Just when one Charlotte man is firing up his business.
Jump to full article: Charlotte (NC) Observer, 2009-07-23
Author: Andrew Dunn
Intro: Tobacco's younger, shinier cousin - the electronic cigarette - is gearing up for a battle with federal regulators, just as the fledgling industry is getting a foothold in a state built on smoking.
Electronic cigarettes, machines that turn liquid nicotine and flavoring into a vapor, have been sold in the U.S. for two years, and their popularity is surging. But the Food and Drug Administration signaled Wednesday that it might seek to stamp out e-cigarettes in their infancy.
The FDA said it plans to address safety issues, and that could include product recalls or criminal sanctions.
The industry is made up of small firms around the country that mainly sell online. Only one is based in North Carolina, still the country's No. 1 tobacco producer.
The Charlotte company, Blu Cigs, is already branding itself as "E-Cigarettes 2.0" - and sees its product as a symbol for North Carolina's changing economy.
Jason Healy, a native Australian with no prior background in the cigarette industry, launched Blu Cigs in May after seeing an electronic cigarette in a Charlotte bar. . . .
Blu Cigs doesn't market its product as a healthier version of tobacco. Healy mainly promotes Blu as a cheaper alternative to cigarettes. Each nicotine and flavor cartridge costs about $1. . . .
For 300 years, tobacco was the primary economic driver of North Carolina, and the state is still the top producer of tobacco in the U.S. The second- and third-largest U.S. cigarette companies, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard Tobacco, are based in North Carolina.
But in 1959, the Research Triangle Park near Durham opened, and technology began to rise as the state's prominent industry. Soon after, tobacco began a long, steady decline in popularity and importance.
Blu Cigs embodies the change from tobacco to technology, spokesman Steve Goldberg said. . . .
Dr. Adam Goldstein, director of UNC Chapel Hill's Tobacco Prevention and Evaluation Program, said he's "cautiously worried" about e-cigarettes.
While it's possible that they're healthier than regular cigarettes, they're still a source of addiction and could appeal to younger people. And a new study implied that nicotine could itself be carcinogenic.
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