U.S. lawmakers have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban Puff Bar, an e-cigarette that is quickly replacing Juul as the vape of choice among young people, reports The New York Times.
The disposable devices come in more than 20 flavors, including pina colada and pink lemonade. Although the Trump administration banned fruit, mint and dessert flavors in refillable cartridge-based e-cigarettes like Juul earlier this year, it exempted brands that are used once and thrown away.
Launched last year, Puff Bar has been the key beneficiary of the loophole. Based on data used for tracked channels, which exclude online sales or vape shops, Puff Bar sales have consistently been more than $3 million a week since April, with volumes now over 300,000 sticks per week.
Juul’s business, by contrast, has shriveled since it restricted sales in the United States to tobacco and menthol varieties last fall.
When the FDA started regulating e-cigarettes, it permitted the continued sale of products that were on the market as of Aug. 8, 2016, pending agency review. Because Puff Bar was introduced after that date, the agency should have the authority to remove it even though the product is disposable and even if the FDA cannot prove the company is targeting youths.
The exception would be if Puff Bar had already been on the market before the 2016 deadline, under a different name or sold by another company.