Category: Business

Lil Hnb Supplier Inducted Into Korea Brand Hall of Fame

Photo: KT&G
KT&G’s Lil heat-not-burn device has been named as an excellent e-cigarette brand in the Korea Brand Hall of Fame for the fourth consecutive year.
Supervised by South Korea’s Industrial Policy Research Institute, the Korea Brand Hall of Fame is an annual award event that selects the brands most loved by consumers.
Launched in 2017, Lil has been well received by the consumers, who bought more than 1 million units in the first year.
After this initial success, KT&G released line extension such as Lil Plus, Lil Mini, Lil Hybrid and Lil Solid. By 2021, the cumulative sales of Lil exceeded 4 million units in Korea alone.
Lil performed well internationally, too. In January 2020, KT&G signed a supply contract with Philip Morris International, for overseas marketing and sales of Lil, which subsequently secured a bridgehead for expansion in the global cigarette market.
KT&G started selling Lil in Russia, Ukraine and Japan in 2020, followed by product launches in Central Asia and Europe. In November 2021, KT&G launched Lil in Guatemala. Today, KT&G exports Lil to 23 counties.
“We built the brand Lil on the identity of ‘practical minimalism’ together with systematic technological innovation,” said Lim, Wang-seop, head of KT&G’s next-generation product business unit, in a statement. “We’ll make the brand recognized by the world consumers through developing the products that meet their needs and tastes.”
January 29, 2022
Avail Vapor Closes Remaining Stores, Sells Off Assets
Avail Vapor has sold the majority of its retail locations and closed its remaining stores. The company has also sold or closed its ancillary businesses. James Xu, founder of Avail, said the decision was motivated by multiple factors over several years, including what he called unclear and convoluted federal regulatory processes.
Credit: Avail
At one time, Avail Vapor was the largest family-owned vapor retailer in the U.S. with more than 100 stores in a dozen states. In January of 2020, the company split into regulatory compliance and consulting business, and a major wholesale distribution company. Those businesses have also been sold or closed.
Xu said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) pathway was a major factor in the decision after the agency arbitrarily changed the requirements to get a PMTA approved. “It’s completely just a mess with FDA policy making and policy strategy. It just did not make any sense from day one,” Xu said. “Everything is really in this gray area. It was totally different from what our mission was and COVID is not helping any retailer.”
Xu said Avail spent more than $10 million in its bid to get regulatory approval since 2016, when the FDA set forth new compliance standards for vaping products. But the FDA rejected Avail’s applications in September and the company sued the government agency in federal appeals court. However, the FDA then stayed enforcement of the MDO on Nov. 1, pending an administrative appeal.
The economic impacts of COVID-19 also created challenges for the company, which began downsizing in August when it sold an estimated 30 of its stores to North Carolina-based competitor AMV Holdings, parent to Kure and Madvapes. It then shuttered or sold its remaining 20 stores, including five in the same city as the company’s headquarters, Richmond, Virginia, Xu said in an interview with Richmond Biz Sense.
Avail was an early entry into the vapor market, opening its first stores in 2013. By 2015, the company was producing its own e-liquids in its 37,000-square-foot office and manufacturing facility. It soon began also producing e-liquids for several other major brands. Xu said that he is not leaving the vapor industry and an announcement concerning a new project would be announced soon.
December 19, 2021
Puff Bar Owners Give TV Interview “to Build Trust”

Puff Bar Owners Nick Minas and Patrick Beltran appeared on CBS Mornings for their first television interview.
Puff Bar rose to prominence in early 2020 after the Food and Drug Administration banned candy and fruit-flavored e-cigarettes because of their youth appeal but continued to permit the sale of flavored single-use devices like Puff Bar because they were not yet very popular.
Today, Puff Bar is the most popular e-cigarette brand among high school and middle schoolers. Nielsen reports that store sales of Puff Bar in the United States topped $150 million last fiscal year, but much of that is believed to be counterfeit product.
Puff Bar has operated in the shadows for most of its existence. It listed its mailing address first to a shuttered storefront on skid row in Los Angeles and more recently to a P.O. box. The company appeared to relish its obscurity. Last year, its website read “Who Makes Puff Bar? Everyone wants to know.” Minas and Beltran say the brand was originally developed in China, where it continues to be manufactured.
In 2020, the FDA ordered Puff Bar off the market amid lawsuits and a widening public outcry about youth appeal. The company pulled its products but later reintroduced redesigned versions using synthetic nicotine, which some believe remains outside of the FDA’s remit.
Four states have banned the product. It also faces a probe in the House of Representatives and lawsuits in at least three states. Recently, North Carolina’s attorney general launched an investigation.
In early November U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, chair of the subcommittee on economic and consumer policy, wrote a letter to Minas and Beltran requesting information about its sale of synthetic nicotine products.
Minas and Beltran, both 27, are childhood friends from Southern California who said they are now the sole owners and co-CEOs of Puff Bar. During the CBS interview, Beltran said they wanted to speak out to “build trust” with their consumers.
“We’re aware that there is a lot of mystery and there was a lot of shadowiness before. Us being here right now, talking with you guys [CBS News] is our first step in kind of really, like, building the trust with our consumers,” he said.
The FDA declined to speak to CBS News about Puff Bar. In a statement, the agency said it was aware that companies have publicly announced strategies to switch to synthetic nicotine in an attempt to evade FDA jurisdiction, adding that it is investigating the issue.
November 22, 2021
Nebraska City Seeing Spike in Vape Shop Robberies
Nebraska has seen a spike in vape shop robberies recently as thieves target CBD and Delta-8 THC products. On July 10, in Lincoln, Nebraska, Between 2 and 5 a.m., the Lincoln Police Department (LPD) responded to reports and alarms at two businesses — Cloud 9 Smoke Shop and CBD Remedies — where officers found shattered storefront glass at both locations, according to Officer Luke Bonkiewicz.
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that in both cases, burglars gained entry into the businesses — after causing $500 in damage to each storefront, Bonkiewicz said — and made off with product from inside the shops. The owner of Cloud 9, near 11th and F streets, is still conducting inventory to determine what exactly burglars took. The same is true at CBD Remedies, near Normal Boulevard and South 48th Street, where burglars set off an alarm upon entry at 4:48 a.m. Friday.
The pair of break-ins comes two days after another similar burglary, totaling three in as many days. LPD discovered a broken window at Generation V E-Cigarettes and Vape Bar around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, where the owner of the business near Holdrege Street and North Cotner Boulevard reported a preliminary loss of $2,000, Officer Erin Spilker said.
The latest three break-ins follow at least two others in recent months that seem to align with those investigated this week. But the uptick that seems to involve the same group of burglars could date further back than this calendar year.
Timothy Goodman, a manager at the Lincoln Vapor location hit by burglars in May, said that break-in was just the latest in a string of six incidents in the last year or more. Goodman said it’s his understanding that every break-in can be linked to the same group.
Goodman, who has worked at Lincoln Vapor for nearly four years, said a group of burglars stole $2,000-$3,000 worth of merchandise in May and have lifted around $16,000 in products from the business in the last year and a half. The majority of products were hardware and cannabis products such as CBD and Delta-8 THC. “It’s frustrating beyond belief,” Goodman said. “I wake up most nights in the middle of the night and check the cameras to make sure nobody got in.”
July 11, 2021
My Freedom Smokes Confirms Closure Due to PACT Act
In an email to subscribers, My Freedom Smokes (MFS) announced Monday that it would be closing its doors due to the current regulatory climate of the vaping industry. In business since 2008, MFS has been a longtime staple in the business of vaping.
Credit: MFS
“Due to ongoing compliance requirements and new regulations of the e-cig industry, it has become nearly impossible for a shop like MFS to function without turning into something completely different,” the email states. “This was never the goal for MFS as we always prided ourselves on being able to offer customized products and service at great prices. So unfortunately, we will be shutting our doors at the end of the month.”
The MFS website states that the company is run by vapers, for vapers and is a one-stop website for everything from e-cig starter kits and cheap e-liquids to the most advanced cloud competition ready box mods and RDAs available. Based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, MFS was founded by Chris Yelton.
The company cited the inability to use the U.S. Postal Service due to the soon-to-be-implemented requirement that vapor products comply with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act. As well as premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) requirements enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
May 26, 2021
PACT Act Forces DuraSmoke Manufacture Out of Business
Securience, LLC, parent to the DuraSmoke, Forge, AmericaneLiquidStore, and VapeMoar brands, will be going out of business at the end of March 2021.
Credit: Durasmoke
In a letter to its partners, the company states that the recent passing of the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act, which prohibits the shipping of vapor products through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), was the catalyst for the decision to close the company’s doors. The company cites its inability to mail product to consumers, however, the PACT Act also prevents B2B shipments by USPS, according to a representative from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) who spoke during the recent Tobacco and Vapor Law Symposium presented by the law firm of Keller Heckman.
“Because of the complexity of these new shipping rules, FedEx, UPS, and DHL have all informed us that they will stop shipping vaping products completely — including our shipments to you, our wholesale vape shop customers, and distributors,” wrote Securience owner Don Muehlbauer. “While we have looked at some alternatives, given the geographic locations of our customers, the significant increase in compliance costs, and our capabilities as a small business, we have been unable to find a feasible alternative and have been left in a situation that makes continuing business impossible.”
Securience opened its doors in 2008 and has since been a staple in the vaping industry. Muehlbauer stated that he anticipates the PACT Act will not only impact his company, but many small e-liquid manufacturers. “Those manufacturers who are able to afford the increased compliance costs will have increased shipping costs that may impact [retail] shops,” he wrote. “The last day we will be able to accept orders for shipping is March 25 or until supplies run out.”
February 12, 2021