I just realized that if I was a big tobacco company at this time I'd be trying to get my foot into the smaller niche type areas in tobacco. Pipes, snus, nasal snuff, and that category called others. One because it's always nice to make more money even if it's not a great deal. But the bigger reason is that all of those categories are poised to grow and I'd want to have my foot in the door and not be in a position to play catch up. And all of those not so mainstream products are in a position to potentially grow tremendously.
It's kind of the same logic that Hollywood used for distributing independent movies. One thing they'd make money even if not a lot, but you never know when one of those movies is going to be a huge hit. But the bigger thing is you might also be farming talent that you'll be glad to already have a working relationship with when they go mainstream. In the scheme of things the risk is pretty low and the potential extremely high if unlikely. I.e. you won't expect to get a huge return but if you don't it's not a big deal but if you do it might keep your company rich in the coming decades.
