When a Tobacco Giant Buys the Inventor of the E-cigarette

The history of the electronic cigarette begins with a drama. That of a Chinese pharmacist who sees his father passed away from lung cancer caused by cigarette smoking. An unfortunately banal drama in a country with nearly 400 million smokers, and hundreds, if not thousands of vape manufacturers.

To relieve this father, who also suffered from no longer being able to smoke, this pharmacist, himself a smoker of around sixty cigarettes a day, invented an ingenious device that made it possible to obtain the sensations that the smoker was looking for with the dose of nicotine he needed. Addicted. Less adverse health effects. This device is a personal vaporizer. A quickly baptized electronic cigarette, we will learn later that the concept and the device are much older. Our pharmacist is ultimately the author of the electronic part of the invention.

This Chinese pharmacist is Hon Lik. He could have been a hero as his invention will have repercussions on the daily lives of millions of people. It is no longer to be proven for many vapers; the personal vaporizer or e-cigarette is one of the most effective, if not the most effective, means of quitting smoking. And in the long term, perhaps, the tool could save many thousands of lives. That is the future that will tell, but in the meantime, this electronic cigarette is revolutionary because it is an unexpected lifeline for smokers who are slaves to their cigarettes. If it is not yet free from any defect, it is, to quote Professor Dautzenberg, “a thousand times less harmful than cigarettes.”

But now, life is not a fairy tale with the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other. This revolution is not to the liking of those who orchestrate the tobacco industry, the tobacco companies. The tobacco industry has been exceptionally well established for decades, earning billions in profits. They know how to adapt exceptionally well to anything that looks like an offensive anti-tobacco action. For example, it has been able to develop a pernicious system of lobbying. It infiltrates all decision-making bodies, including politicians. It can also participate, very indirectly, in the financing of particular public health expenditures.

Among these powerful tobacco companies, there is Imperial Tobacco. Through companies such as Fontem Ventures, Imperial Tobacco distributes its Blu “cigalikes” or Jai for France exclusively in cigarette sales outlets. Deliberately obsolete products for those who want to quit smoking.

The last trick of the industrialist is to have proposed a golden bridge to Hon Lik for the purchase of the patent of his electronic cigarette. Filed in 2003, the patent was plundered by hundreds to the chagrin of its owner. Probably tired, he gives in to the sirens of Imperial Tobacco. Hon Lik sells the patent and company to the tobacco company for 75 million dollars (55 million euros).

Indeed it is the insurance for Hon Lik to be protected from all financial worries for a long time. What would you have done in his place?

That he gave in to questions of money, coupled with a feeling of injustice in the face of the profits earned by his thieves of invention, can be understood. I might have done the same. But, Hon Lik aggravates his case by making a disgusting speech during an interview for the French magazine Paris Match.

Forgotten the story of the deceased dad. Make way for intolerances to patches which would cause our inventor sleep problems. Hon Lik, would he go to war against the pharmaceutical industry?

More seriously, according to him, electronic cigarettes have their place among smokers, among tobacconists who would be the most likely to sell an electronic cigarette. “If it’s other companies, they will face different obstacles,” he says. Which? But what, who is he talking about? Why couldn’t other companies that know the vape like the back of their hands be just as competent? Our French tobacconists are indeed exemplary ecig specialists; it is well known. According to Mr. Lik, cigarettes and ecig would be inseparable. This is precisely the speech of Marisol Touraine. Thanks, Mr. Like.

Even more serious. “The electronic cigarette must be framed.” But “by European regulations,”; Mr. Lik is playing and promoting TPD vape. We expected something else from a designer.

More anecdotally, Mr. Lik admits to still smoking tobacco for his taste and his research. He should try an mod or pod; maybe he would make dazzling discoveries.

His interview in Paris Match scandalized the vapers of France. To the point that Brice Lepoutre, president of Aiduce, wrote a lengthy open letter to Hon Lik. You can find the link on the Paris Match website. Nice.

The Paris Match interview is fascinating. We feel a gentleman reciting a lesson perfectly learned. He has the answer to everything. Imperial Tobacco as the puppeteer worked well. The tobacco giant will be able to say, “our electronic cigarettes are the best. The proof, its inventor works for us”. This story reminds me of René’s film, the beauty of the devil. With Hon Lik as Doctor Faust, who sells his soul to the devil. The film is beautiful, but the reality is sadder.