Daily ArchiveWednesday, January 10th, 2007
CiglessBot 10 Jan 2007 10:38 pm
Rubbing his hands all the way to the bank
I was half-an-hour late getting to Nicogel. It was so difficult to find I almost gave up, eventually crossing a muddy yard and discovering a well-hidden door, the name of the company so small, you’d think they had something to hide.
Far from it. Nicogel turns out to be spectacular.
Take the following ingredients: the world’s first new tobacco product in 300 years, yet not a health-threat, a company which started only three years ago and is already worth more than £100m, sales in 42 countries, and an even more stupendous product on the starting block.
To start at the beginning. The Nicogel offices are as unpromising inside as out; boss, founder and sole-owner John Walters is sitting in a very cramped office, but we go through to a tiny meeting room where an electric fire circa 1950s threatens to singe my skirt, which reminds me, one of the workers was outside having a fag when I arrived, obviously a case of cobblers shoes.
Dr Walters, 39, has never smoked, but he has absorbed plenty of nicotine and all the rest in the discovery and development of his product, an odourless gel that you rub into your hands instead of smoking a cigarette.
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