Juul imitators copy popular vape high nicotine levels
The popularity of Juul and its high nicotine bullies drives up the nicotine levels across the vaping industry in which Stanford researchers call a "nicotine arm", according to a new study. The findings back up suspicion that Juul's competitors are watching the vaping giant carefully to capitalize on the largely unregulated multi-billion dollar e-cigarette market.
Researchers with Stanford Research in the Impact of Tobacco Advertising examined the nicotine levels that Juul imitators announced. They looked at pods compatible with Juul devices or Juul-like knockoffs, as well as e-juice bottles for refillable pods and vapes. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Tobacco Control and first covered by CNN, reports that before Juul made it big, the most vape juice varied from 1[ads1] to 2 percent nicotine, with three percent marketed to heavy smokers. But today, the products advertise high concentrations of nicotine overboard, often in child-friendly flavors and at lower prices than Juul.
Since Juul entered the picture in 2015, the company has become very successful – taking over competitors like the Vuse line of vapes to dominate more than three quarters of the market. The last few years have also seen an increase in the number of children in high school and high school, which reached record 3.6 million this year. "We began to realize that Juul's success had led to a fundamental change in the e-cigarette market," said Robert Jackler, a professor at Stanford and senior in the study The Verge . "And many other companies began to imitate Juul in several important ways."
Jackler and Divya Ramamurthi, also in Stanford, went on to investigate how exactly Juul's competitors were trying to copy the gun giant. Some companies imitated Juul's discreet design. But others also replicated what was in the small device: Juul's patented nicotine salts – a type of nicotine that feels more like a cigarette by inhalation. It is different from previous generations that use freebase nicotine – a tougher form of nicotine that is more common in cigars. Nicotine salts are easier to breathe, so e-juice manufacturers like Juul can afford to increase the nicotine dose without making the vaping experience unpleasant.
The researchers traded and searched online for pods that announced themselves as "Juul-compatible", as well as high nicotine dose e-fluids and pod-based vibes similar to Juul. They found 14 companies that sell nicotine salts pods compatible with a Juul, many of which were cheaper than actual Juul products. All came in child-friendly sweet flavors, and all contained high nicotine doses of 5 percent nicotine or more by volume . (The confusing thing about Juul is that it reports the nicotine dose for the majority of its American pods as 5 percent nicotine by weight which makes it difficult to compare it with other products.)
They also showed up 39 devices similar to Juuls – including refillable, non-refillable, and disposable vapes. Again, all the pre-filled breasts of the vapes came in child-friendly flavors, containing more juice juices than Juul pods, and announced similar or higher levels of nicotine as well. For bottles, Jackler and Ramamurthi found 71 brands that offer bottles of nicotine salt e-fluids with high concentrations of nicotine.
Gideon St. Helen, a tobacco researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, says that for [21459005] you need a higher nicotine folding juice to deliver enough nicotine into the aerosol. Lower nicotine fluids, on the other hand, are commonly used in the high-powered modes that produce a large plume, he says in an email to The Verge . "The important question is, which of these scenarios is less harmful?" Says St. Helen. "My effort is, a low power, high nicotine e-cigarette is less harmful to users than a high power, low nicotine e-cigarette."
Jackler agrees that Juuls may be somewhat less harmful than higher powered vapes. "These larger units with large coils and high power actually produce more toxic substances," he says. (Still, he manages: "There is nothing natural to breathe in and out of propylene glycol, and glycerin or flavors.") But the possibility that a child could get into a bottle of sweet taste, high-nicotine juice juice is especially about Jackler: Nicotine is a gift And toddlers like to keep things in their mouths. Despite severe warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, it wasn't looking like juice or food, but many of the bottles were heavily packed and contained sweet flavors, the study said. "One teaspoon contains enough dose to kill 5 toddlers," Jackler says.
For what is worth, Juul does not seem like the origin of Juul pretenders. After all, cheap knockoffs are bad for business, and their spread can damage the company's image, which has already been a great success because of its popularity with young people. "JUUL-compliant" products described by Dr. Jackler and his team appear to be illegal on the market because they were marketed only after August 2016, "said Victoria Davis, a spokesperson for Juul, in an email statement. Because a product that goes to the market after August 2016 will receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration before it hits shelves. "We believe that a product that is illegal on the market should be removed immediately."
down companies producing false devices and pods, according to a news release, and in October Juul sent a complaint to the United States International Trade Commission about companies it claims to violate Juul's patent, Davis also said that Juul was not the first to market nicotine salts. RJ Reynolds Vapor Company, for example, already sold Vuse Solo at that time, a 4.8 percent nicotine salt product, according to the company spokesman Michael Shannon, but Jackler points out that these were the salt products exception – now they are the rule. "The motivation for those who introduce high nicotine-based products was not really well-established until after Juul had already become a virus product," he says.
There are some public health fixes proposed by Jackler and Ramamurthi. with vapses juice, so young children cannot accidentally eat their contents. The team also suggests prohibiting child-friendly flavors entirely in nicotine-containing juice juice, and making high-dose products such as Juul available only with the doctor's prescription. Enter a package of effective guidelines, "says Jackler," who derives their tide being picked up by young people. "
