TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. (CSE: TAAT) (OTCQX: TOBAF) (FRANKFURT: 2TP)
TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. (CSE: TAAT) (OTCQX: TOBAF) (FRANKFURT: 2TP) is a life sciences company dedicated to giving legal-aged smokers the choice to keep the smoking experience that they enjoy with no nicotine and no tobacco.
The key players of TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. are from leading tobacco brands. They are guiding the mission with the company's proprietary product, TAAT(TM), which uses the company's proprietary Beyond Tobacco(TM) base material. The base material undergoes a 14-step process to taste and smell just like tobacco and uses a patent-pending refinement technique.
This provides the company with unique opportunities on the global tobacco market, which was estimated at $849 billion in 2019, with approximately 1.3 billion people using tobacco in some form worldwide (https://nnw.fm/bvKFL).
TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with operations in Las Vegas, Nevada.
TAAT(TM)
TAAT is a smokable alternative to tobacco cigarettes using the Beyond Tobacco base material, which contains zero tobacco and zero nicotine. The current TAAT offering comes in three varieties: Original, Smooth and Menthol, which were launched during Q4 2020 in Ohio. The company's Ohio tobacco wholesaler also distributes for major tobacco industry names such as Altria, RJ Reynolds (a subsidiary of British American Tobacco) and ITG.
The TAAT Beyond Tobacco experience was created to replicate the sensory elements of smoking a tobacco cigarette. Market testing in California and Nevada reached a consensus that TAAT products offered no significant differences in experience when compared to tobacco cigarettes, in terms of the following aspects:
- Visual – the nearly identical product packaging and enhanced smoke volume
- Auditory – the "crackling" sound of the base material when it is ignited
- Smell – when burning, TAAT emits a tobacco-like scent
- Taste – the patent-pending Beyond Tobacco base material undergoes a refinement process that creates a tobacco-like taste
- Touch – TAAT satisfies the "hand-to-mouth" fixation and motor habits, such as flicking ashes
TAAT Beyond Tobacco Targeting Current Smokers
TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. is currently targeting the market of legal-aged smokers with its proprietary product. The company aims "not to create a new problem, but to solve an existing one." TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. offers a non-addictive alternative to tobacco, with several competitive advantages making it a promising option on the United States market, such as:
- Price – TAAT can be offered at a lower price than competing products in the tobacco category, which adds to the propositioned value for current legal-aged smokers.
- Experience – TAAT appeals to current smokers who wish to give up the tobacco and nicotine but keep the smoking experience they enjoy.
- Branding/Packaging – TAAT is American-grown and American-made, with its Beyond Tobacco base material serving as a legacy to the combustible tobacco products.
The current alternatives to cigarette smoking do not offer a comparable experience. Previously marketed products, like vaping, proved difficult for some legal-aged smokers to adopt, as the experience was too different from traditional cigarettes.
Market Outlook
In 2016, the United States tobacco market was valued at over $100 billion, a number that's expected to grow over the next decade (https://nnw.fm/yd8oP). In terms of volume, over 215 billion cigarettes were sold to roughly 34 million adults in the United States in 2018. These numbers represent almost 14% of the adult population. Of those, almost two-thirds smoked more than 15 cigarettes in one day. A standard pack is comprised of 20 cigarettes.
The company's Beyond Tobacco, as a non-tobacco product, has a price-driven consumer advantage in many states. While state taxes on traditional cigarettes vary, most tend to average around $1.82 per pack. Washington D.C. is on the higher end of the tax spectrum at $4.50 per pack, whereas Missouri is only $0.17 per pack (https://nnw.fm/D3WnT).
TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. estimates that, if one pack of TAAT Beyond Tobacco was sold at 20% of all United States tobacco points of sale, the product would capture 0.25% of the market, the equivalent of approximately 2.7 million cartons of cigarettes per year.
Management Team
Setti Coscarella is the Chief Executive Officer of TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. He is experienced in investment banking, private equity and entrepreneurship. In 2017, Mr. Coscarella was the lead strategist for Reduced-Risk Products at Philip Morris International. While there, he worked with thousands of smokers to better understand how to position smoking alternatives, developing programs that could help smokers convert to reduced-risk products. Mr. Coscarella holds an MBA from the Schulich School of Business, specializing in finance, marketing and corporate strategy. He also has a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics from the University of Toronto.
Tim Corkum is the company's Chief Revenue Officer. He has a lengthy history in the tobacco industry, having served 21 years at Philip Morris International. Mr. Corkum has experience leading the international commercialization of combustible cigarettes and working on reduced-risk product offerings. During his 21-year tenure, he held senior positions in business development, sales strategy, key account management and corporate affairs. He holds a BA from Carleton University with a concentration in law.
Joe Deighan is Founder of TAAT™ Global Alternatives Inc. and oversees research and development. He is the founder of vape liquid 'JJuice', created in 2012. JJuice was distributed across all of the United States and in 26 other countries, alongside the private label production that was done for other brands. Mr. Deighan sold JJuice in a cash deal that was valued at over $800,000 in 2017. He currently handles all R&D and production for Beyond Tobacco, knowing the product better than anyone else in the company.