US: Tarpon-Based Company Finds Worldwide Success

Source from:  Tarpon Springs Patch  01/11/2013

In 2008, a triad of young people started a business out of a budding industry: electronic cigarettes.

White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes was born after Danielle Steingraber, Matthew Steingraber and Michael Murray decided it was a voided market waiting to be filled. The group had been mesmerized by the up and coming industry at a Vegas trade show.

"A product like this has been a long time coming," said Matther Steingraber, Managing Director.

As transplants from Pittsburgh, the crew originally set up shop in Holiday in the early 2000s before they landed in Tarpon Springs where they eventually launched the brand.

The trio were recently mentioned in a Forbes magazine article that predicts the successful trend of electronic cigarette smoking.

How it works

According to Steingraber, the process includes removing nicotine from tobacco leaves and adding it to a liquid mixture of a sugar-based alcohol called polyethylene glycol and vegetable glycerine.

The mixture is inserted into the electronic cigarette shaft by way of a cartridge before being heated to a whopping 300 degrees. The liquid then boils and produces a smoke-like mist.

Electronic cigarette smokers inhale the produced mist that is remnant of traditional cigarette smoke.

What's the difference?

There are a number of differences between cigarettes and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). The obvious ones include smoke versus mist, the cost and the life of the product.

White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes offers a disposable and a refillable e-cigarette.

Over time, smokers could find that the refillable e-cigarettes are more financially sound with only having to replace the cartridges. That's not to mention the sustainability factor without all of the cellophane and cardboard packaging.

"Our products act as very good carriers for nicotine as opposed to cigarette smoke, in which the carrier is tar," Steingraber said.

Do e-cigarettes have a reduced amount of health risks?

Steingraber says that there is a very fine line between e-cigarette and cigarette smoking. Since the industry is still getting its feet wet, studies will steadily increase as far as the health risks go.

But as of right now, there is nothing substantial to prove one being more harmful than the other.

The future of White Cloud Electronic Cigarettes

Currently there are 22 retail locations of White Cloud e-cigarettes, plus an online store which allows worldwide distribution. Of course furthered success and growth are on the agenda for Steingraber and company.

However, one of the biggest aspirations the crew has for 2013 and beyond is to make the company strictly U.S.A. Right now, the products are manufactured in China and Steingraber hopes that growth will bring the opportunity to move all aspects of the business within U.S. borders.

White Cloud is one of the few companies that have already begun to produce the liquid here in the states.

"Our goal is to at some point fill all of the cartridges and such in the United States," Steingraber said. Enditem