Inventor foresees role for ‘vapers’ as more smoking bans enacted
Before Hon Lik invented the e-cigarette, a device now shaking up the Big Tobacco industry, he was a pharmacist in China struggling to quit a two-to-three pack a day smoking habit.
One day in 2002, Hon forgot to remove a nicotine patch from his stomach before bed and had nightmares all night. He traced it to the continuous dose of nicotine and then realized it was precisely that steady release that made patches inadequate for him.
Without the sharp nicotine highs he got from smoking, he found there was no relaxation or stress relief.
Armed with a background in traditional Chinese medicine, knowledge of mechanics and an interest in electronics, Hon set out to make something that would mimic smoking — without the deadly smoke.
His drive was galvanized further when his father, also a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly afterwards. He died in 2004.
“I believed that if I could use vapor to simulate cigarette smoke, this could help me,” Hon told Reuters.
Thirteen years on from those nightmares, the 59-year-old father of the most disruptive technology the industry has seen is employed by one of its biggest players, Impe- rial Tobacco Group, following Imperial’s 2013 purchase of Hon’s business.
Imperial, the world’s fourthlargest tobacco company, has recently become a major e-cigarette player in the United States following its purchase of the Blu brand.
E-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into vapor, have ignited a global market for “vaping” products that could top $7 billion this year.
In the absence of definitive studies about the long-term health effects of vaping, they are the subject of great debate.
Tobacco giants — including Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco — are also rushing to enter the market as governments race to control it.
Although most e-cigarettes are manufactured in China, the domestic market is very small, and tobacco smoking remains high. China is by far the world’s biggest tobacco market, which is a virtual monopoly dominated by the Stateowned China National Tobacco. Some estimates peg revenue from tobacco sales as making up as much as 10 percent of the government’s coffers.
Yet Hon could soon see more people vaping in his home city of Beijing, thanks to the June 1 implementation of strict rules on smoking in public places.
Anyone who violates the ban in restaurants, hotels, schools, hospi- tals and in certain outdoor public places is subject to a fine of 200 yuan ($32.25), 20 times the previous, albeit rarely enforced, penalty.
Hon said second- and third-tier Chinese cities could follow Beijing’s lead as governments seek to improve public health.
“I understand the market is slowly changing,” said Hon, who now only smokes when his job requires him to compare the flavors of various tobaccos and vapes.
“What may happen to the Chinese market could be similar to what’s happening in other countries.”