For several decades now, tobacco cigarettes have constantly cornered the entire nicotine industry. Both the young adults and the elderly generation who chose to take up smoking never thought of any other nicotine delivery system apart from a combustible cigarette. No chewing tobacco or pipes could ever give them the feeling and the hit that they experience from tobacco cigarettes. This was the trend that was common with an entire generation of smokers but since the last decade, the tobacco cigarette industry has seen to go through a staggering change.
Now electronic cigarettes which are battery-operated devices are gaining momentum with a whole generation of smokers. This is something that has gained attention of the tobacco companies. In fact most of the big shot tobacco companies think that this is probably the biggest and the most disruptive thing that has ever happened to the tobacco market.
E-cigarettes are a hot market now!
If you thought that electronic nicotine delivery systems are new to the market, you’re wrong as they’re pretty old. These electronic devices have been in the market in some form or the other since the past 3 decades. However, their comeback into the United States market was by joining hands with China. The current explosion of the popularity of e-cigs caught the close attention of the biggest tobacco companies and what was once promoted by a small group of manufacturers has now opened up opportunities of Big Tobacco. This move includes anti-smoking organizations.
British American Tobacco or BAT, the biggest tobacco company in Europe launched Vype alost 4 years back. Altria, which was formerly known as Phillip Morris now owns MarkTen. Lorillard has also paid $135 million for acquiring Blu but when the same tobacco company was previously owned by RJ Reynolds, their e-cig brand was sold off to Imperial Tobacco, a firm in the UK. However, none of these vape companies have been bought by any tobacco company. Currently, the sales of e-cigarettes globally amount to nearly $5 billion in a year. This is in stark comparison to the $93 million tobacco cigarette market but the vape industry is anticipated to grow 25% every year throughout 2019-2020.
The tobacco firms seems to be so much confident in this technology that they’re presently funding research which emphasises on the positive health impacts of vaping as against smoking. As per a recent study which was funded by British American Tobacco, there was a 3D modeling to compare and contrast the inflammation caused inside the lungs from tobacco cigarettes and from electronic cigarettes.
No matter how popular electronic cigarettes have become, the tobacco cigarette companies are deciding to show their might behind it. If this is the case, these companies will very soon take off.