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The Devil's Playbook: Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation
Big Tobacco meets Silicon Valley in this "deeply reported and illuminating" (The New York Times Book Review) corporate expos� of what happened when two of the most notorious industries collided--and the vaping epidemic was born.
"The best business book I've read since Bad Blood."--Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Ali: A Life
Howard Willard lusted after Juul. As the CEO of tobacco giant Philip Morris's parent company and a veteran of the industry's long fight to avoid being regulated out of existence, he grew obsessed with a prize he believed could save his company--the e-cigarette, a product with all the addictive upside of the original without the same apparent health risks and bad press. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Adam Bowen and James Monsees began working on a device that was meant to save lives and destroy Big Tobacco, but they ended up baking the industry's DNA into their invention's science and marketing. Ultimately, Juul's e-cigarette was so effective and so market-dominating that it put the company on a collision course with Philip Morris and sparked one of the most explosive public health crises in recent memory.
In a deeply reported account, award-winning journalist Lauren Etter tells a riveting story of greed and deception in one of the biggest botched deals in business history. Etter shows how Philip Morris's struggle to innovate left Willard desperate to acquire Juul, even as his own team sounded alarms about the startup's reliance on underage customers. And she shows how Juul's executives negotiated a lavish deal that let them pocket the lion's share of Philip Morris's $12.8 billion investment while government regulators and furious parents mounted a campaign to hold the company's feet to the fire.
The Devil's Playbook is the inside story of how Juul's embodiment of Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" ethos wrought havoc on American health, and how a beleaguered tobacco company was seduced by the promise of a new generation of addicted customers. With both companies' eyes on the financial prize, neither anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that would terrorize a nation, crater Juul's value, end Willard's career, and show the costs in human life of the rush to riches--while Juul's founders, board members, and employees walked away with a windfall.
"The best business book I've read since Bad Blood."--Jonathan Eig, New York Times bestselling author of Ali: A Life
Howard Willard lusted after Juul. As the CEO of tobacco giant Philip Morris's parent company and a veteran of the industry's long fight to avoid being regulated out of existence, he grew obsessed with a prize he believed could save his company--the e-cigarette, a product with all the addictive upside of the original without the same apparent health risks and bad press. Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, Adam Bowen and James Monsees began working on a device that was meant to save lives and destroy Big Tobacco, but they ended up baking the industry's DNA into their invention's science and marketing. Ultimately, Juul's e-cigarette was so effective and so market-dominating that it put the company on a collision course with Philip Morris and sparked one of the most explosive public health crises in recent memory.
In a deeply reported account, award-winning journalist Lauren Etter tells a riveting story of greed and deception in one of the biggest botched deals in business history. Etter shows how Philip Morris's struggle to innovate left Willard desperate to acquire Juul, even as his own team sounded alarms about the startup's reliance on underage customers. And she shows how Juul's executives negotiated a lavish deal that let them pocket the lion's share of Philip Morris's $12.8 billion investment while government regulators and furious parents mounted a campaign to hold the company's feet to the fire.
The Devil's Playbook is the inside story of how Juul's embodiment of Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" ethos wrought havoc on American health, and how a beleaguered tobacco company was seduced by the promise of a new generation of addicted customers. With both companies' eyes on the financial prize, neither anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that would terrorize a nation, crater Juul's value, end Willard's career, and show the costs in human life of the rush to riches--while Juul's founders, board members, and employees walked away with a windfall.
495 pages, Hardcover
Published May 25, 2021
76 people are currently reading
2480 people want to read
About the author
Lauren Etter
1 book23 followersLAUREN ETTER is an award-winning investigative reporter at Bloomberg News, where she writes in-depth corporate features and investigative stories. Previously she was a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and she has written for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. She holds master’s degrees in journalism and in law from Northwestern University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
July 6, 2021
They knew.
They lied.
They didn't care.
They did it anyway.
Because $$$$$
(They literally nicknamed themselves juulionaires.)
Such an important, urgent topic, and Etter did a fantastic job of telling the story of the rise and fall of Big Tobacco and how e-cig companies for some reason want to paint themselves with the same brush.
There are a lot of historical details, players, and alphabet soup (the FDA with their PMTAs, CDC, YTP, my personal favorite PAVe...) to keep track of, but it is laid out clearly and compellingly.
If reading this book makes you want to do something about it, go to parentsagainstvaping.org, not only will you see a picture of me on the volunteer page :-) but you can get more information, watch presentations, and learn what actions can be taken on a national or local level to protect youth.
They lied.
They didn't care.
They did it anyway.
Because $$$$$
(They literally nicknamed themselves juulionaires.)
Such an important, urgent topic, and Etter did a fantastic job of telling the story of the rise and fall of Big Tobacco and how e-cig companies for some reason want to paint themselves with the same brush.
There are a lot of historical details, players, and alphabet soup (the FDA with their PMTAs, CDC, YTP, my personal favorite PAVe...) to keep track of, but it is laid out clearly and compellingly.
If reading this book makes you want to do something about it, go to parentsagainstvaping.org, not only will you see a picture of me on the volunteer page :-) but you can get more information, watch presentations, and learn what actions can be taken on a national or local level to protect youth.
September 27, 2021
This is a hard review to write, because while the topic was good, the book was too dense. I started and stopped this book about a dozen times. It was just TOO Much to try to comprehend in one sitting. Further, there was just too much information, too many names, people, places, to try to keep track of.
While I learned how JUUL got its start and the founders, it was just TOO MUCH!
Further, after Altria purchased JUUL, or a big stake in JUUL, it seemed that the book glossed over important information.
Also, the author introduces people and then we never hear from them again...this happened time and again....the Juul nation instagrammer...what became of him, the first 16 year old in Wisconsin who was hospitalized, what happened to this person or this person....never was addressed.
Overall, if you would like to spend about 15 hours reading about JUUL and the mountain they climbed to get to the top of the ecigarette market, this book is for you.
IF you want to save yourself some time here is the gist of the book...JUUL marketed to kids with unique flavors, no oversight, and exploded onto the market. Altria (who manufactures Marlboro cigarettes) came in bought 40% of JUUL and then the FDA began to regulate JUUL. Now JUUL is on the downhilll slope.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC in exchange for this honest review.
While I learned how JUUL got its start and the founders, it was just TOO MUCH!
Further, after Altria purchased JUUL, or a big stake in JUUL, it seemed that the book glossed over important information.
Also, the author introduces people and then we never hear from them again...this happened time and again....the Juul nation instagrammer...what became of him, the first 16 year old in Wisconsin who was hospitalized, what happened to this person or this person....never was addressed.
Overall, if you would like to spend about 15 hours reading about JUUL and the mountain they climbed to get to the top of the ecigarette market, this book is for you.
IF you want to save yourself some time here is the gist of the book...JUUL marketed to kids with unique flavors, no oversight, and exploded onto the market. Altria (who manufactures Marlboro cigarettes) came in bought 40% of JUUL and then the FDA began to regulate JUUL. Now JUUL is on the downhilll slope.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC in exchange for this honest review.
June 20, 2021
Great book but this has to be read not for sensation of the inside story or investigative journalism but for the ebb and flow that disruptive start up undergoes, the pangs of stitching alliances, and for the wounded egos.
The story of Juul is not of bad intention or duped patrons hence unlike Theranos. The story is greed taking over great intentions and of serious research and lot of sweaty nights, of immorality and amorality.
The description of the book will get you started, but it soon fades and the narratives takes over which means that if the genre interests you, you will get through the book and will have interesting tales and valuable lessons.
Lauren Etter has a very written and a best seller to her name, but I believe her best is yet to come.
The story of Juul is not of bad intention or duped patrons hence unlike Theranos. The story is greed taking over great intentions and of serious research and lot of sweaty nights, of immorality and amorality.
The description of the book will get you started, but it soon fades and the narratives takes over which means that if the genre interests you, you will get through the book and will have interesting tales and valuable lessons.
Lauren Etter has a very written and a best seller to her name, but I believe her best is yet to come.
August 23, 2021
The Devil’s Playbook should have been an eye-opening read but unfortunately was poorly edited. At least one-third of the book contained irrelevant facts and extraneous anecdotes, turning what could have been an exceptional book into a semi-painful slog. Disappointing.
September 29, 2022
I am a "First Reads" winner. Thank you to the publisher!
I VERY highly recommend Etter's 'The Devil.' Incredible insight and a compelling, approachable narrative of a complex political, personal, and social issue.
One word, for me, expresses my overall approach to 'The Devil' and what I walked away with after reading it: Truth.
I VERY highly recommend Etter's 'The Devil.' Incredible insight and a compelling, approachable narrative of a complex political, personal, and social issue.
One word, for me, expresses my overall approach to 'The Devil' and what I walked away with after reading it: Truth.
February 2, 2025
3.5. Gavin said if I finished by February I could have a new book.
August 23, 2021
The cigarette business got magic,
to capitalize on human nature is tragic.
Existential per se, what intervention is consequential?
The reporting gave me a thrill;
The statements are laudable will.
to capitalize on human nature is tragic.
Existential per se, what intervention is consequential?
The reporting gave me a thrill;
The statements are laudable will.
June 1, 2021
Lauren Etter’s book The Devil’s Paybook appealed to me on so many levels. First, it has been compared to John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood, which told the story of a major clusterf^&k involving a Silicon Valley startup with some wacko and very greedy people trying to completely change how something extremely important (blood tests) is done. The subtitle tells it all about Ms. Etter’s book: Big Tobacco, Juul, and the Addiction of a New Generation.
Both Mr. Carreyrou and Ms. Etter wrote for The Wall Street Journal in the past; Ms. Etter is currently an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. She has meticulously researched and presented the story of the e-cigarette Juul, corporate giant Phillip Morris (now known as Altria, and prominent people on both sides.
TBH, the first part of the book was sort of a slog for me, as it was heavy on the Phillip Morris story, which is interesting but might have been edited down a bit for this story. The story of the major tobacco companies’ efforts to make profit at the expense of the health of millions is well-known. By the late 1990s, a so-called Master Settlement Agreement was reached between the tobacco companies and more than 40 state attorneys general which resulted in the companies paying billions of dollars to cover smoking-related health care costs. In addition, they committed to taking “aggressive steps to discourage young people from picking up the habit.”
Several years after this settlement, two graduate students in product design at Stanford began working together on their final thesis project (and subsequent company), which was Juul, an electronic cigarette. Although they stated their focus was on reducing harm to smokers, Ms. Etter details how this turned out to be little more than a clever marketing line attached to a very aggressive company with the same financial goal as a tobacco company.
So, this is the story of two companies, but it is bigger than that, as it looks at how Silicon Valley really operates: once Juul was up and running, they emulated other companies in rushing into new markets without regard for either rules or people. The greed, capitalism, and policy failures of Juul are classic and the story of the company’s founders is fascinating, similar to the path of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos (the blood-testing fraud) — although she has a much better chance of going to jail and they ended up rich, while she lost everything.
Both Juul and Phillip Morris/Altria were locked in an epic battle, and both companies’ eyes were on the financial reward…but neither could have anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that destroyed Juul’s value (although Juul’s founders, board members, and employees walked away with a boatload of cash). It’s a detailed story, filled with interesting tidbits that will be appreciated by readers in the areas of business, stories of corporate rise and fall, and especially anyone with an interest in Silicon Valley. Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for this honest review. Four stars.
Both Mr. Carreyrou and Ms. Etter wrote for The Wall Street Journal in the past; Ms. Etter is currently an investigative reporter for Bloomberg News. She has meticulously researched and presented the story of the e-cigarette Juul, corporate giant Phillip Morris (now known as Altria, and prominent people on both sides.
TBH, the first part of the book was sort of a slog for me, as it was heavy on the Phillip Morris story, which is interesting but might have been edited down a bit for this story. The story of the major tobacco companies’ efforts to make profit at the expense of the health of millions is well-known. By the late 1990s, a so-called Master Settlement Agreement was reached between the tobacco companies and more than 40 state attorneys general which resulted in the companies paying billions of dollars to cover smoking-related health care costs. In addition, they committed to taking “aggressive steps to discourage young people from picking up the habit.”
Several years after this settlement, two graduate students in product design at Stanford began working together on their final thesis project (and subsequent company), which was Juul, an electronic cigarette. Although they stated their focus was on reducing harm to smokers, Ms. Etter details how this turned out to be little more than a clever marketing line attached to a very aggressive company with the same financial goal as a tobacco company.
So, this is the story of two companies, but it is bigger than that, as it looks at how Silicon Valley really operates: once Juul was up and running, they emulated other companies in rushing into new markets without regard for either rules or people. The greed, capitalism, and policy failures of Juul are classic and the story of the company’s founders is fascinating, similar to the path of Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos (the blood-testing fraud) — although she has a much better chance of going to jail and they ended up rich, while she lost everything.
Both Juul and Phillip Morris/Altria were locked in an epic battle, and both companies’ eyes were on the financial reward…but neither could have anticipated the sudden outbreak of vaping-linked deaths that destroyed Juul’s value (although Juul’s founders, board members, and employees walked away with a boatload of cash). It’s a detailed story, filled with interesting tidbits that will be appreciated by readers in the areas of business, stories of corporate rise and fall, and especially anyone with an interest in Silicon Valley. Thanks to Crown Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for this honest review. Four stars.
September 28, 2022
Philip Morris owns Kraft, General Foods, Miller, Lunchables. Jell-O, Miracle Whip, and Velveeta.
Philip Morris built a network of paid scientists they called white coats.
When employees learned that rats being tested became so addicted that they would choose nicotine over food and water, the labs were destroyed and the employees fired.
Master settlement agreement required tobacco companies to pay 206 billion dollars in perpetuity by the year 2025.
The companies youth prevention program was a good look when the companies legal issues were far from resolved.
Congress did not want to regulate a product that constituted a significant portion of the American economy.
The global nicotine market including e cigarettes is valued at a massive $820 billion a year.
The American start up company has a bottomless, voracious appetite for one thing and one thing only: Profit.
Philip Morris built a network of paid scientists they called white coats.
When employees learned that rats being tested became so addicted that they would choose nicotine over food and water, the labs were destroyed and the employees fired.
Master settlement agreement required tobacco companies to pay 206 billion dollars in perpetuity by the year 2025.
The companies youth prevention program was a good look when the companies legal issues were far from resolved.
Congress did not want to regulate a product that constituted a significant portion of the American economy.
The global nicotine market including e cigarettes is valued at a massive $820 billion a year.
The American start up company has a bottomless, voracious appetite for one thing and one thing only: Profit.
July 19, 2021
Listened to the audiobook. The book has an incredibly interesting premise. Was excited to learn about the rise of Juul after seeing so many peers pick it up. I have to say this book started incredibly slow and honestly felt like a slog to get through at points. Some parts were really interesting, some were quite boring. Overall I am not sure I would recommend this book unless you are incredibly interested in this topic. Unlike Theranos, Juul didn't commit corporate fraud and unlike WeWork, there weren't insane excesses associated with any one person. Both books based on those stories were quite interesting for those aspects. This felt a little boring without a massive hook like those.
March 18, 2023
An extremely well written, very captivating story on how vaping came about after the Big Tobacco wars of the 90s. We were almost at a period of time where young people were turning off cigarettes, and it was looking that we might see the first generation of young people who would not get addicted to nicotine. Until of course, vaping and e-cigarettes came onto the scene. They were blindly motivated by good cause to have adult cigarette smokers switch to a harm reduced vapes, but ended up setting off a horrifying youth epidemic of middle and high school students hooked on Juuls. What better business model than one where your customer becomes as dependent on your product as food or water?
Overall this is a great example of how businesses can take advantage of consumers in a climate where there is absolutely no regulation. Ultimately damaging young brains while Silicon Valley moguls line their pockets. Also especially potent as I continue to hate the fact that I am the occasional vaper. The book explains how their is no healthy relationship with nicotine, unlike the relationship we can have with other addictive substances like alcohol. It begs the question of why nicotine is ever been allowed to be a marketable product that is doing business the same as the likes of consumer goods companies.
“In America… it is not enough to be successful. The unique brand of American start-up has a bottomless, voracious, untethered appetite for one thing and one thing only: profit. It’s the epitome of our brute capitalist system that rewards investors for putting every single thing - personal data, storied institutions, even teenage brains-on the altar of profit.”
Overall this is a great example of how businesses can take advantage of consumers in a climate where there is absolutely no regulation. Ultimately damaging young brains while Silicon Valley moguls line their pockets. Also especially potent as I continue to hate the fact that I am the occasional vaper. The book explains how their is no healthy relationship with nicotine, unlike the relationship we can have with other addictive substances like alcohol. It begs the question of why nicotine is ever been allowed to be a marketable product that is doing business the same as the likes of consumer goods companies.
“In America… it is not enough to be successful. The unique brand of American start-up has a bottomless, voracious, untethered appetite for one thing and one thing only: profit. It’s the epitome of our brute capitalist system that rewards investors for putting every single thing - personal data, storied institutions, even teenage brains-on the altar of profit.”
May 19, 2023
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this captivating business narrative. In "The Devil's Playbook," Lauren Etter skillfully chronicles the journey of Juul vapes, from its inception by two Stanford graduates in 2005 to President Trump's townhall meeting in 2020.
Initially driven by noble intentions to save smokers from the health hazards of traditional cigarettes, Juul soon succumbed to the allure of unbridled greed, transforming into a quintessential Silicon Valley unicorn. Throughout the book, I found myself empathizing with various parties involved: the Alteria (Marlboro, aka Big Tobacco) executives desperately attempting to extinguish the fire, the disillusioned Juul employees grappling with justifying their cause, the FDA struggling to contain a youth-vaping epidemic, and the concerned parents.
Ultimately, this narrative reminds us that the individuals behind these corporate entities are, in fact, just people. We perceive themselves as noble heroes, working for the greater good of society or caring for their employees. But we are also capable of convincing themselves that pursuing the path of greed is somehow the right course of action. This book provides a thought-provoking exploration of the complex motivations and moral dilemmas faced by those in positions of power.
Initially driven by noble intentions to save smokers from the health hazards of traditional cigarettes, Juul soon succumbed to the allure of unbridled greed, transforming into a quintessential Silicon Valley unicorn. Throughout the book, I found myself empathizing with various parties involved: the Alteria (Marlboro, aka Big Tobacco) executives desperately attempting to extinguish the fire, the disillusioned Juul employees grappling with justifying their cause, the FDA struggling to contain a youth-vaping epidemic, and the concerned parents.
Ultimately, this narrative reminds us that the individuals behind these corporate entities are, in fact, just people. We perceive themselves as noble heroes, working for the greater good of society or caring for their employees. But we are also capable of convincing themselves that pursuing the path of greed is somehow the right course of action. This book provides a thought-provoking exploration of the complex motivations and moral dilemmas faced by those in positions of power.
June 29, 2021
"The Devil's Playbook" was an audacious project, and Lauren Etter totally nailed it with her 400 page book that brings to life the personalities and egos of the various CEO's and their deputies, the intersection of Silicon Valley and Big Tobacco business culture and strategy, the health science of nicotine addiction, and the complexity of if and how an Altria or a Juul Labs justifies its existence amidst the shifting and paradoxical regulation and social attitudes about differing tobacco products. I knew just a few pages into the prologue that she had gotten things right in her descriptions of the Philip Morris executives and culture, almost as if she had gone back in time and observed things firsthand. I enjoyed the little details, such as the annoyance of the business executives who were taken to a San Juan Philip Morris conference hotel in "rickety vans and packed in like sardines"; annoyance which dissipated when they arrived at their destination, a ritzy golf and casino resort by a secluded stretch of white sand lined with palm trees strung with hammocks. I've read a lot of non-fiction accounts of businesses, as well as books about mergers, and for me "The Devil's Playbook" ranked right up there with "Barbarians at the Gate" as one of the very best.
December 18, 2022
I love it. It was exciting to see the college students developing a nicotine device that could get people to stop smoking cigarettes. I had fun reading about those kids and their dream to make people quit smoking cigarettes and instead use their device, Juul.
The author frames Bowen and Monsees as bad guys who knew their product would cause harm. I don’t think that’s entirely true. Sure, most people in San Francisco say that they want to “make the world a better place” with their product, but Juul did get people to stop smoking.
Mistakes Made By Juul
The cigarette companies were trying to get kids to smoke with their ads. Juul did the same. It was a major mistake to let Altria buy Juul because of the story they were trying to tell. That’s where they went wrong.
It was a good book even though the author was biased. Heck, maybe the bias made the book more interesting. The rise and fall of Juul was very exciting to read. Miss Etter focused too much on side stories about kids getting addicted to Juul, but other than that, It was a great read.
The author frames Bowen and Monsees as bad guys who knew their product would cause harm. I don’t think that’s entirely true. Sure, most people in San Francisco say that they want to “make the world a better place” with their product, but Juul did get people to stop smoking.
Mistakes Made By Juul
The cigarette companies were trying to get kids to smoke with their ads. Juul did the same. It was a major mistake to let Altria buy Juul because of the story they were trying to tell. That’s where they went wrong.
It was a good book even though the author was biased. Heck, maybe the bias made the book more interesting. The rise and fall of Juul was very exciting to read. Miss Etter focused too much on side stories about kids getting addicted to Juul, but other than that, It was a great read.
February 20, 2023
Really enjoyed this book, does a good job of patiently setting up the lights by introducing the major players in the Juul story - from the naive? co-founders, the crass and amoral Altria executives, to all the rich hedge fund parents that decided to get involved in taking down Juul. I like that it really hones in on the power of nicotine and what made Juul so "special".
The tremendous research and storytelling in this book doesn't take the lazy route of just demonizing Big Tobacco + Juul and calling it a day. Many chapters are dedicated to breaking down in copious detail the gross amount of human innovation and willful ignorance to make this dangerously addictive phenomenon of Juul. It is important to understand the science, business/investing dynamics, and bureaucratic machinery in the US enabling Juul to balloon and spawn a public health crisis to accurately and properly crucify Juul + prevent similar disasters from happening again. I was aware of the sleek product design and marketing power, but I had no clue how bonkers nicotine was.
The tremendous research and storytelling in this book doesn't take the lazy route of just demonizing Big Tobacco + Juul and calling it a day. Many chapters are dedicated to breaking down in copious detail the gross amount of human innovation and willful ignorance to make this dangerously addictive phenomenon of Juul. It is important to understand the science, business/investing dynamics, and bureaucratic machinery in the US enabling Juul to balloon and spawn a public health crisis to accurately and properly crucify Juul + prevent similar disasters from happening again. I was aware of the sleek product design and marketing power, but I had no clue how bonkers nicotine was.
Want to read
May 5, 2021As a teenager who knows of so many other teens who Juul, I'm really looking forward to this book and expect it will be very informative! Preorder your copy now:
PRH Catalog | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Indiebound
*I won a free finished copy of this book prior to publication in a #GoodreadsGiveaway and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.*
PRH Catalog | Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Indiebound
*I won a free finished copy of this book prior to publication in a #GoodreadsGiveaway and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.*
July 13, 2021
Illuminating story of Big Tobacco and e-cigarette industries in America.
I read this book in preparation for a project. It tells the fascinating story of Big Tobacco, e-cigarettes and public health in the United States. With much attention to detail, the author covers many bases of what one needs to know about the industry. The book is very well written in a way that weaves the data together with personal accounts, quotes and the course of certain events, which keeps the narrative interesting despite the density of information it contains.
I will need to go through this book again, but I can say that the one thing I disliked about it is the fact that it takes a strong stance against the industry and places zero responsibility on the conscious consumer - although it's not surprising when the author calls the industry "the devil" in the title.
I read this book in preparation for a project. It tells the fascinating story of Big Tobacco, e-cigarettes and public health in the United States. With much attention to detail, the author covers many bases of what one needs to know about the industry. The book is very well written in a way that weaves the data together with personal accounts, quotes and the course of certain events, which keeps the narrative interesting despite the density of information it contains.
I will need to go through this book again, but I can say that the one thing I disliked about it is the fact that it takes a strong stance against the industry and places zero responsibility on the conscious consumer - although it's not surprising when the author calls the industry "the devil" in the title.
February 17, 2025
I saw some ploom advertising around town, no idea what it was. I had never heard of Juul before. Yes, I am very, very non-smoking. But I do have a weird fascination for startups that mess things up very, very badly and yet no one learns.
This book tells the story of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And it's all good as long as you cash in at the end. It is quite unsettling how a startup that put things into people's lungs was allowed to roam free unregulated for so long. And then everyone just got very rich while who knows how many kids are not nicotine addicts. And I actually buy that the founders started out with the intention to prevent smoking-related deaths. But that's why you don't let tech bros run wild on people's lungs.
Good read all around, if only to enjoy the schadenfreude when it comes to big tobacco. Too bad it was at the expense of many.
This book tells the story of how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And it's all good as long as you cash in at the end. It is quite unsettling how a startup that put things into people's lungs was allowed to roam free unregulated for so long. And then everyone just got very rich while who knows how many kids are not nicotine addicts. And I actually buy that the founders started out with the intention to prevent smoking-related deaths. But that's why you don't let tech bros run wild on people's lungs.
Good read all around, if only to enjoy the schadenfreude when it comes to big tobacco. Too bad it was at the expense of many.
July 7, 2021
This is an interesting story of a great, even noble, idea (a device which delivers nicotine without most of the dangers inherent in tobacco smoking) which has spectacular success before plunging into controversy and acrimony. It is a story of hubris and greed. It gives insight into the workings of corporate USA and how companies seek to operate profitably while navigating complex regulatory and political forces.
The book is extremely detailed, including the history of almost every player in the story, no matter how small their part. This detail, with at times disconcerting leaps back and forward in time, detracted from what could have been a far more powerful narrative thread. It would be a five star book with judicious editing and pruning of approx 100 pages.
The book is extremely detailed, including the history of almost every player in the story, no matter how small their part. This detail, with at times disconcerting leaps back and forward in time, detracted from what could have been a far more powerful narrative thread. It would be a five star book with judicious editing and pruning of approx 100 pages.
January 6, 2025
There was some legislation that made it harder for normal cigarettes which left a gap for a new invention: e-cigarettes. Juul had the best looking product and became an online trend among young people. It was far and away the best selling vape product at the time. Altria, from what I could tell the board's FOMO, bought Juul for tens of billions. The value of Juul went down considerably due to limitations in the flavors it could sell as well as people getting injuries from using Juul with THC. The nicotine companies heavily comply with regulators since they could instantly be banned. They pay anti-smoking organisations and do everything possible to stay on the good side of regulators. This book isn't story-based it is more fact-based.
April 23, 2022
While the book started promising, it later turned into a tedious story about deals between companies. I had to skim read through countless pages with descriptions of weather, ballrooms, buildings and such. Dozens of characters were introduced along with their own biographies, which not always had anything to do with the storyline.
Starting the book, I expected to find more information on the research that has been done on vaping and it's effect on people. Instead, the author just mentioned a couple of unfortunate teens who supposedly suffered from the effects of vaping. To me, the book was informative, but it could be 300 pages shorter.
Starting the book, I expected to find more information on the research that has been done on vaping and it's effect on people. Instead, the author just mentioned a couple of unfortunate teens who supposedly suffered from the effects of vaping. To me, the book was informative, but it could be 300 pages shorter.
November 19, 2022
Excellent journalism of the latest plays by big tobacco and the e-cigarette market. She does include history of the rise of cigarettes and big tobacco to set the stage but focuses primarily on the e-cigarette epidemic. As a public health practitioner, I appreciated the objective appraisal of this recent history. It illuminated how e-cigaretttes rose so rapidly and as she says, addicted a new generation.
I listened as an audio book and the narrator was excellent. She does discuss many names and if you need to remember them all, I would recommend reading it instead. I was listening for the overall narrative.
I listened as an audio book and the narrator was excellent. She does discuss many names and if you need to remember them all, I would recommend reading it instead. I was listening for the overall narrative.
March 13, 2024
While the premise was intriguing at first but the writing quickly got bogged down by a repetition of themes and information. The timeline wasn’t clear as the book would switch back and forth between different periods in a 2 year timespan at a time. By the time got to what should be the juiciest part (Juul’s demise), I was throughly exhausted past 15 chapters of lukewarm build-up.
The book could have been considerably shorter and is ultimately summed up as the following: Philip Morris couldn’t innovate so they made a poor investment in Juul but Juul was an irresponsibly-run Silicon Valley unicorn that crashed and burned. Unfortunately does not make for an interesting read.
The book could have been considerably shorter and is ultimately summed up as the following: Philip Morris couldn’t innovate so they made a poor investment in Juul but Juul was an irresponsibly-run Silicon Valley unicorn that crashed and burned. Unfortunately does not make for an interesting read.
June 29, 2021
very interesting review of the evolution of the e cigarette and Juul. It is hard to assess if the founders still believed their idea of weaning smokers off cigarettes to vaping as a safer alternative or were deceiving themselves. Certainly the type of advertising they did and where the market penetration actually existed made the illusion apparent, if they cared to look. I guess it's hard to do that when your company is growing explosively and the money is pouring in. Recommended for anyone interested in how we got to where we are today with nicotine products and vaping.
July 11, 2021
The story of Juul certainly contains a hefty does of schadenfreude much in the vein of Bad Blood and the story of Theranos. Unlike that tale of a different evil Silicon Valley one-time darling, Juul actually had a very viable albeit controversial product, but one that was also not without a huge amount of inherent flaws. The hubris of all the players is admirably captured here and the very detailed description of Philip Morris’s substantial investment only to read of its poisoned end is just the icing on the cake to this wretched tale.
June 4, 2022
Very good historical account of vaping and modern tobacco industry. In the end, teenagers and young adults always find a way to pick up self-destructive behavior. What is more cool than slowly killing yourself, right?
The most frustrating part was the Juul founders unlike the company were the ones to benefit the most because their payout was mostly in the form of a special dividend. So they were not that much affected by Juul tanking later.
Lauren Etter delivered here pretty well. Hope she continues writing like this.
The most frustrating part was the Juul founders unlike the company were the ones to benefit the most because their payout was mostly in the form of a special dividend. So they were not that much affected by Juul tanking later.
Lauren Etter delivered here pretty well. Hope she continues writing like this.
August 8, 2023
If you can make it past the first third or so of the book, this is an excellent look into Juul's dramatic rise and fall. I enjoyed how the book provided a number of perspectives, from Juul itself, to Phillip Morris/Altria, to the parents who desperately tried to get Juul off the shelves.
That being said, the first third of the book was a slog to get through. It provided a lot of ultimately unnecessary information, repeated itself constantly (I get it. The Tobacco Wars scarred Phillip Morris forever), and introduced so many people I couldn't keep track.
That being said, the first third of the book was a slog to get through. It provided a lot of ultimately unnecessary information, repeated itself constantly (I get it. The Tobacco Wars scarred Phillip Morris forever), and introduced so many people I couldn't keep track.
November 2, 2021
Quick impressions: The story overall makes for good drama. We get a look at human nature, often at its worst motivated by greed and a selfish disregard for others. We get emotion as we see the stories of young people dying as parents try to figure out how to save them. We get drama from government agencies too slow to act even as some in said government try to do something. It is an engaging story, and the author tells it very well.
(Full review on my blog later. Link to my blog in my bio.)
(Full review on my blog later. Link to my blog in my bio.)
February 11, 2022
A fascinating combination of (recent) historical cautionary tale about growing a startup too quickly at all costs and examination of the similarities between big tobacco of the 20th century and “big vape” of the 21st. The author weaves a great deal of in-depth reporting on the old guard tobacco companies into a fast-paced and engaging narrative largely taking place around Juul in the 2010’s, to the point where the reader feels like they are discovering the parallels entirely on their own.
November 20, 2023
“What was the motto at Facebook? Move fast and break stuff. That was the great Zuckerberg motto. really? Well, move fast and break stuff doesn’t work for kids. In fact, it’s terrible. And the actions of Juul and Big Tobacco were also move fast and break stuff. It’s exactly the same behavior you saw from Facebook and the same kind of manipulative, addictive stuff that we’ve seen—hook kids in with no regards for health consequences.”
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