Electronic Cigarette Blog

Major new network, ABC, featured a story today on their website regarding the use of electronic cigarettes. They seem to gloss over many issues involved with the product and in fact seem to attempt to make a health claim. ABC states that, “Jamie Kopf of Consumer Reports took a look at the studies and says some suggest they might be a last resort for smokers who’ve tried quitting and failed.” ABC also breifly discusses online sales to minors. However they fail to mention that online retailers attempt to thwart the sale of e-cigs to minors by attempting to create flavors that appeal to adults and do not market to children. Whereas the flavored vodka market has almost been targeting youth lately with flavors like whipped cream, fruity ceral flavor, and other child-like flavors, the e-cig companies seem to try to keep the flavors mor mature. That said, ABC featured a very relevant story for the many e-cig users out there offering support and acceptance.

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Blu Cigs a recently acquired by tobacco giant Lorillard, has deep roots in the porn industry with AEBN!

We have followed the growth of BLU Cigs as a top electronic cigarette brand, and seen their meteoric rise in online sales, and then their significant drop-off as they shifted focus to retail distribution.  BLU Cigs has been featured on various television commercials and programs, as well as music videos.  With such focus on brand awareness and positioning BLU Cigs in the face of consumers, it’s no surprise that “Big Tobacco” giant Lorillard took notice.

What would convince Lorillard to make such a move with BLU Cigs, as opposed to some of the other top electronic cigarette brands on the market?  Obviously, location could be a factor – BLU Cigs is based in Charlotte, NC, right in the heart of tobacco country, and Lorillard is based in nearby Greensboro, NC.  Certainly, a tobacco giant such as Lorillard, known for making popular cigarette brands such as Newport, Kent, True, Maverick, and Old Gold, has its reasons. According to Lorillard CEO Murray Kessler, the $135M cash deal is viewed “more as a meaningful R & D investment to unlock a potentially large, long-term growth opportunity.”

Sounds like a match made in tobacco heaven…  or is there more to this affair than meets the eye?

We had heard rumors that BLU Cigs shares corporate offices with a major adult industry (porn) company, so our team decided to look into the matter further.  Preliminary research revealed some interesting discoveries about BLU Cigs and their association with adult entertainment powerhouse, AEBN (thanks, Google!).  As it turns out, BLU Cigs founder, president, and CEO Jason Healy has been directly involved in the adult entertainment industry, and the BLU Cigs brand has had close ties with porn throughout its history.

Once we stumbled across this link between these two companies, we decided to dig deeper, and discovered a very detailed thread on E-Cigarette-Forum, or “ECF” as it is commonly referred, which is purportedly “the world’s largest e-cigarette forum.” This article essentially performed the basic legwork establishing the connection between BLU Cigs and AEBN through street addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses listed on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and through domain name registries.

According to an article published in AVN- Blu Cigs Enters Adult Arena Through AEBN (Adult Video News) on July 13, 2009:

“Working with AEBN to access adult was a no-brainer for Healy, who has “known the AEBN guys a long time.” So when the Blu Cigs concept came together, it was a natural fit to partner with them in the adult arena.”

But just how deep is the connection between BLU Cigs, Jason Healy, and AEBN?

According to an article published on XBiz – AEBN releases Blu Electronic Cigarettes (The Adult Industry Source for Business News and Information) dated May 14, 2009, “AEBN has indeed teamed up with BLU Cigs, but Mr. Healy claims that ‘Blu and AEBN work closely together but are two separate entities.’”

Now, let’s take a look Jason Healy, the current president of BLU Cigs.  Still not convinced he’s involved in porn?  Here is an article written directly by Jason on June 12, 2007:

Gold Coast Girls Launches in U.S.

By jason (at) goldcoastgirls (dot) com – June 12, 2007

GOLD COAST, Australia – Australian reality site The Gold Coast Girls has arrived in the U.S. The concept was originally designed for delivery via mobile phones but now is available as a reality website with additional interactive features. GoldCoastGirls.com follows the uncensored adventures of party girls from Australia’s beach-side city, the Gold Coast. The product is completely unscripted and subscribers get to see all the action through pictures and videos, plus they can interact with the girls through the blog. “We are very excited to make Gold Coast Girls available to the rest of the world and we are hoping the unique reality aspect of the site, that has seen it succeed in Australia, will translate in other markets,” Jason Healy, creator of Gold Coast Girls, said. For more information or to be become and exclusive partner, email jason (at) goldcoastgirls (dot) com.

Jason Healy, President and CEO of BLU Cigs, can been seen here promoting BLU Cigs on The Balancing Act(Lifetime Television Network).

Additionally, BLU Cigs president Jason Healy will neither confirm nor deny the “suspicious” appearance of an electronic cigarette featured in a pornographic sex scandal tape involving Eric Dane / Rebecca Gayheart as being a BLU Cigs product.

According to a search on WhoIs Domain Name Registry, the aforementioned blucigs.com and aebn.net websites were previously registered as follows:

BLEC LLC, P.O. 12711, Charlotte, NC 28220-2711, and

AEBN, 500 Archdale Dr, Charlotte, NC 28217

with the same Administrative Contact and Technical Contact: steve1k99 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Overall, the strategic acquisition of BLU Cigs by tobacco manufacturing powerhouse Lorillard bodes well for the future of the electronic cigarette industry.  While our team is surprised that Lorillard opted for BLU Cigs, we look forward to seeing what the future holds for other e-cigarette manufacturers.  Perhaps they should have done their homework a bit more about BLU Cigs and their close ties to the porn industry.  Nevertheless, consumers have clearly established that there is a demand for electronic cigarettes on the market today, and e-cig manufacturers continue to flourish as more people look to alternatives to traditional cigarettes.

We look forward to seeing what other ecig companies are in talks with “Big Tobacco.”  Obviously choices for future acquisition by other major U.S. tobacco manufacturers are NJOY, with an established retail presence, and  V2Cigs, the industry’s leader in online retail sales worldwide.  So the question remains: Will “Big Tobacco” step in and dominate the electronic cigarette market?

Health risks and diseases aside, tobacco takes its toll on its users.  In my area the average wage is$28,699, and cigarettes cost $5.85 (Marlboro Ultra Lights.)A two pack a day habit, so that means, here in the heartland, you would be spending $11.70 a day, or $4,370.50.  That two pack a day habit costs the average midwesterner, 15.29% of their income.  Let’s compare that to e-cigs.  The average e-cig cartridge is equivalent to two packs of traditional cigarettes. V2Cigs sells a 5 pack of cartridges for $12.95 plus $5.65 for shipping here to the midwest, (There are MUCH better deals if you buy more of a quantity, but we will stick with the most expensive rate for this example,) at that rate, the user would spend $1357.80 a year on cartridges and shipping. That means a similar electronic cigarette habit would set back its user a more reasonable 4.73% of their average midwestern wages.  It is rumored that Britney Spears, “The (then) 22 year old pop princess is constantly out of breath on stage due to her 40 a day smoking habit”, Daily Mail (Wicked Whispers), Apr. 28, ’04, p. 34.  With her cigarette of choice, Marlboro Menthol Lights, in LA, that translates to $5.19 a pack, 40 cigs is 2 packs a day so $5.19×2, or $10.38 a day for a year, $3,788.70 a year. I suppose celebs can better afford to smoke though.  Britney made an estimated $64,000,000 in 2011. So her nasty little habit used up .059% of her income.  Now reconsider the average smoker. If the health risks and breathlessness are not enough, maybe the financial wake up will be enough.

Major new network, ABC, featured a story today on their website regarding the use of electronic cigarettes. They seem to gloss over many issues involved with the product and in fact seem to attempt to make a health claim. ABC states that, “Jamie Kopf of Consumer Reports took a look at the studies and says some suggest they might be a last resort for smokers who’ve tried quitting and failed.” ABC also breifly discusses online sales to minors. However they fail to mention that online retailers attempt to thwart the sale of e-cigs to minors by attempting to create flavors that appeal to adults and do not market to children. Whereas the flavored vodka market has almost been targeting youth lately with flavors like whipped cream, fruity ceral flavor, and other child-like flavors, the e-cig companies seem to try to keep the flavors mor mature. That said, ABC featured a very relevant story for the many e-cig users out there offering support and acceptance.

After reading the news the last few days, I have seen the story about the man in Florida who had the unfortunate experience with the exploding e-cig.  V2Cigs also felt it was an industry wide issue and issued a press release on the subject.  I tend to agree with V2Cigs co-founder Dan Recio on the matter.  It is very unfortunate that this man was harmed by an exploding battery. People should be very careful to follow all instructions and use batteries from reputable companies.  This also brings up another point.  I have seen several articles now too questioning the safety of e-cigs over traditional cigarettes due to this explosion.  They tend to state that traditional tobacco cigarettes do not explode instantly rendering users harm.  Have they forgotten about fires that the traditional cigarettes have caused or that there are millions of e-cigs in this country used daily with no incident?  I am very sorry to hear about this accident and it is sad, however as you look at the number of users and batteries compared to the number of incidents reported, I am inclined to say I would take my chances.