Category: Featured

FEELM Guides Vape Industry Toward Sustainability

FEELM, a major global atomization company, presented its solutions for achieving sustainable development in the industry during the Global Vape Forum, held during the World Vape Show Dubai 2024 industry event.
Rex Zhang, strategy director at Smoore and assistant president at FEELM, told attendees that increasingly stringent global regulations and compliance, youth protection, and environmental protection have become the three major challenges hindering the vaping industry’s sustainable development. He said the challenges are even greater in countries like the UK and France, which are planning to introduce disposable vaping product bans.
Zhang said that stricter global regulations are beneficial for the industry’s development. However, while regulations clarify rules, strict enforcement is crucial to block the circulation of “illegal” products.
“At the same time, focusing on youth protection and environmental protection, vape companies need to create more compliant and legal products through technological innovation and upgraded vaping experiences,” said Zhang. “Collaboration among brands, retailers, and regulators is essential to achieve sustainable development in the industry.”
Building compliance capability is a long-term project. As a publicly traded company, Smoore consistently adheres to legal and regulatory standards and continually enhances its compliance capabilities through increased R&D investment, helping more clients succeed in global markets, according to Zhang. In 2023 alone, he said Smoore invested $1.48 billion in R&D, accounting for 13.3 percent of its annual revenue.
Smoore also has committed to helping its clients’ products obtain to obtain marketing authorization from the U.S. Food and MDrug Administration. Smoore has been instrumental in nearly every vaping product currently authorized by the FDA. Additionally, adhering to the “customer first” business philosophy, Zhang said that FEELM has introduced a series of solutions tailored for several different global markets.
Rex Zhang
“[We] believe that consumers in the global market are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and the demand in different markets is more diverse. To respond to the urgent demand for environmentally friendly products in the European market, FEELM has launched the next-generation vape pod solution, FEELM PRO [which complies with TPD regulations and] is environmentally friendly,” said Zhang. “This effectively addresses the current issue of disposable ‘use and discard’ products. It is also simpler to assemble than similar products; it bursts power at an instant start and significantly enhances the flavor experience, offering a smooth and rich taste.”
Through technological innovation and the use of eco-friendly materials, FEELM has rapidly improved atomization efficiency and battery efficiency, significantly enhancing the vaping experience while greatly reducing the raw materials required for production, according to Zhang. FEELM has also developed a series of new solutions for non-TPD markets, including the world’s first 30,000 puffs disposable with a four-sided surround screen.
Zhang said FEELM has developed more than eight different child lock solutions to combat youth usage, each meeting the regulatory needs of different markets. “The continuous launch of new solutions results from our long-term investment in technological R&D,” said Zhang. “This is just the beginning.
“We are confident in focusing on innovation in atomization technology and continually introducing sustainable and compliant vape solutions to meet consumers’ ever-evolving demands for excellence and environmental sustainability.”
June 18, 2024
PMI Suspends Zyn Sales Due to DC Probe

Photo: Swedish MAtch
Philip Morris International halted sales of Zyn nicotine pouches on its U.S. website as Washington, D.C., officials investigate the company’s compliance with the district’s ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, reports The Wall Street Journal.
On June 17, the company’s Swedish Match North America division announced it had received a subpoena from the District of Columbia’s attorney general, requesting among other things information about the unit’s compliance with local restrictions on flavored tobacco.
A preliminary investigation by the company indicated that there had indeed been sales of flavored nicotine pouch products in the district. According to PMI, these related predominantly to certain online sales platforms and some independent retailers.
Swedish Match is currently conducting a full review of its sales and supply chain arrangement in D.C. and other U.S. localities where flavor bans apply.
Pending the investigation, PMI has suspended all online sales on Zyn.com. Sales on this platform have represented “a very small” percentage of the company’s U.S. Zyn volumes, according to PMI.
In the March quarter, Philip Morris’ shipment volumes of oral smoke-free product volumes surged by 40 percent, mainly driven by Zyn nicotine pouches in the U.S., where shipment volume reached 131.6 million cans.
Zyn has been available in the U.S. since 2014, but its sales have skyrocketed over the past year and a half, and its parent company is investing in Zyn capacity in the U.S.
Philip Morris bought Swedish Match in a $16 billion deal in 2022 as the company looked to reduce its reliance on cigarettes amid stricter regulations and a consumer shift toward alternatives to tobacco and traditional cigarettes.
June 18, 2024
Arcus Buys VapeClick

Photo: Khanchai
Regulatory compliance consultancy Arcus Compliance has acquired vape industry data platform VapeClick.
VapeClick is a comprehensive online directory of U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency submitted and notified vape and e-cigarette product data.
The platform enables vape industry stakeholders to search and identify appropriately published and notified products. VapeClick supports a wide variety of use cases, offering bespoke reporting and notifications from its vape intelligence application.
“We are delighted to have agreed the deal to acquire the vape-click.com portal,” said Arcus Compliance CEO Lee Bryan. “The solution has become the go-to portal for U.K.-registered vape products and will become an important piece of the jigsaw for the cutting-edge Arcus software portfolio. We have exciting plans for integration, including development for other industries as well as providing valuable oversight for enforcement bodies throughout Europe.”
“This is an important milestone in the growth and development of the innovative vape-click.com platform,” said VapeClick’s Chief Technical Officer Raphael Klimaszewski. “We have spent many years building the database that has revolutionized how vape products can be quickly and readily checked and monitored for their compliance status.
“The acquisition of the portal by Arcus Compliance is a testament to the impact that the platform has made and its inherent value amongst its many users. We look forward to seeing it go from strength to strength under Arcus’ leadership.”
June 18, 2024
New Insights into Youth Vaping
Photo: Daisy Daisy
A new study has provided an in-depth look into the rising trend of disposable vape use among young people in the U.K.
Led by the University of East Anglia and published in Addiction, the research reveals that young people see smoking and vaping as interchangeable, but are far more aware of the potential harms of vaping than they are of the dangers of smoking.
The findings also suggest that banning disposable vape products or increasing their prices could lead young people to revert to smoking tobacco.
Many of the young people questioned also believed that if disposable vapes were banned, they would be able to continue using them by stockpiling or purchasing illegally.
“Youth use of disposable vapes has surged in recent years in the U.K.,” said lead researcher Caitlin Notley, a professor of addiction sciences at UEA’s Norwich Medical School, in a statement.
“Despite this increase, little was previously known about the motivations behind this trend and the experiences of young people who use these products.
“This study aimed to explore these aspects, providing valuable insights into the factors influencing youth vaping behavior.”
The study recruited 29 young people aged between 16 and 20 and a range of methods were used to probe their motivations, experiences and perceptions of using disposable vapes.
Each approach was chosen to best suit the needs of the participant—from individual interviews with researchers, to recorded conversations in friendship pairs using prompt cards without a researcher present, to small group interviews designed to support those with special educational needs.
The key findings include:
Individual motivations: Participants highlighted key characteristics of disposable vapes that appealed to them, such as affordability, ease of access, and the attractive designs, colors, names, and flavors.
Behavior patterns: Many young people engaged in both vaping and tobacco smoking, viewing these behaviors as interchangeable based on the context. There was a common misconception about the relative harms of vaping compared to smoking.
Social and emotional factors: Experimentation with vapes was prevalent, and many young people used vapes to manage stress and anxiety. Vaping was also identified as a social activity, widely accepted among peer groups. Notably, participants were more informed about the potential harms of vaping than those associated with smoking.
Regulation: Strict regulatory measures, such as banning disposable vape products or increasing their prices, could lead young people to revert to smoking tobacco. Many of the young people believed that if disposable vapes were banned, they would be able to continue using them by stockpiling or purchasing illegally.
“Disposable vapes are particularly attractive and accessible to young people in the U.K, contributing to the normalization of vaping within this demographic,” said co-author Ian Pope, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School. “Despite recognizing the potential health risks, young people continue to engage in both vaping and smoking, often interchangeably.
“The widespread availability of underage vape sales and availability of illicit vapes further exacerbates this issue.”
The researchers say the study suggests that young people’s use of disposable vapes could be reduced by tighter enforcement of age of sale and restricting packaging and marketing.
However, they also say the evidence suggests these sorts of interventions have the potential for significant unintended consequences, including increased use of illicit vapes and increased tobacco use amongst young people.
“Therefore any interventions to combat use of disposables may need to be accompanied by policy interventions to reduce access to illicit vapes and tobacco and increase awareness of the relative harms of tobacco compared to vapes,” said Notley.
The research was conducted in partnership with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the Nicotine, Tobacco and Vaping Research Group at London South Bank University.
The study was funded by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust through the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Research Capability Fund.
June 17, 2024
Disappointing Quit Rates in Philippine Program

Image: Teppi
Only one-fifth of individuals enrolled in the Philippine government’s cessation program in 2023 were able to fully quit smoking or vaping, reports the Inquirer, citing a doctor from the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP).
Of the 144 participants in 2023, only 29 successfully quit, according to Jessica Catalan-Legarda, a doctor in the LCP’s pulmonology department,
Those who did not continue with the program voluntarily dropped out, to which the LCP responded with contact tracing and follow-up calls.
“These voluntary quitters usually go back to smoking and vaping, and based on studies, it takes around seven to eight attempts to successfully quit smoking or vaping,” Catalan-Legarda was quoted as saying.
Successful quitters tended to be between 22 and 44 years of age and have a comparatively high educational background, according to Catalan-Legarda.
June 17, 2024
Pouches Scrutinized

Photo: ir1ska
Scientists at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center have synthesized evidence from 62 studies related to the use of oral nicotine pouches to better understand their potential impact on public health. The findings have been published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
Oral nicotine pouches are rapidly increasing in popularity. While they may present a less harmful nicotine alternative for cigarette users, there is considerable concern about them becoming a new form of nicotine dependence, especially in youth who don’t use tobacco or nicotine,” said the study’s corresponding author, Nargiz Travis, in a statement.
The investigator’s analysis was based on 45 academic and 17 industry-funded studies, mostly from the U.S. Sales of the products have been concentrated in Scandinavia and the U.S., mainly because of the established smokeless tobacco market in these regions.
In the U.S., the researchers found, based on nationally representative surveys, that through 2023, oral nicotine pouches were currently used by 1.5 percent of all youth while lifetime use by young people was under 2.5 percent.
In terms of awareness of the products, between 35 percent and 42 percent of U.S. adolescents and young adults have heard of oral nicotine pouches, and 9 percent to 21 percent of tobacco-naive (nontobacco users) youth surveyed were not opposed to trying them. U.S. adult usage estimates varied widely across surveys; in 2023, 0.8 percent to 3 percent of Americans currently used the products while 3 percent to 16 percent used them at some point in time. In view of rising nicotine pouch sales trends in 2024, their use in the U.S. population has likely increased.
Because oral nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco leaves, they are often marketed as tobacco-free, but we found that descriptor may confuse the understanding of the source of nicotine and may be associated with the perception that they are not as harmful as other tobacco products.
Nargiz Travis, project director for the Center for the Assessment of Tobacco Regulations at Georgetown Lombardi
The investigators’ findings suggest fewer harmful chemical compounds are present in the pouches and occur at lower levels than in cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, with the exception of formaldehyde. However, an analysis of 37 oral nicotine pouches of different brands, nicotine strengths and flavors yielded a wide range of total nicotine content from 0.89 mg to 6.73 mg per pouch.
“Because oral nicotine pouches do not contain tobacco leaves, they are often marketed as tobacco-free, but we found that descriptor may confuse the understanding of the source of nicotine and may be associated with the perception that they are not as harmful as other tobacco products,” says Travis.
“In the U.S., oral nicotine pouches are currently neither authorized by the FDA for marketing as a modified-risk product nor approved as a cessation product. It is important to know that nicotine is an addictive chemical with harmful health effects, regardless of whether it is synthetic, meaning tobacco-free, or derived from tobacco.
One of the studies included in the authors’ analysis was a U.S. survey of young adults 18 years to 34 years of age, many of whom used cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The survey found that among those who had tried nicotine pouches, curiosity about the product (28 percent), flavors (26 percent) and the ability to use in places where other tobacco products are prohibited (26 percent) were among the main reasons for trying the pouches. The availability of flavors (31 percent) was the main motive for use in another U.S. sample of adult current nicotine pouch users.
Leading brands of the products are currently owned by major tobacco companies. The authors note that a substantial investment in marketing by the companies suggests that oral nicotine pouches are becoming increasingly important to the tobacco industry.
“As more evidence on oral nicotine patches becomes available, and more importantly, more independent studies become published, it will be essential to conduct further analyses comparing the findings of industry versus non-industry sponsored research and critically assess the quality and risk of bias of such studies,” said Travis.
June 17, 2024
Breast Milk Nutrients from Tobacco-like Plant

Photo: Africa Studio
Researchers at the University of California, Berkely, have genetically engineered a close relative of the tobacco plant to create nutrients found in human breast milk, reports The Guardian.
While many challenges remain in implementation and commercialization, the study demonstrated that the genetically modified Nicotiana benthamiana could produce complex sugars called human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that boost healthy gut bacteria and have benefits for the infant immune system.
“We made all three major groups of human milk oligosaccharides,” said Patrick Shih, a plant and microbial biologist who led the work. “To my knowledge, no one has ever demonstrated that you could make all three of these groups simultaneously in a single organism.”
According to the team behind the work, the technology could pave the way for infant formula milk that more closely replicates health benefits of breastfeeding.
June 17, 2024
Industry Cheers Tax on Acetate Tow

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Legally operating tobacco companies have welcomed Pakistan’s plan to impose a federal excise duty (FED) on acetate tow, reports The Express Tribune.
While presenting the federal budget in the National Assembly on June 12, 2024, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb proposed imposing an FED of PKR44,000 ($158) per kg on acetate tow, a basic raw material used in manufacturing filters.
Aurangzeb said the recommended FED would burden only the informal sector. Because Pakistan does not produce acetate tow, cigarette manufacturers import the material from other countries.
During his presentation, the minister lamented the widespread availability of illicit, smuggled and tax-evaded cigarettes in Pakistan.
The market share of illicit cigarettes has grown to 63 percent at present from around 40 percent a few years ago. While at least 24 cigarette manufacturers operate in Pakistan, less than a handful are registered with the government. The two leading formal tobacco companies alone pay 98 percent of the total tax collected from the cigarette industry. Some politicians are reportedly involved in the manufacture of undocumented cigarettes.
One official said the government could potentially collect PKR550 billion from cigarette manufacturers if it succeeds in bringing the out-of-tax-net makers into the tax net.
Earlier governments imposed heavy taxes on cigarettes to discourage people from smoking. However, instead of decreasing cigarettes sales, the strategy mostly diverted smokers to non-tax-paid cigarettes.
Cigarette manufacturers have been urging the government to crack down on illicit cigarette sales and more forcefully enforce the country’s track-and-trace system. They say that half-hearted implementation has badly hit the formal sector while providing an opportunity for illicit cigarette manufacturers to thrive.
June 14, 2024
South Africa Urged to Beef Up Tobacco Laws

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Nearly one third of South Africans smoke, according to the 2021 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) South Africa report, which was released by the Department of Health on June 13, 2024.
The study found that 21.2 percent of adults in South Africa smoke daily, while 4.6 percent smoke occasionally. Daily smokers light up an average of 8.5 cigarettes per day.
The data also revealed that a higher percentage of men (41.7 percent) are currently using tobacco compared to women (17.9 percent).
Meanwhile, 2.2 percent of survey respondents said they were currently using e-cigarettes, of which 3.8 percent are men and 0.7 percent are women.
Of those using e-cigarettes, 70.3 percent cited enjoyment, 67.5 percent cited flavor, 45.1 percent perceived it as less harmful than tobacco, while 43.5 percent said their use was influenced by friends or family members who use e-cigarettes.
The study also found that 3.1 percent of adults reported smoking hookah pipe.
Data also shows that 74.4 percent of adults who visited public places were exposed to second-hand smoke.
The Department of Health’s Deputy Director of General Primary Healthcare, Jeanette Hunter urged the government to adopt new measures to discourage tobacco use, including stronger tobacco taxes, smoke-free laws, graphic health warnings and bans on advertising.
“Effective strategies to reduce tobacco use, including putting in place more comprehensive laws that are compliant with the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, should be implemented to protect more people from exposure to SHS, and provide cessation services to help more people who smoke to quit,” Egbe was quoted as saying by the South African Government News Agency.
June 14, 2024
Warnings Over Liquids in Medicine Bottles

Image: FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned six online retailers for selling unauthorized e-liquid products from the Bad Drip brand that imitate prescription drug bottles. The retailers were also warned for selling unauthorized flavored, disposable e-cigarettes, including those under the brand names Funky Republic and HQD.
“It boggles the mind that someone thought it was a good idea to package a tobacco product to look like a prescription drug bottle,” said FDA Center for Tobacco Products Director Brian King in a statement. “There’s no place for this gratuitous and blatantly dangerous packaging, and FDA is committed to taking action against the illegal sale of these products.”
In addition to selling e-liquids that imitate prescription drug bottles, each of these retailers was warned for selling unauthorized disposable e-cigarettes that appeal to youth—including flavors such as apple watermelon and mint.
According to the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey, among U.S. middle and high school students who used e-cigarettes, 89.4 percent reported using flavored products and 60.7 percent reported using disposable products.
June 14, 2024