BAT launches e-cigarette in UK

British American Tobacco said today that it had launched on the U.K. market its first electronic cigarette.

Vype will be made available initially online, though there are plans to move it into mainstream retail outlets from September 2013.

In a note posted on its website, BAT said that Vype used a nicotine e-liquid that was made in the U.K. to current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) standards and that contained only pharmaceutical-grade nicotine.

Vype is currently available in a disposable format, but there are plans to supplement the product range with a rechargeable version in the near future.
“The development of inhaled nicotine products, which includes e-cigarettes, is a natural extension of British American Tobacco’s approach to tobacco harm reduction, which has been evolving over a number of years,” BAT’s press note said.

BAT already had an interest in electronic cigarettes through CN Creative Ltd., a U.K.-based startup company that offers electronic cigarettes on the U.K. market and overseas.