Study reveals rapid rise in e-cigarette sources

A new and thought provoking study conducted by Dr. Shu-Hong Zhu, of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine of the University of California, San Diego and his colleagues have released findings that show that the number of online sources from which e-cigarettes may be obtained has increased drastically in recent years. The researchers have indicated that there are a plethora of brands of e-cigarettes in a wide range of flavors for e-cigarette users to choose from sold on the internet. Their research shows that within a given month of their study, an average of 10 new e-cigarette brands and astoundingly 240 new flavors appear online to entice and satify users of the product.

The team conducted their study of e-cigarette availability on the internet between May to August 2012 and again between December 2013 and January 2014. They chose to focus on online English language websites offering e-cigarettes for sale. During the first period of the study, the researchers show that they recorded 288 new brands of e-cigarettes appearing online. However, the second search sixteen months later revealed that while 37 of this number had disappeared, another 215 new brands had emerged in their stead. The June 16 online issue of the journal Tobacco Control reveals that the study being considered found more than 460 e-cigarette brands with nearly 7800 flavors on offer. While menthol and tobacco were common flavors for most brands, there were other favorites which included fruit, candy, alcohol and snacks or meals, obviously developed to suit the many and varied tastes of users.

The research team also noted that roughly 10% of the brands they located on the internet claimed that the use of e-cigarettes could help smokers needing to quit the habit. The group raised some concerns as to the effect the swift growth of the e-cigarette industry will have on the rate at which new smokers emerge or the attempts being made by current smokers to quit. They are of the opinion that these gray areas raise "significant challenges to regulatory policy making."

The research team notes that while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has of late classified e-cigarettes as a tobacco product which means that sale of e-cigarettes to minors will be a banned activity, such a ban does not apply to sales made via the internet. Adding to these concerns is the fact that such sales make up roughly half of e-cigarette purchases, which in the US are expected to top $2 billion in the current year.

If you have an e-cigarette vape shop and have had trouble setting up an electronic cigarette merchant account with traditional banks, you know the frustration it can cause. Make sure you do your research and look for a merchant account provider that can process a high risk business such as an e-cig shop.

Hi, I’m Blair Thomas the Co-founder of emerchantbroker.com. I have 10+ years of experience in the electronic payments industry, I manage several successful agent offices and registered Iso’s.