Puff Piece cover art

Puff Piece

 Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Puff Piece

By: John Safran
Narrated by: John Safran
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $27.94

Buy Now for $27.94

About this listen

 The folks that bring you Marlboro - Philip Morris - are wheezing, slowly dying. Cigarettes are out of favour with everyone, from world governments and investors to, increasingly, smokers. So, what's their plan?
Prepare to be dazzled. Or, at the very least, befuddled.

Philip Morris has announced they will shut down as a cigarette company, and relaunch as a health enterprise, dedicated to convincing the one billion smokers of the world to quit.

The ever-curious John Safran leaves his apartment to find out what on God's green earth is going on. As he starts digging away he discovers a company up to brand new shenanigans, wangling their way into unexpected places, desperately trying to keep their tobacco business alive by brandishing a mysterious new doohickey called an IQOS.

And not only that, now they're upending language itself, changing the meaning of words. Will they slip past bans by convincing governments they don't sell 'cigarettes' but rather 'HeatSticks', and that these don't emit 'smoke' but 'aerosol'? Can John get the real story out of them without his life catching fire?

Wild, hilarious and thought-provoking, Puff Piece is a probing look into Big Tobacco and the vaping industry, and how words can be literally a matter of life and death. Business Ethics Social Sciences Workplace & Organisational Behaviour Smoking Tobacco Business Witty Funny Thought-Provoking
All stars
Most relevant
I’ve dug so deep for info about vaping and the industry since it helped me kick my 25 year cigarette addiction over 6 months ago. I’ve searched podcasts, articles, you name it. This is really the best resource I’ve found and it all makes more sense since listening. Bonus: I discovered John Safran who is pretty rad!

Much Needed & Hilarious

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
AMAZING BOOK exposing the lies and deceptions of Philip Morris and the big tobacco industry players.
It was simultaneously captivating and disgusting to hear about the rotten crooks and the layers of horrible trickery that is taking place in such a fatal and dangerous industry. There’s is no level that they will not stoop to deceive anyone endangering their massive profits.
John did a fabulous job of maintaining my attention and intrigue while exploring and delivering a wealth of information and interviews.
Congratulations on such a great book and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who has smoked or knows a smoker, or values the principles of honesty and integrity. Enjoy!

Filthy tactics of Big Tobacco!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
"Philip Morris always wins." This phrase and the full title of the book (Puff Piece: How Philip Morris set vaping alight and burned down the English language) is the most accurate, succinct, summary of this book that takes you through a wild ride, shining a light on how the biggest cigarette company in the world employs misdirection and subterfuge, co-opting others, to ensure its business model that kills eight million people each year continues to burn brightly.

The most paranoid conspiracy theorist can't come up with a more insane (and successful) plot than that Safran unearths as he dives down the Philip Morris rabbit hole. The sheer complexity of the language and science and corporate structures and funding is too much for any person to conceive, let alone fight, providing a very successful smokescreen that enables Philip Morris to continue its very (financially) successful business, despite their product killing off half of all users and tobacco being directly responsible for 14 per cent of all deaths in the world every year.

With smoking now banned in virtually all public places in Australia, it's easy for non-smokers to think that the problem has gone away. But as Safran finds out while writing this equal parts hilarious and terrifying book, the tobacco stained fingers of big business have no intention of getting out of the deadly game.

A must read (hear) wild ride

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A great listen, it makes you realize how big companies are incredibly sneaky and conniving. Guess that’s why they are successful.

Thought Provoking and Funny

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book. Very conversational for such an informative piece of work. The narration is perfect.

Very insightful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.