When last October, Trump announced that all flavoured vaping products would be banned, Juul had decided to be proactive and stopped selling its flavoured pods online, leaving only its mint, menthol and tobacco flavoured nicotine pods available for sale.
However, after the National Institute on Drug Abuse released data indicating that teenagers preferred mint and mango Juul flavours, with mint being the most popular, Juul had decided to stop selling mint pods aswell, leaving only menthol and its two tobacco flavoured products for sale.
“These results are unacceptable and that is why we must reset the vapor category in the U.S. and earn the trust of society by working cooperatively with regulators, attorneys general, public health officials and other stakeholders to combat underage use,” said Juul’s CEO K.C. Crosthwaite at the time.
Juul had already acclimated to this ban
Meanwhile, pointed out analyst at Bernstein Research Callum Elliott, competitors such as Njoy and BAT’s Vuse, had continued selling fruity flavours, which due to all the Juul flavours out of the way, had led to them witnessing a significant boost in sales.
“This spike in growth for Vuse Alto, combined with Juul’s own pressures from the increasing scarcity of mint pods at retail mean that Juul’s market share of the pod-vaping market has come under significant pressure over the past few months,” he wrote. Hence, added Elliot, as Juul’s competitors suffer from this ban, Juul will thrive once again.
Similarly, the PMTA deadline will boost Big Tobacco
Similarly, public health expert Dr. Michael Siegel thinks that as the independent vape industry faces another challenge due to the upcoming PMTA deadline, the tobacco industry will be on top once again. “The decision of the FDA not to ban all flavored e-cigarettes is a huge victory for public health. By allowing vape shops to continue selling flavored vape liquids, the FDA is preventing hundreds of thousands of ex-smokers from being forced to return to smoking. It also ensures that this important off-ramp from smoking remains available to adult smokers.”
“However, the battle is not yet over because if the FDA implements the PMTA deadline in May of this year, it will wipe out most of the vaping industry, handing it over to the tobacco companies. The results would be devastating to the public’s health, as many ex-smokers would return to smoking and many more would turn to a new black market for these products,” he added.
Read Further: Barron’s
