E-Cigarettes vs. Big Tobacco

E-Cigarettes sales have exploded over the last few years and now make up a multibillion dollar industry. Whilst it is a growing industry, it is still miniscule in comparison to the $80 billion cigarette industry. The rate of growth in the electronic cigarette industry has been astounding often growing year on year by triple digits.

It wasn’t long until the big Tobacco firms took notice of this growing market. Some of the big tobacco firms have moved straight into the market, whilst others have been more hesitant and have observed. Altria group for instance made one of the first acquisitions, buying the popular brand Greensmoke.  They are now aggressively marketing their own brand Markten across the US, alongside Reynolds American pushing their own brand, Vuse. Imperial Tobacco has opted to purchase the world’s most popular ecig brand Blu which puts them in a commanding position straightaway.

I think one of the reasons some of the other firms have been more cautious, is the lack of long term research surrounding e-cigarettes and their long term health implications. Whilst they do not contain tar and any of the carcinogens found in normal cigarettes, they still contain nicotine, PG, VG and flavourings. Nicotine has been extensively researched ,but my worry is the flavourings and how they react to our body when heated to extreme temperatures, as is done in an ecig. Perhaps once some long term studies are published we will see another explosion in sales of ecigs and a bigger push from the big tobacco firms. Until then I think they will be cautious and those who are jumping into the market are taking a big risk, without knowing the full impact of ecigs on our health. If they do turn out to be as good as they sound, then those firms who took the risk and are leading players in the industry will enjoy a massive competitive advantage over their competitors in a market some are touting could eclipse normal cigarettes.

I think ecigs must be healthier than normal cigarettes and hope the long term studies back this up, as If this is the case, millions of lives could be saved by smokers switching to electronic cigarettes not to mention the billions of dollars a year that will be saved in health costs. Tobacco related illnesses put a huge burden on our health systems and if ecigs can reduce this burden, then fantastic.

Author's Note

E-Cigarettes sales have exploded over the last few years and now make up a multibillion dollar industry.