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Tag: e-cigarette

  • Charlie’s Holdings Reports 169% Revenue Increase

    Charlie’s Holdings Reports 169% Revenue Increase

    Charlie’s Holdings, Inc. reported a sharp turnaround in 2025, with revenue rising 169% year over year to $20.9 million and net income of $4.5 million, compared with a $4.2 million loss in 2024. The company’s auditor, Urish Popeck & Co., LLC, issued a clean opinion that removed prior “going concern” language, strengthening Charlie’s position for a planned uplisting to a national exchange in 2026. Balance sheet metrics improved materially, with cash increasing to $1.3 million, total assets to $11.6 million, and shareholders’ equity returning to a positive $3.4 million from a deficit position a year earlier.

    Performance was supported by $7.5 million in PMTA-related asset sales to a strategic buyer, growth in SBX nicotine-analogue disposables, and the opening of a U.S. manufacturing facility in Q4. Looking ahead, Charlie’s plans to expand chain convenience distribution, pilot an AI/blockchain age-gating system with IKE Tech, introduce high-capacity disposable devices under SBX and Pachamama, pursue additional PMTA partnerships, grow international sales, and advance its exchange uplisting, while positioning its regulatory compliance and youth-access controls as differentiators in a market the company says is pressured by illicit imports.

  • Czech Republic to Enforce Stricter E-Cigarette Rules

    Czech Republic to Enforce Stricter E-Cigarette Rules

    Beginning in December, the Czech Republic will implement tighter regulations on e-cigarettes, banning products containing sugar flavors or cannabinoids, with manufacturers having seven months to sell off existing stock.

    New rules also require clear labelling of nicotine content in milligrams per milliliter or micrograms per portion. Nicotine-containing products must carry warnings and a symbol indicating they are not suitable for under-18s, along with a Ministry of Health registration ID. Liquids may no longer contain mineral or vegetable oils, or fats, in addition to cannabinoids or sugar flavors.

    The regulations follow a study showing that almost 14% of the Czech population used e-cigarettes last year, with over a quarter of 15- to 24-year-olds reporting use.

  • Yocan Launches Kodo Star with Full Display Technology

    Yocan Launches Kodo Star with Full Display Technology

    Today (November 13), Yocan unveiled the Kodo Star, a compact 400mAh battery device featuring the company’s new Galaxy Full Display system, which the company says is the first of its kind in a pocket-sized vape. The device offers real-time voltage, session, and battery monitoring, with adjustable voltage from 1.8V to 4.2V, a 10-second smart preheat mode, and auto shutoff safety features. Measuring 57×23×18.5mm, the Kodo Star supports Type-C fast charging (0.8 hours) and 510 cartridges.

    Available in five colors—black, white, pink, purple, and blue—the Kodo Star “targets style-conscious, on-the-go users seeking performance, portability, and precision control.”

  • HQD Launches GO Disposable E-Cigarette in the U.S.

    HQD Launches GO Disposable E-Cigarette in the U.S.

    HQD introduced its new disposable e-cigarette, the HQD GO, across its official website and multiple U.S. retail channels. The device is “rated for up to 35,000 puffs, features Soft, Regular, and Boost power settings, and offers adjustable airflow.” The U.S. version contains 30 mg/ml (3%) nicotine and is priced at approximately $29.99. The HQD GO is available in six colors and 14 flavors, including fruit, chocolate, tobacco, and cooling varieties.

    Retailers such as ohmcityvapes list the HQD GO with 18 ml of e-liquid, which equates to roughly 1,944 puffs per ml, “making it higher than comparable devices like the VOZOL NEON PLUG MAX and SKE 30K Pro Max.”

  • South Africa Working to “Combat Tobacco Use”

    South Africa Working to “Combat Tobacco Use”

    Through the proposed Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, South Africa is actively working “to combat tobacco use,” including e-cigarettes and hookahs, according to the Deputy Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla.  

    “We want to make sure we regulate these upcoming products because currently they’re not covered,” Phaahla said. “That is, e-cigarettes and the hubbly bubblies [hookahs]. We want to make sure they are properly regulated because currently they are everywhere.” 

    Phaahla said the proposed Bill seeks to implement significant changes to tobacco regulation, including the introduction of plain packaging, the expansion of smoke-free zones, stricter controls on emerging tobacco products, regulation of e-cigarettes, and enhanced support for tobacco cessation programs.

    The bill is expected to proceed to Parliament, with the government confident it will pass despite pushback from those pushing for harm reduction.

  • Spain Plans to Extend Smoking Bans

    Spain Plans to Extend Smoking Bans

    Today (May 29), Spain’s health minister announced plans to extend smoking bans to public spaces, including restaurant terraces and outdoor areas in bars. More than a year after the government passed its anti-smoking plan, Health Minister Monica García said “a concrete draft of the bill” had been completed. García said the prospective ban would also apply to electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco devices.

    School playgrounds, university campuses, company vehicles, as well as outdoor festive events and public transport shelters, are among the other places where the ban would be imposed.

    García said she hoped that the ban—which must still be reviewed by the government’s council of ministers, as well as the Spanish parliament’s lower house—would place Spain “at the forefront of the fight against smoking”.

    Spain joined other European countries that have considered introducing similar laws following a recommendation by the European Commission to extend smoking bans to further public areas and include electronic cigarettes.

  • ESPAD Ireland Sees All-Time Low in Smoking, Vape on Rise 

    ESPAD Ireland Sees All-Time Low in Smoking, Vape on Rise 

    Ireland recorded its lowest levels of teenage smoking and alcohol consumption in three decades, according to the 2024 Irish report of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). However, the findings saw increases in e-cigarette use, alternative nicotine products, and adolescent gambling.

    ESPAD Ireland said 12% of students reported being current smokers, with daily smoking falling to just 2%, both all-time lows in Ireland’s 30 years of participating in the survey. However, 32% of respondents said they had tried e-cigarettes, and 7% reported daily use. Of those who tried vaping, 76% never used a cigarette. Cannabis use also dropped from 19% in 2019 to 12% in 2024.

    “While the downward trend is encouraging, the data also reveals the continuing challenge: young people are still being drawn into tobacco and nicotine use—be it cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or emerging nicotine products,” said Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, Minister of State for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drug Strategy. “We must act decisively to break this cycle.”

  • Study: E-Cigs Have No Significant Impact on Lung Function

    Study: E-Cigs Have No Significant Impact on Lung Function

    A newly published critical umbrella review in Tobacco Use Insights found that there were no statistically significant changes in respiratory function for e-cigarette (EC) users. Conducted by researchers from the Center of Excellence for the Acceleration of Harm Reduction (CoEHAR), the study highlights the absence of significant short- or medium-term respiratory changes associated with e-cigarette use, regardless of usage patterns.

    Led by Giusy Rita Maria La Rosa, Riccardo Polosa, and Renée O’Leary, the review analyzed 12 systematic reviews on e-cigarette effects, categorizing users into three groups: dual users (who smoke and vape), exclusive users (former smokers who switched to vaping), and naïve users (those who have never smoked but use e-cigarettes).

    “Studies on the latest products on the market have shown reductions in chemical emissions,” said O’Leary. “Across all user categories, there were no statistically significant changes in respiratory function. The five systematic reviews in our analysis concluded that there is no definitive evidence of harm or benefit regardless of the pattern of EC use”

    “Current data do not show significant respiratory variations associated with e-cigarette use in the short or medium term,” La Rosa added. “However, due to the lack of adequate longitudinal studies, no definitive conclusions can be drawn.”

    The researchers said their results, which vary from many others around the industry, can be explained by considering several important factors: acute studies provide data on short-term exposure to e-cigarettes and cannot be used to assess long-term effects; studies do not always account for participants’ smoking history; and individuals with low-frequency e-cigarette use are often grouped together with those who use e-cigarettes more frequently.

    Regarding the quality of the included studies, only five out of 12 reviews were rated as having high or moderate confidence in their findings. Reporting issues were common.

     “The study highlights the importance of distinguishing between different vaping behaviors in future research, as well as addressing methodological weaknesses and biases observed in many previous studies on the topic,” Polosa said. “But it allows us to state once again that vaping cannot be associated to significant changes in respiratory function.”

  • Study: Vaping Does Not Help Smokers Quit

    Study: Vaping Does Not Help Smokers Quit

    E-cigarettes do not increase smoking cessation and are associated with reduced tobacco abstinence, says researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and Moores Cancer Center at the University of California San Diego. The study, among smokers in the U.S. and published March 5 in JAMA, “refutes the common misperception among tobacco users and e-cigarette proponents” that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking.

    “Most smokers think vaping will help you quit smoking,” John P. Pierce, Ph.D., a distinguished professor at the school and study’s co-author said. “However, this belief is not supported by science to date. While some researchers have suggested that smokers who switch to daily vaping will be more successful in quitting smoking, we studied quitting success among both daily and non-daily vapers and came up with a quite definitive answer.”

    The study analyzed data from 6,000 U.S. smokers from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. There were 943 smokers who also vaped and by matching and comparing these to similar smokers who didn’t vape, they found smoking cessation was 4.1% lower among smokers who vaped daily and 5.3% lower among smokers who vaped occasionally.

    Researchers said that while e-cigarettes don’t have the same health consequences as smoking, they are not harmless.

    “The adverse health effects of cigarette smoking become obvious after people have smoked for 20 years,” said Pierce. “While vapes generally don’t contain the same harmful chemicals as cigarette smoke, they have other risks, and we just don’t yet know what the health consequences of vaping over 20 to 30 years will be.”

    This study was supported by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program of the University of California Office of the President.

  • Taiwan Bill to Strengthen E-Cig Regs

    Taiwan Bill to Strengthen E-Cig Regs

    Today, Taiwan’s  Health Promotion Administration (HPA) proposed an amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (THP) to strengthen regulations against e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products. The proposal allows the direct confiscation and destruction of these products and enhances online supervision, Tobacco Control Division head Lo Su-ying said.

    The THP was amended in 2023 to prohibit the manufacture, import, sale, display, advertisement, and use of e-cigarettes and unapproved heated tobacco products. Since then, more than 600,000 fines totaling $11.2 million have been issued, however, currently, the contraband items cannot be confiscated but are instead returned to the owner. The proposed amendment would fill in this loophole, facilitating the accelerated confiscation and destruction of e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, Lo said.

    The new proposal would also stipulate that internet service providers must remove illegal tobacco advertisements and restrict access to related content.