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.”
Philip Morris International has launched IQOS Iluma i, the latest and most innovative addition to its growing portfolio of smoke-free products, in Japan. The launch marks the 10-year anniversary of IQOS, which debuted in Nagoya, Japan, in 2014.
“We leverage science, world leading brands and commercial capabilities to provide better alternatives to our consumers. This anniversary provides an opportunity to renew our smoke-free vision and our ambition for over two-thirds of our total net revenue to come from smoke-free products by 2030,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak in a statement.
“IQOS Iluma disrupted the category by introducing induction-heating technology that heats tobacco from within, to provide a consistent taste experience, no tobacco residue, and no need to clean the device. Today, we take IQOS to new heights, with the launch of IQOS Iluma i—the latest innovation in our smoke-free portfolio, offering a range of advanced features for a clean, seamless, and more flexible experience.”
The IQOS Iluma i series offers three devices in Japan: IQOS Iluma i PRIME, IQOS Iluma i and IQOS Iluma i ONE. All three devices bring a range of adaptable new features.
The new touch screen on the device’s holder allows users to see experience-relevant information quickly and easily. To personalize the experience, IQOS Iluma i introduces a new pause mode. By swiping up or down on the touch screen, users can pause and resume their consumption according to their preferences.
The new IQOS Iluma i also includes smart features that help prolong the lifespan of the holder’s battery. Furthermore, the door for IQOS Iluma i is made from aluminum produced with renewable energy and the inner textile layer of IQOS Iluma i’s Prime leather-like wrap is made of 100 percent recycled plastic.
“IQOS Iluma i is our most innovative offering to date and the new flagship in our portfolio of scientifically substantiated, heat-not-burn smoke-free systems,” said Bertrand Bonvin, president heat-not-burn platforms at PMI. “Like previous IQOS devices, it emits, on average, 95 percent lower levels of harmful chemicals compared with cigarettes. We are proud that consumer feedback continuously fuels our innovation, and IQOS Iluma i is a testament to that.”
U.S. states must recognize the unintended consequences of passing laws requiring premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) registries for alternative nicotine products such as vaping devices, heaters, and nicotine pouches, according to the Consumer Choice Center, an organization claiming to represent consumers in more than 100 countries.
In the first months of 2024, more than a dozen bills have been introduced in U.S. states calling for a state-based registry for alternative nicotine products. Such legislation has already been passed in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Alabama.
“While the intention behind these bills is to manage consumer access to unregulated nicotine products on the illicit market, the reality is that the FDA is not approving enough new devices and products to create a competitive, regulated marketplace that meets consumer demand,” said Elizabeth Hicks, U.S. affairs analyst at the Consumer Choice Center.
While 26 million nicotine alternative products submitted PMTAs to the Food and Drug Administration, only 23 have been approved. Of those 23 approved products, 12 are tobacco-flavored e-liquid refills.
“The FDA is hiding the ball here on product approvals and how few new products are actually coming to market. If the goal is to improve public health across the country, then consumers deserve to choose from a variety of different nicotine alternatives,” said Hicks.
The Consumer Choice Centers urges state legislatures to refrain from adding to counterproductive federal policies and instead advance tobacco harm reduction through a competitive marketplace.
Supporters of less harmful nicotine products want Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to again veto a proposed ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in Florida. The legislation would also create a vape registry for the state.
“It would kill our local businesses,” said Gary Eliasov-Hodes, managing partner of Cloud Smoke Shop, which has two locations in Tallahassee.
Seventy percent of his business revenue comes from selling flavored nicotine vaping devices, he said. That’s $3.5 million annually for both of his shops, according to media reports.
On Thursday, Eliasov-Hodes was among about 200 people gathered outside the governor’s mansion to protest the proposed ban, which they say they want Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto.
The legislation would prohibit stores from selling flavored e-cigarettes, instead they would be allowed to sell from a list of 23 different tobacco-flavored vaping devices that have been approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Many states have also included products still currently under review by the regulatory agency.
The bipartisan bill received pushback from some lawmakers in the House but unanimous support in the Senate before it passed earlier this week. Last year, DeSantis vetoed a similar measure, and opponents say they hope he will do the same this year.
Proponents of the measure say removing vaping flavors from the market is aimed at keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of children.
Lining the sidewalks on each side of W. Brevard Street, protesters chanted “Veto the vape bill” and “No to tobacco,” while holding signs with the words: “We vote, we vape.”
It happened again. For the second time in the last three sessions, a bill to regulate flavored nicotine products has died in Colorado’s General Assembly.
The proposal would have allowed a board of county commissioners to ban flavored tobacco and nicotine products. The House Business Affairs & Labor Committee defeated it on a 6-5 vote, according to Colorado Public Radio.
Several lawmakers on the committee voting against the bill cited concerns about its impacts on local businesses, echoing testimony from several vape shop owners who said it would have hurt sales if a county banned flavored vaping and other tobacco products.
“We have a long history of choosing to listen to the tobacco lobby,” said bill sponsor Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, as she appealed to her colleagues before the vote. “I hope that today we can really think about the children and make sure that we do the right thing to make sure that our children don’t have access to these products that have been targeted for them.”
The measure had already passed a Senate committee and the full Senate. As has been seen in prior years, the bill drew intense lobbying, with 141 lobbyists from both sides signing up to voice support, opposition, or neutrality, according to the state’s lobbyist disclosure website.
Tobacco companies like PMI, RJ Reynolds America, and Altria, represented by the lobbying company Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and industry groups, including the Vapor Technology Association, hired lobbyists in opposition to the legislation.
All the traditional anti-nicotine groups such as Bloomberg, Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund and Kaiser Permanente also hired lobbyists in support.
In 2022, a bill to ban flavored tobacco statewide failed after Gov. Jared Polis said the issue should be handled at the local level.
A bill co-sponsored by 20 Kentucky lawmakers aims to limit the number of e-cigarettes, vapes and other next-generation tobacco products retailers are allowed to place on store shelves.
The Senate health services committee heard testimony on House Bill 11 on Thursday. The bill limits the sale of products to those authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and would punish retailers who sell unauthorized products or to anyone under 21 years of age.
“These vapes are not even supposed to be offered for sale per the FDA,” said Rep. Rebecca Raymer, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, according to media reports. “We, as a state, have an obligation to offer some protection to our citizens.”
Among other things, the bill would:
Require the Secretary of State to create and publish a list of certain tobacco product retailers;
Require the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to create and maintain a tobacco noncompliance database and reporting system;
Require wholesalers to verify a retailer’s presence in the database prior to transactions;
Establish and impose fines for wholesalers that unlawfully sell to a retailer that is in the noncompliance database;
Make ineligible any retailer with unpaid fines that are more than 60 days overdue from selling Tobacco Control Act-covered products until the fines are paid;
Direct manufacturers of Tobacco Control Act-covered products to provide safe harbor certification to wholesalers and retailers of their products;
Prohibit a retailer from selling Tobacco Control Act products to persons under 21 years of age.
“What you’re going to hear from the people in opposition of this bill is that it’s going to take everything off the shelf,” Raymer said. “That is just simply not true. There’s other states that have used the same definition that we are using.”
Troy LeBlanc, a Louisville vape retailer and distributor, traveled to Frankfort to speak against the bill, which he said would devastate dealers. In essence, LeBlanc said HB11 would create a monopoly.
“It will ban about 98 percent of my products as well,” LeBlanc said. “Because all it’s going to do is to make sure that Altria is the main seller in every convenience store throughout the city — which is Juul.”
LeBlanc and other like-minded retailers want lawmakers to change the bill to put the products in 21-and-older stores and even increase the fines.
“We do not want children smoking,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve even suggested that the fines that they have — $1,000 for the first occurrence — be raised to $5,000. Because we want people who are selling to minors punished.”
The imposition of a vape levy in the U.K. is “stupid, short-sighted and potentially counterproductive,” according to smokers’ rights group Forest.
During his budget speech in Parliament on March 6, Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said he is planning to introduce an extra tax on e-cigarettes from October 2026, aiming to make vaping more expensive and deter nonsmokers from taking it up.
Currently, most vapes in Britain are subject to value-added tax at the standard 20 percent rate, but there is no extra levy applied. Hunt said the government would also introduce a one-off increase in tobacco duty to maintain the financial incentive to choose vaping over smoking.
Nonetheless, critics warned that the new vape tax would discourage smokers from transitioning to less harmful nicotine products.
“If the government is serious about advocating vaping as a substantially less harmful alternative to smoking, a levy on vaping products sends completely the wrong message to consumers,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
“Vaping products are already subject to VAT. Imposing excise duty as well is a stupid, short-sighted and potentially counterproductive measure that could deter many existing smokers from switching to a reduced-risk product that has helped millions of smokers to quit.”
Maggie Rae, president of the Epidemiology and Public Health Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, said any tax must be carefully considered to ensure it benefits public health.
“It’s imperative we ensure medicinal use of vapes continues to be encouraged, as smoking cessation remains the matter of greater importance,” she said.
Clark noted that above-inflation increases in the cost of tobacco disproportionately punish those on lower incomes.
“Further tax hikes will drive even more smokers to the black market, taking money from legitimate retailers and putting it into the hands of criminal gangs,” he said.
Jefferies analyst Owen Bennett said the tax could benefit larger players like BAT by making it harder for smaller players to compete.
“BAT, especially given its highly profitable broader cigarette business, can afford to swallow the tax and not adjust prices,” he told Reuters, whereas it could make smaller firms’ products unviable.
South Carolina lawmakers are advancing a bill that would restrict vape shops to selling only FDA-approved products. Supporters, including major tobacco companies, say the goal is to inform retailers and consumers about what products are legal to market.
“The goal is to try and protect our children from getting hooked on nicotine and using what I call these attractive nuisance vape products at a very young age,” said Senator Brad Hutto, a lead sponsor of the bill.
Hutto and Senator Thomas Alexander co-authored the legislation, which proposes the establishment of an official registry listing all FDA-approved vape products.
The State Attorney General would oversee this registry, effectively prohibiting the sale of any product not included. Opponents, including vape shop owners, say the bill will hurt their industry.
Any retailer found selling unapproved products could face severe penalties, including fines and suspension of their business license. If signed into law, the registry must be operational by September 1, 2024, or whenever the Attorney General releases it for the first time, whichever happens later.
Several states have passed or are considering vape registry laws.
Belarus’ State Committee for Standardization has banned 47 types of electronic cigarettes from sale, reports Novosti.
In January and February, authorities in the Gomel region identified traders that were selling electronic smoking systems that failed to comply with legislative requirements. Some vapes exceeded the permissible nicotine level of 20 mg per ml, while others lacked health warnings, declaration on usage limitations and expiration dates,
Many of the vapes were sold without documents proving compliance and safety of the product.
The dangerous products were withdrawn from sale, and authorities have taken administrative measures against their sellers.
Vape and modern oral sales are rising, but combustibles remain king of the North American market.
By Timothy S. Donahue
It’s constant but unknown. While the nicotine market remains profitable, it is changing. As more major tobacco companies embrace next-generation products, combustible sales will suffer. The evolving regulatory environment will also continue to play a major factor in the North American nicotine market.
According to Statista, in 2024, revenue in the U.S. nicotine market will reach $107.5 billion. It is projected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 0.62 percent between 2024 and 2028. The largest segment in the market remains combustible cigarettes, with an expected value of $82.7 billion in 2024. The Marlboro brand continues to dominate U.S. cigarette sales with a 50 percent market share.
E-cigarette revenues are projected to reach $8.8 billion. Statista expects the vape market to experience an annual growth rate of 3.24 percent from 2024 to 2028. Retail sales of nicotine pouches are also seeing unprecedented growth. According to Euromonitor, the U.S. pouch market generated $8.58 billion in 2023 compared to $7.23 billion in the previous year. The U.S. modern oral nicotine market is expected to reach $11.03 billion by 2027.
The Canadian tobacco market is much smaller than the U.S., reflecting that country’s lower population. Nicotine sales in Canada are projected to generate a revenue of $12.3 billion in 2024. The market is anticipated to experience a compound annual growth rate of 1.10 percent between 2024 and 2028. In Canada, too, combustible cigarettes continue to account for the majority of tobacco sales. The traditional cigarette market is expected to reach a volume of $10.6 billion this year. In 2024, the revenue in the e-cigarette market in Canada is estimated to reach $1.4 billion.
Nicotine pouches were approved for sale in Canada on July 18, 2023, as a natural health product. Modern oral nicotine pouches are currently outside the scope of the federal Tobacco and Vaping Products Act and the provincial Smoke-Free Ontario Act 2017, which regulate tobacco and vaping products by restricting their advertisement, display and public use. However, that is expected to change soon.
During an education seminar at the Total Products Expo (TPE) that took place in Las Vegas Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 2024, Brad Seipel, executive vice president at MARC Research, noted that many of the next-generation tobacco products disrupting the market today have been on the market for over a decade. Innovation in the industry, he said, is being driven with a focus on tobacco harm reduction and a move away from traditional tobacco. “We are now living in a post-tobacco market. It is a nicotine market,” Seipel said.
Bonnie Herzog
Bonnie Herzog, an analyst with Goldman Sachs, observed in an industry report that retailers are seeing customers making fewer trips to the store, which is being driven by consumers switching to alternative nicotine products like modern oral. These products often last longer than a typical pack of combustibles. She also explained that the illicit market for disposable vape products continues to be a growing concern for the nicotine industry and retailers alike as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown on flavors and noncompliant products has driven traffic to the gray/black market or retailers willing to sell unauthorized vaping products.
She said a broad majority of retailers believe the situation is worsening with the impact felt strongest in urban areas and states with the strictest flavor bans. “Many retailers highlighted that the illicit disposable [e-cigarette] market is impacting cigarette volume, and [Altria] estimates the growth of these illegal products contributed to cigarette industry declines in the range of 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent over the last 12 months,” she said. “Retailers don’t believe the situation will change without more enforcement and are broadly pessimistic given the ubiquity of the offering, tracking/enforcement difficulty and relatively light penalties reducing deterrence.”
One respondent to the survey pointed out that enforcement fines issued by the FDA are manageable ($19,192 per violation), and the extent of policing hasn’t resolved the issue. Others noted that retailers selling these products (i.e., on the gray market) are making hefty margins on those sales, which are helping them offset losses on (cigarette) sales.
Brian King
During Keller and Heckman’s E-Vapor and Tobacco Law Symposium, held Jan. 29–30 in Las Vegas, Brian King, head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, said his agency carried out a series of coordinated blitzes against Elf Bar and other “illicit” brands at several retailers that resulted in warning letters. The agency then issued civil money penalties following subsequent reinvestigations against retailers found to still be selling illegal products. Many of the recipients of these penalties were small businesses.
“We do know that we need that comprehensive approach,” said King. “And so, we’ve also taken action on the borders, particularly for products that are coming in internationally. We do have import alerts in place. Those do address products that have been accurately declared. Of course, we know that there are entities that are misdeclaring products as well. Towards that end, we work very closely with colleagues at Customs and Border Protection. We did have an operation that was conducted earlier this year where we seized over $18 million worth of products, including Elf Bar, Funky Republic and several others. It was about 1.4 million units of illegal e-cigarettes. Ultimately, this is one example of ongoing activities. There will be more.”
Tim Philipps
Also speaking at TPE, Tim Philipps, with Tamarind Intelligence, said that a major issue is enforcement. While the FDA’s premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process is expensive and onerous, it also seems pointless because there is little effort to stop products that skip the regulatory process from being marketed. According to Phillips, even the FDA’s current blitz barely skims the surface of the deepening gray/black markets.
“The products that you’re getting offered in retail environments, they haven’t gone through a regulatory process, and there’s no signs of that happening, frankly,” he said. “The FDA is stepping up some of its enforcement activity. We’ve seen more and more of this happening, and I think it will keep increasing. But the reality is the market’s not being regulated at all. The same is happening, by the way, in the U.K. and all across Europe. We’re seeing a lot of products come in. The reason is that a lot of these products are being distributed directly to retailers or directly to consumers (from the manufacturer). And that’s been a great success.”
A looming federal menthol ban could also boost the gray/black markets for nicotine products. The FDA has submitted proposals to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to ban the use of menthol in cigarettes and other tobacco products and prohibit all nontobacco flavors in cigars. The FDA is also expected to definitively define a “characterizing flavor.” The OMB is currently reviewing these proposals. Before the product standards can be implemented, the OMB must review their potential economic impact.
The FDA has stated that it expects to announce the final ruling on the menthol ban in March. However, with the U.S. presidential election approaching this November, many industry experts are uncertain if any action will be taken at all. Unsurprisingly, several respondents to Herzog’s retailer survey expressed fatigue with ongoing uncertainties related to the potential federal menthol ban, the FDA’s efforts to enforce bans on illegal disposable vape products and flavors and the agency’s slow progress in completing PMTA reviews. The rapid growth of local flavor bans is also an expanding concern.
“A number of retailers who are currently not subject to [local] flavor bans anticipate the potential in the near future given rapidly evolving legislative agendas,” Herzog stated. “The looming decision by the FDA on a federal menthol ban on (cigarettes) has also led many retailers to take a wait-and-see approach on carrying gray market vapor products, which are higher margin and more affordable for consumers.”
The future of nicotine products still holds promise. Seipel said that the dissolvable and heat-not-burn segments have plenty of room for growth as the awareness and usage of those products haven’t yet gotten traction in the North American market. Seipel said as long as there are combustible smokers, there is going to be room for innovative products that help them switch to less harmful alternatives.
“There’s also [an] opportunity in innovation for helping female smokers …. We have to remember that there are way more people out there that need help [quitting smoking],” he said.
