SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Revved Up Inc. has introduced what it said is the first smokeless tobacco product infused with energy supplements. Active Marine corporals Matthew Doran and Steven Rundel and entrepreneur Soo Baek, with the help of manufacturer Southern Smokeless Tobacco and national sales rep Anthony Bautista, who started DipTops and Attach/Mints LLC, will release the product beginning of October 2008.
Doran and Rundel had a "eureka moment" after seeing a waterproof container for smokeless tobacco while waiting in line at a Marine Corps 7-Day store, according to The Marine Corp Times. [image-nocss] As the two aviation technicians from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., waited in line at that convenience store, they watched as other Marines stocked up on smokeless tobacco and energy drinks.
"That's when it hit us," Doran told the newspaper. "Why not make an energy dip?"
They contacted an attorney and filed a provisional patent on what they have dubbed "energy-enhanced smokeless tobacco." Now, less than a year later, they are poised to release Revved Up Energy Dip—an adaptation of the homemade caffeine and smokeless tobacco combo many Marines know well. The dip will come in two varieties, straight and wintergreen.
They plan to introduce the product to convenience store executives next month at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) tradeshow in Chicago. Doran said their firm also is negotiating with suppliers who provide tobacco products to military exchange outlets.
Doran, 34, of Lexington, Mass., liquidated his cleaning business to fund a trip earlier this year to a Las Vegas tobacco convention, where he struck up a relationship with tobacco businessman Soo Baek, who was at the show hawking a visor-mounted tobacco clip dubbed the Dip Clip. He agreed to partially fund their startup costs and help them draft a business plan.
With Baek's help, the two Marines worked with Southern Smokeless Tobacco Co., based in Statesboro, Ga., to create a dip infused with energy additives. Doran and Rundel, 26, of Louisburg, Kan., have tested their product to vouch for its stimulating effects, but they said the secret of how it works will stay in the company.
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