They branded themselves everywhere around WSOP this year, I'm curious what yall think of it.

1) If you used the product, what did you think of it?
2) Do you think this was a good marketing campaign in general

They marketed it as "never miss a hand" (i.e. you can use it at the table and not have to go physically smoke)

Personally, I feel like smoking is more of an activity than purely a means of consuming nicotine. People WANT to miss a hand; it's a built in temporary mental break for them to change environments momentarily.

I don't smoke though so my take may be wrong, though my initial take is that this wasn't a great campaign.

Also curious what branding the entire WSOP might cost Velo, though seems unlikely anybody would be able to make any educated guesses

Smoking is definitely more than just nicotine delivery. Nicotine replacement have been around decades. If smoking were just nicotine addiction those replacements would have made quitting easy.

I successfully quit about 8 years ago after smoking over 30 years. Even now there are times I catch a whiff and crave a smoke. It isn’t a nicotine crave anymore as that physical addiction only takes weeks or less to break. But the habit is much harder. Some say you never fully break the habit. I legitimately believe if I bought and smoked a carton, I would be quickly back to a pack a day habit.

After Nat Sherman closed up shop and took away my beloved MCD’s, I’ve been left smoking boring cigarettes. As much as I want to quit, I want to end on an MCD. So much so that I’d pay $50 for a pack or 2 and finally call it a day on the habit

For starters I'm sure Velo is doing better than IGNITE lol.

The marketing campaign was standard trash. When I saw their Arrested Development-esque looking banana stand setup outside the WSOP, I rolled my eyes and avoided that **** like crackheads on Fremont.

Marketing majors are some of the most out of touch people when assessing trends, identifying a target audience, and usually settle on resorting to coupon related spam-buckshot, such as Velo did.

I've been chewing since I was 15 and a smoker for roughly 10. I've recently switched to vaping. I've tried pretty much every form of nicotine consumptions there is, its my favorite drug. Personally I like chewing tobacco more than gimmicky chewing alternatives, but that's just me. Products like Velo offer chewing alternatives to hard-core chewers that can use it in certain scenarios where they cannot chew or smoke, but most importantly they appeal to people interested in consuming nicotine in a fashion that doesn't violate their conscience. Why? Because people can enjoy nicotine but know smoking is bad. They can enjoy nicotine, but chewing tobacco is "gross." Velo and products like its are decent option for those people.

The biggest problem I have with Velo and products like it are the ingredients.
Velo uses aspartame. Aspartame is GOD-AWFUL and causes liver failure in lab rats, and incites massive amounts of anxiety in humans. Nothing like swallowing that garbage all day as a routine nicotine user. Along with anxiety, I also get dulling numbness up my arms when I ingest Aspartame, and I have similar reactions with propylene glycol (the two main ingredients of literally every chewing tobacco on the market is aspartame for sweetener, and propylene glycol as a humectant-which keeps its moist and changes the PH level of the nicotine increasing bioavailability of nicotine allowing more to be ingested). So when I chew, I just use raw tobacco leaves. They are less potent but very nice. As for vaping I found a pure vegetable glycerin product with no artificial sweeteners. I love cigarettes, but those are pretty bad for you lol.

If Velo had a non-sweetened option, or used a fruit juice sweetened option, I'd be all over it. Aspartame is pretty cancerous. Which leads to my last point.

Chewing tobacco has noted as the safest form of nicotine consumption with the lowest levels of TSNA's (tobacco-specific nitrosamines), there were multiple studies out of Europe and a book written on it, obviously alot of people throw a fit regarding this notion. However, a huge culprit on gum disease, mouth cancer, and pancreatic cancer, isn't from the tobacco itself but the humectants and artificial sweeteners sitting in your lip and stomach everyday after years of consumption. Smoking is bad for obvious reaons.

If Velo had a better product, I'd use it happily, but its cheap synthetic nicotine with cheap sweeteners. Their are dozens of products like it in an over-saturated market. The best thing a company like them could do is differentiate themselves by offering better ingredients. Gotta find your niche within and already niche market.

As far as "never miss a hand." Yes I would agree. I personally like taking a 5-10 minute break, going to smoke/vape, then hit the bathroom and come back. I take a break like this every hour to hour and a half. It's nice to stretch your legs and take a mental break. I have ADHD so I have to do this ritual in every environment, not just poker. I feel like the slogan was corny, I think it was more suited to light users of nicotine. Hard-core users already have their brands picked out and methods of consumption. A hard-core user like me just see this stuff as free or reduced samples to add to our nicotine ritual. Velo is targeting new or light users.

This book was amazing and I havent smoked since. I did have to stop playing poker for a bit as that was a huge trigger for me.

Not playing poker for a bit >>>>>>>>>>> dying from smoking

Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking Kindle Edition

I used to dip, never smoked besides one off events. I quit by using nicotine gum but I'd chew way too much and the cheaper generic versions made my mouth feel like I smoked cigars all day long. I then went back to a product similar to what I would guess this Velo is. It was decent but I was putting two at a time in and still using it too frequently. It wasn't saving me money and I could tell it probably wasn't much better on my gums. I have really good teeth but was getting receeding gums and they were bleeding when I brushed my teeth. I then switched to vaping and haven't looked back. I don't pretend that it's healthy but my lungs were still in good shape since I didn't smoke, so I feel like it has given me some more time to spare before I ruin something bc of my nicotine habit.

Never tried the product, not currently using nicotine (hopefully done for good but you know how that goes) but have smoked, dipped, Snus, vaped, and chewed nicotine gum the majority of my life.

Smoking is definitely about the habit routine, but the same can be said for dipping/pouches/Snus. I could see this being a very nice alternative to dipping if it tastes good, spitless, no staining is a big plus over dip if you want to be discrete in a workplace. LOVE the feeling of a plug in the lip.

also quit smoking after reading this book, it's been 9 years now

I have read this book 3 times. Honestly its a great book and I've been able to quit for upwards of 3 months after reading it. However, I always turn back to using nicotine at some point. The last two times that I've read it, I was only able to quit for about a month. After a month, I start getting super irritable and angry and not being able to sleep. I think this is when the brain starts reverting back to being a genuine non smoker and it starts craving nicotine again.

The initial cravings are PAWS (post acute withdrawal) which last 4 days-few weeks for cigarettes.

But after the initial withdrawal goes away, the brain makes neurological changes as the body turns back to a normal state of homeostasis. It's this second period, after about a month, that I really start struggling to stay off nicotine. A huge part of that is how nicotine effects the prefrontal cortex which delivers dopamine. This needs to revert back to normal over time.

Dont use these kinds of shits

Very bad for you

Unless you dont care about dying when you are 54

The receding gum problem is most likely do to the sweeteners and absolute garbage in the product. If you want to chew, I'd suggest buying Whole Fronto leafs, and tearing off a strip of leaf and just chewing that. It's pretty lovely and I've never had issues with my mouth with it. Normally when I chewed traditional chewing products like Copenhagen or whatnot it would make my mouth hurt, with bumps and sores occasionally, not to mention thrush and bad breath with gum bleeding. All the standard chewing stuff. You can find fronto leafs at most head shops or online. Go with plain flavors. Sometimes they offer vanilla fronto leaves, but that **** has PG and aspartame.

https://www.bnbtobacco.com/products/fronto-leaf-tobacco

https://grabbaleaf.com/product/grabb...f-cigar-wraps/ THESE ARE MY FAVORITE.

As far as vaping goes, there is no contest in vaping vs. smoking regarding health. Vaping is simply better for you. Tar is highly carcinogenic, and hot smoke from cigarettes is dense and damages the lungs. Multiple studies have shown vaping increases your chance of cancer by 2%. I like those odds. Just youtube some Dr's opinions on vaping and do your own due diligence.

Personally I think PG is garbage, so I elect for pure VG options with organic and more subtle flavors. I hate vaping over the top flavors where everyone within a 6 mile radius can smell my "BLUBERRY SIZZERP BIRTHDAY CAKE FART" flavored vape juice.

https://www.kaisvirginvapor.com/

Vaping is infinitely better than smoking, for both cigarettes and weed.