烟草在线据金融时报报道编译　　在美国，电子烟制造商越来越积极地做广告，一家公司甚至宣称“大烟草”已经遇到了对手。但是这个蓬勃发展的行业担心税收和监管的冲击，可能会扼杀其最近的成功。

　　新的自信来自烟草分析师开始承认，美国对电子烟的需求不断增长，夺取了奥驰亚、罗瑞拉德和雷诺的消费者。

　　诸如NJOY、蒸汽和逻辑这些一夜暴富的公司，都在营销和广告上的花费越来越高，使它们的产品成为一个可行的吸烟替代品。

　　电子烟制造商甚至涉足美国和英国的电视——这些渠道禁止烟草集团进入——为它们的产品做广告。

　　“我们的使命是使卷烟‘过时’，”按市场份额计算是美国最大的电子制造商的NJOY的首席执行官克雷格·韦斯说。“我们把自己看做是它们产品的数字化。”

　　在过去10年中，传统卷烟的销售已稳步下降。据美国疾病控制和预防中心统计，从2000年到2011年有烟烟草产品的消费下降了27%，因为税收增加了，酒吧和餐厅实施了禁烟令。

　　与此同时，电子烟的销售已大幅上升，在过去两年中，翻倍增至3亿美元，据高盛估计在接下来的几年里，年销售额将达到10亿美元。该类产品与能量饮料和希腊酸奶对比，是正在下降的消费者市场的亮点。

　　“我们仍预期，在未来10年，电子烟的消费，可能会超越传统卷烟的消费，”富国银行烟草分析师邦尼·赫尔佐格说。

　　电子烟通过汽化可以吸入的尼古丁液体，复制没有任何致癌物质的吸烟行为。

　　然而，随着卫生监管机构准备对产品实施新限制，而各州议会考虑对它们征税时，电子烟的成功可能很快就遇到一些障碍。

　　电子烟目前陷入监管的灰色地带。美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）预计在4月份提供如何规范该产品的指导。在2010年，该机构试图阻止电子烟的进口并一直怀疑它们发表的无害声明，打官司输给了电子公司。

　　“需要更进一步的研究，来评估电子烟和其他新烟草产品的潜在公共卫生利益和风险，”FDA的发言人詹妮弗·哈里斯说。

　　制造商说，它们期待着更大的监管力度，使人们更难以开始向美国进口和销售低质量的电子烟，但是它们害怕更多的州计划对它们的产品征税。

　　明尼苏达州最近开始对电子烟征税，去年夏威夷也在考虑纳税问题。

　　“政府将对这个行业征税，试图弥补它们在卷烟方面失去的税收，”新泽西的电子烟公司逻辑公司的首席执行官艾利·阿莱洛夫说。

　　烟草蒸汽电子烟协会的首席执行官雷·史陶锐警告称，对电子烟征税，只会使烟草公司受益，而不利于公共卫生。消费者一直在尝试电子烟的其中一个原因是，因为它们只要大烟草公司出售的传统卷烟一半的价格。

　　电子烟被越来越多的人所接受，最初使大烟草公司措手不及，但是它们慢慢认识到，它们不能忽视消费者口味的变化。

　　去年，罗瑞拉德以1.35亿美元购买了Blu电子烟，雷诺开始开发自己的电子烟技术。万宝路的美国制造商奥驰亚，迄今为止一直在旁观，但是分析师预计，很快这个烟草巨头或者收购一家电子烟制造商或推出自己的品牌。

　　拒绝透露其计划，一家奥驰亚集团的发言人说：“显然，我们正在监测这个领域的进展。”

US: Sales of E-cigarettes Continue to Soar

　　Electronic cigarette makers have become increasingly aggressive in their advertising in the US, with one company even proclaiming that "Big Tobacco" has met its match. But the burgeoning industry is worried that an onslaught of taxes and regulations could snuff out its recent success.

　　The new assertiveness comes as tobacco analysts have started to acknowledge that growing demand for "e-cigs" in the US is peeling away customers from tobacco giants such as Altria, Lorillard and RJ Reynolds.

　　Upstarts such as NJOY, Vapor and Logic are spending more on marketing and advertising, to make the case for their products as a viable smoking alternative.

　　E-cigarette makers have even ventured into television in both the US and UK - taboo for tobacco groups - with advertising for their products.

　　"Our mission is to 'obsolete' cigarettes," said Craig Weiss, chief executive of NJOY, the leading US e-cigarette maker by market share. "We think of ourselves as the digital to their analogue."

　　Sales of traditional cigarettes have been declining steadily in the past decade. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, consumption of smoked tobacco products fell 27 per cent from 2000 to 2011, as taxes increased and smoking bans at bars and restaurants took hold.

　　Meanwhile, sales of e-cigarettes have soared, doubling during the past two years to $300m in 2012 and on pace to reach $1bn in annual sales in the next few years, according to estimates by Goldman Sachs. The category is being compared with energy drinks and Greek yoghurt - bright spots in declining consumer markets.

　　"We continue to expect consumption of e-cigarettes could surpass consumption of traditional cigarettes within the next decade," said Bonnie Herzog, tobacco analyst at Wells Fargo.

　　E-cigarettes work by vaporising nicotine-laced liquid that can be inhaled, replicating the effect of smoking without all of the carcinogens.

　　The success of e-cigarettes could soon hit some obstacles, however, with health regulators preparing new restrictions on the products and state legislatures considering taxing them.

　　E-cigarettes currently fall into a regulatory grey area. The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to offer guidance in April about how the products should be regulated. The agency lost a legal battle with e-cigarette companies in 2010 after trying to block imports of e-cigarettes and has been sceptical about claims they are not harmful.

　　"Further research is needed to assess the potential public health benefits and risks of electronic cigarettes and other novel tobacco products," said Jennifer Haliski, an FDA spokeswoman.

　　Manufacturers say they are looking forward to greater oversight to make it more difficult for anyone to start importing and distributing low quality e-cigarettes to the US, but they are fearful of more states planning to tax their products.

　　Minnesota recently moved to tax e-cigarettes and Hawaii also considered a tax last year.

　　"The government is going to tax this industry and try to recoup the revenues they've lost from cigarettes," said Eli Alelov, chief executive of Logic, a New Jersey-based e-cigarette company.

　　Ray Story, chief executive of the Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association, warned that tax rises on e-cigarettes would only benefit tobacco companies, to the detriment of public health. One reason consumers have been trying e-cigarettes is because they can be as little as half the price of traditional cigarettes sold by big tobacco companies.

　　The increasing acceptance of e-cigarettes caught big tobacco companies off guard initially but they are slowly recognising that they cannot ignore the changing tastes of their consumers.

　　Last year, Lorillard bought Blu Ecigs for $135m and RJ Reynolds has started to develop its own electronic cigarette technology. Altria, the US maker of Marlboro, has stayed on the sidelines thus far, but analysts expect the tobacco giant to either acquire an e-cigarette manufacturer or launch its own brand soon.

　　Declining to divulge its plans, an Altria spokesman said: "Obviously we're monitoring what's going on in that category." Enditem