Tobacco.org

• This man is not smoking a cigarette - he's using an e-cigarette 

A new electronic smoking device that provides nicotine without the unhealthy cigarette byproducts has sold out in a western Minnesota test run and could reach businesses in Northeastern Minnesota later this month.

Though they have raised concerns among some health officials, the electronic cigarettes were flying off the shelves Feb. 13 at eight retailers in Alexandria. The test run held by Henry’s Foods, an Alexandria-based distributor, was so successful that the e-cigarette could be on shelves in an estimated?250 convenience stores or bars from Cloquet to Grand Rapids by mid-March, said Terry Loeffler, the director of sales and marketing at Henry’s Foods.

“It has exceeded our expectations,” Loeffler said. “Every business that I’ve been in has said yes [to sell the product]. That is not an exaggeration — 100 percent.”

Henry’s Foods, which will control the majority of the market for Fifty-One brand e-cigarettes in Minnesota and North and South Dakota, intends to establish a partnership with another distributor for the e-cigs in Duluth within three months, Loeffler said.

Fifty-One promotes itself as a healthier alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes while maintaining the actions of the smoking habit.

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