Category: Vapor

  • Wang: Global Trade Tariffs in Vaping

    Wang: Global Trade Tariffs in Vaping

    The vaping industry has always faced its share of challenges—from shifting regulatory landscapes to evolving consumer preferences. However, a few factors significantly threaten the industry’s future, such as the impact of global trade tariffs. With the United States set to increase tariffs on Chinese imports, companies that fail to adapt could face skyrocketing costs, disrupted supply chains, and a diminished ability to compete in one of the world’s largest markets.

    Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have been escalating for several years. The vaping industry, which relies heavily on hardware manufactured in China, is particularly vulnerable to these developments. Currently, vaping products imported from China face a 25% tariff, but there is a high likelihood that this could double or even increase to 100% under future U.S. administrations.

    For vaping companies, such tariff hikes mean the cost of importing devices could skyrocket. A 100% tariff would effectively double the cost of hardware produced in China, driving up retail prices for all such products in the U.S. market. This scenario threatens the financial viability of vaping companies and the availability of affordable, high-quality products for consumers.

    The Strategic Decision to Move Manufacturing to Malaysia

    Recognizing the potential for increasing tariffs and broader geopolitical challenges, some vaping manufacturers began shifting their operations from China to other countries. Such decisions were never made lightly. China has long been a global leader in manufacturing efficiency with a robust infrastructure and supply-chain network,, and moving away from such an established infrastructure posed significant logistical and operational challenges.

    Malaysia offered several key advantages to manufacturers. Firstly, Malaysia enjoys favorable trade agreements with the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. For instance, starting in December 2024, a new free trade agreement between Malaysia and the U.K. took effect, eliminating tariffs on products moving between the two countries. Similar agreements are in place or in development with other major markets.

    Secondly, Malaysia’s robust manufacturing ecosystem and skilled workforce make it an ideal location for high-quality production. By establishing operations in Malaysia, companies can continue to deliver reliable, innovative hardware without the added burden of excessive tariffs.

    The Broader Impact on the Global Supply Chain

    The shift to Malaysia reflects a broader trend in global manufacturing. As trade barriers between the U.S. and China grow, a widespread redistribution of manufacturing operations is underway. Companies across industries—not just vaping—are reevaluating their supply chains to reduce dependence on any single country.

    This global redistribution of resources presents both challenges and opportunities. For manufacturers, the challenge lies in building new infrastructure, securing reliable suppliers, and maintaining quality control in unfamiliar territories. However, companies that successfully navigate these changes benefit from more resilient supply chains, reduced geopolitical risk, and greater flexibility in responding to market shifts.

    Maintaining Compliance and Quality Standards

    Shifting manufacturing bases also brings new compliance considerations. Regulatory bodies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) require Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (PMTAs) for vaping devices. These applications are tied to specific manufacturing facilities, meaning that changing production locations requires amendments to existing PMTAs or new submissions.

    Manufacturers must ensure that new facilities meet the highest quality and compliance standards. Proactively managing these regulatory requirements ensures that products remain market-ready even as production locations change.

    The Future of the Vaping Industry Amid Trade Challenges

    Looking ahead, it’s clear that trade tariffs and global manufacturing shifts are not short-term challenges. Regardless of who occupies the White House, protectionist trade policies are likely to persist or even intensify. The vaping industry must be prepared for this new reality.

    Companies that fail to diversify their manufacturing operations face mounting costs and increasing vulnerability to trade disruptions. On the other hand, those who invest in flexible, resilient supply chains will be well-positioned to thrive.

    The vaping industry is at a crossroads. Global trade tariffs pose a significant threat, but they also offer an opportunity for companies to rethink their supply chains and build more resilient operations. For manufacturers, shifting production from China to countries like Malaysia is not just a reactive measure—it’s a strategic move to secure long-term growth and competitiveness.

    As the industry moves forward, companies that adapt to these challenges will be the ones that lead the way. The ability to anticipate trade disruptions, embrace innovation and maintain rigorous quality standards will determine who succeeds in this ever-evolving market.

    As co-CEO of Ispire Technology Inc., Michael Wang is a leader in the development and commercialization of vaping technology and precision dosing. Previously, he served in executive roles at The Pharm/Sunday Goods, Onestop Commerce, Zazzle, and Honeywell.

  • Vietnam Approves Measure to Ban Vapes Next Year

    Vietnam Approves Measure to Ban Vapes Next Year

    VV Archives

    Vietnam will ban vapes next year, reports VN Express.

    On Nov. 30, the country’s National Assembly approved a measure to prohibit the production, sale, import, storage, transportation and use of e-cigarettes starting in 2025.

    Previously, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said e-cigarettes need to be banned “due to their harmful health effects.” NA delegates also agreed that policies to ban and tightly monitor illegal sales are necessary.

    World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised Vietnam’s action. “Congratulations, Vietnam, on making this bold decision to protect your citizens, especially the young ones, from vaping and heated tobacco products,” he wrote on social media platform X.

  • VTA Celebrates Impact of U.S. Vaper Voters

    VTA Celebrates Impact of U.S. Vaper Voters

    The Vapor Technology Association (VTA) celebrated the political currency and success of vaper voters in critical 2024 battleground election states and districts during the recent U.S. elections. According to the trade group, vaper voters helped secure electoral victories for Conservative candidates up and down the ballot.

    VTA says its “I Vape I Vote” campaign activated over 360,000 low-propensity voters to support Conservative principles and candidates, including President-elect Donald Trump, in key battleground states and districts in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. 

    “Vaper voters showed up in droves to support Conservative candidates who will protect and preserve the rights of Americans to use flavored vaping products,” said VTA Executive Director Tony Abboud.

    “VTA’s I Vape I Vote campaign made clear that vaper voters had their voices heard at the ballot box and ensured that Conservative candidates would deliver full-throated endorsements of Americans’ right to use flavored vapes and, critically, use that support to establish a voter currency which propelled several Conservative candidates into office.

    “While we are proud to have engaged in the process with several of these Conservative candidates, we are now ready to see their campaign promises committed to action as they work with President-elect Trump and the relevant federal agencies to fix the broken regulatory process by implementing a streamlined regulatory process that ensures access to flavored vapes is protected and companies and distributors have transparent, rational and affordable rules of the road when it comes to this regulatory framework.”

  • Gaming Vapes Provoke Outrage in Netherlands

    Gaming Vapes Provoke Outrage in Netherlands

    Image: 12ee12/nosyrevy

    New vapes with integrated music and gaming functionalities have provoked outrage in the Netherlands, according to Dutch News.

    Sophie Cohen, a doctor specializing in children’s lung problems, described the deliberate combination of addictive things such as nicotine and gaming as “extremely twisted.”

    “The awful thing is I am not surprised the industry has come up with something to make children even more addicted,” Cohen said. “That is their earnings model. The younger the brain, the more receptive it is to addiction.”

    The NVWA, the Dutch product safety board, is aware of the “smart vapes.” The agency says children are likely getting hold of them abroad, but several kids told broadcaster NOS that the vapes are available “behind the counter” at shops in the country.

    Vincent Karremans, junior health minister, called the vapes and their attractiveness to youth “scandalous” and said he’s working on a plan to tackle the illegal vape trade.

  • Georgia House Welcomes ‘False’ Registry Comments

    Georgia House Welcomes ‘False’ Registry Comments

    Credit: Hafakot

    Earlier this year, the Georgia legislature adjourned before the Senate could consider House Bill 1260, also known as the Georgia Nicotine Vapor Products Directory Act. If passed, the bill would have established a registry for vape products that had premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA) either authorized or under consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

    Manufacturers would add their products to the registry voluntarily.

    According to reporting by Filter, legislators formed the Safety & Consumer Protection of Nicotine Vapor Products Study Committee in March. At the committee meetings held September 5 and September 9, law enforcement officers and school administrators took turns giving wildly inaccurate testimony about how United States teenagers are being killed off en masse by unregulated, disposable flavored vapes imported from China.

    The September 9 meeting featured a slideshow titled Flavored Disposable Vape–The New Face of Organized Crime, describing how the epidemic was leading children down a path toward transnational drug trafficking. It was kept off-camera during the livestream, due to apparently containing top-secret law enforcement intelligence.

    “Again, everything’s Chinese, from China. What else is China bringing into the United States?” asked copresenter Carlos Sandoval. “Methamphetamine. Cocaine. Vapes is another new product, it’s opening another door for organized crime and cartels.”

    Despite the fact that the both study committee and the tabled bill are purportedly about nicotine vapor products, the committee appeared to be about equally preoccupied with THC. Both were described as “highly addictive” and “silent killers,” often interchangeably.

    One former principal testified that one of the only interventions she’d found helpful to prevent vaping in her school was a “rewards program” that used a school communications platform to apparently place small bounties on students who vaped.

    “A student could go on there and turn in someone who was vaping in the bathroom,” she said, “and if we were able to prove it they would receive a $25 gift certificate. We called it ‘Snitches Get Riches.’”

  • CAPHRA: Vape Misinformation is ‘Propaganda’

    CAPHRA: Vape Misinformation is ‘Propaganda’

    Credit: Hafakot

    The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) is denouncing the widespread misinformation surrounding tobacco harm reduction as biased propaganda perpetuated by “certain factions” within the tobacco control community.

    These factions refuse to accept the proven role of reduced-risk products in helping people quit smoking, thereby undermining public health efforts.

    Recent commentary and reports have highlighted a disturbing trend of disinformation about safer nicotine products, according to an emailed CAPHRA press release.

    “It is spread by those who are ideologically opposed to harm reduction strategies, despite mounting evidence that safer nicotine products (SNPs) can significantly reduce smoking rates and associated health risks,” said Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of CAPHRA. “The quantity and depth of this campaign makes it clear that certain factions within the tobacco control community are more interested in maintaining their prohibitionist stance than in embracing evidence-based harm reduction strategies that can save lives.”

    Studies have consistently shown that vaping and other SNPs are far less harmful than smoking combustible tobacco.

    Furthermore, countries that have adopted harm reduction strategies, such as the UK and New Zealand, have seen significant declines in smoking rates.

    “The refusal to acknowledge the benefits of SNPs is not just misguided; it is dangerous. By spreading disinformation, these groups are effectively discouraging people who smoke from switching to less harmful alternatives, thereby perpetuating the smoking epidemic,” said Loucas.

    CAPHRA is calling on governments and public health bodies to promote accurate information, ensure that public health messaging about SNPs is based on the best available scientific evidence, and embrace harm reduction strategies as a key component of tobacco control policies.

  • UKVIA Begins Process for CTSI Code Scheme

    UKVIA Begins Process for CTSI Code Scheme

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has initiated the application process to become part of the CTSI Approved Code Scheme (ACS).

    The ACS was created to give greater peace of mind and protection to consumers, and members of the scheme are recognized as trustworthy, reputable and having a proven commitment to “honest business” and “higher standards,” according to the UKVIA. Representatives of the UKVIA have already met with officials from the Chartered Trading Standards Institute to discuss the significance of this accreditation and the path ahead.

    John Dunne, director general of the UKVIA, said: “As the most influential association in the sector, we have and continue to expect the highest levels of responsibility from our members and regularly lead on initiatives to drive accountability across the industry—including publishing guidelines around marketing and sustainability, the rolling out of our Be Vape Vigilant campaign and, most recently, the development of a retail and distributor licensing framework.

    “The vape sector is facing intense scrutiny, and the legitimate industry must show it is committed to only the highest standards. The ACS fits with this goal.”

  • Island Alternatives

    Island Alternatives

    Credit: Solarisys

    Vaping on the island of Sint Maarten is slowly starting to make a dent in combustible cigarettes sales.

    By Timothy S. Donahue

    One in five people smoke combustible cigarettes on the island. There isn’t any wonder why. A carton of the leading super premium brand American Spirits retails for $25. There isn’t much incentive to switch to vaping products when a 3,000-puff disposable vape costs $20 or more. The island of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin (SXM) is duty-free, so traditional tobacco products are cheap. Vaping products, however, can be expensive and limited in choice depending on where you look.

    There are no smoking regulations on Sint Maarten (the Dutch side of the island). However, in Saint Martin (the French side of the island), the rules for smoking are the same as in France. You can smoke or vape pretty much anywhere, though. Research indicates just 1.4 percent of Dutch adults regularly use an e-cigarette, but one in five adults still smokes tobacco. No statistics could be found for the French side.

    Legislation has recently been proposed to ban smoking in all restaurants, bars and casinos; however, smoking is currently allowed inside bars and restaurants in Sint Maarten. Many restaurants do not accept cigar or hookah smoking. Many bars, such as the popular Red Piano in Simpson Bay, encourage the use of e-cigarettes. “You can smoke cigarettes inside. We tried to stop that, but it didn’t work out,” an employee said. “Vaping is strongly encouraged in the smoking section as it is less disturbing for other patrons, staff and entertainers.”

    Kyla Peters (credit: Timothy S. Donahue)

    France’s National Assembly recently unanimously approved a bill to ban disposable e-cigarettes. If that becomes law, and the French side of SXM also bans those products, prices will rise further on the more tourist-heavy Dutch side of the island. Likely, shops on the French side would just keep selling them, however, even if disposables were to be banned technically, according to locals.

    The vaping market is growing in SXM, even with the challenges of cheap combustibles. Kyla Peters, with Don Caribe Souvenirs in Philipsburg, said that many locals are switching to vaping products, but the tourist shops aren’t where they buy them. Residents go to “Chinese grocery stores” (as locals call them) because the products are less expensive and good quality. There have also been a few vape shops that have opened on the island.

    “There are some things locals just won’t buy in the tourism-heavy areas on the island, and vapes are one of those things,” explains Peters. “The difference between buying an Elf Bar, for example, can be $5—or even more than that—less expensive when you start moving further inland.”

    Peters said Elf Bar is the most popular brand that she sells. It is also one of the most popular brands across the island. The most popular flavors are fruit and mint. She also said that the main reason for the higher costs of vaping products on the island is often the cost of shipping. It’s expensive to ship goods to small Caribbean islands. However, that cost is balanced out by the island being duty-free.

    “We don’t have tobacco taxes; there are no customs duties, VAT or other indirect taxes to pay. That is why cigarettes are so cheap. We sell a lot more cigarettes on the island than vapes, but vapes are a growing market,” Peters said. “There are a limited number of vape shops on the island; they are mostly ‘smoke shops’ that sell all types of nicotine products. As the popularity of vaping grows, I do believe the consumer cost of vaping products will come down, and locals, especially, will start to vape more.”

    Stephanne Martin

    Buying vapes at a vape shop is a better alternative than a souvenir shop by a cruise ship port. In February, the Purple Fox Smoke Shop opened in Simpson Bay. The owner, Stephanny Marlin, said that business has been growing steadily. “It’s been great, honestly,” she said. “I would say it’s a mix of both; it’s 50/50, locals and tourists.” She noted that disposables were the most popular items, followed by e-liquids. “We also sell pod systems, but they are not as popular as the other products.”

    The Purple Fox, however, offers a 9,000-puff disposable for $24. That would bring the cost of vaping below even the super low price of combustibles on the island (on a per-puff basis). A former smoker herself, Marlin said many former smokers switched because vapes don’t stink like cigarettes and the cost of vaping has become more reasonable.

    “I quit smoking a while back. But if you buy a pack of cigarettes, maybe it’s $3, $4, and you get, what, 20 cigarettes. But when you’re buying a vape, for example, the ones that I sell, which is 9,000 puffs for $24, you’re getting way more value for your money,” Marlin explains. “So, it’s worth the price. I haven’t had anybody complain about the pricing.”

    The island will likely continue to be a haven for combustible tobacco products. Lawmakers are attempting to enact flavor bans for vaping products, and youth uptake is a concern for the island. However, for an island with such a large number of combustible smokers, the harm reduction potential of vaping on the small island is huge.

  • Kyrgyzstan Proposes Ban on Vaping Products

    Kyrgyzstan Proposes Ban on Vaping Products

    But cigarettes will remain readily available. (Photo: Taco Tuinstra)

    Shairbek Tashiev, Member of Parliament in Kyrgyzstan, has initiated a bill that would amend the Code of Offenses and the Criminal Code to protect citizens’ health from tobacco and nicotine consumption and exposure to smoke, reports the AKIPress News Agency.

    The amendments were submitted in February.

    Tashiev proposed banning import of electronic cigarettes with a tank containing special liquid. Violators would face a fine of KGS150,000 ($1,683) to KGS200,000 or imprisonment for up to two years.

    Vaping will be banned in undesignated places, with violators facing fines of KGS40,000 for individuals and KGS60,000 for legal entities.

    Individuals caught selling e-cigarettes with tanks will face fines of KGS50,000, and legal entities will face fines of KGS65,000.

  • Thailand Cracking Down on Vaping in Schools

    Thailand Cracking Down on Vaping in Schools

    Credit: a3701027

    Thailand’s Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) is set to implement strict measures, including personal belongings checks, in an attempt to curb the use of vapes in schools after a “surge” in usage among students.

    The Deputy Secretary-General of OBEC, Thee Pawangkanan, has expressed concerns over the increasing usage of e-cigarettes among Thai students aged 13-15. According to media reports, there have also been cases of vape usage among first-graders, as young as six and seven years old, making them the youngest smokers.

    Obec is considering conducting bag searches to screen for illegal and inappropriate objects, including e-cigarettes, before students enter classrooms. Pawangkanan said the measures will be imposed at schools starting on May 15, the first day of the new term.