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While novel nicotine products face increasingly tight legal restrictions and requirements in many countries, one startup believes it has come up with a product that will escape regulation entirely.
The Zxérö, launched today (1st April) by the California-based company Ethereal Corp. (previously Bob and Doug’s Incredible Crypto Opportunity Corp.), is billed as the first “everything-free” novel nicotine product.
It does not in fact contain nicotine – though similar effects are said to be produced by an undisclosed ingredient – and nor does it contain any tobacco, ensuring that it will not fall under the control of regulatory regimes focused on those substances. Flavours and prohibited ingredients, similarly, will be absent.
Because it does not require a battery or other power source, and uses no plastics or metals, it is unlikely to pose any problems in compliance with environmental regulations, says the company, which is now inviting expressions of interest from individual investors.
The absence of cartoon characters, images of fruit or candy, or anything else on the packaging – indeed, the absence of packaging – also helps the Zxérö sidestep a major area of nicotine product regulation.
Taxation, whether based on an ad valorem or per-unit model, will also not affect the Zxérö since it will not be “manufactured, imported or sold in the conventional sense”, says Ethereal.
For the same reasons, under-age sales are not anticipated to be a problem, and Ethereal will not have to deal with the complexities of cross-border sales either.
Finally, although officially Ethereal says users will be urged to “Zxérö responsibly”, executives privately predict that it may also prove popular among consumers wishing to circumvent smoking and vaping bans, since the device is “not really visible in the same way as competitors”.
Many aspects of the company’s business plan, such as its alternative approaches to manufacturing and distributing the product, remain under wraps in order to maximise benefits to investors who move very, very quickly and send their money today, the company says. Cash or PayPal preferred.
– Zephaniah Dummkopf TobaccoIntelligence investment expert
Photo: Lukas
