WTF Is THIS?

 

I don't smoke and never have. It is a disgusting, filthy, and demonstrably unhealthy habit. It is an expensive one, too, with most familiar brands selling for between five and six dollars a pack. When I saw this bit of detritus on the ground, it caught my eye because of the name ... THIS. I could imagine the salesclerk at the convenience store asking their customer, "Do mean THIS one, sir?" As it turns out, the brand is owned by a Korean company that started selling the cigarettes in the United States in 2017, selling for about half that of American competitors, finding its customers in the big box stores. As of June, 2019 the brand became the fifth-largest seller globally, based on revenue. So now, another company is laughing all the way to the bank, offering their addictive poison to a steady stream of lower-income buyers.