Tag: e-cigarettes

  • Never smokers aren’t using e-cigs, U.K. survey finds

    Results of the New Youth Tobacco Policy Survey conducted by Cancer Research UK show that the majority of youth who have never smoked combustible cigarettes are not using e-cigarettes regularly.

    Of the 1,205 children aged 11-16 who took part in a U.K.-wide survey on e-cigarette use, 12 percent reported “ever” use, 2 percent reported “more than monthly” use and 1 percent reported “more than weekly” use.

    Among never smokers, only 3 percent reported ever use and 0 percent reported “at least monthly” use, indicating that regular e-cigarette use occurs only in youths who also smoked tobacco cigarettes.

    The results of the study reflect earlier research that showed regular e-cigarette use to be extremely rare among nonsmoking youth. The latest survey, which was conducted from August to September 2014, marked the first time questions regarding e-cigarettes were included.

    According to Cancer Research UK scientist and University of Stirling professor Linda Bauld, there is a common perception that the recent increase in e-cigarette use will lead to a new generation of adults who have never smoked but become dependent on nicotine. However, the survey results indicate that youth who have never used tobacco products are not using e-cigarettes regularly and that “experimentation is not translating into regular use.”

    The study will be published in the Nicotine and Tobacco Research journal.

  • Poll finds vaping rates rise with income

    A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 5,679 adults conducted between May 19 and June 4 found that use of cigarettes as well as e-cigarettes/vaporizers increases with income. According to the survey results, 12.4 percent of all adults with incomes greater than $75,000 per year reported using vapor devices, compared with 10.6 percent of adults whose income was $50,000 to $75,000 per year, 10 percent of adults making $25,000 to $50,000 per year and 8.9 percent of adults with incomes less than $25,000 per year. Of adults under the age of 40, 21.6 percent reported that they smoke cigarettes, while 15 percent reported that they vape.

    Of the vapers, 70.5 percent indicated that they took up vaping within the past year, whereas 29.5 percent reported that they had started vaping more than one year ago. The percentage of Americans who reported smoking combustible cigarettes or vaping was 23.7 percent, compared with 19 percent for cigarette smoking alone.

  • Poll finds increase in U.S. vaping rate

    A poll of 5,679 U.S. adults by conducted by Reuters/Ipsos between May 19 and June 4 found that approximately 10 percent of them vape, including 15 percent of respondents under the age of 40.

    About 75 percent of the vapers surveyed also reported a continued use of combustible cigarettes. Seventy percent of vapers reported that they picked up the habit within the last year, with 40 percent indicating they were motivated by the lower long-term costs of vaping compared with traditional cigarette use as well as the fact that they could use vapor devices indoors.

    Eighty percent of the vapers said the devices were “a good way to help people quit smoking;” however, the poll found that less than 40 percent of all the adults surveyed viewed vaping as a good way to help current cigarette users quit.

    The 2015 survey results show a vaping rate that is significantly higher than the vaping rate in 2013, when the U.S. government estimated that only 2.6 percent of Americans used e-cigarettes.

  • South Korea considers stricter e-cigarette regulations

    The government of South Korea plans to push for tougher legal restrictions on the sale of e-cigarettes, the finance ministry announced April 22. Finance Minister Choi Kyung-hwan, who also serves as deputy prime minister, told lawmakers in the National Assembly that he would soon “come up with a comprehensive proposal” on e-cigarettes that would ban explicit advertisement of the products, according to a story in The Korea Herald.

    According to the country’s health and welfare laws, tobacco product advertising is only allowed inside authorized stores, however, many local e-cigarette dealers explicitly display advertisements and fliers for the products—which are officially classified as cigarette products—on the streets.

    “We will see to a comprehensive measure in cooperation with other related ministries,” Choi said.

  • Vapor Corp. announces organizational restructuring

    Vapor Corp.—a leading U.S.-based distributor and retailer of vaporizers, e-liquids, e-cigarettes and e-hookahs—has announced that it is undergoing an organizational restructuring to maintain its competitiveness and establish its branded products and retail stores in the evolving vapor market.

    Following a recent merger with Vaporin, Vapor Corp. added several new members to its management team, including president and director Gregory Brauser, chief financial officer James Martin and new board member Robert Swayman.

    To further establish its national distribution network, Vapor Corp. has developed new supply deals with key retailers and reorganized inventory in an effort to meet an increasing demand for vapor products. Vapor Corp. also recently opened three new “The Vape Store” locations in Orlando, Florida, and one in Port Charlotte, Florida. The company plans to open an addition 20-30 branded retail “The Vape Stores” before the end of FY 2015.

    “With new management, new stores, new deals and new products, Vapor Corp. is well positioned to rise above the competition and take a leadership role in what is currently a highly fragmented e-cig and vaporizer market,” said Brauser. “Vapor Corp.’s merger with Vaporin served as a catalyst for the company’s future success and has helped to pave the way for us to cast a wider net in the industry. Our goal is to reach new and veteran vaping consumers and continue to spread the word about our stores and our products.”

  • Polish e-cigarette distributer opens manufacturing plant

    ESmoking WORLD, a leading distributor of e-cigarettes throughout the European market, has opened a manufacturing plant that will begin developing liquid nicotine for use in e-cigarettes by the end of April. The Polish company’s investment of approximately 5 million euros led to the construction of a state-of-the-art facility with the capacity to produce 4 million liquid nicotine packages per month.

    In addition to manufacturing products for its network of over 900 eSmoking WORLD stores, the new plant will also manufacture nicotine liquids for OEM brands of other European e-cigarette distributors who stop purchasing products from Chinese liquid nicotine suppliers as a result of the implementation of Tobacco Products Directive regulations.

    The manufacturing plant is one of the most modern technological plants of its type and includes original technical solutions and quality-control systems designed by a team of Polish experts from the eSmoking Institute in Poznan, which has researched the content of liquid nicotine and aerosols manufactured in e-cigarettes since 2013.

    E-cigarettes are currently used by 1.8 million people in Poland, where the company is the largest supplier of the country’s e-cigarettes for the fast-moving consumer goods sales network and convenience stores.

  • E-cigarette use among students triples from 2013-2014

    Current use of e-cigarettes by middle and high school students tripled from 2013 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products. The findings were gathered by the 2014 National Youth Tobacco Survey and published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Results from the survey indicate that current e-cigarette use—defined as use on a least one day in the past 30 days—among high school students increased to 13.4 percent 2014 from 4.5 percent in 2013. This marks an increase to 2 million students using e-cigarettes in 2014 from approximately 660,000 students using the devices just one year prior.

    Current e-cigarette use among middle school students increased to 3.9 percent in 2014 from 1.1 percent in 2013, an increase to approximately 450,000 students from 120,000 students. The 2014 survey results mark the first time that current e-cigarette use has surpassed the use of other tobacco products overall—including combustible cigarettes—since the National Youth Tobacco Survey began collecting data on e-cigarette use in 2011.

    Current hookah use among high school students nearly doubled during this same time period, increasing to 9.4 percent in 2014 from 5.2 percent in 2013—an increase from approximately 770,000 students to approximately 1.3 million students. Meanwhile, current hookah use increased among middle school students to 2.5 percent in 2014 (280,000 students) from 1.1 percent (120,000 students) in 2013.

    No decline in the overall use of tobacco products was seen between 2011 in 2014. According to survey results, the overall rates of tobacco product use in 2014 were 7.7 percent for middle school students and 24.6 percent for high school students. The products most commonly used by high school students in 2014 were e-cigarettes, at 13.4 percent; hookah, at 9.4 percent; combustible cigarettes, at 9.2 percent; cigars, at 8.2 percent; smokeless tobacco, at 5.5 percent; snus, at 1.9 percent; and pipes, at 1.5 percent. The products most commonly used in 2014 by middle school students were e-cigarettes, at 3.9 percent; hookah, at 2.5 percent; cigarettes, at 2.5 percent; cigars, at 1.9 percent; smokeless tobacco, 1.6 percent; and pipes, at 0.6 percent. The use of multiple tobacco products was common, with nearly half of all middle and high school students who were classified as current tobacco users using two or more types of tobacco products.

  • New study reveals vapor health concerns

    RTI International, a leading nonprofit U.S. research institute, has released a study exploring the potential public health concerns associated with vapor emitted from e-cigarettes. The organization’s research paper—titled “Exhaled electronic cigarette emissions: What’s your secondhand exposure?”—examines the toxins in e-cigarette vapors and the impact they could have on people exposed to secondhand “smoke.”

    Although the long-term impact of exposure to e-cigarette vapor is still unknown, the study—which was authored by Jonathan Thornburg, Ph.D., director of Exposure and Aerosol Technology at RTI—found that emissions from e-cigarettes contain enough nicotine and other chemicals to cause concern.

    Nonusers who are exposed to secondhand vapor are potentially breathing in aerosol particles similar in size to those found in diesel-engine smoke and smoke produced by traditional cigarettes. Because e-cigarettes lack regulation, the type and amount of chemicals and potential toxins they may contain could vary greatly depending on the device being used.

    RTI is particularly concerned with the lack of regulation regarding e-cigarettes and the surge in marketing and sales that has occurred as a result. The e-cigarette category experienced annual sales that doubled yearly to $1 billion in 2013, according to RTI.

  • Cigarette smoke releases more toxins than e-cigs, study says

    A study examining the vapor released from Blu Ecigs’ and Skycig’s e-cigarettes in comparison to the smoke emitted by Philip Morris USA’s Marlboro Gold and Imperial Tobacco’s Lambert & Butler cigarettes found that levels of harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) in cigarette smoke were 1,500 times higher than the levels found in e-cigarette vapor.

    The study—titled “Comparison of select analytes in aerosol from e-cigarettes with smoke from conventional cigarettes and with ambient air”—was published in the December 2014 issue of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. According to proponents of vapor product use, the study lends credence to the belief that, although the long-term effects of inhaling the propylene glycol and glycerin found in e-cigarette vapor are not yet known, such products provide a safer alternative to smoking combustible cigarettes.

    According to the study, the e-cigarettes tested contained and delivered mostly glycerin and/or propylene glycol and water, and emitted an aerosol nicotine content that was 85 percent lower than the cigarette smoke nicotine content levels. The study also found the levels of HPHCs to be consistent with the air blanks—at <2 μg/puff—and no significant contribution of tested HPHC classes was found for the e-cigarettes tested. The e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes in the study were tested on a smoking machine to compare the amount of nicotine delivery and the relative yields of chemical constituents.

  • Blackcat E-cigs expands into Europe

    Bxpression of Long Beach, California, USA, is expanding into Europe, with offices in Prague and Paris. Blackcat Europe will make its debut at the Inter-Tabac tradeshow in Dortmund, Germany, on Sept. 19-21. The company will exhibit in hall 5, booth number 5.D10

    Anatole Soulier serve as director of sales and marketing for Blackcat Europe.

    “We are very excited with our expansion into the European market with our Blackcat E-cig products,” says CEO Mark Leafstedt. “The European market is expanding at a very rapid pace and together with the Blackcat Europe team, headed by Anatole, we intend to bring our products to this part of the world very quickly.”

    “I am very pleased to be a part of the blackcat team and together with my team plan to expand it throughout Europe,” said Soulier.

    Blackcat Europe will carry the full line of blackcat products, including disposable e-cigarettes and e-cigars, vaporizers, mods and accessories.

    For more information, visit www.blackcatecig.com