Electronic cigarette reviews
June 2nd, 2014
by Darren Peterson
Electronic Cigarettes are our Most Popular Reviews of 2013…
When Hon Lik invented the electronic cigarette, it’s possible he didn’t know what a hot commodity the alternative to smoking tobacco cigarettes would become.
Electronic Cigarette Reviews Help Consumers Find an E Cigarette Brand fitting Their Style & Budget
These devices are also referred to as “e cigarettes,” “e cigs,” and “vapor cigarettes,” have become an industry boasting 250 million dollars in annual sales. That number grows each year, thanks in part to the Internet, where customers looking for an alternative to tobacco products can order from anywhere and save big money buying the cartridge refills in bulk directly from their favorite brands.
Darren is our e cigarette review expert and guide.
Meet Darren, our official guide on this topic. Darren is an IT Consultant who has made the switch to smoking water vapor instead of tobacco.
As guide of our e cigarette reviews, Darren personally tries each brand listed on our site and gives us his thoughts in the various reviews spread out in our database. An aficionado of the vapor smoking revolution and noted blogger on the subject, Darren welcomes the opportunity to try and test new brands of electronic cigarettes as they are introduced to him.
When Did Smoking Water Vapor Become so Popular?
The exact year is hard to pinpoint, but many people will argue that the year 2010 was a year of extreme growth,and also the year many of the larger, respected brands like Bull Smoke came onto the scene and started selling products via the Internet. Select companies used mall kiosk vendors as early as 2006 in the United States, but the real growth came online, when viral videos of celebrities using vapor cigarettes in public became the backbone of various brands marketing campaigns.
How Does Smoking Water Vapor Compare to Tobacco?
An often asked question is how exactly does the electric cigarette work?
Powered by what’s called a “battery,” these devices are essentially charged with a USB charger or an AC/DC wall charger. There are even car chargers offered by select brands.
The process to charge an e cig battery goes like this
1. Plug in the battery (picture below) to any of the above mentioned outlets.
2. Wait three hours or until indicator light alerts you that the battery is fully charged. (Battery charging times and indicator notifications vary by brand.)
3. When charged, the electronic battery is ready to be used with a compatible cartridge.
That’s just the charging process.
How an actual e cig device works is by using the above charged battery with a cartridge. (Often called by users as a “cartomizer.)
Cartridges are the parts that you see above (in orange) that contain the nicotine. The nicotine in e cigarettes are actually a juice blend of nicotine, often called “e liquid,” “e juice,” or “e nicotine.” All terms work and will be understood by people in the know.
Once the battery and cartridge are assembled, the device is ready to be used. It’s to be smoked just like a regular cigarette. The vapor that is emitted does NOT linger around and remain thick for more than two seconds. In fact, most vapor evaporates in well under one second.
Understanding Cartridge Strengths & Flavors
The cartridges are the most unique part of each e cigarette brands offer. Cartridges are offered without nicotine (o mg) up to the potent 2.4% mg nicotine offered by some brands. In a nutshell, some people use the nicotine free cartridges while they are trying to quit smoking all together and also alleviate themselves from the nicotine. People looking for something that will mimic smoking and still give off the nicotine kick will opt for a level of nicotine from .6% all the way to 2.4%. Each company sells different levels, so mileage may vary.
Cartridges are sold in many different flavors. Tobacco being the premier flavor and most popular seller across the board, the exotic flavors are also doing well with people who are more casual smokers. Menthol is another popular choice. Some of the bizarre exotic flavors include pina colada, coffee, energy, mint tea, and one brand even sells one called “margarita.” While most user’s are looking for a tobacco taste, there is no doubt a market for the exotic, off the wall cartomizer flavors.
Which Celebrities Promote Vapor Cigarettes?
This list continues to grow and we’ll do our best to update it as time passes. For now, we can confirm the following celebrities have been photographed or caught on video using e cigarette devices.
- Charlie Sheen
- Lindsay Lohan
- Jerry Ferrara
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Katherine Heigl
- JWoww
- Dennis Quaid
- Trace Cyrus
- Kevin Connolly
- Jose Canseco
- Danny Bonaduce
- Eric Roberts
- Brittany Spears
- Johnny Depp
- Kevin Federline
There is no question that celebrity appearances smoking electronic cigarettes have helped the industry grow by creating awareness and stirring the pot by making it publicly accepted and “cool.”
Below is a video of Katherine Heigl on the David Letterman Show, puffing on a smokeless cigarette.
This video was among the most watched videos of a celebrity using an e cig, and it’s posted several times on YouTube.
Other Big Movements in the E Cig Industry… .
There are a few times we can point to that helped create a buzz around these revolutionary products. Most of the events were in the form of sponsorships and promotional advertising.
In 2010, Green Smoke sponsored NASCAR driver TJ Bell. This was the first time an e cigarette brand was put on TV in a sporting event, and it was quickly copied.
In the same race, Blu Cigs, (recently bought by publicly traded Lorillard LO) jumped in the action and sponsored driver Mike Bliss. In an ironic turn of events, TJ Bell did not qualify, while the driver sponsored by Blu Cigs, (Bliss) did. This event put a lot of eyes on the industry, and was perhaps the first time the public started agreeing that these products were “for real.”
While this was a monumental time for e cigarettes, this was far from the end. In subsequent months, other brands started to take their advertising to the next level. Magazine advertisements in GQ (V2 Cigs did this read the v2 cigs review here other popular print media started to become the norm, and the growth continued to surge.
Top 5 Reasons Electronic Cigarette Sales Will Continue to Surge
1. There is ZERO ODOR with e cigarette smoking. Less trips to the dry cleaner and an overall more pleasant smell in the house.
2. The cost is normally less in comparison to cigarettes.
3. You can smoke almost “anywhere.” Restaurants and lounges that banned smoking do allow electric cigarette smoking on most occasions.
4. E cigs are tar free and do not ash.
5. Less waste. Imagine a world without cigarettes floating around the streets and stinking up garbage cans. E cigarettes do not create waste other than the cartridges, which in some cases can be refilled with e juice and used forever.
Here’s a hot coupon V2 Cigs Coupon Code.
There are many products on the market that certainly pass the test. Spend some time on our experts picks and if you have experience with e cigarettes, please leave your comments in the appropriate section.
Lorillard’s dominance over the e-cigarette market is slipping
Electronic cigarettes, or e cigs, have been one of the most disruptive technologies to hit the tobacco sector in recent years. The market for them has grown rapidly, and many smokers are now switching to the e cig over traditional, more harmful cigarettes.
Unsurprisingly, this rise to fame within the smoking community has sent tobacco players such as Altria Group (NYSE MO ) , Reynolds American (NYSE RAI ) , and Lorillard (NYSE LO ) into a sort of e cig arms race.
Over the last few years, it seemed as if Lorillard, with its early national rollout of Blu e cigs, had gained the first mover advantage. The company has taken nearly 50% of the domestic market. However, it now appears that the company’s market share is under threat and losses are rising.
Aggressive marketing
At present, e cigs are for the most part unregulated, allowing companies to aggressively market them and claim that they are relatively safe. This approach can’t be used with conventional cigarettes, and it’s a strategy for growth that Lorillard has been using heavily.
Lorillard dominates the U.S. juvenile e cig market with its Blu e cig brand. During the fourth quarter of last year, Blu’s share of the domestic e cig market reached 48.8%. However, Lorillard has acquired this market dominance at the expense of profitability, as the tobacco company has spent millions on advertising the brand to increase awareness.
Nevertheless, during the past year or so Lorillard has had a relatively easy time dominating the e cig market. It remains by far the largest company operating within the national market. The rest of the e cig market remains highly fragmented, with 250 different brands trying to chase a relatively small domestic market of $1 billion to $2 billion. This made it easy for Lorillard, with its multi billion dollar marketing and development budget, to push smaller peers out of the way.
Competitors have now started to up their game. This is eating away at Lorillard’s market share. As promotional activity intensifies, profits have turned into losses.
Rising spending, losing market share
Despite ramping up promotion activity during the first quarter of this year, Lorillard’s share of the domestic e cig market only fell. This is shown in the table below
Period
Market Share
% Change
March 23, 2013
35.3%
N/A
June 22, 2013
42%
19%
September 21, 2013
45.3%
8%
December 21, 2013
45.8%
1%
March 15, 2014
45%
2%
Source Lorillard first quarter earnings release.
Although Lorillard’s market share only fell by a seemingly insignificant 2% during the first quarter, the company’s e cig divisional operating losses jumped to $11 million and sales fell as the company struggled to convert customers to its brand
Three Months Ended March 31
2014
2013
Net sales
$51
$57
Operating income (loss)
($11)
$7
Amortization of SKYCIG brand
$6
Adjusted (Non GAAP) operating income (loss)
($5)
Source Lorillard first quarter earnings release. Figures in $US millions.
Unfortunately, it seems as if things are only going to get worse for Lorillard. The company’s larger peers, Altria and Reynolds American, are beginning their national e cig rollouts later this year.
Big player enter the market
Altria’s e cig offering comes in the form of the MarkTen brand that is being produced by Altria’s Nu Mark subsidiary. According to Altria’s management, Nu Mark continues to make excellent progress against its long term goal of achieving e cig sector leadership. The company is on track to begin its rolling national launch of MarkTen in June. Earlier this month, Nu Mark also completed its acquisition of Green Smoke to add significant e vapor experience to the company, broadening its product offerings and strengthening its supply chain capabilities .
At present, Nu Mark continues to use its two MarkTen e cigs test markets to refine the brand’s value equation. For example, Nu Mark has experimented with different tools for creating awareness in trials in Arizona, and MarkTen became the leading e cig brand in the state during the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Reynolds’ e cig offering comes in the form of VUSE digital vapor cigarettes, which are currently market leaders within the company’s test market in Colorado. The brand’s recent expansion in neighboring Utah is also progressing smoothly.
According to Reynolds
VUSE is a highly differentiated product that symbolizes the very best of our companies’ rich history of innovation,” he said. “VUSE is already the market leader in Colorado and importantly, the brand is driving significant category growth in the state. In Utah, early indications are that consumers there also appreciate the brand’s distinctive will continue to invest in VUSE in 2014 as we expand the brand into national distribution.
Foolish summary
It would appear that both Altria and Reynolds are already receiving great feedback for their customers in test markets. This could be a sign that Lorillard’s current leading position within the e cig market is about to come under attack.
With this being the case, it could be time for investors to reconsider their exposure to the e cig sector. It might be worth backing a more powerful competitor like Altria over Lorillard as competition within the sector increases.