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REGULATION VIEWPOINT
This is Not a Cigar Premium cigars continue to get lumped together with other types of tobacco products—most recently the suddenly suspect vape category— ignoring the vast differences in product composition and use. Premium cigars must continue their difference and the need for appropriate regulation specific this product. > BY JOHN GEOGHEGAN
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f you’re trying to figure out the swamp of regulatory logic being applied equally to cigars and e-vapor
18 SMOKESHOP December 2019
products, you need look no further than the FDA’s mushy standards and the confusing statements coming from
the White House. The White House gets a pass because they haven’t been paying attention. Russia, the middle-east, North Korea, and global trade seem to be more important. The FDA, not so much. Getting this right should not be so hard. The rules don’t need to be the same. The FDA has implied as much, but not much has been done about it. A premium cigar is a roll of tobacco wrapped in tobacco, made predominantly by hand. The countries of origin, sizes, flavors, taste profiles, nicotine content, tars, and combustible toxins haven’t changed much in 100 years. An e-vapor device does not contain tobacco. It’s an electro-mechanical vaporizer, with a computer chip and battery activated by airflow, and a heating coil that aerosolizes an e-liquid containing mostly propylene glycol, imitation flavors, and nicotine. Since their inception, e-vapor devices have become more complex and adjustable, but the idea is the same. Ask the patent holders. About three years ago vape manufacturers, notably Juul Labs and Imperial, discovered that by blending nicotine salts instead of distilled nicotine into their e-liquids, they could nearly double the previous ratio of nicotine to e-liquid volume in their vape devices. This would also make their vapor less harsh to inhale. We have seen the results in the form of burgeoning teen addiction. So has the FDA. Where are the limits? Then, a little over a year ago, state-level legalization of marijuana expanded. This led to the bright idea that THC should be included in e-liquids. Extracted forms of THC found their way into e-cigarettes, vape devices, and e-liquids. Who knew this would happen? Everybody. To improve the viscosity and volume of the THC vape oils, vitamin E acetate and other untested ingredients were added to e-liquids and put on the market with little or no regulation from the FDA. Actual product volume was north of 5 million bottles of e-liquids and pods for sale. We have now seen the unintended and unregulated consequences in terms of lung illness and death due to blocked
