PLOOM

Ploom is an upstart tobacco company based in San Francisco. Really. We are creating a line of products starting with the ModelOne. Reimagining the smoking paradigm, we wed modern technologies, materials and processes to the best tobacco and botanical ingredients. We handcraft our pods at our micro-factory in San Francisco. Ploom began as a conversation between a smoker and a non-smoker outside a studio at Stanford's Joint Program in Design in 2004. "What do you hate about smoking?" Adam... asked. "What do you love about it?" James responded. The two had already been collaborating on eccentric thesis explorations but those were quickly dropped to answer the question: What if smoking were reinvented today? The thesis generated support from some of the most well respected thinkers and doers in and around the University. James and Adam founded Ploom in a tiny orange painted room on an apple orchard in Palo Alto, determined to bring a better alternative to people who love (and hate) smoking. Hundreds of prototypes, consumer insights and a business plan later, the two developed a unique startup in the historic Dogpatch area of San Francisco with a handful of the best engineers, advisors, marketing and biotech veterans in the country. The model One and Ploom's first six flavors are the first glimpse of the future of smoking: a new ritual for a modern society from a new kind of company.More