Category: News This Week

R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. will expand distribution of its Vuse digital vapor cigarette nationally in the United States beginning June 23. Selected retail outlets across the country will be carrying Vuse as of that date, and additional stores will be added to the distribution throughout the rest of the year.

“We are proud to expand our distribution of Vuse and offer adult smokers across the nation the most technologically advanced and best-performing digital vapor cigarette on the market,” said Stephanie Cordisco, president of RJR Vapor Co. “Vuse is a game-changer in the e-cigarette category, providing an innovative product that meets the expectations of adult tobacco consumers.”

Designed and assembled in the United States using high-speed automated equipment, Vuse provides a consistent smoking experience, according to RJR Vapor Co. A digital microprocessor works in conjunction with a memory chip to control major aspects of product performance from vapor delivery to battery management.

Since expanding with full marketing support to Colorado in July 2013, and earlier this year to Utah, Vuse quickly became the best-selling vapor product in both states, with high levels of repeat purchase, according to RJR Vapor Co.

The Vuse Solo includes a flavor cartridge in original or menthol, a rechargeable Vuse power unit and a USB charger. Replacement cartridges are sold in packs of two—each Vuse cartridge lasts about the equivalent of one pack of traditional cigarettes. Depleted cartridges and power units can be returned to RJR Vapor Co. through a prepaid mailer available at www.vusevapor.com (access restricted to those age 21 and over) and are recycled free of charge.

E-cigarettes have been included for the first time in official NHS (National Health Service) Scotland guidance aimed at helping smokers quit their habit, according to a story by Lyndsay Buckland for The Scotsman.

The new advice is said to recognize the increased popularity of these devices among people wishing to cut down their use of more harmful tobacco products.

It says that while those using NHS smoking cessation services should be strongly encouraged to adopt licensed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), such as patches and gum, those wanting to use e-cigarettes should not be told to stop if there was a risk they would return to tobacco.

Buckland said that it was believed that in the past some services had turned away those wanting to use e-cigarettes as part of their attempts to quit smoking, meaning they were denied other forms of support offered by the NHS, such as group counselling.

E-cigarettes currently have to meet consumer-product regulations but, under rules agreed by the European Parliament, from 2016 those products for which health claims are made will have to be regulated as medicines, while others will face controls on nicotine content.

“The new guidance in Scotland, produced for those running smoking cessation services by the special health board NHS Health Scotland and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Scotland, focuses on harm-reduction among tobacco users on the road to stopping use of nicotine ­entirely,” the Scotsman story said.

The guidance says there is little evidence currently available on the quality, safety or effectiveness of e-cigarettes. However, it adds, current expert opinion on the limited evidence available suggests that e-cigarette usage is likely to be considerably less hazardous than is tobacco smoking.

Essentra PLC is offering to supply to its customers tailor-made smokeless nicotine products based on Essentra “proofs of concept.”

“The e-cigarette market is growing extremely rapidly, and it is therefore essential that Essentra—not only as a trusted partner to the tobacco industry through its Filter Products and Packaging businesses, but more broadly as an innovator—identifies and responds to the evolving market trends which face our customers in a way that enables us to continue to add value to them,” said Malcolm Waugh, group commercial director.

“We believe that Essentra is well-positioned as a B2B supplier to assist its customers with their requirements in the growing non-tobacco space, and that our ‘proofs of concept’—which can then be tailored to meet individual customer requirements—demonstrate the broad range of solutions which the overall Essentra Group can deliver.”

In a press note, Essentra said that, following extensive research and development, it had developed a number of fully functional and packaged prototypes to showcase to customers. Mainly, these products, which included e-cigarettes, aimed to provide end users with the same smoking experience they would obtain from traditional cigarettes, though they included, too, nicotine-free products.

“… through its range of businesses, Essentra is ideally placed to offer a full-service proposition to customers,” the press note said. “Essentra Extrusion can provide the plastic for the barrel of the product, with the company’s Components business having the capacity either to manufacture or source ancillary components.

“In addition, Essentra Porous Technologies is able to supply the material for the transfer of nicotine (or other liquids or vapors) to the end user while, with its proven abilities in folding carton, tear tape, labels, leaflets and security features, Essentra’s Packaging business can provide an extensive range of solutions.

“Meanwhile, as a trusted partner to the tobacco industry, Essentra Filter Products will continue to make the most of its strong and long-standing customer relationships.”

The Scientific Services division also has played an important role in the new venture.

“With the backing of analytical results from its accredited Scientific Services testing laboratory, Essentra identified a lack of consistency in performance as an issue in the e-cigarette market,” the press note said.

“As a result, one of the company’s critical propositions to customers is that its e-cigarette solutions are not only innovative, but also reliable, and deliver the traditional cigarette equivalent stated on the pack.”

France is preparing to place e-cigarette use on the same legal footing as tobacco smoking with draft legislation that aims to ban vaping in public places, according to a story by Paris-based Anne Penketh for the Guardian, quoting Le Figaro.

The health minister, Marisol Touraine, intends to table the bill on June 17.

The proposed bill comes at a time when e-cigarette stores have been springing up across France, which now has almost 1 million e-cigarette users.

The president of the French Tobacconists’ Confederation, Pascal Montredon, was said to have told the Guardian that Touraine was being unrealistic by modelling her reforms on “Anglo-Saxon” countries such as Australia and Britain, where the cigarette distribution network was completely different to that of France.

The confederation, he said, was pressing for e-cigarettes to be sold solely in tobacconists, but the proposed legislation failed to address this issue.

Touraine’s office apparently did not confirm the report in Le Figaro, but the ministry said that a “national smoking reduction plan” was under consideration.

Zippo Manufacturing Company (ZMC), maker of the Zippo® lighter, and its subsidiary ZippMark, said on Tuesday that they were suing LOEC Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lorillard, for alleged trademark infringement, according to a ZFC press note issued through PRNewswire.

Zippo’s lawsuit, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks to prevent LOEC from selling its e-cigarettes under the brand name “blu” because of Zippo’s ownership of the trademark BLU® for its line of blue-flame butane lighters.

“Despite our attempts to resolve this matter amicably, Zippo has been compelled to seek the court’s assistance to protect our Blu trademarks,” said Zippo president and CEO Gregory Booth.

“Zippo is instantly recognizable because we have long understood the value of our brand and the need to vigorously protect it against use by others.

“Our Blu trademarks are similarly valuable and will be similarly protected.”

Zippo’s trademark infringement claim was said to have come in response to LOEC seeking a declaratory judgment of non-infringement.

E-cigarettes are considerably more effective than over-the-counter treatments such as nicotine gum and patches at helping people to quit smoking, according to a story in The Independent quoting the results of a new study by researchers at University College London (UCL).

One leading expert was quoted as saying it would be “perfectly reasonable” for the devices, which would soon be licensed as medicines, to be prescribed on the National Health Service (NHS).

Despite concerns that the recent rise in popularity of e-cigarettes might be renormalizing smoking, UCL professor Robert West said that these devices had proven to be highly efficient quit-smoking aids, which could “substantially improve public health.”

The UCL study looked at the success rate of nearly 6,000 quitters. Those who used e-cigarettes were 60 percent more likely to report succeeding than either those who tried to quit with over-the-counter nicotine replacement therapies, or those who quit without help.

E-cigarettes were found to be as effective as prescription medicines, but the group of smokers with the highest quitting success rate were those who used free NHS stop-smoking services.

High-voltage e-cigarettes might expose users to increased levels of toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, according to research led by Maciej Goniewicz, Ph.D., Pharm.D., a researcher in the Department of Health Behavior at the U.S.’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI).

The study was published online by Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Some e-cigarettes allow the user to change the voltage of the device to increase vapor production and nicotine delivery; so Goniewicz and colleagues examined the various chemicals in vapors generated from the same e-cigarette but at variable voltages.

They found that when an e-cigarette was operated at lower voltage, the vapors generated contained only traces of some toxic chemicals.

These compounds included formaldehyde, a known carcinogen; acetaldehyde, which is considered a possible carcinogen to humans; and two chemicals known to irritate nasal, lung and/or mucous tissues, acrolein and acetone.

But when the voltage was increased, the levels of toxicants increased significantly.

“These results suggest that some types of e-cigarettes might expose their users to the same or even higher levels of carcinogenic formaldehyde than [does] tobacco smoke,” said Goniewicz.

“Users of high-voltage e-cigarettes need to be warned about this increased risk of harmful effects.”

A new study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health indicates that asthmatic smokers who use e-cigarettes experience an improvement in their asthma symptoms and lung function, even if they remain dual users, according to a leading health expert.

The study (See: Polosa R, et al. “Effect of smoking abstinence and reduction in asthmatic smokers switching to electronic cigarettes: evidence for harm reversal.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2014; doi:10.3390/ijerph110504965.) was the subject of a blog by Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health.

“The study examined 18 smokers with significant asthma who switched to electronic cigarettes,” said Siegel. “Ten of the patients switched completely and eight became dual users (both smoking and using e-cigarettes). Among the dual users, the average cigarette consumption dropped from 22.4 to 3.9 cigarettes per day.

“After one year follow-up, both the ex-smokers and dual users experienced a significant improvement in asthma symptoms and lung function, especially small airways obstruction. Although the improvements in lung function were small, the improvements in asthma symptoms were clinically relevant.”

Siegel said that while the study was preliminary because of the small sample size, it demonstrated that for smokers who were unable to quit smoking using traditional therapies, the use of e-cigarettes might be a viable alternative to help them quit or substantially cut down and might result in improved respiratory health symptoms.

A leading U.S. health expert has said that calls for bans on flavored e-cigarettes are disingenuous in the mouths of those who don’t oppose the addition of menthol to tobacco cigarettes.

Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, last week challenged the position of a group of U.S. senators pushing for a ban on flavored electronic cigarettes.

While the senators said they were concerned about the potential for flavored products to addict young people to nicotine, they had supported an exemption for menthol from the tobacco cigarette flavoring ban, Siegel said. And they were taking no action to remove this exemption or to demand that the Food and Drug Administration ban the addition of menthol to cigarettes.

Later in the week, Siegel pointed to an opinion piece in The New York Times by the president of the American Lung Association, Harold Wimmer, who had argued that e-cigarettes were addicting young people and serving as a gateway to tobacco addiction. Based on that alleged “fact,” said Siegel, Wimmer had argued that e-cigarette flavorings should be banned.

Again, Siegel pointed out that the association had opposed an amendment that would have eliminated the menthol exemption in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

And, he said, the association was not calling also for a ban on flavors in cigarettes that attracted young people—menthol.

Siegel’s blog is at http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/american-lung-association-is-also.html.

E-cigarettes have enjoyed massive growth in the U.S. during the past two years, with sales increasing from $283 million in 2012 to $537 million in 2013, according to new research by Mintel.

In 2013, the market for e-cigarettes was on par with the market for smoking cessation gum, the largest segment of the smoking cessation market.

E-cigarette sales were in sharp contrast to those of the smoking cessation category, which went up by $95 million, or 10 percent, between 2008 and 2013. Between 2013 and 2018, Mintel forecasts growth of only $7 million.

“The sharp falloff in growth of the smoking cessation category between 2012 and 2013 and the forecasted decline over the next five years are largely due to the explosive popularity of e-cigarettes,” said Molly Maier, category manager, health, household, beauty and personal care, Mintel.