Category: News This Week

Smart Spark Vape + Lounge has opened a new location in Summerville, Georgia, USA.

Open since Feb. 1, the shop is the company’s fourth location in Northwest Georgia. The company plans to open up to 10 additional locations in the Greater Atlanta area over the next few years.

To stay one step ahead of the curve, Smart Spark says it will be the first vaping franchise to control the production of its e-liquids. The Summerville location will feature an AEMSA-certified “clean room,” which was built in anticipation of upcoming FDA standards.

The clean room allows Smart Spark to mix e-liquids in a controlled environment on site. It will also allow the company to control the quality and consistency of its e-liquid products. The shop will serve as a distribution center for all Smart Spark lounges.

The Gulf Cooperation Council governments need to set clear standards for e-cigarette production and “reduced-risk claim authorization,” said Ruwaida Bou Ajram, manager of communications and corporate affairs at Philip Morris Management Services Middle East, according to an article in the Khaleej Times.

Standards would help assure the public that such “reduced risk product (RRP) claims are accurate, non-misleading and supported by rigorous scientific substantiation,” according to Ajram.

Regulation should encourage innovation and allow product communication to encourage the switch to RRP alternatives, he added.

A public health bill currently under discussion in the Welsh Assembly would ban e-cigarettes in certain enclosed spaces, reports the Daily Post.

Targeted areas include train and bus stations, schools and universities during teaching hours, any part of a building used for childcare, and food establishments like restaurants, cafes and pubs that serve meals.

Places serving drinks but no food would be exempted.

Keller and Heckman attorneys Azim Chowdhury and Marcus Navin-Jones will host a webinar on Feb. 29 to discuss vapor products regulation under the new EU Tobacco Products Directive.

The webinar is intended for producers, suppliers and users of e-cigarette, e-liquid and vapor products in the European Union. Topics will include:

• The background of EU vapor product regulation
• The TPD’s legal requirements
• Problems and pitfalls vapor-product producers and suppliers should be aware of
• Obtaining and retaining market access in the EU

The webinar, which is free of charge, will take place 12:00-13:00 Eastern Standard Time on Feb. 29. Please click here to register.

Belgium’s Public Health Minister Maggie De Block is scheduled to introduce legislation that would legalize the sale of electronic cigarettes to people aged 16 and above, according to an Expatica.com story.

However, given that the bill is signed into law by HM King Philippe, electronic cigarettes will have to comply with all of the advertising restrictions and all of the health-warning requirements that apply to tobacco cigarettes.

The health warnings will be required even though the Health Council has stated that electronic cigarettes can form part of the government’s drive to discourage tobacco, since, while electronic cigarettes might deliver nicotine, they deliver no tar.

The governing Flemish Christian democrats had wanted taxes to be levied on electronic cigarettes, but this didn’t make the final draft being brought in by Belgium’s Flemish liberal public health minister.

In future, electronic cigarettes will be available from newsagents but not from chemists. Online sales are banned.

Vaping American Made Products failed to design its products in a way that prevented them from overheating and didn’t warn consumers of the risks associated with its products, according to a lawsuit filed Jan. 26 in the Miami-Dade Circuit Court in Florida, USA.

The case was brought by Fort Lauderdale-based personal injury firm Kelley/Uustal on behalf of 21-year-old Evan Spahlinger who was seriously injured when an e-cig exploded in his face in October 2015.

The suit, first reported by the Naples Daily News, also names East Naples store Vaping Station for selling a “dangerous” product.

 Spark Industries has signed a global licensing agreement for the use of vapor technology related patents controlled by Fontem Ventures.

“Spark wanted across-the-board access to the patented, covered technology, as a benefit to its constituent customers—distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers,” says Spencer Thompson, president of Spark Industries and Spark Vapor Brands.

“We have always been a company that lives by integrity, and strives to operate in the best, ethical way. In obtaining the global license from Fontem Ventures, we have done just that, by utilizing Fontem’s intellectual property in the correct way and insuring that our customers are protected from infringing Fontem’s patents if they partner with Spark.”

Founded in 2002 and located in Camarillo, California, USA, Spark Industries manufactures Cig2o e-cigarettes and Vapage vapor products.

Customs officers in Bahrain have foiled an attempt to smuggle e-cigarettes into the country, according to a note from the Kingdom Of Bahrain Information Affairs Authority.

Customs Chief Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa was quoted as saying that seizure of the products had been made by customs officers at the Containers Control Department at Khalifa bin Salman Seaport’s Sea Exits Customs Directorate.

Shaikh Mohammed said the officers had found “dismantled electronic cigarettes” while examining a container from an unnamed Asian country, otherwise containing a variety of household goods, mobile accessories and car batteries.

The seized items were said to have comprised “684 cases, 999 chargers, 698 electric wires, 903 filters, 100 pieces of tobacco types and 185 batteries.”

Greater e-cigarette consumption and a higher readiness to quit at baseline were associated with a 50 percent reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked per day during the third week of a recent study on the effect of e-cigarettes on smoking abstinence.

Led by Donna Shelley of the New York University School of Medicine, the study comprised a randomized controlled trial and reduction. For three weeks, researchers provided e-cigarettes to young adults aged 21-35 who lived in New York City and smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day.

The study was published Nicotine and Tobacco Research.