Imperial buys Chinese inventor of ecigarette

[KulrMeStoopid]

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Industry/article1307618.ece

IMPERIAL TOBACCO is paying $75m (£48m) for part of the Chinese company that invented the electronic cigarette.
Imperial is to acquire the ecigarette division of Dragonite, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Hon Lik, one of Dragonite’s co-founders, is credited with inventing the technology. His design has been used or adapted by many of the suppliers that have sprung up in the past few years.

 

[anthonyb]

Does this mean big baccy have changed sides. Or going to destroy it from the inside out. Because £48 mill. is pocket change to them.

 

[ZT]

Does this mean big baccy have changed sides. Or going to destroy it from the inside out. Because £48 mill. is pocket change to them.

In the sense of bans etc ... Big baccy aint the enemy anyway ... its Big Pharma that are the enemy ...

there are other issues with Big Baccy ... but they are not the real enemy in the sense you are talking about I dont think

 

[anthonyb]

Sorry was a bit slow there. It's still early and not a wake yet.
Big baccy want a big chunk of the ever growing market.
Their on our side of the fence. We all go to nrt's they go outta business.

 

[Gilliandrea]

The thing I noticed reading this story is the reference to 'e-vapour', they seem to be distancing themselves from 'cigarette'...

 

[Reevo]

The thing I noticed reading this story is the reference to 'e-vapour', they seem to be distancing themselves from 'cigarette'...

Think that would have worked in all our favours tbh.

 

[Gilliandrea]

Think that would have worked in all our favours tbh.

It definitely will work in our favour, but what concerns me is the marketing capabilities of Big Baccy will they start to use this terminology?

In the article the journalist talks about e-cigarettes but the quote from Imperial had e-vapour twice, not needed in my view...

 

[Lord Grim]

What worries me more is which side Big Baccy come down on. If they get involved in Mods, Variety of juice flavours and strengths and advancement of what we do, then superficially at least this will be a Good Thing (Obviously ignoring any potential damage that may be caused to small vendors and manufacturers etc etc ad inf, ad naus). However, if they follow BAT's seeeming toeing of the Government line and release insipid cigalikes no better than any other NRT product out there then I see that as another nail in the coffin for Vaping as a whole to be honest.

On the surface, I'd say that the purchase of an existing manufacturer has good implications for us. If all they want to do is churn out cigalikes then why would they bother? It'd be easier to just set up and do it, surely? I've said it before and I'll say it again: Maybe what vaping as a whole needs is the involvement of a Big Tobacco investment. Certainly it'd change things beyond recognition, it'd cause nightmares for those who supply and manufacture what we need, but it would make the survival of vaping as a thing more viable.

 

[robteifi]

I'm more concerned about the patent issue which I suspect is why Imperial have bought Dragonite. Possibly just to insulate themselves, but also as a way to stamp out competition. Having said that the dragonite patent seems to be fairly narrowly drawn and describes a three part cigalike.

 

[Lord Grim]

I'm probably wrong here as I don't know much (read:anything) about patent law, but logic would dictate that at this stage trying to put a patent on vapegear as a whole would be like trying to patent cupboards or kites.