigar at the back of the party. “Vaping is one of those new disruptive technologies that could very well overtake the tobacco business and tobacco companies,” he says absently -- and his boastfulness is warranted.

In 2013, even though the health implications of the product are still under debate, the sales of e-cigs more than doubled. Regulations on e-cigs by the Food and Drug Administration are expected any day now. However, the industry is not waiting or procrastinating. E-cig-makers are improving their products rapidly and are starting to innovate like technology companies, outfitting their devices with Bluetooth, fingerprint scanners, microprocessors, and soon, gyroscopes.

At CES last year, e-cigs were peddled in an obscure corner at the event, where the show stuffs all its D-grade wares, but this year things are different. RJ Reynolds’ vaping division for the first time rented a prominent spot in the convention center.

The company’s product, VUSE, is currently only sold in Colorado, where it is the most popular e-cig on the market. However, RJ Reynolds Vapor Company plans to start selling it nationwide by mid-year. RJ Reynolds has also started a TV ad campaign for VUSE, since there are no regulations against advertising, the way there is for tobacco.

Altria, which owns Philip Morris, has also entered the market with its MarkTen line of e-cigs, so RJ Reynolds is not the only big tobacco company in the game. In April of 2012, Lorillard also anteed in when it acquired the Blu brand.

About CanadaEcigs.ca

Canadian ECig Reviews (http://www.canadaecigs.ca) was established in 2012 with one goal in mind and that is to bring attention to the growing electronic cigarette industry within Canada and to sort through the myriad of suppliers who have recently flooded the Canadian market place. Learn more about e cigarette canada, visit the website today.

 


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