The Philip Morris USA unit of Altria Group (NYSE: MO) has decided to launch a smokeless product under the Marlboro name. It is a substantial risk.
Forty percent of the cigarettes sold (WSJ--subscription required) in the U.S. are Marlboros. The brand still evokes the tough cowboys who used to ride through its TV commercials. They rode the open American range, they were independent, and when they died of lung cancer, it was off-screen.
The new product can be used in offices and restaurants since it does not violate any of the smoking laws enacted in recent years. The product is not "wet" like certain other forms of smokeless tobacco. The users are not likely to spit juice all over the floor. Hitting a spitoon is a lost art.
But, smokeless tobacco can cause mouth and throat cancer, a particularly grim way to die.
Sucking nicotine in through a little pouch placed in the mouth would seem to erode the strong cowboy image. Of course, it will kill you all the same.
Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.
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