In 2008, e-cigarette was a fast-rising business, but the technology is not quite there yet. The idea of having a device that can be an alternative to traditional smoking is very enticing. E-cigarette or vaping market was wide open. The startup cost was meager, and the government is not regulating the market yet. Business owners will have a potentially huge payoff if they do it right. Vape market is a booming business, and the global market is starting to get bigger because of people who want to quit smoking.
A Chinese pharmacist invented e-cigarette or vape in 2003, whose father died because of lung cancer. Vape uses Lithium-Ion batteries to heat a coil with cotton soaked in a nicotine-laced liquid. The liquid will turn into a vapor with little traces of nicotine, compare it with 60-plus carcinogens found in cigarettes, e-cigs looks safer compared to cigarettes. At first look, the vaping market seems a legitimate business. But from 2008 to 2014, the industry reached a plateau. Vaping business owners thought the demand for the top e cig is high, but in reality, it is much smaller than expected. It just boomed 2 to 3 years ago. From an unknown business ten years ago, it reached an estimated $3.7 billion enterprise in the United States last year. And according to Nielsen report, 2014 vape revenue reaches $50 million in big retailer stores like Walmart and Target alone. It does not show how much it gets in online stores. But it still pales compared to traditional cigarette sales, that reaches $92 billion in the United States alone.
Some smokers try e-cigarette just once. They said vape does not taste or feel like a real cigarette. E-cig gives slower nicotine hit compared to the traditional cigarette. If you are a heavy smoker, you need to know that it needs trial and error, as well as a lot of rejection before you will get used to using e-cigar. Most experts are convinced that the e-cigar market will not grow at all. But to the vaping community, it is just a matter of time before the business will reach its real potential. Not only that, top e-cig companies are up against enemies in three fronts, the United States Food and Drug Administration, big tobacco companies and anti-smoking advocates. These three are doing everything to wipe out the competition.
Anti-smoking zealots like the American Lung Association has been telling the Food and Drug Administration to be stricter about regulating e-cig businesses. Instead of focusing on the fact that vaping helps people cut down on cigarette consumption or quitting, anti-smoking advocates focus on the minimal health risk of using e-cigs. These advocates prefer smokers who want to stop to stick with nicotine gums and patches, which is less effective compared to vaping. According to statistics, at least 70% of smokers in the United States wants to quit smoking, only 7% that uses patches and gums successfully stopped smoking, and at least 400,000 Americans died of lung-related illnesses just last year. That’s not good statistically. According to one tobacco company executive, remarks about vaping, made by anti-smoking advocates and prominent health professor are good press release campaign for traditional cigarettes.
Vape advocates and e-cigarette users are not suggesting that e-cigs are 100% safe. The liquid used still delivers nicotine, but with much lower content. E-Cig vapors contain at least a dozen carcinogens found in traditional cigarettes, but a much smaller quantity. According to a report by Public Health, England, the electronic cigarette is 95% safer compared to cigarettes. And Royal College of Physics urges the smokers to use e-cigarettes if they want to quit smoking. Despite all the recent studies, anti-smoking advocates are still very hesitant in promoting vape as an alternative to smoking because they say vape companies are marketing to children and non-smokers since e-juice or e-liquids have flavors like desserts, cotton candy and fruits.
And of course, the media are also helping anti-smoking zealots fed ideas to people about the risks and dangers of e-cigarettes in our health. In 2015, a study was published by the New England Journal of medicine, stating that, formaldehyde can be produced when e-liquids are exposed to high-powered vape atomizers or vaporizers. Not only that, but it is also noted in their report that e-juice or e-liquids should not be heated in that temperature. There’s also an issue with e-liquids containing a chemical called diacetyl. According to studies, diacetyl can cause irreversible scarring in the lungs, whether it is in low or high dosage.
