Consumers’ vaping experience is often dictated by legal limits on products

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Consumers’ vaping experience is often dictated by legal limits on products

Legal rules on e-cigarette products have produced sharp differences in the features available to consumers in different countries, a new tracker from ECigIntelligence reveals.

In some markets such as Canada, the US and Russia the battery and tank capacity of disposables increased dramatically between mid-2019 and the end of 2021 – tank capacity grew by around 500% in the US, for example.

But in markets where tank size is capped by law, consumers do not benefit from this growth, the ECigIntelligence Hardware Tracker shows. In the UK, for instance, both battery and tank capacity remained essentially static over the period.

Changes in Canada also highlight the impact of regulation on e-cigarette product design. There, battery power on open pod systems increased and coil resistance on basic kits decreased following introduction of the federal nicotine cap in July 2021: lower nicotine strengths require higher power output and lower resistance coils.

But sometimes technology can improve products despite regulatory limits. For instance, although the tank capacity of disposables in the UK barely grew at all in the period studied, increases in battery power have enabled more puffs.

And not all changes are down to regulation. For example, the ECigIntelligence Hardware Tracker shows that basic e-cigarette kits have been rapidly gaining features such as variable output and OLED screens, while there have been fewer changes to advanced and open pod kits.

“Our research highlights that while technology innovations and consumer demand of course play their part in the development of e-cigarette products, the role of regulation – whether stifling or enabling – remains key,” said Eva Antal, director of market analysis at ECigIntelligence.

ENDS

For further information or comment, please contact Eva Antal. Graphics are available.

About us:

ECigIntelligence is the leading provider of detailed global market and regulatory analysis, legal tracking, and quantitative data for the e-cigarette sector worldwide. It is published by Tamarind Intelligence, which also produces CannIntelligence and TobaccoIntelligence.

Photo: Sarah Johnson

Barnaby Page

Editorial director

Before joining ECigIntelligence in early 2014 as one of its first employees, Barnaby had a 30-year career as a reporter and editor for newspapers, magazines and online services, working in Canada, the US and the Middle East as well as his current British location. He has edited publications covering fields including technology and the advertising industry, and was launch editor of the first large daily online news service in the British regional media. Barnaby also writes on classical music and film for a number of publications. Barnaby manages the editorial and reporting teams and works closely with the analyst teams, to ensure that all content meets high standards of quality and relevance. He also writes for the site occasionally, mostly on science-related issues, and is a member of the Association of British Science Writers.