Author: Staff Writer

Study Finds No Added Harm from Vape Substitution
A new systematic review conducted by the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction on the available scientific research showed no difference in respiratory parameters in human clinical tests on the respiratory effects of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use in participants who smoke tobacco cigarettes.
In their study “Respiratory health effects of e-cigarette substitution for tobacco cigarettes: a systematic review,” the researchers analyzed 16 studies from 20 publications. They found that the large majority of the studies showed no difference in respiratory parameters. According to the authors, this indicates that electronic nicotine delivery systems substitution for smoking likely does not result in additional harm to respiratory health.
One of the problems the researchers found during their evaluation is that many studies were not of sufficient duration for observing any harmful or beneficial effects because these may take time to manifest. In fact, the researchers observed a general low quality of the studies included in the review, with 10 of 16 studies rated at high risk of bias.
In light of the findings of no change in respiratory function plus the presence of reporting spin bias, the researchers call for long term studies that include diverse participants and to assess smoking behavior and history. Furthermore, they note that exclusive ENDS use and dual use with cigarettes should be identified as separate categories for analysis and findings. They also stressed that additional studies are necessary to assess the potential benefits or risks of e-cigarette substitution for tobacco cigarette smoking.

Credit: VlaDee
November 8, 2023
Flavor Restrictions Cause Spike in Online Vape Sales

Photo: Ngampol
Eric Leas
Online shopping for cigarettes and vaping products increased significantly in the weeks following the implementation of a 2022 California law prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Reporting in Tobacco Control, researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego assessed the impact of California’s statewide flavor restriction on online shopping behavior among consumers. Comparing observed rates of shopping queries with expected rates, researchers discovered that shopping queries were 194 percent higher than expected for cigarettes and 162 percent higher than expected for vape products.
“Retailer licensing programs have proven to be effective in enforcing tobacco control laws. However, the exclusion of e-commerce retailers from these programs can undermine their impact,” said principal investigator Eric Leas in a statement.
Despite the flavor restriction, analysis of the first 60 websites returned in the search queries presented at least two online retailers offered access to flavored vaping products or menthol cigarettes to consumers in California—with one query returning as many as 36 websites (60 percent of the search results).
The study authors recommend strengthening regulations to include e-commerce retailers within the scope of retailer licensing programs.
November 8, 2023
FDA Warns Nic Nac Naturals for Illegal Flavored ‘Nicotine Mints’

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Nic Nac Naturals for the marketing of their unauthorized dissolvable nicotine products, which the company describes as “nicotine mints” and which resemble a pack of mints. These products are of particular concern because of their resemblance to popular candies and the potential to cause severe nicotine toxicity or even death if accidentally ingested by young children, according to the FDA.
“FDA remains steadfast in our commitment to actively monitor the marketplace and to crack down on companies selling unlawful products, particularly those that can appeal to youth,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP). “Our goal is to identify and prevent these emerging threats to our nation’s youth before they become mainstream.”
The manufacturer markets these tobacco products in a variety of mint and fruit flavors, all of which come in two nicotine strengths (3 mg or 6 mg). The packaging states the products contain nontobacco nicotine. The FDA regulates tobacco products containing nicotine from any source, including nontobacco nicotine. Nic Nac Naturals does not have a marketing authorization order from the agency to sell or distribute these products in the U.S.
One container of 15 of these mints can have as much as 90 mg of nicotine total. According to research, the FDA stated, ingesting 1 mg to 4 mg of nicotine could be toxic or severely toxic to a child under 6 years old, depending on body weight. This means ingesting one mint could be severely toxic to a child under 6 years old. Nicotine toxicity among youth of any age can lead to nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, increased blood pressure and heart rate, seizures, respiratory failure, coma and even death. The FDA also stated that nicotine is highly addictive and exposure during adolescence can harm the developing brain.
“Today’s action is another example of our ongoing efforts against illegal nontobacco nicotine products,” said Ann Simoneau, director of the CTP’s Office of Compliance and Enforcement. “We remain unwavering in our use of compliance and enforcement resources to curb unlawful marketing of tobacco products, particularly those that youth could easily confuse with something that they consume regularly—like candy.”
The company has 15 working days to respond to the FDA with steps they will take to correct and prevent future violations. Failure to respond and correct violations may result in addition FDA action, such as an injunction, seizure and/or civil money penalties.
November 7, 2023
Ontario to Double Taxes on Vapes Sold in Province

Ontario, in partnership with Canada’s national government, will double the tax on all vaping products sold in the province.
The federal/provincial tax partnership scheme that was announced in 2022 allows provinces to double the current federal vape tax and keep half the proceeds, according to Vaping360.
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) urged the federal government to reconsider its proposal to impose an additional provincial levy, as this would effectively double the already substantial tax burden. “The CVA suggests a more equitable approach where the federal government shares the revenue generated by the current levy with the provinces,” the industry group wrote in a statement.
“With the introduction of the excise tax, depending on product type, vape products are now almost as expensive as cigarettes despite the significant reduction in risk,” the statement says.
The CVA cautioned that the increased tax may lead to more illicit trade. “Legal businesses will find it nearly impossible to compete with the unregulated market that remains largely unchecked. The consequence of such punitive taxation will be widespread business closures, significant job losses and an increase in criminal activity.”
“The CVA encourages the province to leverage its negotiating influence with the federal government to establish a fair revenue-sharing framework for the existing tax revenue. Preserving the regulated market, rather than destroying it, will lead to higher tax revenues. The additional revenue generated can be used by the province to increase enforcement resources and support educational programs for youth,” said Darryl Tempest, government relations counsel to the CVA.
November 7, 2023
BAT Designer Urges Responsible NGP Creations

Photo: KFF
Product designs should not center only on providing attractive appearance but also encompass meaning, value and responsibility, according to Ken Kim, head of design at the BAT Group.
“The role of designers is changing, from simply designing products to assuming social and environmental responsibilities,” Kim said at the Design Korea conference, which took place Nov. 1-5, 2023, in Seoul. “This [new role] is not a choice for individual designers to make, but a common goal the industry and society must undertake together in order to move forward.”
Kim is the first Korean to head BAT’s product design division. His portfolio includes tobacco heating products such as Vuse Epod 2, Glo Pro Slim and Glo Hyper X2.
During the conference, which was reported in The Korea Herald, Kim reviewed measures on how designs could address social issues such as carbon neutrality amid heightened regulations, emphasizing that designs could function as an important key to the tobacco industry’s sustainable future.
He stressed the importance of designing products in ways that do not appeal to underage consumers. “We need a balanced design strategy that does not stimulate the curiosity of minors, through conducting analysis of design preferences by age groups,” he was quoted as saying.
November 6, 2023
KT&G Boosts Capacity for Next-Generation Products

Photo: KT&G
KT&G has expanded its Sin Tanjin next-generation product (NGP) factory to establish an innovation hub for electronic cigarette production.
During a ceremony celebrating growth the attended by CEO Baek Bok-in and over 40 employees, the company pledged to nurture its NGP segment into a leading business.
The South Korean tobacco company has installed three additional electronic cigarette stick production lines this year, bringing the total number to eight. It also established an automated warehouse capable of storing up to 360,000 boxes.
KT&G plans to further expand its production innovation hubs, focusing on domestic manufacturing facilities such as Sin Tanjin and Gwangju, to ensure a smooth response to the rapidly growing demand for its NGP products.
The expansion of the Sin Tanjin NGP factory is part of KT&G’s investment plan that was announced during the “Future Vision Proclamation” in January.
During that event, KT&G announced its strategy would focus on e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and the international expansion of its combustible cigarette business. The company intends to increase the revenue share of its noncombustible products to more than 60 percent by 2027 through investments and innovation.

The Sin Tanjin NGP factory will play a role as a growth engine that enhances the essential competitiveness of the NGP business, which is strengthening its market leadership.
Baek Bok-in , CEO, KT&G
In September, KT&G announced the construction of a new factory in Indonesia, which will be manufacturing for exports. In October, it broke ground for a new factory in Kazakhstan, establishing a foothold in Eurasia.
“The Sin Tanjin NGP factory will play a role as a growth engine that enhances the essential competitiveness of the NGP business, which is strengthening its market leadership,” said KT&G Baek in a statement.
“In the future, we will lead the growth of the NGP business based on innovative technology and advanced global partnerships and will leap to the ‘global top-tier’ through domestic innovative growth investments, including expanding production infrastructure.”
November 6, 2023
Replica Vape Study Confirms Minimal Carcinogenic Effects

Photos: CoEHAR
The aerosol from e-cigarettes induced slight to no cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic effects during tests conducted by the Replica research team of the Center of Excellence for the acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR) that compared these effects to those induced by cigarette smoke.
According to CoEHAR, science has been suffering from a “replicability crisis” in recent years. The use of different research methodologies usually leads to different data, resulting in flawed results that misinform policies and impact on health and social care practices, as well as smokers who are seeking a complete cessation.
Replica researchers aim to fill this methodological gap by replicating international in vitro studies on the toxicity of cigarette smoke and e-cigarette aerosol by an independent and multicentric approach, adding experiments or conditions where necessary, in order to verify the robustness and replicability of the data and results.
The most recent study replicated by the team was published by Rudd and colleagues in 2020. The study aimed to establish the cytotoxicity, mutagenesis and genotoxicity of cigarette smoke or e-cigarette aerosol on cells .
Replica researchers performed a standard toxicology battery of three assays used for product assessment and regulatory applications. Their results, published by Springer Nature’s Scientific Reports, indicated that e-cigarette aerosol was low cytotoxic and it did not show any mutagenic or genotoxic activity unlike the cigarette smoke, which showed high cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic activity. Moreover, the Replica study covered some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work, by adding some conditions with the aim of covering all the possible ways of inducing genotoxicity and mutagenesis on cells.

Our findings not only confirmed the results obtained by our colleagues but also addressed some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work.
First author Rosalia Emma
“Our findings not only confirmed the results obtained by our colleagues but also addressed some methodological gaps and limitations in the original work,” said Rosalia Emma, first author of the Replica study, in a statement. “However, it’s important to highlight that, despite using different machinery and the variations in the exposure methodology, in the case of cytotoxicity (NRU assay), the toxicity of the e-cigarette is significantly lower than that of traditional cigarettes”.
In the Replica study, the team performed the NRU assay to assess cytotoxicity, the bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) assay to evaluate mutagenicity and the in vitro micronucleus assay to measure genotoxicity. Despite some different methodologic aspects, the researchers obtained results similar to those obtained by Rudd and colleagues.
“Although we have added experimental conditions neglected by the authors of the first paper, the results obtained previously are confirmed and even strengthened, confirming the electronic cigarette as a useful tool for reducing smoking damage in healthy smoking subjects” said Massimo Caruso, co-project leader of the Replica project and corresponding author.
November 3, 2023
Vaping Down Among U.S. High School Students

Photo: Daisy Daisy
One in 10 U.S. middle and high school students reported using of any type of tobacco, according to data from the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYST) that were collected between March and June 2023 and released today.
Among U.S. high school students, current overall tobacco product use declined during 2022-2023 from 16.5 percent to 12.6 percent, a development attributed primarily to reduced e-cigarette use, which dropped from 14.1 percent to 10 percent. Among high school students, declines in current use were also observed during 2022-2023 for cigars and overall combustible tobacco smoking, representing all-time lows.
“It’s encouraging to see this substantial decline in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health,” said Brian King, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products, in a statement. “But we can’t rest on our laurels. There’s more work to be done to build on this progress.”
Among middle school students there was an increase in current overall tobacco product use (4.5 percent to 6.6 percent) and multiple tobacco product use (1.5 percent to 2.5 percent). However, among middle school students overall, no significant change was observed during 2022-2023 for current use of any individual tobacco product type, including e-cigarettes.

It’s encouraging to see this substantial decline in e-cigarette use among high schoolers within the past year, which is a win for public health. But we can’t rest on our laurels.
Brian King, Director, CTP
E-cigarettes remained the most commonly used tobacco product among both high school and middle school students for the 10th year in a row. Among youth who reported current e-cigarette use, approximately one-quarter reported using e-cigarettes every day. Disposable e-cigarette products were the most common product type used by youth who reported e-cigarette use. However, the most popular brands included both disposable and cartridge-based products. Among current youth e-cigarette users, the most commonly reported brands were Elf Bar (56.7 percent), Esco Bars (21.6 percent), Vuse (20.7 percent), Juul (16.5 percent) and Mr. Fog (13.6 percent).
Among youth who reported current e-cigarette use, nearly all used flavored products (89.4 percent), with fruit, candy, mint and menthol being the most commonly used flavors. For the first time in NYTS, the 2023 questionnaire asked about use of flavors that included the word “ice” or “iced” in their name, along with other concept flavor names—that is, names that imply flavor but do not explicitly indicate any particular flavor, such as “island bash.”
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. said it welcomed the decline in overall youth tobacco use. “This is good news, and we agree with Dr. King that more needs to be done,” the company wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Future progress requires regulators—especially FDA—to seriously address the influx of irresponsibly marketed, illegal flavored disposable vapor products.”
In October, Reynolds filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission charging multiple manufacturers, distributors and retailers of disposable vaping devices with unfair importation.
November 2, 2023
Nicotine a Top ‘Intangible’ Sector in Relative Terms

Photo: Smoore
The tobacco and vaping business is the world’s most “intangible” sector in relative terms, according to the brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance.
Intangible assets are identifiable, non-monetary assets without physical substance. They can be grouped into three broad categories—rights (including leases, agreements, contracts), relationships (including a trained workforce) and intellectual property (including brands, patents and copyrights).
According to Brand Finance, intangible assets account for 91 percent of the tobacco and vaping sector’s total enterprise value—a condition that the consultancy attributes to tobacco and e-cigarette companies’ heavy investments in proprietary vaping-related technology and patented intellectual property. The China National Tobacco Corp., BAT and Philip Morris, for example, have each accumulated significant disclosed intangibles and goodwill due to large acquisitions.
“While tobacco products are increasingly regulated in developed markets, e-cigarettes are at nascent stage and currently proving to generate high intangible value thanks in part due to lack of regulation of marketing these products in some jurisdictions,” Brand Finance writes in its report.
Remarkably, the tobacco and vaping business was the second-largest contributor (after semiconductors) to the performance in the rankings of Japan, which saw the value of its intangible assets jump by $587 billion this year.
“Our research aims to demonstrate the continued growing importance of intangible assets like strong brands and innovative technology in driving productivity and growth potential,” said Annie Brown, general manager at Brand Finance UK, in a statement. “Companies that strategically deploy their intangible assets have the ability to significantly outperform their competitors.”
November 2, 2023
JT Launches Ploom X Advanced H-n-B in Japan
Image: JT
Japan Tobacco announced the launch Ploom X Advanced, a new model of heated tobacco device that has evolved in terms of taste and user comfort.
The company believes the new device will play a significant role in its mid- to long-term business strategy.
According to JT, the new device represents a significant improvement over the current model and incorporates advanced features, including:
An upgraded heating technology, dubbed “Power Heatflow,” which increases the maximum heating temperature from 295 degrees Celsius to 320 degrees Celsius to provide a richer flavor experience.
A new automatic heating function that automatically starts heating when a stick is inserted into the device.
Reduced charging time from approximately 110 minutes for the current model to approximately 90 minutes.
The device will be available at convenience stores and tobacco retailers nationwide in Japan starting on Nov. 21, 2023, at a suggested, tax-included retail price of ¥1,980 ($13.22).
Following the launch of Ploom X Advanced, JT will discontinue sales of the current Ploom X model in Japan.
October 30, 2023