12
TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
NEWS & TRENDS
September/october 2013
e-Swisher Announces Poker Partnership
The company is named the “Official e-Cigarette of the World Series of Poker.”
Through an exclusive two-year agree-
ment with Caesars Interactive Enter-
tainment, Jacksonville, Florida-based
e-Swisher was named the “Official
e-Cigarette of the World Series of
Poker,” the largest, richest and most
prestigious gaming event in the world.
The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las
Vegas hosted the 2013 World Series
of Poker from May 29 to July 15 and
had a record 480 poker tables spread
throughout the convention center.
As the Official e-Cigarette of the
World Series of Poker, e-Swisher had
on-site signage during the event, in-
cluding in the VIP Players’ Lounge
and outdoor smoking area, signage
during the ESPN broadcast, an online
presence at
, and so-
cial media mentions on the World Se-
ries of Poker’s Twitter and Facebook
pages. The company, which makes
a line of both e-cigarettes and e-ci-
gars, also held a social media contest
for players and spectators to win e-
Swisher playing cards and poker sets.
In addition to the live action this
summer, the WSOP event will be tele-
vised on ESPN in the fall.
“Because of e-Swisher e-cigarettes,
poker enthusiasts no longer have to
excuse themselves from the table to
have a smoke, whether at a casino, a
local retail poker room or the neigh-
bor’s weekly poker game,” explains
Ed Denk, director of marketing for
Swisher International. “Our partner-
ship with the World Series of Poker
helps to reinforce this with amateur
and professional poker players alike.”
In 2012, adds Denk, the World Series
of Poker attracted 74,766 entrants
from 101 different nations and award-
ed more than $222 million in prize
money.
The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) says it will announce pro-
posed OTP regulations by October
2013. The recently released updat-
ed version of the agency’s ”Unified
Agenda” states that the FDA’s Cen-
ter for Tobacco Products (CTP) in-
tends to issue a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking on other products that
fall within the definition of tobacco
products under the
Family Smok-
ing Prevention and Tobacco Control
Act.
Such products may include cigars,
pipe tobacco or electronic products
such as electronic cigarettes and elec-
tronic cigars. At present, the FDA only
regulates traditional cigarettes, roll-
your-own (RYO) tobacco products and
smokeless tobacco products.
The extent of the proposed OTP
regulations will not be known until
the proposed rule is made pub-
lic, at which point manufacturers,
wholesalers, retailers and trade
associations will have a period of
time to submit written comments
about the proposed regulations.
As always, after the comment pe-
riod closes, the FDA will review all
of the comments and may make
changes to the proposed regula-
tions based on the comments sub-
mitted before finalizing the regu-
lations for other tobacco product
categories. As of now, there is no
deadline for the FDA to finalize
regulations on products such as
e-cigarettes, cigars and pipe to-
bacco.
FDA Sets Deadline for
Proposed OTP Regulations
Upcoming
Industry Events
AWMA Summit
& Business Exchange
September 9-12, 2013
Westin Kierland
Scottsdale, Arizona
SFATA’s Fly-In to Washington
Washington, D.C.
October 3-4, 2013
NACS Show
October 12-15, 2013
Georgia World Congress Center
Atlanta, Georgia
Tobacco Plus Convenience Expo
January 29-30, 2014
Las Vegas Convention Center
