Major bust in US nets thousands of unauthorised vapes

Agents from US customs and the FDA have seized almost 34,000 e-cigarettes mimicking the well-known Puff Bar brand.

Puff Bar, a US-based marketer of disposable e-cigarettes manufactured mainly in China,  ceased all online sales in the US last year in the wake of a ban in the US on the sale of flavoured nicotine vapes, although a search today reveals products claiming to be Puff Bar devices are still being sold on US e-commerce sites.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and FDA intercepted 42 separate shipments arriving from China last month, destined for various counties in Texas, which included “individual disposable flavoured e-cigarette cartridges resembling the Puff Bar brand, including Puff XXL and Puff Flow.”

Last July, the FDA issued waring letter to Cool Clouds Distribution – which runs the Puff Bar brand according to the agency – warning it to remove flavoured disposable e-cigarettes and youth-appealing e-liquid products from the market because they do not have the required premarket authorisation.

The FDA says the vapes – which it describes both as “unauthorised” and “counterfeit” – would be worth almost $720,000 at Puff Bar’s recommended retail prices.

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The regulator also suggests that “while the Puff Bar website appears to have recently stopped online sales and distribution in the US, it does not mean that the firm ceased distributing products to other retailers or selling products at brick and mortar retail stores.”

It notes that the website’s store locators are still active, indicating that potential consumers can still search for products located for sale at retail stores.

“Protecting American consumers from illicit and especially harmful tobacco products, such as counterfeit or flavoured e-cigarettes, is of utmost importance to the FDA,” said Judy McMeekin, FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs.

“We will continue to investigate and remove from the marketplace products that pose a particular danger to the public health.”

There is thought to be high volumes of illegal vapes in the illicit supply chain, which is particularly concerning given the outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) in the US that peaked in 2019.

Counterfeit and unapproved vaping products pose a very serious health concern to users as they are likely manufactured in unregulated facilities with unverified ingredients, according to the FDA.