Bidi Vapor, the maker of the BIDI Stick disposable electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS), announced today that the company will deploy a multi-prong strategy to combat the flood of illegal and subpar ENDS products that have entered the market.
Among the strategies Bidi Vapor publicly disclosed include injunctions and lawsuits over false advertising and intellectual property violations, as well as an appeal to local and federal law enforcement, including sharing data from the Bidi Vapor’s own investigative efforts.
“Bad actors are flooding the market with products that fail to meet FDA standards, mislabel their formulations and use candy and fruity flavored names that entice kids,” says Niraj “Raj” Patel, President and CEO of Bidi Vapor. “For companies like ours that live by the rules, it’s an uneven playing field.”
Bidi Vapor said it has spent the past several months actively pursuing litigation and conducting targeted outreach to state attorneys general and federal agencies including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
For his part, Patel has focused on building an ENDS company that not only provides a real-world option for adult smokers 21 and over but also avoids practices that generate interest and use among minors and non-vapers.
Since entering the ENDS industry in 2014, Patel has focused on the needs and wants of a mature demographic. That meant not only developing and designing a device for adult smokers but to build upon the lessons learned from the mistakes of others. Patel chose to focus on solid, age-restrictive policies and to market only to the adult-smoking population age 21 and over.
Patel’s strategy of integrity and introducing a premium product into the disposable category helped make BIDI Stick the No. 1 disposable in the United States in recent months, according to Nielsen statistics.
Beyond legal remedies, Patel said his company has also made additional competitive decisions tied to their go-to-market strategies, which he declined to elaborate on as they are in varying stages of execution. “Until the rules start to mean something on the street, we are not going to take this abuse lying down,” Patel said. “Adult smokers deserve a viable option to combustible cigarettes that deliver on their brand message. They deserve products made with quality and backed by integrity.”
Bidi Vapor’s founding mission is to provide recreational, non-combusted alternatives to adult cigarette smokers. The company is vehemently opposed to all illegal, underage tobacco use, including ENDS use, by minors.