Category: Technology

PMI Probed for Heating Element Patent Breach

Photo: R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has opened a probe into vapor products imported by cigarette giant Philip Morris USA (PM) after R.J. Reynolds complained that PM’s tobacco-heating system infringes Reynolds’ patents, according to a report by Law360.
The investigation will determine whether the IQOS tobacco vaporizers marketed by Philip Morris and parent company Altria use tobacco-heating systems and sticks that violate patents for R.J. Reynolds’ Vuse vaping system. R.J. Reynolds seeks cease-and-desist orders barring imports of the allegedly infringing products.
The patents describe a device that heats tobacco held in a removable cartridge to 350 degrees when vapors containing nicotine are released without producing smoke, according to R.J. Reynolds’ April 9 complaint to the ITC.
R.J. Reynolds, which is owned by British American Tobacco, said Philip Morris has sold the alleged copycat IQOS system in the U.S. since October 2019 and has imported the product from manufacturers in Italy, Switzerland and Malaysia for years to use in clinical testing.
“We believe the allegations are without merit, and we are fully prepared to defend ourselves,” Philip Morris spokesman Corey Henry told Law360 in a statement Wednesday, noting the company has spent $7 billion developing its smoke-free tobacco products over the past two decades.
R.J. Reynolds filed a suit accusing Altria and Phillip Morris of six counts of trademark infringement in Virginia federal court the same day R.J. Reynolds filed its ITC petition. In that case, the company seeks treble damages and court declarations that Altria and Philip Morris have infringed its intellectual property.

Photo: PMI
May 18, 2020
Trade Commission to Probe Altria and PMI

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will investigate Altria and Philip Morris after a complaint was filed by R.J. Reynolds. The ITC will look into certain tobacco heating elements and components.
The ITC has not made a decision on the case but has said it will make its “final determination … at the earliest practicable time.”
May 13, 2020
Cannabis Technology Launches HNB Device

Image: Cannabis Technology House
Cannabis Technology House (CTH) is launching QUB, a heat-not-burn product that can contains cannabis flower or tobacco leaf.
According to Greg Kunin, CTH’s co-founder and chief product officer, the product does not have to be cleaned because the heater is replaced with each new consumable.
The difference between QUB and other vape pens is that the user consumes a product that is pre-packaged dry material in a cube-shaped piece. Most vape pens come as a reusable hardware device, but the consumer typically adds an oil cartridge to one end or it comes prepackaged with an oil cartridge. The result is that the consumer inhales an oil that is extracted from the original dry material.
While QUB was originally conceived as mostly a cannabis product, the crossover between tobacco and cannabis provides consumers flexibility. Cigarette smokers could use their QUB device for both tobacco and cannabis.
CTH was created by former Altria employees who worked with an Israeli R&D group that patented this concept.
The company has received $1 million from private investors to further develop QUB.

May 8, 2020
RAI Files 2 New PMTAs for Vuse Products

Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) has submitted two new premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). RAI is seeking marketing orders for its Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro vapor products, which would allow these products to remain on the market after the FDA’s deadline for PMTAs for electronic nicotine-delivery systems.
The applications include a range of scientific studies for Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro using well-known methodologies, including the comparative assessment of cigarettes and associated health risks. Though the PMTAs themselves are considered commercially proprietary and are thus confidential, the data and information submitted to the FDA include the results of product analyses, nonclinical health risk information and human health and population information, including the impact to both users and nonusers of tobacco products.
According to RAI, the results of these studies demonstrate that the continued marketing of the Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro products is appropriate for the protection of the public health. The FDA s expected to extend the PMTA deadline to from May 12 to Sept. 9.
“I am incredibly proud of our diverse team of scientists, researchers and regulatory experts, who have worked tirelessly together to complete these applications well ahead of the FDA’s May deadline for ENDS products,” noted Reynolds’ executive vice president and head of scientific and regulatory affairs, James Figlar.
The PMTAs for Vuse Vibe and Vuse Ciro are the second and third complete grouped PMTA applications submitted by Reynolds to the FDA for review, following the initial PMTA applications for Vuse Solo submitted in October 2019.
April 21, 2020
Philter Labs Gets $1 Million in Vapor Filter Funding

Credit: PhilterLabs
Philter Labs, a San Diego-based technology company that produces micro-sized air filters to help reduce the impacts of secondhand smoke, announced it has received $1 million in new investments.
The capital will be used for research and development, building out an extensive product roadmap, and launching what the company says will be first-of-its-kind personal filtration products, according to an article on Benzinga.com.
This new round of funding brings Philter’s total to $3 million. Bravos Capital and Explorer Equity both participated in the effort.
Philter Lab’s patented zero-5 technology utilizes a five step filtration process that manipulates smoke and vapor at the molecular level to dissipate up to 97 percent of emissions and dissolve harmful particulates and pollutants. Also unique to Philter is it’s pocket-sized design, allowing for ease of use and portability.
For over 20 years, the team behind Philter has been working to solve major medical problems, and identify consumer-centric solutions for common issues. Philter also aims to help re-frame popular associations behind controversial human behaviors, according to the article.
Philter’s technology encourages consumers to practice responsible vaping and empowers them to protect those they love, and the environment, by drastically reducing harmful emissions and airborne contaminants. The company’s overarching mission is to change the way people perceive vaping tobacco and cannabis.
CEO Christos Nicolaidis told Benzinga the goal at Philter Labs is to eliminate the impacts of secondhand smoke and harmful emissions while empowering consumers to vape responsibly, according to the article.
“This new series of funding builds on our momentum and will allow us to expand on our scientific research and launch new innovative, cutting-edge filtration products,” Nicolaidis said. “We want to lead the charge on a cultural shift for cleaner air and a better environment — and hopefully change the way people vape for the better.”
April 6, 2020
Relx Receives Red Dot Award
Relx Technology has been awarded the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2020 for its latest e-cigarette, Relx Infinity. The Red Dot Award is awarded to products that feature exceptional design.
The Red Dot Award: Product Design is one of the world’s largest design competitions. The international jury comprises experienced experts from different disciplines and has been convening for more than 60 years. True to the motto “In search of good design and innovation,” their assessment focuses on criteria such as innovation, functionality, formal quality, longevity and ergonomics.
Unveiled in Shenzhen, China, in January, Relx Infinity is the company’s latest product.
March 31, 2020
Fit For Vape

Uri Foox, founder and president of Zoey
Choosing a suitable e-commerce platform will help vapor product vendors improve online sales.
By Stefanie Rossel
The future for vapor products looks bright. According to a recent market report by Research and Markets, the global e-cigarette market is estimated to reach $44.6 billion by 2023, growing at a compound annual growth rate of more than 15 percent between 2017 and 2023. For the time being, retail distribution channels such as vape shops and convenience stores are responsible for 60 percent of vapor product sales, the study says.
“I think the big reason why we’re seeing a lot of sales at shops is the youthful stage this industry is in,” says Uri Foox, founder of the U.S. e-commerce platform Zoey. “There are so many creative companies out there introducing products, and obviously convenience stores, vape shops, etc., give you the ability to discover new items and in some cases try them out, and that will likely always exist in some form. As the industry matures, it’s likely that some companies and products will become much more prominent than others, and the more prominent companies will likely leverage the online channels accordingly to make it easier to reach scale.”
Across all industries worldwide, retail e-commerce sales are growing steadily. According to data from Stastista, they are expected to rise from an estimated $3.45 trillion in 2019 to $4.88 trillion by 2021. As purchases via the internet become ever more popular, user habits and expectations change and so do technical requirements for high-traffic sites.
In order to remain competitive in this transforming landscape, online vendors of vapor products will have to find an e-commerce solution that caters to their specific requirements: dealing with customers (B2C) and wholesalers (B2B) alike. “Many vendors have an established B2C presence, but their wholesale option is ‘fill out this form and we’ll have someone contact you,’” observes Foox. “Others have their B2B merchants shop on the same site as a B2C customer, but it’s not optimized for volume ordering, so B2B sales are harder to achieve. The larger B2B trends are around, offering more self-service solutions, easy ordering and reordering, and basically democratizing the process. That’s where we come in.”
FROM B2B TO B2C
Zoey is a website builder that was founded in 2014 as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for companies seeking to combine the benefits of high-end solutions with the comfort of managed services. The team working on the e-commerce platform has its roots building e-commerce for other companies, including stores doing massive worldwide transactions for about a decade, Foox explains. “While we are B2B-centric, we started with B2C roots, so we do support traditional B2C e-commerce as well. Many of our merchants leverage our ability to run B2C and B2B transactions off of one website, streamlining ordering into a single portal but with different applications for each buyer type. We see a lot of vaping and e-cigarette merchants selling both in-store and wholesale, so we think our approach provides something unique for the industry.”
He notes that many competitors, particularly some of the larger B2C players, have simply bolted a few B2B capabilities onto a very B2C-centric platform. “That means trade-offs and limitations in how B2B transactions can take place. Do you allow merchants to buy now and pay later? Do you make common SKUs easily accessible for quick reordering when you’re a shop constantly ordering the same product? These are questions we’ve spent a lot of time examining and tackling, and I think that puts us ahead.”
HAPPY ACCIDENT
The company only recently started to offer its services to the vapor industry. Foox says Zoey’s experience with e-cigarette merchants came almost by accident, when about 10 merchants started to use the company’s platform. “They were giving us a heads-up that what we’re offering really suits the industry. So today Zoey has companies like Marina Vape, Lifted Liquids and Keola Life to manage online sales.”
With regard to required e-commerce functionalities, Foox has seen a few categories of concern specifically for the vapor industry. Many companies, he points out, require access to particular payment gateways and processors that are more industry-friendly, while a lot of them have both B2C and B2B customers. To all of them, easy organization for being able to select multiple variations of a product to order at one time is important, such as products that have differing amounts of nicotine.
“A standard B2C experience has you drill down to a single choice—not ideal for wholesale. B2B e-commerce in particular is evolving quickly, in part because there’s a bit of catch-up being played on that side of things. Five years ago, there were very few ways to do it—hence you saw a lot of ‘contact us to order wholesale’ forms or very primitive ordering options online. Now the expectation is businesses offer[ing] a B2B portal in the same way they offer B2C sales. This means you want a solution that can keep up.”
FEATURES FOR VAPE SHOPS
Since Zoey is focused on B2B and wholesale merchants primarily, many of its B2B-specific tools are well designed to match the requirements specific to the vapor industry, Foox says. The platform offers a streamlined order portal, which makes it easy to add various SKUs in volume at one time to a cart and check out. Buyers can request a quote and get pricing before purchase, which, according to the company’s founder, is helpful for new types of purchases or new customers wanting to inform themselves before buying. Vendors can sell to both consumers and wholesale customers within a platform and restrict access to certain products, or the entire website, to only specific registered customers. Group customers that have, for example, similar discounts or product access can be offered a more customized experience.
“One big differentiator for us is [that] we don’t charge transaction fees; the only costs are the monthly subscription and then any add-ons the customer elects to utilize. That’s not generally the case for other SaaS solutions,” Foox points out. “B2B merchants sometimes qualify for preferred credit card rates, but you have to be on a solution that supports that option. On Shopify, for instance, if you don’t use Shopify Payments, which has B2C-standard pricing, you have to pay a transaction fee on top of your merchant charges, which can make using them expensive regardless of payment type.”
MORE OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
The biggest selling point of SaaS, he says, is a single monthly price that covers many things that open-source software requires to be paid out separately, such as the software license, website hosting, and security updates and site improvements, which can become costly when shop owners depend on developers to install these things for them.
“If we release a new feature, patch a bug [or] update security measures, all of our customers get that automatically and immediately. Paired with capabilities like our visual design editor, which makes it easy to update design and marketing assets without knowing how to code, we provide a comprehensive solution that’s easy to maintain and has an overall lower cost than open source solutions. If you have open source software, unless you have a strong technical person in-house, you usually have to hire and maintain developers to keep your site secure and up to date. That’s an expensive proposition. With SaaS, that money can be reinvested into the business instead.”
In contrast to its competitors, Zoey has decided against the introduction of an app that allows vendors to manage their orders, products, staff members and customers from a mobile device.
“Our stores are responsive and mobile-friendly for customers to shop, but our management tools are designed for computers. The main reason for this is [that] we found that most B2B merchants are still working from computers when doing that sort of work—it’s not generally thought ideal to be adding products or processing orders on a cell phone. This is particularly important when it comes to product updates, order fulfillment and so on. I’m sure as we and the industry continue to evolve, it’ll be an area we’ll evaluate for future support. On the other hand, we have made sure to optimize our tools for salespeople to work well on tablet[s] and mobile [devices], such as Request a Quote, so they can work easily in the field.”
To make their solution even more customizable, Foox says Zoey is currently working on ways to better leverage the customer segmentation features, such as being able to assign a customer to a group and have a completely different website theme, for instance a wholesale group and a B2C group with different shopping experiences. “We just launched a partnership with a net terms provider, letting merchants buy now versus pay later.”
He is convinced that in the future, the online distribution channel will play an ever-increasing role in the vapor sector. “For B2B ordering, stores will increasingly leverage online ordering for products from manufacturers or distributors that have staying power in their shops, as they use it as a way to reorder best-sellers and products they aim to keep on the shelves. For B2C ordering, shops themselves will have the ability to sell to their customers when they can’t make it into the store or [customers] know what they want and want it shipped directly to their home[s], just like in other industries. Shops doing hybrid B2C and B2B with their business[es] will find online sales helpful for congregating all the purchasers into one place, making it easier to analyze the data and spot trends.”

Stefanie Rossel
March 20, 2020
Core development
The new COREX coil from Vaporesso has embedded mesh technology for enhanced flavor while vaping.
By Timothy S. Donahue
Flavor is very important. Closed-pod systems have exploded on the market due to their convenience and ease of use. Now, smaller refillable pod systems are growing in popularity. COREX is a new ceramic coil from Vaporesso that is designed specifically for refillable systems. Vaporesso is a subsidiary of Smoore Technology, which is considered one the most influential innovators in atomizing platforms on the planet.
“Over the past few years, we began to notice that the e-cigarette market had been yearning for a refillable heating technology that can be widely approved, much like Feelm, Smoore’s revolutionary ceramic coil for closed-pod systems, which has received great acclaim,” says Niki Zhang, marketing manager for Vaporesso. “The COREX coil was created through our comprehensive research and development of early prototypes, which were initially released to labs only. Vaporesso has been creating the groundbreaking core technology since 2015—only waiting until it was perfect before its full release.”
Like a Feelm coil, the COREX coil uses no cotton or wicking material and has a large surface area that comes in contact with the e-liquid. COREX has a cellular ceramic core that has the mesh embedded directly into the ceramic material. “This creates the perfect size and distribution of porosity,” says Zhang. “From the very first puff, COREX immediately gives you the maximum flavor and nicotine satisfaction that vapers desire. The combination of embedded mesh and perfected porosity also allows consumers to consistently get that same satisfaction for longer time periods and with an enhanced durability.”
COREX was designed to enhance satisfaction factors for users, according to Zhang. She says that COREX offers the optimal “distribution and dimension of porosity” for working with e-juices, boosting nicotine delivery by 67 percent. “COREX also has the ability to reach the perfect atomizing temperature in the first 0.2 seconds into the first inhale, which means COREX doesn’t need warming up before getting the full satisfaction,” says Zhang. “What’s more, the increased rate of heating from the first puff to the 100th puff is nearly identical.”
Embedding the meshed coil directly into the ceramic allows for more contact area on all sides of the coil. Zhang mentions that that combination, alongside its evenly distributed inlet holes, allows for full and evenly distributed heating. She adds that this produces smoother, more flavorful vapor.
When discussing the durability of COREX, Zhang points out that the COREX mixture has an extremely low thermal conductivity (less than one-fifth of aluminum oxide ceramics), and the specially created cellular ceramic compound makes COREX last longer than any other coil on the market, including standard cotton coils, mesh coils and even other ceramic coils.
Another major benefit of using the COREX coil is that it uses less power and performs more efficiently than other types of coils, says Zhang. “Efficiency just became effective,” she explains. “The combination of optimum porosity and embedded coil mesh gives you almost twice as much life from your power source. This guarantees that COREX consumers can get the most satisfaction from their device.”

Started in 2006, China-based Smoore has become a major player as an innovator in the heating element technology market. The company has served numerous industries; however, in 2007, Smoore discovered that it could serve a then niche market by creating revolutionary products in the vapor industry. The company played a major role in the development of several early product success stories, such as the NJoy King disposable cigalike in 2013 and Logic’s Pro system in 2014.
Smoore started its Vaporesso brand in 2015 with the goal of becoming a leading vapor hardware manufacturer. Zhang says the company currently has 7,000 employees with seven factories, including its own automation factory. Vaporesso manufactures vapor hardware for several companies, both large and small. Under the Vaporesso brand, the company produces several of its own products, including the Luxe S 220W, which utilizes the innovative SKRR tank.
Vaporesso is best-known for its commitment to heating technology research in vapor. The company also has one the best management teams in the industry, according to Zhang. “We hired some of the top 100 scientists in China. It’s really important to organize them to work efficiently. We invest a lot in our management team building as we believe that the management team is the core to get everything in order to keep the company running efficiently,” she explains. “Proper management [teams include] individuals who can lead by example and also allow their staff to have the freedom to be creative. Our managers must embody our ‘beyond the ordinary’ mission and are fully immersed in the vaping of the world. Our management teams are also keen on not only making advancements for our company but the entire vaping world, helping to improve the lives of its users.”
Research and development is a core value for Smoore. This is why the company has more than 200 engineers on staff and reinvests 15 percent of its yearly revenue back in R&D, according to Zhang. “Vaping is a new industry with lots to explore,” she says. “It’s essential that we find the safest and best materials and technologies to achieve optimum pleasure in use.”
To prioritize innovation, Smoore created its Institute of Fundamental Technology in 2013 to help the company focus on essential technical developments in the e-cigarette industry. The head of the institute, Peng Xiaofeng, specializes in the research and development of inorganic nonmetallic materials. Peng previously worked with companies such as GE, Saint-Gobain North America and Toyota.
The cutting-edge advancements are quickly used in many of Smoore’s products and its subsidiaries’ products, according to Zhang. Technology created at the institute, for example, was used in Vaporesso’s Ccell ceramic coils, which are used in several Vaporesso products.
The institute was also instrumental in the development of the company’s Omni Board, a sophisticated chipset that allows device controls to help satisfy every consumer, from smokers trying to quit all the way up to veteran vapers. “One technology innovation benefits the entire company. That’s what we called our concentric diversification strategy. This company is driven by two things: safety and innovation. These are very important factors in what we do,” Zhang says.
To ensure compliance with its strict quality control and safety standards, Smoore and its subsidiaries work with several third-party testing labs in both Europe and the U.S. Every product produced must go through strict quality control protocols before being shipped to Smoore’s customers, according to Zhang. “We need to ensure the safety of our customers while they are using our products. Brand identity and brand reputation are very important to us, giving our products higher competitiveness and durability.”
Smoore is currently dedicated to pushing several products through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process. “We are working on the PMTA process to get fully prepared for the new regulatory environment in the U.S market,” she says. “We are constantly working on technological innovation, and it won’t be too long before our next product launches.”
Over the next five years, Zhang says Smoore will stabilize its existing European and American markets and will continue to develop and improve emerging markets. “We work hard to completely cover the countries and regions where electronic cigarettes are legalized,” she explains. “At the same time, Smoore will continue to innovate, update and optimize products with the spirit of excellence and strive to become the world’s largest and most well-known atomization technology company.”

Timothy Donahue
Timothy S. Donahue is the co-founder and managing editor of Vapor Voice.
Tim spends much of his time on the road, attending conferences and interviewing industry representatives.
His networking skills, work ethic and quick mind are valuable assets to our diverse audience.
September 1, 2019
The Perfect Package

Abe Aboabdo; Photo courtesy of Chubby Gorilla

Eyad Aboabdo; Photo courtesy of Chubby Gorilla

Chubby Gorilla has rapidly become the world’s leading supplier of container closure systems for the electronic cigarette industry.
By Timothy S. Donahue
It’s an epic success story. There is probably only one product that can be found in nearly every vape shop on the planet: the Chubby Gorilla bottle. In 2015, two brothers, Abraham and Eyad Aboabdo, joined with two childhood friends and began Chubby Gorilla with the ambition of manufacturing specifically designed e-liquid bottles for filling vaporizers. In under four years, the company has grown to dominate the worldwide e-liquid bottle/packaging market. It’s the story of a business that transformed an industry.
Abraham and Eyad smoked shisha out of a hookah before quitting tobacco with the help of vapor products. One day in 2014, Abraham, Eyad and two childhood friends started talking about a potential new business. They wanted to produce better bottles for e-liquids. They recognized a real opportunity because packaging in the e-liquid industry at the time was subpar.
In the beginning, the industry standard for e-liquids was a glass 10 mL bottle. It came with a small eyedropper to transfer liquid to the tank. Filling was often a messy experience. E-liquid packaging then started drifting toward plastics, but the bottles had many issues. They would leak. The metal syringe-like tips would clog or often just fall out and spill the e-liquid. Bottles began to gravitate back toward glass and then back toward plastics again. Child-resistant caps (CRC) became the norm.
The brothers understood that the vapor industry needed something better. The plastic bottles being used weren’t designed to store and dispense e-liquid. “They were not ideal. The bottles weren’t designed for the application,” says Abraham, who serves as president of Chubby Gorilla. “We were looking for a market solution. We needed to see the big picture. We started thinking about manufacturing from a co-packer’s standpoint, looking at different materials and, finally, thinking about packaging from a consumer standpoint.”
In 2015, Eyad, Abraham and their friends were ready to open the company, but it needed a name. Eyad, who also serves as vice president of Chubby Gorilla, felt that this e-liquid packaging business needed something different, something tough, and wondered if the gorilla might be the strong imaging needed for a reliable, impactful packaging brand. Eyad named the company Chubby Gorilla. “It’s unique and really stands out. It’s been more effective than I could have ever imagined,” says Eyad. “It just really works well for this industry.”
During an interview with Vapor Voice in their California, USA, offices, the brothers say the four owners have a solid relationship. There is a lot of trust, and they push each other to be better, according to Abraham. “We work well together. Eyad and I, for example, argue sometimes, as all business partners would, but it’s always respectful and, in the end, we always do what is right for the company; it isn’t personal,” says Abraham. “It’s competitive. We are always trying to outdo each other in strategy and how to best move forward.”
The first Chubby Gorilla bottles were accessories. The 30 mL unicorn bottles were sold to be filled by the consumer with a third-party e-liquid. In 2016, Chubby Gorilla released its first PET CRC-compliant bottle. PET, polyethylene terephthalate, is a form of polyester that is extruded or molded into plastic bottles. “This is when momentum began to build rapidly for Chubby Gorilla sales,” Eyad exclaims.
“Things really started to take off in mid-2016. Companies began to want us; they wanted Chubby Gorilla. The more that becomes known about our bottles and what they represent, the faster we seem to grow,” Abraham says. “We are the best because, if you ask our consumers, they know we didn’t design Chubby Gorilla products for profit but for a purpose. We wanted to improve the leaking, the flow. When we see an issue, we try to make it right. You don’t know something is better until you experience something better.”
All Chubby Gorilla products are designed and engineered in California. Abraham says that the company has a team of designers, product engineers and quality assurance specialists whose sole job is to ensure that every item the company ships to its patrons is perfect.
“Our team has decades of combined experience and passion in this industry. That allows us to create beautifully designed products that are of the highest quality and meet consumers’ needs,” he says. “Finally, the designs, the materials we use and the construction of our products are personalized for our end user’s convenience and pleasure. From the leak-free construction to our unique designs, everything about our products is created to satisfy our customers with Chubby Gorilla’s products.”

PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT
In mid-2017, Chubby Gorilla had 75,000 square feet of factory space and a staff of 120. Less than a year later, the company has grown to 150,000 square feet of factory space with a staff of about 220. Chubby Gorilla’s factories are ISO 9001 and 14001 certified with GMP certified workshops, according to Eyad. The company is now looking to acquire a new building in China, where its bottles are manufactured, which will give Chubby Gorilla 310,000 square feet of factory space and add an additional 100 employees.
The company also has a new warehouse in the works in California, which will expand Chubby Gorilla’s warehousing operations from 35,000 square feet to 80,000 square feet. Chubby Gorilla ships thousands of boxes every week to clients in more than 150 countries. The company produces 10 mL, 16.5 mL, 30 mL (tall and short), 50 mL, 60 mL (tall, short and mini), 75 mL, 100 mL and 120 mL bottles.
“Winning the bottle battle is based on quality, consistency and brand. This market is growing and changing very fast, so we must remain focused all the time,” says Eyad. “We never thought we would get that big—never that fast. It was always a goal, but consistency and quality have helped us grow.”
Abraham says that the purpose in their engineering process has always been to make a beautiful product that is the best for the e-liquid industry and the overall vapor industry. “It must be a product that won’t fail our customers. To do that, we keep all our engineers under one roof in California,” Abraham says emphatically. “Plus, we work with engineers who not only have experience in our sector but are passionate about it. This allows for unprecedented attention to detail, sharing of experience and, ultimately, a much better product for our loyal customers.”
Eyad explains that another challenge is that regulatory requirements can be different across the globe; a bottle can be compliant in the U.S. but not in Canada. “We work with the CPSC [the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission], FDA and Health Canada to be sure we are compliant and provide the best bottles available,” says Eyad. “We are working on creating a master file for the FDA. That is being put together now. We are also doing it as a drug master file with CDER [the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research], so if someone wanted to do a drug pathway [for vapor products], we are available for them.”
The company keeps track of changes in the packaging industry and works with the governing bodies in the countries Chubby Gorilla operates, including China, which has some of the most complicated packaging requirements in the world, according to Eyad. “Child-resistant packaging, for example, is all different. I would also like to say that we believe we shouldn’t always be told by the government what we need to do. At Chubby Gorilla, we do what is right. We go above and beyond in materials and testing. We want to help to regulate the industry properly.”
Chubby Gorilla has been at the forefront of innovation, especially when predicting possible regulatory requirements. For example, Chubby Gorilla designed its bottles to have restricted flow before it was a requirement. When there wasn’t a machine to test the bottles, Chubby Gorilla designed a testing machine for restricted flow. “There were no protocols, and there was no company doing that type of testing,” says Eyad. “We had to find our own and work with them to find a way. Within 30 days of the CPSC’s release of the final guidance, we started testing flow for products. We were the first company to help customers become compliant with CPSC’s requirements in flow restrictions for e-liquid packaging.”
FIGHTING BACK
Chubby Gorilla’s bottles have been so successful that, like many goods in the vapor industry, the company must fight off counterfeit products and the manufacturers supplying them. The company’s logo is copyrighted and trademarked, and the name is trademarked as well. Chubby Gorilla has more than 100 patents and more than 1,000 trademarks in more than 175 countries, according to Abraham.
“Counterfeit attorneys are expensive but necessary. If we don’t fight the companies illegally selling and producing our products, we will lose our trademarks. Counterfeiting is a big issue … manufacturing, uses, trademark and style are all factors,” says Abraham. “We do most of our IP [intellectual property] enforcement overseas, especially in China. We have been able to seize shipments, molds and have even had companies removed from trade shows. Now factories are afraid to counterfeit our products. Every bottle is covered. It’s a criminal offense in China, and we have attorneys in several provinces.”
Chubby Gorilla’s mission statement is “engineered for a purpose, designed for a purpose.” The brothers say that they don’t just use those words flippantly. “We know that our customers have lots of choices available to them, so we take every single syllable of that statement very seriously. When our customers open a box of our products, we want it to be a unique and unparalleled experience,” adds Abraham. “We are always trying to figure out what is best, and we strive to serve our clients properly so they can provide consumers with the greatest possible products.”
Looking ahead, Chubby Gorilla is considering moving into the pharmaceutical packaging industry as well as other markets. The brothers say that they will work with the other Chubby Gorilla owners and employees to improve the facility, build an even stronger infrastructure and diversify into other markets. “We are looking at CBD [cannabidiol] and THC [marijuana] markets to provide packaging solutions. We already have customers using Chubby Gorilla in those industries,” says Eyad. “We work closely with clients and every major distributor in the world to help them help their businesses grow too. We try to connect people to help businesses grow.”
Chubby Gorilla is the No. 1 selling item in the vapor industry. However, the Chubby Gorilla team insists that it is just getting started. “We are working on some new things. We may again revolutionize the e-liquid packaging industry and maybe even top ourselves. This new thing could even be the future of liquid packaging in the U.S.,” says Abraham. “We work hard because we can never be comfortable …. The biggest failures come from people getting too comfortable.”

Timothy S. Donahue
August 21, 2019
Outside the Box
The VFolk is using quality materials and innovative design to try to stand out in a crowded market.
By Timothy S. Donahue
Pod systems are popular. They are so prevalent that nearly every vapor industry hardware manufacturer and brand has a pod system on the market. It isn’t easy to stand out in such a crowded field. However, that is exactly what Sunny Lee set out to do with her VFolk Pro closed pod system.
“As a global company, we are working on providing a healthier alternative for 1 billion smokers,” said Lee, who started the company in 2016 and now serves as its CEO. “Every day, we go to work hoping to do two things: share great flavor with our friends and make the world a little better.”
VFolk began in the U.S. with a focus on producing hightech vapor products. VFolk has increased in size by 30 percent year-over-year and has offices and/or factories in the U.S., U.K. and China. The company has grown from only Lee to a staff of 58 today.
Lee hired several designers from the U.S. and the U.K. in an attempt to find a device that would help the everyday smoker switch from combustible cigarettes. She brought on team members that served as executives, senior product engineers and scientists from some of the most successful technology companies on the planet, including Philips, Schneider, Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, YouTube, Sonos, IBM, Oracle and Lenovo.
Lee challenged her team to design the best possible pod device that overcame many of the issues other pod devices haven’t been able to fully overcome. These challenges included not providing enough flavor and pods leaking liquid. The design they found that worked best in tests was an elongated spherical stick that was the same length as a traditional cigarette, according to Lee.
“It also needed to be about as wide and thick as an average-sized adult index finger while being easy to carry and use,” said Lee. The first test the team faced was finding a coil atomizer that provided a better vape and more flavor than other pod devices on the market. The VFolk engineers settled on the Feelm coil produced by Smoore in China. Smoore is one of the oldest heating technology companies in the world.
Designed primarily for prefilled pod systems, the Feelm atomizer uses no cotton or wicking material and has a large surface area that comes in contact with the e-liquid. The Feelm atomizer uses a ceramic base that has a flat, medical-grade stainless steel metal film material on top of it. The circuit is also on the top, and it works very well, especially with prefilled pods, because of the increased surface area, which allows for a better vaping experience, according to Lee.
“Feelm is also a very efficient coil. It uses up to 20 percent less battery life, which can be a huge benefit to closed-pod systems,” says Lee. “Right now, Feelm coils set the standard for atomization technology in the vape industry. As we know, the most important part of a quality vape is atomization. We choose Feelm coils because we wanted to use the highest quality products. The VFolk pod uses the world’s most advanced trapezoidal funnel-shaped honeycomb ceramic core, which costs much more than a general ceramic core. Atomizing to 0.01 mm and evenly heating tens of thousands of honeycomb holes helps to maximize the conversion rate, which ensures VFolk’s consistently smooth, mellow and continuous taste.”
By using such advanced ceramic atomizing technology alongside a battery with a 350 mAh capacity, the VFolk easily lasts through a full day of heavy use, according to Lee. “You can fully charge it through USB in less than 60 minutes. A 1.2 mL pod can last the average vaper approximately 2–3 days,” she says. “The 5 percent nicotine concentration is strong enough to satisfy smokers with a strong habit but light enough to keep infrequent smokers away from throat irritation.”
The second major challenge for the VFolk team was minimizing leakage. There is an adage in vaping: Everything leaks eventually. It has been an industry issue since the very beginning. Closed pod leakage is very hard to fix, harder even than fixing leaks on an open tank system. The pod connection must fit right with the battery while still allowing the vapor to come from the top. The VFolk team knew they needed a pod that could outperform the other pod systems on the market alongside having the lowest leakage rates available.
“VFolk uses an advanced double-sealed design to separate the pod and atomizer,” says Lee. “There will be no e-juice leakage with this device even when the device is violently swung, tilted or placed on different surfaces. The VFolk pods also use an advanced magnetic lock technology to secure pods into place. The process is intuitive and user-friendly.”
In order to further stand out from the crowd, Lee wanted to offer customers variety in how their pod looks. Currently, the VFolk comes in eight different color coats, including classic black, space gray, navy blue, scarlet ruby, live coral, champagne gold, pine green and lavender violet. She says the VFolk is also available in several markets.
“VFolk products are not only just for selling in China but also for the worldwide market. For the EU, we are a TPD2 registered brand,” she says. “In the U.S., we were on the market before Aug. 8, 2016 and are preparing to file for a premarket tobacco [product] application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Our products passed CE, RoHS [and] FCC certification, [and] we also have more certification plans for other major markets.”
VFolk offers seven pod flavors that include tobacco, mint, mango, cucumber, mung bean, lychee and coffee. “Users can choose tobacco and mint flavors to satisfy the craving of traditional tobacco products and mimic how they taste. They can also try something special like fruit or a coffee flavor to bring that extra kick into your day,” says Lee, adding that there may be more flavors coming in the future. “VFolk will launch products according to customers’ requirements periodically. For example, we are looking at launching new flavors, a new refillable pod, 0 mg nicotine e-liquid pods, and even functional e-liquid pods such as a collagen pod, a vitamin C pod or a melatonin Pod … etc.” The company is also considering pods for cannabidiol and THC oils.
Moving forward, Lee says she understands that closed pod systems are quick and convenient, but e-liquid choices are limited. Open systems, however, allow vapers to use any e-liquid they want. Having the ability to choose between the best of both worlds is another way that VFolk plans on helping smokers make the switch from combustible cigarettes. That is why VFolk is launching a refillable pod in its next-generation system.
“Our next generation will see a major improvement in flavor production and cartridge capacity. We will also offer a new system that is both refillable and a closed system,” says Lee, adding that if you want a VFolk, it depends on where you are located. “For some countries, which already have VFolk distributors, we will hand over the distributor contact to a client. If you come from a blank market, we will support you with product and keep moving the business between us,” she says. “The vapor industry is getting bigger and bigger, and it’s only just beginning. We believe VFolk is unquestionably a shining star in the industry.”

Timothy S. Donahue
August 21, 2019