It is easy to find an electronic cigarette these days. This innovative product is the most popular smoking alternative offered on the global market. Though an increasing number of traditional smokers switch to vaping, many of them have no idea who produces these products.
Who Are the Manufacturers and Where Are They?
90% of the world’s e-cigs are made in China. In fact, this country is a motherland of the vaping industry.
In 2003, a Chinese pharmacist Han Li invented the e-cigarette. He developed the creation into a marketable product by his Beijing-based company, Ruyan. After success in China and Asia, the product started to be sold on the Internet. By 2009, e-cigs became popular in the US and Europe.
Other businessmen quickly followed. New factories were opened to meet the growing global demand. The market started to offer a wider choice of products for every kind of a smoker: herbal vaporizer, marijuana vape pen, nicotine-free e-cig, etc.
The heart of the industry is situated in a 5-square-mile area in Shenzhen. This district is full of industrial parks. More than 600 e-cigarette manufacturers are located here.
The Nuances of Quality Control
Hundreds of companies in China work with little or no oversight. Experts say that unscrupulous production could be blamed for the heavy metals, carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals that have been found in some electronic cigarettes.
Counterfeiting is a big problem for the vaporizer industry. It can be hard to distinguish a clone from a real product. Sometimes, verifying the authenticity code is the only sure way to find out whether you have bought a counterfeit.
If you see that your unique security code has been already checked hundreds of times or the code won’t work at all, you’ve got a clone.
Different certification marks can also tell the customer whether the product was produced according to the standards and met health, safety and environmental requirements. The most common symbols used to mark e-cigarettes are RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances), CE (European Commission), and UL (Underwriters Laboratories).
These marks allow manufacturers to sell their goods within the European and American market. But while responsible manufacturers comply with the stringent international standards, some doubtful factories put fake symbols on their boxes. For China, copying products is a common phenomenon.
To buy quality e-cigs, customers refer to verified dealers. It is also better to avoid superficial bargains while shopping online (on eBay, Amazon, or Alibaba) or in-store. You can check out dry herb vaporizer collection at vapingdaily.
The New York Times published a review of manufacturing processes in Shenzhen. It has found that many factories operated legitimately and paid attention to quality control. Still, some either had no safety test equipment or simply crafted fake products, often retailed for cheaper prices.
The FDA and E-Cigarette Manufacturers
So far, the Chinese government has not issued standards and regulations for electronic cigarette production and safety. It is difficult to clarify the regulatory status of vaping products. They belong neither to tobacco products nor drugs.
In the US, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has begun monitoring e-cigarettes and related products. They are developing the regulatory radar for global manufacturers. The federal agency wants to force industrialists all over the world to provide them with information on ingredients and the production process.
The Broad Definition of a Tobacco Product Given by the FDA
The FDA has changed the definition of a tobacco product due to the increasing spread of e-cigarettes and e-liquids. It spurs the question about how far they can stretch this definition.
The traditional tobacco products include cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, and other items manufactured from any plant of the genus Nicotiana. The tobacco smoke contains 4000 chemicals that have hazardous adverse effects on almost every organ in the body. Because of the dangerous consequences, the regulations were needed on the market. That’s why smoking products were marked as tobacco products.
E-Cig Vaporizer as a Tobacco Product
Many brands still use nicotine extracted from tobacco for producing E-liquids. The manufacturers claim that it is free from the other 4000 harmful chemicals.
Nevertheless, the FDA says that any product that is made or derived from tobacco, including nicotine, or any product that is designed to promote tobacco use falls under their scope. That is every vape item from batteries to drip tips.
For some reason, the nicotine-free vape juices are also included in the category “Tobacco brands”. If your herb vaporizer is nicotine-free, it is still considered to be a tobacco product. It’s kind of irrational.
USA E-Cig Manufacturers
The recent explosion of e-cig popularity didn’t go unnoticed by Big Tobacco. MarkTen belongs to Altria Group (the parent company for Philip Morris). British American Tobacco (BAT), the world’s most international tobacco group, launched Vype in 2013. Big Tobacco is now leading in sales.
The tobacco giant Reynolds America owns VUSE. R.J. Reynolds sold Blu to Imperial Tobacco, a big company in the UK. Other well-known American e-cig manufacturers are ProVape, Hana Modz, White Cloud, Evolv, and Halo.
Today, global e-cigarette industry earns around $5 billion a year. And it is expected to grow 24% per year in 2018.
SEVIA USA
The Shenzhen Electronic Vaporizer Industry Association (SEVIA) USA is the nation’s only vaping association that acts as the representative in the USA for top China e-cig and vaporizer manufacturers including Kanger, Aspire, Innokin, SMOK, Joyetech, and others. These companies craft high quality, innovative vaping products. Sevia USA is a group that helps to shape the regulations for e-cigs and vaping.
Sevia finds FDA regulations that have defined electronic cigarettes as a tobacco product suffocative and illegal. The association is active in lobbying for changes to them. It funds the Right 2 B Smoke-Free lawsuit. The lawsuit challenges the FDA’s latest regulations for electronic cigarettes, including limit vaping options for adults in the US.
The vaping industry has helped many people but still has numerous concerns. Shady manufactures make counterfeit e-cigs which damage the reputation of all of the Chinese market. SEVIA USA throws itself into defending vape rights in the US. The leading American e-cig brands also bear heavy burdens. Support the responsible e-cigarette manufacturers because they support vapers.
