Bloomberg Businessweeksaysone who,likeothers, spokeon
condition of anonymity for fear of retal-
iation. “It was just, get it out there, get it
out there, get it out there.”Tobacco companies initially started
talking about “safer” cigarettes in the
1950s, and research intensified around
the time government safety warnings
first appeared on packs of smokes. In
1988, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. released
a smokeless product called Premier,
which flopped. As Reynolds’s own CEO
later said, Premier tasted “like shit.” A
Chinese pharmacist released an elec-
tronic cigarette in 2003, but its battery
life and nicotine kick were weak.
So there wasn’t much competition
when Bowen and Monsees presented
their 2005 Stanford thesis, which dubbed
their prototype e-cigarette “the rational
future of smoking.” They clicked through
some slides detailing the psychologi-
cal reasons people use cigarettes—oral
fixation, marketing, sense of belong-
ing. Then came a slide with a picture
of a deconstructed cigarette: a piece of
paper, a filter, shreds of tobacco. “This is
the current solution—it satisfies all these
basic human needs,” Monsees said, get-
ting the desired laugh from the audi-
ence. “In reality,” he added, “a cigarette
is actually a carefully engineered prod-
uct for nicotine delivery and addiction.”
During the presentation, he and
Bowen unveiled their first prototype,
called Ploom. It mimicked the round,
slender profile of a cigarette and used lit-
tle tufts of loose-leaf tobacco that were
heated and vaporized. In 2007, Bowen
and Monsees formed a company called
Pax Labs Inc. and eventually began sell-
ing the Ploom with tobacco pods that
came in flavors like “rocket” and “kick-
ass mint.” After struggling to attract
investors from the Silicon Valley set, they
invited executives from several tobacco
companies to San Francisco to check
out the product in late 2009, according
to two people familiar with the meetings,
which haven’t previously been reported.
Withcigarettesalessteadilyfalling
about3%a year,thetobaccocompanies
wereinterested—but unimpressed by the
Ploom. “I kept coughing the wholeJuul’svapeliquidwasdevelopedfor
mature adult smokers, says Chenyue
Xing. “It shouldn’t have gotten into the
eyesightofjuveniles,”shesays.Xing,
a formertopscientistatJuul,saysshe
startedMystLabstocorrectthevap-
ingindustry’smistakes.
Myst’sfirsttargetis theworld’sbig-
gestsmokernation,China,whereXing
andherco-foundersgrewup.They
facea marketcrowdedwithdozensof
well-capitalizedrivalsanda groundswell
ofworrycausedbyvapingsickness.
AtMyst’sresearchlabinSanJose,
Xingsaystherecentdeathsaredis-
tressing,butthediagnosesareincon-
clusive.A billionsmokerscouldbenefit
fromswitchingtovapes,shesays.“But
there’salwaysgoingtobecontroversy
aroundnewproducts.”
Public-healthadvocates saythe
controversiesfacingvapecompanies
can’tbewavedoff,andMysthaswork
todotoproveit cankeepnonsmok-
ersaway.They’veexpressedpartic-
ular worry about Myst’s one-time
disposablee-cigs, pricedat about
$7toattractfirst-timevapers.Xing
saysMyst’ssmokingalternativesare
designedtoappealtothemiddle-aged.
She’spickeda brutaltimetoforce
a newbrandintothevapingmarket,
saysMarcScheineson,a formerasso-
ciatecommissioneroftheU.S.Foodand
DrugAdministrationwhonowrunsthe
foodanddrugpracticeforthelawfirm
Alston& Bird.“Regulatoryuncertainty
is creatinghighentrybarriersthatshe’s
goingtohavetojumpthrough,”hesays.
Whena recruiterfromJuul’sorigi-
nalcorporateparentcold-calledXing
in2013,shewasworkingfora phar-
maceuticalcompanytodevelopinhal-
able drugs to treat migraines and
otherdiseases.A lifelongnonsmoker,
shesaysshesignedontohelpcreate
analternativetocigarettes that was
more effective than nicotine patches.Within two years, Xing had co-
created Juul’s nicotine-salt technology.
Now stunned by the scale of Juul’s suc-
cess, she says she left because she dis-
agreed with her bosses’ plans to pursue
marijuana products along with tobacco.
She returned to the pharmaceutical
industry in 2016 but grew convinced
she could build a better vape company.
Myst’s vapes don’t look as fun as
Juul’s. Their colors run to dark gray
instead of, say, turquoise. The pods,
too, are limited to more staid options
(tobacco, mint) instead of sweeter fruit
flavors. Myst, which employs most of
its 60 workers in Shenzhen, China,
says it’s working with retail chains,
as well as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
and Tencent Holdings Ltd., to use facial
recognition to ensure people buying
their products are 18 or older.
The nicotine formula, however, is
the same where it counts—a 5% con-
centration, like the Juul standard—and
a sample Myst P series tastes and feels
like a Juul. When Xing switches the
vape on, a sleeve around the mouth-
piece clicks open like a camera lens.
She says it makes vaping feel more
like lighting a cigarette, and it’s easy
to imagine the cues priming a user for
nicotine just as striking a match does.
Myst also offers 3% nicotine pods
(as does Juul) and says it intendsto
distinguish itself with evenlower-
concentration vapes that give the same
buzz but are less addictive. It’s working
on an app to help people taper off their
vapes and eventually quit. Asked if that
would one day put her company out of
business, Xing shrugs and says she’s
not too worried. “There are enough
smokers out there.” �Shelly Banjo,
with Ellen Huet and Aki Itoxing71BOWEN AND MONSEES: WINNI WINTERMEYER/REDUX. PLOOM DEVICES: NATHANAEL TURNER. JUUL: REUTERS. XING: PHOTOGRAPH BY KELSEY MCCLELLAN FOR BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK
a JUUL pod
architect
says her
new stuff
is better