Market & legal information for professionals in the vapour sector

How the FDA’s assault on flavours, even menthol, could give real tobacco an edge

Written by Barnaby Page | 2nd February 2023

Flavours continue to be the main target of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US when it comes to novel nicotine products, it seems – which could give heated tobacco an advantage over...

While growth in e-cigarettes slows, other tobacco alternatives are catching up fast

Written by Freddie Dawson | 18th January 2023

ECigIntelligence predicted a year ago that increasing restrictions and taxes on vaping products would drive more users to other tobacco alternatives in 2022. And it does appear that this has been the case ...

Health warning: ‘scientific research’ so bad it should never have been published

Written by Barnaby Page | 11th January 2023

There remains a worryingly large amount of research on vaping which makes casual, almost always negative, assumptions...and the occasional item which is so faulty it should never have been published at all ...

As cigarette smoking declines, cannabis rises – but where does vaping fit in?

Written by Aidan Semmens | 5th January 2023

Recent figures show young US adults are smoking less tobacco and using more cannabis – but is this cause-and-effect, and if so, where does vaping fit into the picture? ...

What is the true significance of New Zealand’s generational tobacco ban?

Written by Barnaby Page | 22nd December 2022

New Zealand’s ban on cigarette sales to people born after 1st January 2009 may look like a dry run for complete prohibition. But there’s a crucial difference, really ...

E-cigs and ethics – why the pros and the antis need to find some common ground

Written by Barnaby Page | 13th December 2022

Some countries, and millions of users are making headway in replacing combustible tobacco with safer alternatives…but what’s holding back the others? Are the products themselves the problem, or is it a matter of perception? ...

The family doctor who gives cigarettes to his 14-year-old son to stop him vaping

Written by Aidan Semmens | 6th December 2022

Should e-cigarettes be prescribed to help smokers quit? One Australian family doctor has bizarrely turned the question on its head, asking: Should cigarettes be prescribed to help vapers quit? ...

Vaping ‘within five minutes of waking’ – the truth behind the click-bait headlines

Written by Aidan Semmens | 23rd November 2022

The magazine headline said: “More Teens Are Vaping Within 5 Minutes of Waking”. So where does that attention-grabbing line come from, what does it really reveal – and whose line is it anyway? ...

How will the EU’s proposed new rules on batteries affect the vaping industry?

Written by Dmytro Korchahin | 17th November 2022

The upcoming revision of the regulation of batteries in the EU may well have a profound effect the e-cigarette industry, with safety, sustainability and the environment all coming under the lawmakers' microscope ...

PMI ‘sinners’ talk a greener talk than some at climate summit will walk

Written by Aidan Semmens | 9th November 2022

In a recent interview, Jennifer Motles urged companies of all kinds to use ESG (environmental, social and governance) impact reporting as a tool to transform business models which have negative impacts ...

Risk reduction in Japan – a seldom told good news for alternatives to smoking

Written by Barnaby Page | 3rd November 2022

Heated tobacco has played a major role in eliminating smoking in Japan – not just nibbling away at the edges of smoking prevalence but severely reducing the presence of the combustible cigarette ...

The taxation of e-cigs and other nicotine products – the WHO, the why and the how

Written by Tiziana Cauli | 19th October 2022

While nobody seriously argues that combustibles shouldn’t be taxed, the taxation of novel nicotine products has always been a controversial issue ...

E-cigs and weed – gateway to confusion between correlation and causation

Written by ECigIntelligence | 13th October 2022

Another study has confused correlation and causation when it comes to youth vaping and the supposed gateway effect – this time linking vaping and later cannabis use ...

Why ‘wellness’ vapes just might be less healthy than the wicked nicotine kind

Written by Aidan Semmens | 6th October 2022

In demonising nicotine, have many of vaping’s bitterest opponents across the globe got their sights trained on the wrong enemy? ...

Is there a further shift in MEPs’ attitudes towards the risk-reduction argument?

Written by Barnaby Page | 22nd September 2022

Is there any connection between people’s knowledge of reduced-risk products and their attitudes toward them? Our third survey of European Parliament members' views will show how any such connection may have altered ...

The disposable truth: what you see on the label may not always be what you get

Written by Aidan Semmens | 21st September 2022

Scientists studying nicotine levels in disposable e-cigs found claims weren't always backed up by facts. In fact, if their sample is truly representative and their methods accurate, vapers may be getting sold short ...

Sweet sighs in Sweden as election brings a probable switch in policy on vaping

Written by Barnaby Page | 15th September 2022

After the victory of right-wing parties in Sweden’s very close election, the country’s vaping sector – and its customers – may well be breathing a sigh of relief; perhaps a peppermint- or caramel- or blueberry-scented...

New Zealand anti-smoking group offers a less strident approach to vape flavours

Written by Aidan Semmens | 15th September 2022

It’s refreshing to encounter a campaigning health charity making a clear argument that retailers should be permitted to sell e-liquids in fruit and other sweet flavours, and not be limited to tobacco, mint and menthol...

Court rulings focus on process, leaving the key question on vaping unaddressed

Written by Barnaby Page | 8th September 2022

Another day, another judgement in the saga of the US vapour industry’s cases against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its handling of the premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) process ...

The life of a harm reduction advocate in a land where e-cigarettes are banned

Written by Aidan Semmens | 18th August 2022

It can be hard to be in a minority, with no apparent way of persuading others to your point of view – such as being a harm reduction advocate in a country where e-cigarettes are...

20,000 authors of published research on vaping – but who and where are they?

Written by Barnaby Page | 10th August 2022

Research into e-cigarettes is dominated by American scientists and a few names emerge as clear leaders in the field, despite the involvement of thousands of scholars over the last decade ...

The demise of the cigarette – the good bad news they don’t want you to hear

Written by Aidan Semmens | 4th August 2022

This week’s financial report from Japan Tobacco International tells a tale that should make bedroom and boardroom reading for government officials, public health departments and regulators everywhere ...

The news on e-cigarette research may seem relentlessly bad – but do you buy it?

Written by Aidan Semmens | 21st July 2022

Bad news is like sex – it sells. And not every scientist is as rigorous as they might be – those who write their press releases even less so. Which leaves the question of who...

Mere possession of an e-cig ‘won’t mean jail’ – but retailers had better watch out

Written by Aidan Semmens | 13th July 2022

Trust a politician to come up with a memorable soundbite, a catchy slogan or a simple statement that leaps out at you from the headlines. Top prize this week to Malaysia’s health minister Khairy Jamaluddin...

An innovative and unexpected scheme to put ‘disposable’ e-cig batteries to new use

Written by Aidan Semmens | 9th July 2022

One of the major points in favour of lithium batteries is rechargeability – which ought to be a good thing from the green perspective – but that benefit is literally thrown away in the case...

We know the UK is vape-friendly – but can Khan influence the rest of the world?

Written by Barnaby Page | 7th July 2022

Could the UK's Khan review of tobacco policy have lessons for the rest of the world in its enthusiastic endorsement of vaping, even for countries where there is far more hostility toward novel tobacco products?...

Which side is the e-cig science really on – does it support your tribe or mine?

Written by Aidan Semmens | 24th June 2022

As far as we can tell, God has no opinion on the subject of vaping. Science, almost equally unhelpfully, has plenty of opinions – and they don’t all agree ...

The smouldering nicotine question that is suddenly back on the political agenda

Written by Barnaby Page | 16th June 2022

Questions are sure to arise as to how any mandatory reduction in nicotine in combustibles might affect e-cigarettes too, either in the form of increased (or reduced) competition or possible parallel regulation ...

US FDA bends to external pressures and lobbying over following science, says VTA

Written by Lorraine Mullaney | 8th June 2022

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) actions in the name of public health threaten to have the opposite effect by leaving the vaping sector in the hands of big tobacco, a vaping association claims ...

Harm-reduction strategies: how much action lies behind the talk?

Written by Barnaby Page | 1st June 2022

Most tobacco companies are keen to be seen supporting the concept of harm reduction, especially through reduced-risk products like e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn and pouches. But how far is their support for the idea actually having an...

Are worries over novel products distracting from the real problem?

Written by Barnaby Page | 19th May 2022

Speaking at the launch of the seventh edition of the Atlas, US public health scholar Jeffrey Drope suggested that new nicotine technologies are “a huge distraction” which have “confused governments, the public health community and...

Is PMI shifting focus from vaping to other smoke-free alternatives?

Written by Barnaby Page | 12th May 2022

The $16bn takeover of Swedish Match by Philip Morris International (PMI) suggests that PMI may be moving further away from vaping as part of its smoke-free portfolio and goals ...

Will FDA meet triumph or disaster over menthol – and how will it affect e-cigs?

Written by Barnaby Page | 9th May 2022

What are the implications of the FDA’s menthol plan for novel nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco? ...

Blue sky thinking brings a breath of fresh air to the question of quitting vaping

Written by Aidan Semmens | 5th May 2022

E-cigs are meant to be an aid to quitting smoking: now, perhaps inevitably, comes a device that promises to help people quit vaping. But is it all it's cracked up to be? ...

Is the current peer-review system really giving us the best possible e-cig science?

Written by Barnaby Page | 20th April 2022

Is the present system of peer-reviewed journal publication of scientific papers the best way to get the best science – particularly in the vaping world? There are those who think it may not be ...

Flair 1, Rigour 0 – how The Conversation turned against the benefits of vaping

Written by Aidan Semmens | 18th April 2022

An article in an international news magazine describes what it calls "A damning review of e-cigarettes" – a description that doesn't do justice to a major piece of academic work that is much more balanced...

Change at the top – but expect no change of direction at US CTP under Mital

Written by Antonia di Lorenzo | 13th April 2022

What will Michele Mital’s reign as acting director of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) mean in terms of policy? ...

What will changes at the US CTP and CDC mean for the e-cigarette industry?

Written by Barnaby Page | 8th April 2022

Michele Mital’s appointment as acting head of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is not bad news for the industry, even if it’s not quite good news. And there may be bigger change at the...

Anti-vape lawmakers find themselves caught in a web of their own devising

Written by Aidan Semmens | 6th April 2022

A no-doubt well-meaning ballot measure enthusiastically taken up by voters just 18 months ago now has General Assembly members in the US state of Colorado tied up in a knot of their own making ...

A hard but vital sell – convincing poorer countries of the value of harm reduction

Written by Barnaby Page | 31st March 2022

A new report confronts the issues involved in broadening the appeal of tobacco harm reduction products in low- and middle-income countries, where smoking cessation arguably matters even more than it does elsewhere ...

Trouble in paradise: accusations fly in Hawaiian battle over flavour ban plan

Written by Aidan Semmens | 28th March 2022

There’s some dissension in the state of Hawaii, with some fairly heavy accusations flying around in the public debate over a proposed bill to ban e-cigarette flavours ...

Flavour restrictions ‘have little impact’, while ‘pods may beat mods’ for cessation

Written by Barnaby Page | 24th March 2022

The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) has published a number of papers which will be of particular interest to the e-cigarette sector. Here are some of the highlights ...

It’s hard to unpick, but there’s good news lurking in the detail of CDC vaping report

Written by Barnaby Page | 17th March 2022

The headline conclusions of the CDC are not surprising: tobacco products remain a menace to America’s kids, e-cigarettes particularly, flavoured ones most of all. But that is not the whole story ...

Could very-low-nicotine cigarettes become new competition for vapour?

Written by Barnaby Page | 10th March 2022

The news reported on our sister site TobaccoIntelligence that 22nd Century Group is looking to launch its very-low-nicotine cigarettes (VLNCs) in Chicago and South Korea seems on the surface to have little to do with...

The science and non-science of vaping – and a heart-stopper just for the boys

Written by Aidan Semmens | 2nd March 2022

We hear a lot these days, especially from politicians, about “following the science” – which must be a lot better, surely, than merely following the politicians. But it’s not unproblematic ...

Do sin taxes work – or do they just encourage people to be more sinful?

Written by Aidan Semmens | 17th February 2022

Whatever the motives behind it, punitive or would-be persuasive taxation has many of the same drawbacks as prohibition ...

Only in California: the all-pure cannabis vape pod from the inventors of Juul

Written by Aidan Semmens | 9th February 2022

The latest offering from the company that first devised the Juul e-cigarette looks sure to be a new Californian craze – even if it's not exactly “made solely from pure cannabis” ...

Tie me up, tie me down! Why a bit of red tape can be good for the vape business

Written by Aidan Semmens | 2nd February 2022

Freedom from regulation isn’t necessarily a desirable thing – as one vape store owner in Trinidad will tell you ...

How will the Covid-19 pandemic change the e-cigarette business in the long term?

Written by Aidan Semmens | 19th January 2022

ECigIntelligence will be drawing together much of the evidence for an in-depth examination of how Covid has affected and will continue to affect the vapour business. Meanwhile, certain trends are clear ...

Officials on both sides of the Atlantic caught in an old nicotine delusion

Written by Aidan Semmens | 13th January 2022

Is nicotine really the big baddie when it comes to tobacco products and their alternatives? Some people in positions of authority – people you might think ought to know better – still seem to think...

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