"Time for Tobacco Harm Reduction" cover story on Tobacco Outlet Business

[Bill Godshall]

The cover story on the September/October issue of tobacco Outlet Business is "Time for tobacco Harm Reduction: The emerging reduced-harm product market may become retailer's new profit center"

The seven page article (which quotes me and other harm reduction advocates) is subtitled "Support Builds for tobacco Harm Reduction" and discusses smokeless tobacco products and e-cigarettes in detail, including mention andor/ quotes from CASAA, NVC, AAPHP, ACSH, tobaccoharmreduction.org, Mike Siegel, Brad Rodu and Johnson Creek

Unfortunately, the online version of the new issue hasn't been posted on their website yet.
Tobacco Outlet Business Current Magazine Issue - Page 1

I'll provide the link when the article is available online.

Many tobacco distributors and tobacco specialty retailers subscribe to Tobacco Outlet Business.

 

[Vocalek]

Fabulous! Thanks, Bill.

 

[kristin]

I think that's the link for his other thread, Elaine.

I'm looking forward to reading the article when it gets posted. How cool that CASAA is mentioned, too!

 

[Vocalek]

The link that Bill posted in the OP now leads to the issue that contains the article. The link should work fine until they post the next issue.

I suspect that this link to the Sept-Oct 2010 issue in a flipbook may work permanently: Instant Pageflip

 

[Bill Godshall]

Thanks for posting the weblink Elaine. I asked them to post it online yesterday, and they responded quickly.

 

[Vocalek]

Just finished reading. CASAA's Dr. Whitt is quoted extensively, and CASAA is among the web sites listed in a sidebar on the last page of the article!

I know that Bill had a lot to do with getting our viewpoint expressed in the article. Let me just say this:



Bill: You have connections. Could you see if they would be willing to provide a PDF copy of the article that we can post on the CASAA web site?

 

[maclean]

The emerging reduced-harm product market may become retailer's new profit center

Why am I not surprised that when there's money to be made, everyone suddenly changes their tune? LOL.

Still, getting the industry on baord could be a big boost.

mac

 

[Bill Godshall]

Per comment by maclean, I'm not aware that Tobacco Business Outlet has ever opposed e-cigarettes. Ever since I met TBO president Ed O'Connor at the Tobacco Merchants Association conference in May, he's been an advocate for tobacco harm reduction products and policies, and another one of his reporters interviewed me for an article touting e-cigarettes in their May/June issue.

 

[maclean]

Thanks for the correction, bill. My comment was intended more as a generalisation on the whole tobacco industry, but you're quite right to correct me.

Thanks for all your hard work, btw!

mac

 

[pianoguy]

Terrific article!

 

[kristin]

That was awesome!

 

[BCB]

Superb article! It really DOES seem like there's been an increase in well-documented favorable press. Sweet!

 

[xg4bx]

It makes total sense, reduced harm products seem to be the IT industry of this decade, whether it's reduced environmental damage or smokeless tobacco. People better wise up, e-cigs are the future. People thought newspapers and the like would last forever but they're going the way of the dinosaur. So will old technology like analog cigarettes. Tobaccos time is up, they're being replaced by a safer, smarter alternative, just like every other industry on this planet. Companies like Philip Morris should be on the ground floor of this but for whatever reason they choose not to be. They stand to make MORE money by having people "smoke" longer instead of dropping dead early.

 

[kristin]

xg4bx, did you read the whole article? Maybe you aren't aware that harm reduction also involves tobacco products - smokeless tobacco - and tobacco companies have offered those for some time now. It's the zealous antis who have forbidden them to tell the truth to the public that smokeless is safer than smoking. So, it's not "tobacco's" time that is up - the time is coming that cigarettes are going by way of the dinosaur. As the article says, tobacco companies are closing their cigarette plants and amping up smokeless production.

As far as we can tell, studies show that smokeless products like snus and Orbs are just as safe as e-cigarettes. As a matter of fact, we know more about the safety of smokeless tobacco than that of e-cigarettes.

 

[rothenbj]

Thanks Kristin, I was just going to write the same thing. As far as I know, Star Scientific products have the lowest TSNA levels of all the products available. That being said, I have no interest in them after finding Swedish snus. Plenty of science and such a variety. My E cig still has its place though.

I justed wanted to applaud that article. It's a shame that it can't get the publicity that some of these anti-tobacco releases get. Bill, you did great at exposing the prohibitionist mentality of so many in this country.

 

[kristin]

Well, the article talked about Swedish snus being a "top shelf" product in tobacco stores vs. gas stations (from what I got from the article). I just hope that doesn't mean "costs 3 times as much as domestic moist snuff!"

So, swedish snus is being considered and probably more will be sold or the U.S. companies will see them as competition and try to either match the quality and get the business or somehow get laws passed that would shut foreign snus companies out.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Sales of Swedish Snus products (which contain more nicotine and are far more satisfying to users than Camel Snus and especially Marlboro Snus) have been going through a big change in the US due to the PACT ACT (as sales have shifted away from the Internet and towards brick and morter tobacco specialty retailers). And while the Swedish Snus products are just as or more expensive than Skoal and Copenhagen (the latter of which contains lots of nicotine), they are still less expensive than cigarettes (dose for dose) in most states.

Overall, I think this article in Tobacco Outlet Business is probably the best article about e-cigarettes and harm reduction to date.

 

[rothenbj]

Sales of Swedish Snus products (which contain more nicotine and are far more satisfying to users than Camel Snus and especially Marlboro Snus) have been going through a big change in the US due to the PACT ACT (as sales have shifted away from the Internet and towards brick and morter tobacco specialty retailers). And while the Swedish Snus products are just as or more expensive than Skoal and Copenhagen (the latter of which contains lots of nicotine), they are still less expensive than cigarettes (dose for dose) in most states.

Overall, I think this article in Tobacco Outlet Business is probably the best article about e-cigarettes and harm reduction to date.

Bill is right about snus and Swedish Match has a major advantage in the states since they have been working on brick and mortar availability for some time. Unfortunately, to get a good variety of product, the internet is still the place to purchase. Snus is entirely different than cigarettes where you have a favorite brand and buy that brand constantly. Many, including myself change up portion to portion depending on what taste we'd like to have at any moment.

The sad side of snusing is that to be able to get that variety you now need to place larger orders delivered UPS and signed for thanks to PACT. You then need freezer space to keep the snus fresh, another limiting factor. However, I've found that an average of about four portions from a can of 24 and E cig use from time to time keep me totally happy and content enough to not even think of lighting up a smoke. That's saying a lot for a 2-3 pack smoker a year ago. Of course that's not a health claim, it's just a preference.

 

[kristin]

Yes, my husband recently had to switch back to Camel snus, because the place he used to order the Swedish snus from would have cost too much to ship. Once we get the money again, we'll be able to afford the larger order and get the Swedish snus again. The PACT act pretty much just protects BT snus.

 

[Bill Godshall]

After I sent the TOB article on harm reduction to my e-mail list on Thursday, the Tobacco Merchants Association included it at the lead article in its weekly news e-mail, which will encourage many more folks from the industry to read it, and is likely to encourage more tobacco distributors/retailers to sell e-cigarettes.