Tag: e-cigarettes

Nevada Sheriff Wants Vapor Age Compliance Checks
After conducting its year-end alcohol compliance check last week, Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said his office is requesting that the Nevada Attorney General’s Office include vaping and other tobacco products that businesses shouldn’t be selling to minors in future stings.
The CCSO’s school resource officers, in conjunction with Partnership Carson City, held their final sting on Dec. 28 to ensure local businesses aren’t selling alcoholic beverage products to minors.
The compliance check was held with the support of three volunteers aged 16 to 18 who were sent to screen eight local businesses. Only one failed.
Furlong told the Nevada Appeal his request for expansion is to acquire greater resources to keep vaping and tobacco products from being easily accessible to teens in storefronts.
“I have instructed our team to proceed and coordinate with the AG’s office and determine if we can likewise add vaping and tobacco with the alcohol,” Furlong said. “(The businesses) would get a citation.”
Furlong said he hoped to hear soon from the Attorney General’s Office on the compliance checks, which are conducted every six to eight weeks.
January 10, 2024
BAT Launches Glo Hyper Pro Heated Tobacco Device

Image: BAT
BAT has launched a new version of its Glo heating device. Glo is an alternative to smoking that doesn’t involve burning, producing fewer and lower levels of toxicants than conventional cigarettes.
The Glo Hyper Pro device is lightweight, fits easily in consumers’ pockets and comes with improvements in performance, according to the company. With this new device, one charge takes approximately 90 minutes and lasts all day. Once charged, consumers can expect to use the device for 20 sessions in total.
“We’re proud that today, over 8.8 million adult consumers now use Glo,” said Kingsley Wheaton, chief strategy and growth officer at BAT, in a statement. “This latest version is our most advanced yet, with a much improved user experience. We continue to listen to consumers and enhance our products so that they find Glo a satisfying alternative to continuing to smoke. Ultimately, BAT aims to support smokers to switch to these reduced-risk products in order to deliver benefits for consumers, society and our stakeholders.”
The wider Glo range is sold in over 20 markets around the world. The Glo Hyper Pro device has been launched in Japan, Italy and Poland, with further global market rollouts planned during 2024.
January 10, 2024
Another Study Finds Vape More Effective Than NRTs

Nicotine e-cigarettes are more effective quit-smoking products than conventional nicotine-replacement therapies (NRTs), reports University of Massachusetts Amherst, citing the latest Cochrane review.
The review found high certainty evidence that e-cigarettes lead to better chances of quitting smoking than using patches, gums, lozenges or other traditional NRTs.
“In England, quite different from the rest of the world, e-cigarettes have been embraced by public health agencies as a tool to help people reduce the harm from smoking,” said Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and promotion in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“Most of the adults in the U.S. who smoke want to quit, but many find it really difficult to do so,” said Hartmann-Boyce, who conducted research at the University of Oxford in England before joining the University of Massachusetts Amherst earlier this year and is the senior author of the review and a Cochrane editor. “We need a range of evidence-based options for people to use to quit smoking, as some people will try many different ways of quitting before finding one that works for them.”
The review included 88 studies and more than 27,235 participants, with most of the studies taking place in the U.S., the U.K. or Italy.
“We have very clear evidence that, though not risk-free, nicotine e-cigarettes are substantially less harmful than smoking,” Hartmann-Boyce said. “Some people who haven’t had success in the past with other quit aids have found e-cigarettes have helped them.”
For every 100 people using nicotine e-cigarettes to quit smoking, eight to 10 are expected to successfully quit compared to six of 100 people using traditional NRTs and four of 100 trying to quit without support or with only behavioral support, according to the review.
“Not everything is either entirely harmful or beneficial,” Hartmann-Boyce said. “Different things can have different impacts on different populations. Evidence shows that nicotine e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking and that people who don’t smoke shouldn’t use e-cigarettes.”
Hartmann-Boyce compared tobacco smoking versus e-cigarette use to the treatment for substance use disorders involving opioids. “We’re not going to prescribe methadone to people who aren’t addicted to opioids,” she said. “But for people addicted to opioids, we recognize that methadone is a helpful thing.”
In 2021, a study by Queen Mary University of London, published in Addiction, shows that e-cigarettes are more effective in achieving long-term smoking reduction and cessation than NRTs.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved any e-cigarettes as medications to help adults quit smoking. “While certain e-cigarettes may help adult smokers transition completely away from, or significantly reduce their use of, more harmful combusted cigarettes, the law’s public health standard balances that potential with the known and substantial risk with regard to youth appeal, uptake and use of these highly addictive products,” said Robert Califf, FDA commissioner.
January 9, 2024
SCOTUS Rejects RJ Reynolds Flavor Ban Challenge

The Supreme Court of the United States has rejected R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s bid to challenge a voter-approved ban on flavored vaping and other tobacco products in California, the most populous state in the U.S.
The justices rejected an appeal by R.J. Reynolds, a unit of British American Tobacco, and other plaintiffs of a lower court’s ruling holding that California’s law did not conflict with a federal statute regulating tobacco products.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who defended the law in court, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, called the Supreme Court’s decision “excellent news.”
“We look forward to continuing to fight to prevent addiction and protect the health of our people,” Bonta said, Reuters reports.
R.J. Reynolds declined to comment.
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 signed into law a ban on all flavored tobacco products – including menthol cigarettes and cotton candy-flavored vaping products – in response to concerns about a rise in e-cigarette and tobacco use by teenagers.
The ban’s implementation was delayed after a tobacco industry coalition gathered enough signatures to put to voters a ballot measure that would block California from becoming the largest state to ban flavored tobacco product sales. But nearly two-thirds of voters casting ballots on the measure known as Proposition 31 approved the sales ban in November 2022.
The law made California the second state to ban all flavored tobacco product sales after Massachusetts in 2019. Several other states have restricted flavored vaping products and several municipalities have adopted their own bans.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 banned all flavors except tobacco and menthol in Juul and other cartridge-based e-cigarettes. In 2022, the FDA sought to ban sales of all Juul e-cigarettes, though it later put the order on hold.
Beyond vaping, the FDA in April 2022 proposed banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Those rules have yet to be finalized and have been the subject of lobbying by tobacco groups.
A day after the California vote, R.J. Reynolds along with a group representing tobacco retailers, the Neighborhood Market Association, and a vape shop, filed a lawsuit arguing the federal Tobacco Control Act, which the FDA enforces, preempts state and local laws that bar flavored tobacco product sales.
But a federal judge ruled those arguments were foreclosed by an earlier decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a similar ban in Los Angeles County.
The 9th Circuit upheld the judge’s ruling on California’s law in June, after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier in 2023 declined to hear an appeal of the Los Angeles ruling.
R.J. Reynolds had previously unsuccessfully asked the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the California law from taking effect while it pursued its appeals. The justices rejected that request in December 2022.
January 9, 2024
Bill to Ban Flavored Nicotine in Guam Gets Short Pause

Credit: Rarrarorro
A bill aimed at prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco products on Guam was withdrawn after the public hearing did not move forward.
Due to lawmakers spending a large amount of time discussing Bill 175-37, which proposes changes to Guam’s Toilet Facilities and Sewage Disposal Act, the next scheduled public hearing for Bill 50-37 had been withdrawn by its sponsor, Sen. Thomas Fisher.
Bill 50 sought to prohibit the sale of flavored vaping and other tobacco products on Guam, according to media reports.
Fisher explained he withdrew Bill 50 to make changes after receiving information from the American Cancer Society.
Fisher further intended to refile the bill immediately with the hope of having a public hearing on the bill Jan. 11.
Last year, lawmakers in Guam proposed to impose a 10 percent excise tax on all vape products for the first year, and then raise it to 20 percent on the second year.
Guam currently has no standardized tax regulations for what the bill describes as electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS).
January 8, 2024
Oman Bans the Sale of Vaping and Shisha Products

Credit: Fellow Neko
The chairman of the Consumer Protection Authority states that a fine of up to OMR 2,000 ($5,196) for multiple violations will be imposed on anyone who trades in e-cigarettes, shisha, and their accessories in the Sultanate of Oman.
His Excellency Sulayem bin Ali Al-Hakmani issued Ministerial decision No. 756/2023 on Sunday, January 7, 2024, creating the ban, according to media reports.
Article One stipulates that the circulation of e-cigarettes, shisha, and their accessories is prohibited.
Article Two states that, “without prejudice to the penal penalties stipulated in the aforementioned Consumer Protection Law, an administrative fine not exceeding OMR1,000 shall be imposed on anyone who violates the provisions of this decision, and the fine shall be doubled in the event of a repeat violation.
“If this violation continues, an administrative fine of OMR 50 will be imposed for each day that the violation continues, provided that its total does not exceed OMR 2,000. The seized quantities of electronic cigarettes, shishas, and their accessories will be destroyed in accordance with the controls in force at the Consumer Protection Authority.”
The new bill also repealed an earlier Resolution (No. 698/2015), as well as any laws or rules that contravene the current resolution or conflict with its provisions.
It also stipulates that the decision “shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall be effective from the day following the date of its publication.”
January 8, 2024
Study Claims Freebase Nicotine Safer than Salts

A new University of Louisville study shows the nicotine in certain types of electronic cigarettes can increase the risk for an irregular heartbeat, according to a press release.
Tests in mice showed that nicotine salts used in pod-based e-cigarettes led to heart arrhythmias and could trigger a fight-or-flight response in higher doses.
“This suggests the nicotine is harmful to the heart and counters popular claims that the nicotine itself is harmless,” Alex Carll, an assistant professor in UofL’s Department of Physiology who led the study, said in a news release Thursday. “Our findings provide new evidence that nicotine type and concentration modify the adverse cardiovascular effects of e-cigarette aerosols, which may have important regulatory implications.”
Researchers state that regulating nicotine salts could help mitigate the health risks of vaping.
The research also suggests choosing e-cigarettes with freebase nicotine instead of nicotine salts, or using e-cigarettes with a lower nicotine content could reduce the risk of harm.
January 6, 2024
World Tobacco Middle East 2023 Sees Vape Boost

The vaping industry had a larger impact at this year’s World Tobacco Middle East trade show.
Dubai has a reputation for embracing modern technology, and the vaping industry is no exception. The World Tobacco Middle East Dubai 2023 (WTME) trade show, while dominated by traditional tobacco companies, had a limited number of vapor manufacturers offering the latest mods, tanks, coils and other vaping accessories. There were several heated-tobacco companies represented, and the e-hookah category also increased its presence.
The vaping industry doesn’t have a large presence at WTME. That is mainly due to the World Vape Dubai exhibition’s (June 12–14, 2024) growing presence and popularity in the region. Including heated-tobacco products, the electronic nicotine-delivery system segment only makes up about 10 percent of the more than 250 exhibitors. However, that is nearly double the vaping industry’s presence at last year’s WT Dubai trade show.
WTME, held Nov. 27–28, is the largest exhibition of the tobacco industry in the region. The event features the latest trends, innovations and products from the global nicotine industry. The exhibition is also accompanied by conferences where experts and industry leaders share their knowledge and experience.
This year, more than 5,700 tobacco professionals from more than 60 countries attended WTME, the show’s organizer, Quartz Business Media, states on its website. Quartz has more than 30 years of experience in supporting the tobacco industry. The company owns and operates a network of the world’s largest nicotine-related conferences and exhibitions, including World Tobacco Events, World Shisha and World Vape Show Dubai.
According to Wingle Group Electronics, a data resource firm, there were several new products from the e-hookah, vapor and heat-not-burn segments at WTME 2023. Some of those highlights include:
Vapor
● Shenzhen Yunxi Technology Co. showcased its new pod system, the Uwoo Binastar 5000 cartopod.
● Legacy Tobacco Brand International showcased new vapes under the My Bar brand: the My Bar Extra 15K disposable with a display and the My Bar Extra 18K with LED indicators of e-liquid and battery levels.
● Hanwha Group together with Ard Filter released the Neon Doublor pod system, a new cig-a-like product that utilizes a filter tip with a capsule.
● A new e-cigarette brand, Yozo, was launched. Currently, its portfolio includes three disposable models: Yozo 800, Yozo 3500 and Yozo 7500. The products were introduced in the Pakistani market in November.
● Vaprize introduced several new disposable models: Vaprize T18 2500 Crystal, Vaprize GM01 8000 (with a display), Vaprize VP Flat 8000 (with a display), Vaprize Type TE6000 and Vaprize 3500.
E-hookah
● Chongqing Xiying Technology Co. showcased the TT Tiger Laser Shisha and TT Tiger E-Heater V8 e-hookahs. The company’s catalog also included a pod-based electronic hookah similar to the one offered by the OOKA brand.
Heated tobacco
● Shenzhen Ruigu Technology Co. showcased its product portfolio and promoted the upcoming Hitaste E5 induction heating system.
● Gulbahar Tobacco International launched a new heat-not-burn brand, Milano.
● Nioo Technology Co. promoted the new IQOS Iluma-compatible tobacco sticks Heaco with an induction recipient inside the stick.
● BroadFar presented its new product, the Nmate Air 3.0 heating system with convection heat transfer. BroadFar is also promoting OEM of Nuso heated sticks through Legacy Tobacco Brand International. The manufacturing facility is in Indonesia.
● Heechi Tech presented its line of Heeсhi heated sticks designed exclusively for Heechi devices with convection heating (the company currently has several models under development).
● Yunnan Tobacco International showcased Ashima heated sticks. The product is promoted together with a new heating system, MyChoice.
● The Shenzhen Imiracle Technology Co. booth exhibited the Rejo HS40 and Rejo TS40 heating systems.
● Shenzhen Yunxi Technology Co. promoted the Uwoo EM induction heating system and Heabal herbal sticks.
● GOAT Lab, together with iRod, showcased UGare heated sticks, Joy iCod tobacco heated sticks and the iRod X3 heating system (by Smoore).
● COO v2 heated sticks were presented together with the MOK FWRD heating system. The device features a lock/unlock feature and a digital built-in accelerometer.
● Metex showcased several of its heating systems: Metex Polar, Metex PE (conduction heating system compatible with TEREA and SENTIA heated sticks; peripheral heating), Metex Arch (conduction heating technology with 2 zone peripheral heater) and Metex Phoenix.
● P.T. Jinjia NGP Indonesia promoted Mofee sticks for induction heating.
● Acmefog Commerce (Korea) promoted the Zeles M2 induction heating system with a blade-shaped susceptor, shutter mechanism, which protects the stick slot from dust and damage, and IPX5 water resistant rating (claimed), Zeles infrared heating system prototype (currently under development), CTOM ZL heated sticks, Kuanzhai heated sticks and Zelex heated sticks.
According to WTME attendees, the trade show has helped to redefine industry standards, set new trends and shape practices in the tobacco industry. The gathering is not just about showcasing products; it’s a dynamic exchange of ideas and a catalyst for transformation.
One of the best attributes of WTME is that the show is a place where the old meets the new, where innovation meets tradition and where discussions take place that will influence the strategies, policies and very essence of the tobacco industry, stated Maryna Gudym, business development manager for Wingle Group, in her report.
“Almost all booths had promoters who invited visitors to taste their products or get additional information about the services they provide,” said Gudym. “World Tobacco Middle East Dubai is a great opportunity for professionals to meet, establish business connections and learn about new opportunities.”
January 6, 2024
Number of U.K. Vape Shops Up in 2023: Local Data

The number of vape shops in the United Kingdom increased significantly last year, according to a reports in The Independent citing a survey by the Local Data Co. (LDC).
The country currently has 3,573 specialist vape shops, 233 more than at the start of 2023. This compares with an increase of 61 shops in 2022 and a decline of 23 in 2020.
The LCD figures exclude the numerous convenience stores, post office shops and news agents that also stock e-cigarettes and related products.
Sales of vape products grew by £897.4 million ($1.14 billion) in 2023, according to data published by NIQ and trade The Grocer.
The fastest growing vape brand in the U.K. was Lost Mary, which saw its sales grow by £310 million over 2022.
The market for traditional tobacco products contracted in 2023. Sales of cigarettes and loose tobacco declined £849.1 million and £393.1 million, respectively.
Keen to crack down on youth vaping, the government recently announced a consultation on how to protect children while encouraging adults to use e-cigarettes to quit.
Its suggestions include restricting flavors and product descriptions that may be appealing to underage consumers, along with rules on how products are presented in stores.
Jonne Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association, said the rise in the number of specialist vape shops reflects the growing demand from smokers wanting to quit their cigarette habit.
“Vapes are proven to be the most effective way for smokers to quit,” he was quoted as saying, adding that e-cigarettes are helping around 50,000 more smokers beat their habit every year.
January 5, 2024
Ispire Technology Gets ISO Certifications in Malaysia
Ispire Technology received ISO9001: 2015 Quality Management System, ISO14001: 2015 Environmental Management System and ISO13485: 2016 Quality Management System Medical Device certifications for its 31,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Malaysia.
Credit: Ispire
Ispire offers a complete line of vape cartridges, pod systems, disposables and batteries.
“Earning three ISO certifications at our Malaysian manufacturing facility is a testament to our team’s ability to quickly bring the facility up to some of the highest standards in the industry, allowing us to expand our gross margins, geopolitically de-risk our production and service other businesses who need manufacturing for their vape hardware,” said Ispire Technology Co-CEO Michael Wang in a statement.
“Currently, our Malaysian manufacturing facility has already received initial orders and is quickly moving into production readiness. As the facility ramps up production, our gross margin is expected to increase due to the lack of a tariff when assembling products in Malaysia and then shipping them to the U.S.
“This is in contrast to the 25 percent tariff incurred when shipping finished products from China. Additionally, by owning the factory, we also expect to be able to realize a profit on product assembly, which was formerly outsourced to a third party. We anticipate that these efficiency improvements will help drive gross-margin growth across the company’s full array of high-quality vaping products.”
January 5, 2024