Yesmoke Tobacco S.p.A.

Originally, Yesmoke was an online store selling cigarettes; it wanted to open a new, free and legitimate distribution channel. The war with Philip Morris brought the fledgling firm to the attention of newspapers all over the world, contributing to an increase of sales to over 6 million cartons per year. From “Unauthorized” world leader of the sale of Marlboros …

Murals of Yesmoke cigarette factory in Settimo Torinese, Italy

Yesmoke came into being on the 1st of January 2000 at Balerna, in the Swiss Alps. Its battles determined the history and the identity of a new cigarette - an «Anti Big Tobacco» cigarette.

The online store was forced to surrender on November 16th 2004, when 200 agents, with a Hollywood-style blitz at New York’s J.F.Kennedy Airport, surrounded the Boeing 767 that was carrying the Swiss mail and confiscated 150 thousand cartons of cigarettes, including all the “Yesmokes”. A blitz like this has never been seen before, wrote the newspapers. Read more »

The modern cigarette is to nicotine as crack is to cocaine. Crack's capacity to bring on cocaine addiction is due to the fact that vaporized cocaine reaches the brain more quickly. “Crack nicotine” in cigarettes, in the same way, reaches the brain more quickly, leading to a stronger dependence on nicotine.

“Ammonia key to Marlboro's success” – The Associated Press

“Free base” nicotine, or “Crack nicotine”, is obtained with ammonia technology, and it is a particularly potent form of nicotine because it is in a gaseous form and not combined.

“Ammonia is the secret of Marlboro’s success”… “Cigarette manufactures have manipulated nicotine”… “Philip Morris admits that it produces cigarettes that are more addictive”… These are not provocations of the Black Blocks, they are the titles of the most respectable American newspapers, like USA Today, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Read more »