Author: Staff Writer

  • TSFA Applauds Drop in Vapor Use by Teens

    TSFA Applauds Drop in Vapor Use by Teens

    The Tennessee Smoke Free Association (TSFA), a trade organization with a focus on tobacco harm reduction (THR) through the use of personal vaporizers, today applauded the news of dropping e-cigarette use among teens in the U.S.

    “There has been a significant effort on the part of the Tennessee Smoke Free Association, and other organizations like ours around the world, to discourage those under 21 years of age from using e-cigarette and vapor products,” said Dimitris Agrafiotis, executive director of the TSFA. “As with the previous studies, we have also been very encouraged by the confirmation that using vapor products does not typically lead to smoking traditional tobacco products. Many of our association members–myself included–are former cigarette smokers who have kicked the habit completely by responsibly using vapor products.”

    Credit: TSFA

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) that showed a decline of almost 2 million in teens who reported vaping in 2020. The report comes on the heels of other studies that confirmed teen smoking overall has shown a dramatic decline in recent years.

    The CDC’s study comes as health organizations have raised the alarm about teen vaping, leading to regulations in some states that have nearly put those who sell vapor products out of business. Many of the retailers in Tennessee that sell the products are small business owners, who have been struggling during the pandemic and have had to deal with different lockdown orders across the state by adapting quickly–for example, offering curbside services, according to Agrafiotis .

    “The Tennessee Smoke Free Association continues to support regulations that prohibit teens from smoking or vaping. We do not market to teens or initiate vape use to non-smokers. We fully support strong regulations like limiting tobacco sales to those 21 and up, and harsher punishments for anyone caught selling nicotine-containing or illegal vape products to minors,” said Agrafiotis. “But we will continue to fight for responsible adults who use vaping as a way to kick the harmful and deadly habit of smoking.”

  • Vapor and E-Cigarette Sales Surging at C-Stores, Up 6.8%

    Vapor and E-Cigarette Sales Surging at C-Stores, Up 6.8%

    While the e-cigarette and vaping product industry overall is struggling everywhere from regulatory challenges to competition from nicotine replacement products to disruption amid Covid-19, the C-store market continues to grow.

    C-store dollar sales of electronic cigarettes have risen a hefty 6.8 percent for the 52 weeks ending Aug. 9, according to IRI, and unit sales are surging, seeing a 15.6 percent rise for the same period. And that’s with an average price drop of $1.13 per unit, according to Convenience Store Decisions.

    But the regulatory heat is rising. Most recently, California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., signed into law Senate Bill 793, a flavored vaping ban, on Aug. 28. Chicago passed a flavored vape ban on Sept. 9, and backers of an Illinois state initiative that stalled last year said they plan to try again in 2021.

    Municipal and state bans are nothing new to vape manufacturers and retailers. And until federal guidelines, in the form of policy and/or legislation, set a standard for all jurisdictions those local restrictions will continue to trouble more convenience operators.

  • PMTA Filing Letter Received for Disposable MNGO

    PMTA Filing Letter Received for Disposable MNGO

    Credit MNGO

    The makers of the disposable MNGO e-cigarettes and disposables announced today that it has advanced received a filing letter for its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will now conduct a scientific review.

    “Our goal has always been to provide adults with the highest quality alternative products that are affordable and taste great,” said a spokesperson for the company. “While [the] PMTA represents a major investment of time and resources for MNGO, we actually welcome the work. We want the industry to comprise of only companies that respect quality and customer safety as much as we do. We believe that the PMTA process is an important regulatory step for the vapor industry, and we are committed to working together with the FDA and remain optimistic about receiving a marketing order.”

    MNGO states that its PMTA was a global effort, with teams working around the world to support the document-intensive application. The submission included thousands of pages of scientific research and other supporting data.

    “We believe our products are appropriate for the protection of public health,” the spokesperson added. “We have always been committed to creating products for adult smokers seeking an alternative to combustible cigarette smoking and hold ourselves to higher standards.”

    MNGO, which has been on the US market since 2015, is already preparing further PMTAs for new products in early 2021 as part of an effort of sustainability within an ever-changing and advancing industry, according to a press release.

  • Japan Tobacco Launches More Compact Ploom Tech

    Japan Tobacco Launches More Compact Ploom Tech

    Credit: Ploom

    Japan Tobacco (JT) will launch “Ploom Tech+” with a new, more compact device from the Ploom Tech+ series.

    The new device will be available at the Club JT online shop along with Ploom shops and select tobacco retail stores located in Tokyo from Nov. 2, 2020, and at convenience stores in Tokyo from Nov. 3, 2020.

    Ploom Tech+ with offers better portability and increased convenience. The device also has upgraded features, such as faster charging and a display to indicate the batter and capsule usage levels as well as an instant activation feature.

    “We are delighted to announce the launch of ‘Ploom Tech+,’” said Toru Takahashi, vice president of the marketing group product and brand division for reduced-risk products, in a statement. “The portable size enables the device to blend right in to each consumer’s lifestyle without stress, expanding the opportunities for consumers to explore and experience T-vapor.”

  • Study Finds Rise in Vapor Use by Never Smokers

    Study Finds Rise in Vapor Use by Never Smokers

    Credit: Vape Club

    A new study of trends in e-cigarette use from 2014 to 2018 claims that vapor use is on the rise for 18- to 29-year-olds who have never smoked combustible cigarettes. The study from the American Cancer Society, published Monday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, assessed trends based on age group and cigarette smoking histories.

    “Urgent efforts are needed to address the potential rise in primary nicotine initiation with e-cigarettes among younger adults,” Priti Bandi, PhD, principal scientist, Risk Factors Surveillance Research for the American Cancer Society, said in a press release. “It is also important to aid the transition of e-cigarette users—particularly among younger adults—to non-use of all tobacco or nicotine products given that the long-term consequences of e-cigarette use are mostly unknown.”

    The CDC acknowledges that e-cigarettes have potential as an alternative to combustible cigarettes to help adult smokers quit, but cautions that these devices still typically contain nicotine and a host of other potentially harmful aerosols.2 E-cigarettes are under continual scrutiny by researchers, but as a relatively new product, their long-term health effects have yet to be confirmed.

    Researchers examined data from the National Health Institute to pinpoint trends in younger (18-29 years), middle-aged (30-49 years), and older (≥ 50 years) populations, with cigarette smoking histories classified as current smokers, recent quitters (quit < 1 year ago), near-term quitters (quit 1-8 years ago), and never smokers, according to a press release.

    E-cigarette use increased across the board among younger adults, with never smokers and near-term quitters seeing the most significant increases (1.3%–3.3% and 9.1%–19.2%, respectively). Middle-aged and older adults only saw notable increases in prevalence among near-term quitters, with e-cigarette use in middle-aged near-quitters jumping from 5.8% to 14.4% and older near-quitters climbing from 6.3% to 9.5%.

  • Kazakou: No E-Cig Plain Packaging in Netherlands

    Kazakou: No E-Cig Plain Packaging in Netherlands

    Credit: Michal Soukup

    The Property Rights Alliance submitted comments to express its significant concerns about the Dutch Executive Order– a proposed bill that would introduce plain packaging (PP) for vaping products and e-cigarettes from 1 January 2022. This measure will create an inhospitable environment for intellectual property rights. Intellectual property rights are human property rights covering dynamic assets and should never be weakened or diluted to meet other political objectives.

    In the International Property Rights Index, which is the world’s only index entirely dedicated to the measurement of intellectual and physical property rights, Netherlands ranked 10th out of 129 countries, with a score of 8.273. Regulations such as plain packaging that reduce the ability of owners to use their trademarks erodes such a positive ranking. The scores on the IPRI have robust correlations with Global Biotech Innovation (.92), Global Entrepreneurship (.90), and with Institutional Quality (.91). Indicating that countries with weak protections fail in other areas, the strongest correlation with the IPRI is with the Corruption Perception Index (.93), and specifically with Illicit trade (.89).

    Plain packaging, which removes branding (trademarks, colors, corporate logos) has failed to reduce smoking prevalence everywhere it has been tried. In France, where plain packaging has been in force for over three years (implemented on January 1, 2017), published data confirms the policy’s dismal record. The French Customs Office (L’adminstration des Douanes) reported in the course of 2017, a 4% increase in the number of cigarettes purchased compared to the same period of the previous year. The European Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (ETHRA) had expressed their concern that measures like standardized packaging will make vaping more expensive, which will prevent adults from turning to these safer solutions and thus prolong the duration of smoking”.

    According to the Public Health England (the English Government Public Health agency) and the Tobacco Advisory Committee of the UK Royal College of Physicians, vaping is at least 95 per cent less harmful than smoking. They have emerged as the most popular, and successful, quitting method in countries where it is available, such as in the UK, US, EU and Canada. One of the main findings of the Public Health England (PHE) evidence review is that e-cigarettes could be contributing to at least 20,000 successful new quits per year.

    Trademark is a tool for innovators to prevent consumers from being confused by materially different products. Intellectual property fosters economic growth and creates millions of jobs by giving people the incentive to be creative and innovative. In Europe, according to the EU Intellectual Property Office, trademark sectors employ the most of all IP-intensive sectors, namely 30 percent of the workforce directly and indirectly. Protecting intellectual property for vaping products allows innovators to respond to consumer demands for reduced-harm products that had revolutionized the tobacco market. These innovations literally save lives and move science forward. Government regulators that apply plain packaging to vaping products, as they do to tobacco products, reinforce the inaccurate message that they just as harmful or more so.

    Tobacco and vaping products are the most illicitly trafficked products in the world. Plain packaging has shown that it not only fails at decreasing smoking rates, but that it may also be connected to increases in illicit sales of tobacco. After Australia adopted plain packaging, illicit tobacco consumption increased by 14 percent. Removing trademarks on packaging allows illicit markets, including counterfeiting, easier access to unwilling consumers and retailers. Plain packaging would lead to a dramatic rise in the illegal e-cigarette market where plain-packaged cigarettes can be copied much more quickly than the branded packs.

    IP rights like trademarks and brands should be protected for consumer welfare. Governments should introduce modest regulations for e-cigarettes and product safety approaches. The introduction of the proposed legislation constitutes a breach of the IP rights and right of expression of the manufacturers. The freedom of speech supports the freedom of industry to articulate its ideas without fear of retaliation or legal sanction, such plain packaging.

    This opinion was written by Chrysa K. Kazakou for The Property Rights Alliance.

  • Zlab Receives PMTA Filing Letter for 78 Products

    Zlab Receives PMTA Filing Letter for 78 Products

    Credit: Zlab

    Shenzhen Yibo Technology Co. has received a filing letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA). The company submitted the PMTA before the Sept. 9 deadline.

    The company is now allowed to market its ZLab brand of pods, disposable e-cigarettes and e-juice for up to 1 year or until the FDA takes action on its PMTA submission. On the market since 2015, Zlab’s PMTA includes 13 flavors in six different nicotine strengths totalizing 78 different SKUs, according to a press release.

    ZLab has over 20,000 points of sale in the US market. They currently have offices in 12 countries with revenues close to $300 million a year, according to the release. ZLab states that it is planning to submit 120 more PMTA applications in 2021, including an application for a new pod system, which should be launched at the beginning of 2022.

  • TPB Agrees to Distribute Wild Hemp Brand Smokable CBD

    TPB Agrees to Distribute Wild Hemp Brand Smokable CBD

    Credit: Wild Hemp

    Turning Point Brands (TPB) has entered into an agreement with Wild Hempettes, LLC, the Texas based manufacturer of Wild Hemp Hempettes brand smokeable CBD.

    The agreement involves long-term distribution and profit-sharing arrangement with TPB to widen national distribution of the Hempettes brand across specialty tobacco and convenience retail in the USA, according to a press release.

    “With growing interest in smokable hemp products among adult consumers across the country, the ability to expand the Hempettes brand through this unique distribution partnership, and investment stake in our company with Turning Point Brands, is a huge endorsement of both the quality of our products, and clear recognition of the customer demand and loyalty we have created for the Wild Hemp Hempettes brand,” says Zain Meghani, CEO of Wild Hempettes. “The Hempettes brand has been steadily growing since its initial 2018 brand launch by Crown Distributing, and its popularity is directly reflected in adult consumer interest in high content CBD smokable hemp products that offer alternatives to traditional tobacco, nicotine and other recreational smoking products,” adds Meghani.

    The company expects TPB to distribute Wild Hemp products through TPB’s 210,000 retail points of sale. All Hempettes wholesale and retail accounts will be transitioned to TPB immediately, and other Wild Hemp branded products, such as the tinctures, tonics, gummies, vape and hemp wrapper products will continue to be sold to customers through Crown Distributing and the America Juice Company.

  • Vapor Products Not Catching on With Middle East Smokers

    Vapor Products Not Catching on With Middle East Smokers

    Credit: Adli Wahid

    Smokers in the Middle East are largely shunning e-cigarettes and other alternatives in favour of traditional tobacco, new figures show.

    Euromonitor International found only a very small minority of smokers used e-cigarettes to quit smoking. Previous trials have shown such devices have helped people who were addicted – though medical opinion remains divided over the benefits of e-cigarettes and vapes, according to an article on alkhaleejtoday.co.

    Analysts found just 1.8 percent of smokers in the region took up alternatives to conventional cigarettes in 2020. The figure is up from 1.4 percent in 2017 but it remains significantly low when compared to other parts of the world.

    Cigarettes contain a huge amount of chemicals, but these alternatives also contain toxic substances and there is not enough science available to support their use according to Dr. Mohammed Rafique, Prime Hospital.

    Low adoption rates were largely dependent on factors such as government attitudes towards tobacco harm reduction, consumer awareness and product affordability. “We believe a few factors explain why less than two per cent of smokers may have switched to less harmful tobacco products in the region,” said David Janazzo, chief financial officer at the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. “In several of the countries in this region, the tobacco industry is owned fully or in part by the local government, creating financial incentives to continue the sale of cigarettes. There are also bans or curbs on tobacco harm reduction products and pressure coming from organizations such as the World Health Organization and The Union to block the use of these products.”

  • Study: E-Cig Restrictions are Danger to Public Health

    Study: E-Cig Restrictions are Danger to Public Health

    A recent study by Yale School of Public Health, “Rates of E-cigarette and Marijuana Use Not Associated With Larger Outbreaks of Vaping-Related Lung Injuries,” found that higher levels of e-cigarette and marijuana use did not result in more cases of e-cigarette or vaping related injuries (EVALI).

    In a press release, the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) stated it agreed with researchers that the study should serve as a warning to anti-vape proponents that restrictive vape regulation such as flavor bans are a danger to public health.canada

    The study found that higher rates of e-cigarette and marijuana use resulted in fewer EVALI cases per capita, whereas areas with restricted access had a greater number of cases. Further demonstrating that as the CVA has expressed a numerous occasions, prohibition does not work.

    “If e-cigarette or marijuana use per se drove this outbreak, areas with more engagement in those behaviors should show a higher EVALI prevalence,” said assistant professor Abigail Friedman, the study’s author. “This study finds the opposite result. Alongside geographic clusters of high EVALI prevalence states, these findings are more consistent with locally available e-liquids or additives driving the EVALI outbreak than a widely used, nationally-available product.”

    “From the onset of the EVALI outbreak, the CVA was clear that the sudden onset of illness could not be related to regulated e-liquid products. Millions of people globally use vaping to reduce their harm from smoking and yet the cases were sudden and isolated to specific regions.,”said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA. “Once the CDC confirmed the outbreak was caused by vitamin E acetate used in illicit THC products, our organization was explicit with regulators that this must serve as a warning of the dangers of the black-market. Now that research is supporting our position, we encourage regulators to review the data and regulate in the best interest of public health.”

    In the release, the CVA states that regulators “must take note – flavor bans and excessive taxation create a breeding ground for unregulated products. These products adhere to no quality control standards or ingredient regulations. Moreover, their sales are not subject to inspection by tobacco enforcement or age restriction. Restrictive legislation not only harms ex-smokers by forcing them back to traditional tobacco, it often props up the black market creating public health hazards.”