Category: News This Week

Canadian Vapor Group Vows to Fight All Regulations
The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) has vowed to fight any regulations for the vaping industry that it views as onerous. In a press release, the CVA states that the organization has been a consistent advocate for strong youth protection measures and that a balance of youth prevention with allowing adult access to harm reduction products is necessary.
“While the CVA has a history of advocating for reasonable measures to protect youth, policy that violates the right to integrity and personal security as well as freedom of expression will be challenged through the proper legal channels,” said Darryl Tempest, executive director of the CVA. “Science supports vaping as harm reduction and draconian measures have previously been found to be unconstitutional by the Superior Court, which heard the industry’s arguments against Bill 44. Our preference will always be to work with regulators to implement effective policy, however where regulators choose to ignore the data, the industry will challenge policy that is detrimental to public health.”
Provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia have taken adult harm reduction into consideration and implemented equitable policy. Yet, provinces such as Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have failed to follow the science and instead have jeopardized the health of thousands of smokers, according to the release.
The Canadian Constitution Foundation found that banning flavored vaping products or restricting nicotine content “may violate s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which safeguards the right to life, liberty and the security of the person, because the nicotine ceiling and flavour restriction may potentially make vaping products a less attractive or effective quit-aid for smokers.”
The CVA states that it will continue to provide regulators with the science supporting flavors are the driver for adoption and the key to cessation success. “Canadian’s have a constitutional right to access harm reduction products and reduce the health risks presented by traditional tobacco,” the release states. “Judge Dumais who heard the industry’s case against Bill 44 wrote that while the provisions take into account the well being of non-smokers, it seemed to forget the rest of the population, including smokers trying to quit.”
Despite, the Canadian Constitution Foundation cautioning governments that action such as flavor bans may violate the rights of Canadians, “Nova Scotia proceeded to implement both excessive taxation and a full ban on flavors.” As a result, vape shop owner Bill McEachern has launched a constitutional challenge, that will be heard on January 25th. The CVA has given McEachern its full support and will continue to support all challenges to harmful legislation.
“As a society, we often wrongfully look at addiction as the result of one’s own actions. By viewing nicotine addiction as a choice, smokers are dehumanized and left behind by poor policy,” the release states. “Governments must acknowledge that in Canada all citizens are equal under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Vaping policy must respect the rights of all citizens as the lives of adult smokers quite literally depend on it.”
January 21, 2021
E-Liquid Maker Plans to Join London Junior Stock Market
Supreme, the manufacturer of multiple e-liquid brands, is considering a stock market listing that could value it at £180 million. The Manchester-based company that produces the Kik and 88vape brands is seeking to join Aim, London’s junior market, and has started to gauge investor interest.
Credit: 88vape
Supreme attempted a flotation in 2018 but abandoned the listing, blaming market conditions, according to an article on Morningstar. Then, the company announced plans for an AIM float but less than two weeks later postponed its proposed IPO due to “market conditions” and despite “encouraging” institutional support for the listing.
Alongside its e-liquids products, the company, the company also sells sports nutrition products, batteries and lightbulbs. It is owned by Sandy Chadha. It sells directly to retailers and wholesalers but also has its own online platform.
The company did not disclose how much it plans to raise in connection to the float, nor did it outline an estimated market capitalisation on admission.
January 20, 2021
U.S. FDA Finalizes PMTA, SE Requirements for ENDS

Photo: Jhvephotos | Dreamstime.com
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Jan. 20 finalized two foundational rules for the premarket review of new tobacco products. These final rules provide additional information on the minimum requirements for the content, format and review of premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) and substantial equivalence (SE) reports. PMTA and SE are two of the pathways through which a manufacturer can seek marketing authorization for a new tobacco product from the FDA.
Stephen Hahn
“The finalization of these foundational rules is an important milestone in the FDA’s regulation of tobacco products. The rules enable greater transparency and efficiency of the FDA’s critical task of reviewing applications for tobacco products before new products can be sold in the United States and they describe information that any company must provide if they seek to market a new tobacco product in this country, fulfilling the promise of the Tobacco Control Act,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen M. Hahn.
Mitch Zeller
“These final rules, together with our commitment to ongoing enforcement action against e-cigarettes and other tobacco products that illegally target youth, will help us continue to protect the public from the dangers of tobacco-related disease and death,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “These final rules will provide greater clarity and efficiency as we ensure that tobacco products are put through an appropriate series of regulatory gates so that products can be marketed only if they meet the standards under the law.”
Both of these final rules are effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
More information about the two foundational rules is available on the FDA website.
January 20, 2021
Activists Raise Awareness of Black-Market Vapor Products

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
The National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPRC) in the U.S. have released an innovative toolkit as part of their nationwide campaign to raise awareness on the dangers of black-market vapor products and empower law enforcement and adult community leaders to prevent and enforce against these illicit activities.
The IPRC and NCPC launched this public-private partnership, with the support of Juul Labs, in October 2019, seeking to raise awareness on the consequences of illicit vapor products, with the objective of delivering tools and resources to communities grappling with this critical issue across the country. Now, the IPRC and NCPC have expanded upon this initiative by providing law enforcement and other key stakeholders with a toolkit that will aid in their efforts to educate and mobilize their communities against this dangerous illicit trade.
The toolkit is a comprehensive resource that details the various forms of illicit vapor products, such counterfeit, compatible and diverted products, and teaches the community how to spot such products. It also contains broader educational resources, along with strategies on how best to elevate these vital messages through social media, community events and meetings, and in cooperation with local businesses.
According to Juul, Illicit vapor products present a number of public health, economic and security consequences. Critically, they undermine underage-prevention measures because of their ease of access and may present additional health and safety risks for adult consumers given that they often are produced in unsanitary conditions without manufacturing and quality controls and lack ingredient testing and product characterization. They also may contain harmful chemicals not present in other, authentic products.
As part of this campaign, and with the support of IPRC, NCPC will leverage its vast, nationwide network to get this toolkit into the hands of law enforcement, trade partners, and other adult community leaders.
“It is imperative that we continue to partner across stakeholders, including law enforcement, to address the illicit market of vapor products,” Juul wrote in a statement. “Supporting public-private partnerships like the IPRC/NCPC initiative is one way we can actively fight back against illicit trade of vapor products. By empowering stakeholders through awareness and education, we can address the illicit trade of vapor products and foster a more responsible marketplace for the category.”
January 20, 2021
The Jones Labs Receives PMTA, MRTP Filing Letters
The Jones Labs announced it has received filing letters from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for both its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) and its modified-risk tobacco product application (MRTP).
Credit: The Jones Labs
“The Jones product family is being evaluated for safety and efficacy as alternatives to combustible cigarettes and their comparable safety to smoking the Harmful or Potential Harmful Constituents (HPHCs) of combustible cigarettes,” a press release states. “As a leader of pre-August 8 [the FDA’s deadline for a product to be on the market to be eligible to remain on the market while going through the PMTA process] compliance, The Jones Labs registered with the FDA in July 2016 in preparation for Electronic Nicotine Delivery System regulations.”
The Jones Labs states that the potential of electronic drug-delivery systems remains at the core of its technology. “Due to our record of compliance with the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), our products are eligible for enforcement discretion until our application process has been completed,” the release states.
The core technology of The Jones Labs submissions are based in “Buffered Aerosol Drug Delivery,” a review article published in the inaugural edition of the United Journal of Drug
Development and Industrial Pharmacy. “The technology submitted for review is being further
developed in parallel to address other cessation and medicine-assisted therapeutic needs in the market,” the review states. “With this unique drug-delivery platform technology they stand to disrupt the established order of all smoking and smokeless products, cannabis or tobacco.”
The Jones Labs offers universally compatible tobacco vapables as an alternative to
smoking combustible cigarettes, the release states. “With multiple present and future product offerings similar to The Jones Pods (www.thejonespod.com), we are developing Rise, by The Jones (www.risebythejones.com), a state-of-the-art smoking cessation platform that utilizes the core technology for replacement and cessation therapies across the board.”
January 19, 2021
RLX Technology Seeks up to $1.17 Billion From IPO Offer

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
RLX Technology is looking to raise as much as $1.17 billion from a U.S. initial public offering, reports Bloomberg.
The Chinese vapor company, known for its RELX-branded devices in China, had earlier considered Hong Kong as a listing venue, but it ultimately opted for the U.S.
Founded in 2018, RLX is China’s largest e-cigarette maker. The vaping industry has boomed in China even as the country banned online sales of e-cigarettes just over a year ago. The company said it plans to file a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to legally sell its products in the world’s largest vapor market.
China is the world’s largest potential vaping market, with an estimated 286.7 million adult smokers in 2019, RLX said in its prospectus. But vaping products only have a 1.2 percent penetration rate, compared with 32.4 percent in the U.S.
RLX’s revenues increased to CNY2.2 billion ($340 million) in the first nine months of 2020 from CNY1.14 billion a year earlier. It started turning a profit in 2019 and recorded net income of CNY109 million in the nine months to Sept. 2020.
The company plans to price the IPO on Jan. 20 after the U.S. market closes, according to a term sheet. Citigroup and China Renaissance are joint bookrunners for the offering.
Earlier reports suggested the company planned to raise up to $100 million in its IPO.
January 19, 2021
Vaping Reduces Biomarkers, Compared To Smoking
A new study suggests that vaping reduces inflammatory biomarkers when to compared to someone who smokes combustible cigarettes. “While vaping inflammatory biomarkers were elevated compared to nonusers, those differences were not statistically significant,” the study’s authors state.
“There was also no significant difference in the elevation of biomarkers between the exclusive smokers and dual smokers – the additive effect of e-cigarettes was low if present at all.”
The research, reported in the journal Circulation, used the U.S. For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) that has been released yearly since 2013.
The dataset is from this first cycle using data of participants’ smoking habits along with blood samples. The researchers looked specifically at metabolites, biomarkers, of inflammation and oxidative stress – the culprits felt to underlie tobacco’s harmful effects. In addition to the usual demographic data, there was specific information on the use or nonuse of tobacco, vaping, and cigarette smoking.
Results reflect findings for adults age 18 or older, where data on biomarkers and tobacco use were available, which was 7130 participants. This included 58.6 percent neither smoked nor used e-cigarettes (nonusers); 29.6 percent smoked exclusively; 1.9 percent vaped exclusively
and 9.9 percent smoked and vaped (dual users).
“Exclusive and dual smokers had the highest inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers relative to nonusers,” the researchers note. “Exclusive vapers had ‘significantly lower levels’ except for C-reactive protein (than smokers).”
The research concluded that e-cigarettes appear to have little impact on inflammatory biomarkers, certainly not as great as smoking tobacco. This research “highlight(s) the importance of completely replacing cigarette smoking with e-cigarettes or quitting the use of both products for cigarette smokers to derive potential health benefits,” the report states.
January 18, 2021
New Jersey Prioritizes Smokers for Vaccine

Photo: torstensimon from Pixabay
Smokers in New Jersey are now eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, along with other groups that the state considers to be at risk for severe complications from the virus, reports The New York Times. Those groups include those 65 and older and younger people with underlying health problems, including cancer, heart conditions and diabetes.
The announcement came a day after the Trump administration told states to expand eligibility and to quickly use existing vaccine or risk losing future allocations.
New Jersey’s decision to immediately adopt all of the recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for priority vaccination has prompted a backlash because it puts these groups ahead of some essential workers, including teachers.
On Friday, Governor Philip Murphy called criticism that smokers were jumping the line a “cheap shot” and a “false narrative,” noting that the state is hewing closely to CDC guidelines.
The CDC includes smoking on a list of medical conditions that it recommends be prioritized in state vaccination programs because of the higher risk of serious complications from Covid-19. But to date, only one other state, Mississippi, appears to have authorized vaccinations for people younger than 65 based solely on the criterion that they smoke cigarettes.
New Mexico and Texas have made people with other high-risk medical conditions eligible for the vaccine, but not smokers. Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina include smokers, but not until later phases.
As of Friday, New Jersey had administered less than half of the 658,800 doses of vaccine shipped to the state, according to the CDC, a rate that lags behind most other states in the Northeast.
January 18, 2021
Mississippi Aims to Add Vaping Products to Tobacco Tax
A new bill in the U.S. state of Mississippi aims to add vapor to the state’s 15 percent tobacco tax rules. Senate Bill 2182, authored by Senator David Blount, would define an “electronic smoking device” and add that to the definition of other tobacco products with the additional tax.
Credit: Pieter Van de Sande

“‘Electronic smoking device’ means any device that can be used to deliver aerosolized or vaporized nicotine to the person inhaling from the device, including, but not limited to, an e-cigarette, e-cigar, e-pipe, vape pen or e-hookah,” the bill states. “Electronic smoking device includes any component, part or accessory of such a device, whether or not sold separately, and includes any substance intended to be aerosolized or vaporized during the use of the device. Electronic smoking device does not include any battery or battery charger when sold separately. In addition, electronic smoking device does not include drugs, devices or combination products authorized for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as those terms are defined in the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.”
Current Mississippi law indicates that cigars, cheroots, stogies, snug, chewing and smoking tobacco and all other tobacco products except cigarettes shall be taxed 15 percent of the manufacturer’s list price. This bill would add electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) to that list.
January 17, 2021
Montana Legislator Aims to Change Flavor Ban Rules
A House bill heard a Montana state house legislative committee last week would limit local control on alternative nicotine and vapor products, retroactively canceling the City of Missoula’s flavored vape ban passed by the Missoula City Council last November.
House Bill 137, sponsored by Rep. Ron Marshall, R-Hamilton, aims to amend the State of Montana’s Youth Access to Tobacco Act by clarifying that alternative nicotine products are separate from tobacco products, according to a story on kpax.com
It would also prevent and stop any regulation on nicotine and vapor products by local governments, health boards and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services – an agency that attempted to eliminate the sale of flavored e-cigarettes last summer.
“It needs to be addressed,” said Marshall, who was part of a trade association who unsuccessfully sued over former Gov. Steve Bullock’s 120-day flavored e-cigarettes ban as co-owner of Freedom Vapes in Belgrade, Bozeman and Hamilton.
“There’s a lot of holes, and 56 counties in Montana means 56 different sets of rules. Everything should go through the legislative body when it comes to law. It’s just one of those things where everybody needs to be on the same page, and we need to have a clear definition of what these products are.”
Marshall said that HB 137 has been coming for a long time, and with COVID-19, laws restricting alternative nicotine products cause substantial damage to a retailer’s revenue earnings.
“Right now, with the climate out there with COVID and lost jobs and businesses and all that, coming up with another attempt to shut down more business or curtail more business is the wrong answer,” Marshall said. “You’re not only doing that, but you’re also taking away revenue. And that’s revenue that not only goes to the cities and counties, but to the state. Let’s back up and look at the big picture.”
When the Missoula City Council was discussing its flavored vape ban, City Attorney Jim Nugent said it would likely face a lawsuit as it was written at the time. Council members made changes to the ordinance to strengthen it against any legal challenge.
The city’s flavored vape ban will go into effect on Jan. 25, and Missoula County may use its extraterritorial powers to extend the ordinance five miles beyond city limits.
Nugent said the city hasn’t faced a lawsuit regarding the ordinance, and with the final section of HB 137 stating that the bill would apply retroactively, the city likely won’t face a lawsuit. Nugent said the retroactive portion of the bill is aimed at Missoula.
“Instead of a lawsuit, it is now being challenged through the Legislature,” Nugent said.
Councilmember Gwen Jones, one of the five sponsors of the ordinance, said in a statement to the Missoula Current that she hopes the legislature lets the ordinance stand.
January 17, 2021