Though it’s not clear whether the new electronic version of Mark Tens will replace that brand, Altria company has announced coming out with e-cigarettes as “Mark Ten”.

Not everybody knows traditional tobacco brands like Marlboro and Skoal  are actually owned by this larger diversified umbrella corporation, whose other companies include SABMiller (Miller and Grolsch beers, among others), a wine company and financial services.

But the point isn’t a new feather in Altria’s cap; it’s, after Reynolds American, Lorillard, and British American, and maybe others, Altria is proving Big Tobacco isn’t really at war with e-cigs. They want to own the market, not crush it. Why would they want to make e-cigarettes look bad?

And wouldn’t it be a little too ironic if they were behind the bogus science articles saying e-cigarettes aren’t safe for you?!?

No, this isn’t a war between Big Tobacco and Electronic Cigarettes. That’s called competition.

Maybe it’s really a war between Big Tobacco and Big Pharma…

Mostly these have consisted of a lot of media coverage casting doubt on e-liquid safety, second-hand vaping and other fear-mongering which ultimately leads local and state governments (as well as a few countries!) to ban their use in public or outright.

This latest twist on the anti e-cigarette list is interesting, however.

Make’em Weird.

The UK’s Daily Mail recently reported back from New York’s Vapefest with a focus on some of the most extreme and bizarre people and mods they could find.

Pictured vapers are pierced, tattooed and mohawked, mods are either creepy or cryptic-looking, and the descriptions in the text outlandish.

References to a “subculture”, “tech geeks”, “wizz-bang technology” and vaporizers that look like “robot sex toys” abound, as well as mentions that some aficionados spend thousands of dollars to keep their tech up to date.

However, as we know, most vapers aren’t “radical” as the piece suggests.

Are we?

So Canada is sort of a weird place, eh?

At least when it comes to electronic cigarettes.

While the Canadian Lung Association warns they’re “potentially harmful to lung health.” and the government insists they haven’t yet been fully evaluated, they’ve gone ahead and allowed the sale of non-nicotine e-cigs in Quebec corner stores.

Since personal vaporizers without nicotine can’t be called tobacco products, they can’t be forbidden to underage users.

So what are they up to? Getting teens used to vaping for when the studies show vapor’s harmless and it authorizes e-cigarettes? Inculcating a replacement market for when smokers make the switch?

And nothing else. No liquor, tobacco or even money. Just e-cigs.

This is a new one for e-cigarettes, which may have seen starter kits or disposables pilfered here and there, but nothing on this scale.

It’s interesting to consider this in light of recent efforts to tax smokeless nicotine the same as tobacco. Perhaps the government wants a black market to develop?

You have to wonder if they’re going to blame e-cigs or nicotine or both on what drove this thief – who has yet to be caught by the way.

The website is PLoS ONE and the study concerns the presence of metal particulates in electronic cigarettes.

That’s it. No comparison, context or conclusions from their findings apart “the need for improved quality control in EC [electronic cigarette] design and manufacture and studies on how EC aerosol impacts the health of users and bystanders.”

Just enough to be scary, provide fodder for screaming headlines and pseudo-informed journalistic mumbo jumbo from the media.

The panic is starting, and its’ not the apparently hoped-for false public alarm so much as Big Pharma panicking,  reflected in the release and dissemination of this study.

Which  fails to mention their results actually report the same or less contaminants than smokeless devices approved by the FDA for public consumption.

As William Shatner would say, how weird is that?

Love turns, snooty, and says “Relax, it’s a f-cking NJoy,” and walks away as the  classical surges into rock by Love’s band Hole.

Cute.

But the new online ad campaign’s premiere webisode’s rock’n'roll attitude and presence of Love herself seem to strike all the wrong notes in terms of providing ammunition for anti-e-cigarette canons aimed at vilifying e-cigarette companies as “marketing to minors”.

Unlike an earlier ad featuring vaping quasi-activist Stephen Dorff, Love doesn’t mention smoking, switching from tobacco, alternative nicotine delivery, or any boring stuff. It goes straight for the jugular.

As a marketing tactic, it reflects how vapers feel misunderstood by misinformed masses.

Strategically? It represents e-cigarettes as cool, rebellious devices and a means to thumb your nose at the “establishment”.

Now maybe the movement needs a little more ‘tude, and this is the first oen. Hopefully future webisodes expand upon the electronic cigarette as a smart NRT, or the reason Love switched, etc….

To paraphrase Freud, remember, an e-cig iss till just an e-cig…

Smokers and vapor veterans might want to coat their throat with the fine taste of chocolate this weekend, rather than gorge on eggs and rabbits (ahem).

Chocolate flavor, relatively rare because of efforts to demonize E-cigarette producers as trying to get children addicted to vape-sticks, is nonetheless offered by companies to target the palates of consenting adults.

Uber-inexpensve BullSmoke complements low prices with a “Chocolate Treat” e-liquid.

And SouthBeachSmoke offers a tasty “Deluxe Chocolate Flavor” to their vaping clientele…

But if “sweet” isn’t your thing, true choco connoisseurs will appreciate Halo E-Cigs‘ Belgian Cocoa liquid, with a “dry cocoa undertone and a sweet… top note”.

Jesus proved you always have a second chance… and electronic cigarette users’ testimonials show it’s never too late to start over. This just makes it easier.

Smokers and vapers should appreciate the the 15% rebate on everything from starter kits to accessories and refills at appropriately-named GreenSmoke Electronic Cigarettes.

But better still is at SouthBeachSmoke.

On top of the site-wide 25% special on starter kits, you can get an even bigger 35% off any order if you get lucky in their pot’o'gold scavenger hunt.

Click around the site before you buy, and when that icon appears, click it to open a coupon that will give you a deal-code.

Find it or not, you’re sure to be a winner with these e-cigarettes!

While WhiteCloud Electronic Cigarettes recently announced the acquisition of Vapor Jackets LLC, two other companies have also taken steps to consolidate growth and lateral business development, as well as step on a few toes.

Since the Safe Cig site has mysteriously gone offline,  and the company seems closed, V2 E-Cigs has developed an adapter for Safe Cig users so their original investment in Safe Cig e-cigarette doesn’t go to waste.

Green Smoke, on the other hand, is taking things one step further by offering a trade in on any brand of electronic cigarette for one of their own – free of charge, including shipping!

So the sharks ares starting to circle, they smell blood in the electronic cigarette waters, and the bait is vapers… but all to our advantage.

Well, whether you’re a “dude” or a “chick”, the answer depends…

Vapor Couture figures if you’re a woman, you need electronic cigarettes for women.

But seriously, these could go with men too, depending on the kind of guy… shiny leather jackets and polished boots and blingy gold chains would be well complemented by glowing gem-tipped fuschia personal vaporizers…

Vapor Couture touts itself as being the only e-cig company of its kind. We’re not so sure, but it’s definitely the first.

Of course, Liberal and “progressive” Huffington Post did write a snarky piece about e-cigarettes for women as “absurd products arbitrarily marketed to women”, but then again it was published in the “Women” section of the Post…

At least it didn’t make the list of HuffPost’s 12 stupidest products for women…