Synthetic Nicotine, Puff Bar, and the FDA

Puff Bar, the most infamous disposable vape, is giving the FDA another headache with yet another technicality in their vape regulation laws.

Last time Puff Bar made the news, it was because they claimed that disposables were different from the banned vape cartridge devices. Rather than using a disposable pod, the entire device was used once and discarded.

The FDA quickly used their enforcement powers to expand vaping devices to disposable devices as well. Despite the ban on Puff Bars, they are still found in many places, from online markets to convenience stores. One of the difficulties the FDA faced in regulating Puff Bars was the difficulty of tracking down the original manufacturers of the devices - something vapers struggled to find as well.

Now, Puff Bar has returned, taking advantage of another technicality in the FDA’s rulings. Synthetic nicotine is currently not a tobacco product. Many vapers did not think much about this possibility.

As far as devices, they are all considered tobacco products as they are designed so that tobacco products could be used in them.

With e-liquids, the cost of synthetic nicotine comes into play. Synthetic nicotine is much more expensive than nicotine from tobacco plants. For many companies, it would not be worth investing that much money into producing products with synthetic nicotine. Using synthetic nicotine would mainly attract unwanted FDA attention.

However, if a device was both shipped out without tobacco derivatives and not meant to be refilled, it would very technically not be a tobacco product. While it is technically legal, it is very obviously something that will attract enough FDA attention, and is unlikely to be legal for much longer.

While the FDA is aware of the issue, they have stated that they do not want to comment much on ongoing investigations. Their quick actions are unsurprising, given how many issues Puff Bar alone has given them in the past and Puff Bar’s target audience. Puff Bar has a reputation of being the vape of choice among illegal, underage vapers after Juul’s disposable pods were banned. It is likely the possibilities for using synthetic nicotine will be closed in the future .

The usage of synthetic nicotine is currently not the main issue on many voter’s minds, given the USPS vape ban coming up. However, the usage of synthetic nicotine may be something that comes up in the future, and should be kept in mind.

References:

Will Puff Bar Force FDA to Regulate Synthetic Nicotine?

FDA investigating e-cigarette maker selling fruit-flavor vaporizers despite ban

Puff Bar Defies FDA Crackdown on Fruity E-Cigarettes by Ditching the Tobacco

1 thought on “Synthetic Nicotine: Could It Save Vaping?”