Category: Vapor

U.S. Vape Market Topped $2.67 Billion in 2021

Photo: auremar
The combined sales of cartridge-based and disposable e-cigarette products to U.S. consumers by nine leading manufacturers increased by approximately $370 million between 2020 and 2021, while the total topped $2.67 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) third report on e-cigarette sales and advertising in the United States, which was released on April 3, 2024. E-cigarette companies also spent $90.6 million more advertising and promoting their products in 2021 than in 2020.
The FTC report examines two main types of e-cigarettes. Some have rechargeable batteries and changeable prefilled cartridges; others are disposable after running out of charge or e-liquid. Reported sales of cartridge products increased from $2.13 billion in 2020 to $2.5 billion in 2021; sales of disposable, non-refillable e-cigarette products increased from $261.9 million in 2020 to $267.1 million in 2021.
The 2021 report also provides details on some characteristics of e-cigarette products, including flavors and nicotine concentration, as well as the bundling of the components in cartridge systems. The data shows that in 2021, 69.2 percent of e-cigarette cartridges either sold or given away contained menthol-flavored e-liquids, and the rest were tobacco-flavored.
Disposable e-cigarettes are not covered by the flavor restrictions imposed by the Food and Drug Administration. In 2021 “other” flavored devices made up 71 percent of all disposable devices sold or given away, with the most-popular subcategories being fruit-flavored and fruit & menthol/mint flavored products. These two subcategories alone made up more than half of all disposable e-cigarette devices sold or given away in 2021.
According to the report, expenditures for the advertising and promotion of e-cigarettes increased from $768.8 million in 2020 to $859.4 million in 2021, with the three largest spending categories being price discounts, promotional allowances paid to wholesalers, and point-of-sale advertising. Together, these three categories accounted for almost two thirds of expenditures in 2021.
Finally, the report discusses steps that e-cigarette companies took in 2021 to deter or prevent underage consumers from visiting their websites, signing up for mailing lists and loyalty programs, or buying e-cigarette products online. These steps include the use of online self-certification to verify users were at least 21 years old and following state laws requiring an adult signature upon delivery of e-cigarette products.
April 5, 2024
Vaping on the Rise in Singapore Despite Ban

Photo: Kalyakan
Singaporeans are smoking less but vaping more, reports The Straits Times, citing research by Milieu Insight.
The average number of cigarettes smoked per week fell from 72 sticks in the third quarter of 2021 to 56 in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Over the same period, consumption of alternative products like e-cigarettes and vaporizers increased from 3.9 percent to 5.2 percent of the population.
Milieu Insight attributes the gradual decline in cigarettes smoked per week observed since the second quarter of 2022 in part to an increase in proportion of occasional smokers as compared to regular smokers over this period.
Conducted from Dec. 16 to Dec. 29, 2023, the survey found that the proportion of occasional smokers had increased by 1.2 percentage points to 3.2 percent, from the third quarter of 2021 to the last quarter of 2023. There was also an increase in the number of former smokers over the same period.
Vaporizers and e-cigarettes have been outlawed in Singapore. Among the reasons cited for their vaping, respondents said they wanted to reduce secondhand smoke and lessen their consumption of traditional cigarettes. The World Health Organization, however, has rejected the products as a cessation aid.
In December 2023, Singapore’s Ministry of Health and the Health Sciences Authority announced that they were stepping up enforcement and education efforts against vaping to prevent it from gaining a foothold in Singapore.
March 28, 2024
Protesters Demand End to Mexico’s Vaping Ban

Vapers protested in front of Mexico’s Congress of the Union, calling for the country’s vaping ban to be replaced with risk-based regulation. The protest was organized by the World Vapers’ Alliance and All Vape Mexico.
The protesters also demanded a halt to the constitutional reform proposed by President Andres Mauel Lopez Obrador that would elevate the ban to the Constitution. In addition, they called for approval of a risk-based regulation allowing adult smokers access to vapor products to quit smoking combustible cigarettes.
Mexico’s vaping ban has been in place since May 2020.
“The ban was introduced in order to prevent underage vaping; however, minors now have full access to potentially dangerous products on the black market,” said Alberto Gomez Hernandez, policy manager of the World Vapers’ Alliance. “At the same time, smokers who want to quit smoking have difficulty finding safe vaping products. The ban has clearly been a failure and must be reversed as soon as possible. Legislation cannot be based on whim or ideology; it must be based on scientific evidence and the experience of other countries that have had good results.”
Vapes can easily be obtained on the informal market from underground vape shops and on the black market, which is controlled by organized crime groups.
“It is very unfortunate that the federal government thought that the ban would prevent many young people from having access to vaping and does not give people who want to quit smoking the opportunity to use this option,” said Deputy Sergio Barrera. “We need to have clear rules. We need to know who can produce it, who can distribute it and who can consume it, and that is why we are pushing for regulation.”
“The president sees a problem where there is actually a solution to smoking,” said Antonio Toscano, All Vape Mexico spokesperson. “His prohibitionist stance unprotects adult users, who are forced to buy black market products, where there are no quality controls, let alone controls on sales to minors. Prohibition is a danger to public health; good regulation could benefit public health enormously and save millions of lives.”
March 14, 2024
Wisconsin: Juul Labs Award to Fund Anti-Vaping Grants
Credit: Fellow Neko
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services will award grants to address youth and adult vaping.
They will award 13 grants worth more than $830,000 to community organizations over the next two years.
The funding comes from a settlement from the vape company Juul Labs, according to media reports.
Organizations getting this grant can use the money for anti-vaping initiatives.
February 18, 2024
North Carolina Launches Juul Document Depository

Credit: Andreykr
The attorney general for the U.S. state of North Carolina announced the launch of an online, searchable public depository that will contain nearly four million documents from the state’s lawsuit against e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs.
The depository was created and is being housed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s University Libraries (UNC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The first 50,000 documents are now available online in the UCSF Industry Documents Library, and additional documents will be added monthly, according to Attorney General Josh Stein.
“We insisted on a publicly accessible database of JUUL’s documents to ensure transparency,” said Stein. “We want people to understand what JUUL did so this never happens again. I’m grateful for the partnership with UNC and UCSF and appreciate their teams’ hard work to bring this document library to life.”
Attorney General Stein sued Juul Labs in 2019 for unlawfully designing, marketing, and selling its e-cigarettes to teenagers. In 2021, he reached a first-in-the-nation settlement with the pod vaping system manufacturer, winning $47.8 million and requiring the company to make significant business changes and publicize many of the documents it had produced during the lawsuit.
The documents include information about Juul Labs’ business practices, research, advertisement, marketing, and sales data, and “they shine a light” on how the company marketed its products to youth. Stein negotiated the release of the documents to help the public and regulators better understand JUUL’s “unlawful business practices” and prevent other companies from being able to follow the same path, the press release states.
“Libraries have deep expertise in managing complex information, along with a strong professional ethos of collaboration,” said María Estorino, vice provost for University Libraries and University Librarian at UNC-Chapel Hill. “This partnership between UNC-Chapel Hill and UCSF is a perfect example of libraries working together to bring vitally important information directly to the public.”
The Juul Labs documents will be cross-searchable with more than 18 million other documents in the UCSF library’s tobacco, opioid, chemical, drug, food, and fossil fuel industry archives.
Stein is also investigating Puff Bar and other e-cigarette manufacturers, distributors, and retailers due to ongoing concerns about flavors, age verification, and marketing.
February 5, 2024
Ploom X Advanced Named ‘Product of the Year’

Image: JTI
Japan Tobacco International’ s Ploom X Advanced device has been named the best product available in the heated tobacco category at the U.K. Product of The Year Awards 2024.
Product of the Year is the U.K.’s largest consumer survey of product innovation. Every year over 10,000 shoppers vote to crown the winning products in each category, giving retailers a picture of what customers think about the products they stock.
Launched in September 2023, the Ploom X Advanced is the latest heated tobacco device from JTI, featuring an optimized heating system, with higher vapor volume during initial puffs offering an enhanced user experience, and faster charging, now taking less than 90 minutes to achieve a full
“Just a few months after the launch, we are thrilled that Ploom X Advanced has come out on top in the Product of the Year awards 2024,” said JTI UK Marketing Director Mark McGuinness. “In response to consumer feedback, we made some positive changes when we launched Ploom X Advanced, and the brand has gone from strength to strength with device sales doubling and EVO tobacco stick sales tripling year on year. With the Heated Tobacco category continuing to grow at a rapid rate, this award shows not only the success of our product, but the clear consumer interest in the category and Ploom.”
The U.K. heated tobacco category is currently worth £105 million ($133.67 million) in traditional retail and growing 20.5 percent year-on-year.
January 25, 2024
Natasha Lyonne Quit Smoking Using Vape Products
The actress Natasha Lyonne told the media that she quit smoking combustible cigarettes last year using vaping products.
She also said she attempted to quit vaping, but she stopped because she enjoyed it. She stated that she “quit quitting vaping” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, after a fan asked, “How’s the vape quitting going?”
The fan also attached a screenshot featuring a conversation from her television series Poker Face where Lyonne’s character Charlie Cale is told cigarettes are “really bad for you.”
“Quitting cigarettes was a big enough swing for a while,” she wrote in the post.
The raspy-voiced actress told People magazine that quitting cigarettes had been “a nightmare.”
“I’ll be honest. It’s the worst decision I ever made,” she said jokingly. “Of course, my true and deep hope is that the technology will get there such that I’m able to smoke again consequence-free since it’s one of the great loves of my life.”
Recently, the European Parliament, in full assembly, adopted a report recognizing the role of vaping in aiding smoking cessation. This comprehensive adoption by the Parliament marks a pivotal moment in the fight against smoking-related illnesses, according to an emailed World Vaper’s Alliance release.
The report, a part of the Parliament’s broader initiative on non-communicable diseases, acknowledges vaping as an effective method for smoking cessation and may also set a new direction for health policies within the EU.
The move follows the EU’s Subcommittee on Public Health (SANT) endorsement on Nov. 7. However, the initial recommendation by the SANT to limit vaping in certain public areas remains a point of contention.
January 20, 2024
US Tourist Fined for Vaping During Flight to Caymans
Credit: S. Tratong
In what is believed to be the first case of its kind before a Cayman Islands court, an American tourist has been fined KYD$1,000 ($1,219) for vaping inside an airplane bathroom.
Brendan Joseph Fallon, a US Navy veteran, vaped to try to calm his nerves as the United Airlines jet from Newark, New Jersey, was preparing to land at Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman on Wednesday, 10 Jan., according to court records.
While e-cigarettes are not illegal, their use in public places is prohibited; the Cayman Islands is still developing additional regulations for vaping products.
January 17, 2024
Media: Philippine Police to Arrest Youth Using Vapes

Credit: Tupungato
The Philippine National Police (PNP) yesterday announced that it would arrest students caught vaping and smoking in public places.
In an interview aired over dzBB, PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Redrico Maranan said the police would be enforcing the laws and ordinances by local government units against vaping and smoking, according to PhilStar Global.
“Yes, we will (also apprehend students vaping and smoking.) Our local ordinances will be enforced by the police, as ordered by our chief PNP (Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr.),” Maranan said, according to media reports.
He explained that the ordinances would be a big help in ensuring discipline among the people.
“These local ordinances will ensure that discipline and the obedience of the people will return. So, that is part of the things that will be enforced by the police in communities,” he said.
He also underscored the Oplan Bisita Eskwela of the PNP, which requires police officers to go to communities and patrol schools.
“The police should go to schools and connect with principals, teachers and students,” Maranan said.
“There are crimes in schools, whether connected to fraternities and rumbles. Our police should be there in schools and coordinate with our school officials,” he added.
May 1, 2023
Activists Urge Thailand to Lift E-cigarette Ban

Photo: Teo
End Cigarette Smoke Thailand (ECST) is urging Thailand to legalize vaping, citing the U.K. progressive approach to e-cigarettes as an example, reports Thaiger.
In Thailand, the sale and use of e-cigarettes are illegal, creating an unregulated black market and increased access for minors, according to ECST.
“E-cigarettes are legal in England, allowing its government to impose measures and effectively enforce the regulations to protect minors,” said Asa Saligupta, a representative of the ECST and the Facebook page “What are e-cigarettes?” “The U.K. government is set to allow £45 million [$56.05 million] to reduce the country’s smoking rate and another £3 million for clamping down on shops selling vapes to youths under the age of 18.”
“The ban [in Thailand] is claimed to protect minors, but the sales and use of e-cigarettes are overt and commonplace. Children can easily access e-cigarettes through online channels without any regulations or inspections,” said Saligupta.
Following the U.K.’s example could be the solution to Thailand’s e-cigarette policy issues, according to Maris Karanyawat. “The subcommittee for studying factors affecting the health system and monitoring the enforcement of public health laws issued a report, which is based on a comprehensive study and opinions of all groups involved in the e-cigarette issue. The report suggests that Thailand should lift the ban on e-cigarettes so that they can be appropriately controlled through the 2017 Tobacco Products Control Act.”
In preparation for the upcoming tenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, scheduled to take place in Panama in November, Karanyawat said, “We hope that the Thai delegates will take into account the public health committee’s report, which recommends that a tobacco harm reduction approach be developed based on new scientific evidence which shows that e-cigarettes should be controlled differently from combustible cigarettes because they have different harmful effects.”
April 24, 2023