IBVTA Broad Member on Disposable's Surge

Compiled by Ellesmere Zhu from the E-cigarette Summit UK

At the E-cigarette Summit UK last week, Liam Humberstone, Technical Director of Totally Wicked Ltd and Board Member of IBVTA gave a speech titled "Rebirth of the Disposable E-Cigarette" on the development process of e-cigarettes and reasons why disposables became a hit in recent years.

Back in 2013, the disposable e-cigarette was a product type that many of us thought to be in its early death throes.  Advocates and the independent industry alike were certain that it would all be about refillable, reusable and rechargeable open systems from there on in.  We can track the re-birth, understanding the market forces that have carried the growth, examining the spectrum of ethical and moral standards behind active marketing campaigns, and looking in detail at what we can objectively state about “new consumers” of disposable vapour products. We can also compare these newer entrants to vaping with our sector’s existing customers before the arrival of the latest disposable vapes. In short, what are brightly coloured and intensely flavoured new vapes really doing to the overall nicotine market: vaped, smoked or “other"?

From an industry viewpoint, this leads very directly to regulation. In November 2013 the discussion was focused on Europe, and the wheel has since then turned full circle from TPD2 to TPD3. With 8 years’ hindsight, what were the strengths and weaknesses of Directive 2014/40/EU’s impact on the diverse e-cigarette markets that it touched? How much of the enduring diversity in those markets is due to variation in regulations? Is the UK’s advanced position in reducing smoking through a nicotine harm-reduction approach engineered, “nudged,” or just a happy accident? How is it that the French, German, and UK vape markets have so many clear differences? Finally, as an industry sector, what pleas to policy makers and regulators are in the best interests of our customers, present and future?

Unlike today's disposable vapes, e-cigarettes in 10 years ago looked  just like cigarettes. But technologies adopted are similar, including but not limited to inner structure, e-liquid vaporization, etc., as Liam put it, "under the skins there is not much of a difference", as shown in the following screenshot:

Disposable vape market value in the UK skyrocketed from £10.6 million to £671 million in the past 2 years with a 63-fold rise, while refillable systems and pod systems stayed put, as shown in the following screenshot:

Disposables are more popular among younger users with a 7-10 years' age difference between disposable and 10ml users as shown in the following 2 screenshots. The 2 popular disposables drawn in the graph are Elfbar and Geekbar, China's hit disposable brands that originated in one enterprise. 

Preference for cotton candy ice is seen, interestingly, among users aged 46 - 70. So to quote Liam "Don't make rash assumptions about who might like what (flavor)", as shown in the screen below. 

Liam also made comments on EU TPD3 and EU Excise that they could be bad or great depending on the next election results, as is UK's TRPR. Both systems have seen unstable narratives due to constant changes in government, allowing tobacco control will take a back seat in their list of priorities. 

Reference: 

2021 – 2022: Rebirth of the Disposable E-Cigarette - A sector’s path through a difficult age