US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration denoted on 30th August that the investigation of 215 cases of severe pulmonary disease related to the use of electronic cigarettes is under way.
In a statement, the two agencies said it was not clear whether these cases were associated with an electronic cigarette product or e-cigarette, but many patients added cannabis substances such as tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol(CBD) to electronic cigarettes.
CDC recommends that e-cigarette users not buy e juice or DIY substances from abnormal sales channels; adolescents, pregnant women and non-smoking adults should not use e-cigarettes; current e-cigarette users should monitor whether they have symptoms of cough, shortness of breath, chest tightness and so on, and report it within 90 days.
A recent patient in Illinois who used electronic cigarettes was hospitalized with severe lung disease on July 29 and died on August 20, the CDC said. It is reported that this is the first death case related to electronic cigarettes in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Health has repeatedly warned about the possible health risks of e-cigarettes. On August 7, the US Drug Administration said it had received 127 reports of epileptic seizures following the use of electronic cigarettes and was investigating whether electronic cigarettes were a direct cause.
Electronic cigarette is mainly composed of batteries, heating core and evaporating devices and a pod with e-liquid. It can be used to vaporize the vape juice containing nicotine for users to inhale. The World Health Organization has published a report that there is no sufficient evidence that vaporizers can help quit smoking. Smokers can only benefit most when they quit nicotine intake altogether.
Related: People were vaping illicit cannabis carts last year without ending up in the hospital. So it makes sense to ask: What has changed?
UAE Federal Tax Authority declared that all the vape juice and electronic cigarette devices will be taxed by January 1, 2020. And the tax rate is 100%, which is incredibly high.
This new tax will be levied on both e-cig devices and e-liquids. And the nicotine content won’t have any influence on the 100% tax rate.
Considering this, we believe most sellers will choose to sell high nicotine strength e-liquids and pods in the near future, to make users as addictive as possible to make more money
Besides, in the opinion of VAPE HK, people in the UAE are richer than other districts in the world, and the levy of this tax would not influence the vape sales much.
On August 29, the RHBVE Electronic Cigarette Exhibition held by RHBVE Exhibition (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. opened grandly in the 4th hall of Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, ushering in the fifth-anniversary celebration!
The scale and popularity of the exhibition are beyond imagination, attracting thousands of people from different countries and regions. There are thousands of new best selling vape products. And it attracted hundreds of well-known enterprises at home and abroad to participate in the exhibition, the exhibitors keep shuttling. This over popular scene makes the participants exulted much.
Global vape production base ushers in new success
This exhibition refreshes the 5-year record of RHBVE electronic cigarette exhibition, and achieves the peak of the year-end Flagship Exhibition of the global base. People from the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, electronic tobacco traders, wholesalers, channel providers, traditional tobacco groups, electronic tobacco physical stores, investment and financing institutions come together to celebrate the electronic cigarette industry festival!
RHBVE plays to a full house – Warm atmosphere
High quality business negotiation with professional vape buyers
Vape girl show
China Electronic Cigarette Industry Head Summit 2019
Interviewer: Why are many brands still using ceramic core atomizers?
SIGELEI CEO: I was the first one to make ceramics heating core in the industry. When I worked as an engineer in Jieshibao, I developed absorbent ceramics. At that time, I also applied for a patent, called absorbent ceramics electronic cigarette. At that time, I wanted to use pod to drive the mod business. Later, I abandoned this project with my departure. Later, I worked with Americans to make a ceramic chip, but I still use cotton tie in it. One advantage of this product is that it is very simple and fast to assemble, which reduces the production cost. Another reason for the rise of ceramic cores is that there are big pushers behind them. You can see who pushed the ceramics up and who spent how much money to promote them. Ceramic core gets popular virtually in one year or two years. From the beginning of electronic cigarette to now, why cotton core has always been popular. Why cotton heating core has been alive to now, and is still very sold well. For the whole electronic cigarette industry, ceramics heating core is just the tip of the iceberg. The best taste is mod vape DIY that uses cotton heating core. The only advantage of ceramics is to make its producer rich quickly.
Above is a part of the interview to the SIGELEI CEO, here comes the rest.
Interviewer: What are the advantages of SIGELEI pod vape?
SIGELEI CEO: We started our business in September 2011. We also made pod vape then. The shape of the pod system was the same as that of today’s pod. But the atomizers and batteries were not so good at that time. The earliest ceramic core for atomizers was abandoned by consumers. Later, we led people to the direction of mod vape.
At that time, the vape processing was relatively scattered, atomizers producers make atomizers only, batteries producer make batteries only, and box producers make boxes only. Customers then wanted to buy them all at once. Initial consumers bought atomizers, boxes, batteries, chargers and e-liquids from different shops. Now we can do it all by one company, so the starter kit is made. In the past, no enterprise could control all the chains alone. At that time, because the quality was not good enough, producers could not make a finished product by ourselves. And at that time, people bought electronic cigarettes with problems do not know who to look for, no after-sales. Little brands can make a finished product in the whole industry. Electronic cigarette device, atomizer, e-liquids are made by ourselves, we have been in good shape many years ago, but not integrated together, now just integrated together.
That’s why RELX didn’t open its own factory to do it. Now FLOW started to build his own factory to do it. It’s certainly not that easy. There will be a lot of problems waiting for them.
The industry needs expertise, even if a group of professionals are invited to do it, it will take a long time for the team members of different personalities to adapt to each other, there will be a lot of problems. It depends on whether they can bear a bad result.
Interviewer: Why did SIGELEI start making pod vapes at this time?
SIGELEI CEO: Our company has been doing a good job in box mod. SIGELEI has become a synonym for mod, and its position in the industry is very stable. We have been following the vapers who understand electronic cigarettes, responding with continuous research, continuous innovation, which builds the achievement of SIGELEI today.
China’s logistics and e-commerce are well developed, and the release of information is very fast, unlike in the United States, we are going through channels.
If we want to enter the Chinese market, we first need to know the national policies and regulations, which direction electronic cigarettes will go. I’m the president of the Electronic Cigarette Association. I already know which direction I’m going to go. The Chinese market is now popular with small cigarettes. We will do what Chinese consumers like, and then we must cater to the national policy.
I can’t easily disclose the China policy orientation too directly, but everything is going well. The electronic cigarette industry will certainly have a place in China. The state will certainly regulate it, but it tends to assist the promotion of the vape industry and help the industry get better and better.
Interviewer: What are the main functions of Shenzhen Electronic Cigarette Association?
SIGELEI CEO: Shenzhen Electronic Cigarette Association was founded in 2015. At that time, people wanted to hold a group to get some warn. We tried to make our voice heard by the government. We could not allow some media to smear electronic cigarettes. We hope to have a dialogue with the government.
Interviewer: Do you think it’s too late for SIGELEI to join the pod vape market now?
SIGELEI CEO: At present, electronic cigarette technology is king, not sales channel. Channels are useless. In the past, there was No. 1 enterprise in the industry, but they disappeared overnight because of the technological progress of us behind. Our product did not leak e-juice while theirs leaked. People cannot found their leakage free products overnight then the sales channels disappeared eventually. Those products that depended on channels disappeared in minutes. It is equivalent to the current internet enterprises. The low price is due to the immaturity of the products, so it is meaningless to fight the price war. In the end, it would be banned. It would better to earn some quick money.
Some people say that the development of electronic cigarette technology makes the products similar today, there is no big difference. I can only say that without experiencing good things, you won’t think about this issue, nor will think about if you’re right.
Interviewer: Why don’t you rebrand pod, but continue to use the brand of SIGELEI?
SIGELEI CEO: I think rebranding doesn’t help much. A new brand needs to foster consumer trust, and we don’t need to spend any more time doing that by using SIGELEI.
Interviewer: Does SIGELEI have a financing plan recently?
SIGELEI CEO: Financing is certainly a good thing, but if some companies do not have their own research and development, but focus on the marketing, financing is not a good thing for it. I do not exclude financing and capital. I hope that capital will support industry more and not some short-term interests. You can pursue your short-term interests, but don’t destroy the target needs of an industry.
Some people asked if the electronic cigarette industry would be like the taxi renting APP Uber. I think that Uber is something that can be seen and touched, but electronic cigarettes are different. Does anyone think about whether this thing is healthy or not? Would you magnify the word “health”? Is it really 100% harmless? But some people can magnify it in the form of capital, it’s only a little better than cigarettes, but you brag it into perfect. I don’t think it’s good enough to be honest. If we give this experience to industrial factories, people who do business are naturally pragmatic and naturally do not boast too much, then the industry will not be so inflated. Now the capital only finds some people who write PPT, only some who will boast, and will definitely be abandoned by consumers. The electronic cigarette industry will not be killed if it has real ability, especially in recent years, the electronic cigarette industry has achieved good results. Money isn’t a must to do a good job of the product, a good product doesn’t mean much of cost. Of course, many people lack money, and hope to find more money, but some brands get capital to hire a group of people. But after a year, they did not produce a product. The greater the capital, the greater the disgrace after the brand did an awful job. Lies can only deceive people for a while, not for a long time. The first group of people like to invest in Internet companies, but now investors like to look for factories. Now I have access to a lot of capital, but we have to choose the ones that integrate with our resources. I don’t need their money purely, but I need their resources.
Interviewer: What’s your expectation to glori?
SIGELEI CEO: I hope glori can lead the industry, be more environmentally friendly, set up an industry benchmark, let everyone take cotton core as the leading factor, make everyone be healthier, make everyone know the difference between cotton core and ceramic core, if you feel that cotton core is healthier, its mission will be completed.
Vapor through ceramics heating core sucked into the lungs, into the blood, causes discomfort and illness. It can not be detected for decades. It can not be found out in a short time. I know the situation of ceramic suppliers like FEELM. The material of first batch is totally different from the second batch. The third batch is still different. What is the inspection standard for the materials? The true situation of supply and demand now is, even if the quality is not good, the products should be produced still. Anyway, everyone fight for money, more exactly, many people try to make quick money.
But when the cotton core is burnt, it can be seen. While the burnt ceramic core can’t be seen. You don’t know what is inhaled into your lungs. The smoke just feels lighter, but you don’t know what is sucked into the lungs is also particles, small sand particles, small aerosal particles. These small particles all enter the lungs. So I want consumers to know the value of cotton core. (Doesn’t the cotton core react chemically after burning?) After burning, the cotton core sticks together and will not be sucked in. While ceramic dust will be sucked into the lungs.
We have also used ceramic cores and the finished products are very good, but we still don’t want to produce them. Because when the ceramic core generates 100 puffs, the flavor and taste will drop, which’s generally called poor consistency. However, cotton core heated flavor goes bad after 3 tanks of e juice – 900 puffs. The cotton heating core is much more durable and stable than the ceramic heating core. It provides a highly consistent, pure and smooth vaping experience.
Verdict
Every enterprise has its own stand, excuse and plea to protect its own interests.
What you all need to keep in mind while reading above content is that SIGELEI is a traditional mod vape manufacturer. Pod vape is only a lead to its mod business.
ALD will do give SIGELEI a lesson when they heard that ceramics heating core is not better than cotton heating core.
RELX announced that it will start the PMTA submission program in September this year.
Only IQOS and a Swedish company have passed the certification program in the last 20 years. It took at least two years and cost at least $20 million.
Jiang Long, co-founder of RELX, said at the RELX i launch on 18th August that RELX’s cumulative financing amount was 10 times the sum of the second to tenth places China e-cigarette brands, but the cumulative financing amount of RELX was not announced.
However, a vaping industry group sued the U.S. government in August to delay an upcoming review of thousands of e-cigarettes on the market.
Previous, FDA regulators have repeatedly pushed back the timeline, at one point until 2022. So anti-tobacco groups were frustrated and sued the FDA. Then FDA was forced to set a deadline for PMTA. Interestingly, FDA was sued again by vape seller side.
FDA looks like a punch bag kicked around by the 2 sides. As to which side will win, it should be the side punches harder according to the current situation.
If the vapor seller side wins, RELX needn’t submit the PMTA recently. The bad news is that Juul has left vaping industry group in suing FDA.
At present, more than 70 cannabinoids have been isolated from cannabis plants, among which CBD (cannabis diphenol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) have the highest CBD content and are isomers. The significant difference between CBD and THC is that THC is hallucinogenic addiction, while CBD is not hallucinogenic addiction, and it also inhibits the toxicity. It has prominent effects in analgesia, sleeping, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, neuroprotection, anti-anxiety, anti-cancer, liver protection and anti-diabetes.
With the extensive research on the efficacy of CBD, its downstream applications are becoming more and more abundant. CBD can be used as skin care products, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, acne and acne removal; CBD can be used as a medical treatment, and has mature products in the treatment of seizure and multiple sclerosis (MS) – English company GW has developed the Stativex and Epidiolex drugs with CBD as the main component; CBD can be used in food, with calming and sleep quality improving functions.
CBD is useful obviously so how to gain CBD from cannabis plants? Is there any other way to get CBD besides directly from plants?
1. CBD Extraction
Generally speaking, you can get CBD from the following cannabis plants:
Hemp, also known as cannabis, it contains less than 0.3% THC and does not show mental activity.
Marijuana, the drug cannabis, contains more than 0.5% THC, which can produce strong psychoactive and addictive characteristics.
Medical hemp, its content of THC ranges from 0.3% to 0.5%, which shows a tendency of medicinal use.
One of the preconditions for extracting CBD from cannabis plants is to reduce THC content as much as possible. Therefore, the THC content must be controlled from the source. That is, cannabis plants should be with as little THC content as possible and as much CBD content as possible, like hemp. So, how to extract CBD from industrial hemp? At present, the common methods are solvent extraction, supercritical CO2 extraction, olive oil extraction and so on.
2. CBD Chemical Synthesis
1. Traditional synthesis methods of CBD
Catalyst: boron trifluoride
Yield: 41%
Disadvantages: low yield, high impurities; complex, high cost
2. Optimal synthesis of CBD
Catalyst: Palladium
Yield: 74%
Highlights: The catalyst is replaced by palladium to reduce by-products, with high purity and high yield.
Because of the complex molecular space configuration of CBD, the yield of traditional synthesis methods is low (only about 40%) and a large number of by-products will be produced, which has great limitations in extraction. Although pure CBD can be obtained by optimizing the synthesis method, the yield has also been improved (74%), but the new method is still in the laboratory stage, and the synthetic conditions need to be improved. High industrialization costs are too high to meet the market requirements.
3. CBD Biosynthesis
On February 28, 2019, a paper entitled Complete biosynthesis of cannabinoids and their unnatural analogues in yeast, published by Dr. Luo Xiaozhou, a research group of Jay Keasling at the University of California, Berkeley, elaborated on the study of CBD biosynthesis by pouring CBD-related gene fragments from plants into yeast. The yeast was modified and amplified to realize the total biosynthesis of cannabinoid and its non-natural derivatives.
The mevalonate pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was modified with galactose as raw material. A metabolic pathway for hexanoyl-CoA synthesis was introduced. Cannabinoid biosynthesis was completed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by using exogenous genes and key catalytic enzymes from different species. The heterologous reconstitution of the synthetic pathway has led to the total biosynthesis of several major cannabinoids and their derivatives, including cannabinoid phenolic acid (CBGA), tetrahydrocannabinol (THCA) and cannabinol (CBDA). The metabolic pathway is as follows:
Several companies seize the market and are optimistic about the prospect of commercialization
As early as 2017, when Jay Keasling applied for a patent for this method, he collaborated with Demetrix, a biotechnology startup, to introduce the process from laboratory to commercial production, using technology to produce the rarest cannabinoid at a reasonable price, and to reduce production costs to less than $1,000 per kilogram. Hyasynth, headquartered in Montreal, also wants a slice of the pie after accepting a million-dollar investment from Canadian cannabis dealer OrganiGram to speed up its own biosynthetic cannabis promotion.
Difficulties in Commercialization of CBD Biosynthesis
Biosynthesis is the result of the human genome project that began in the 1990s, creating a variety of things, including biofuels, medicines and even clothing fibers, by altering the genes of simple microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria, molds, lichens and fungi. Biosynthesis is considered to be a cheaper way to obtain cannabinoid concentrates, but there are still difficulties:
Yield problem: At present, the production of biosynthetic CBD is only 10 mg/L. To realize industrialization, it may need to expand 1000 times. (At present, the biosynthesis yield of artemisinin with industrial conditions reaches 25 g/L.
Technical issues: Biosynthetic engineering bacteria require dozens of gene loci modification, which is difficult to control, and maintaining the stability of the bacteria is also a problem.
CBD extraction technology aims at improving the extraction rate and purity of CBD, removing THC residues as far as possible, avoiding the use of toxic organic solvents, ensuring the safety and environmental protection of products, and reducing costs as much as possible. Current CBD acquisition methods are still dominated by highly mature extraction methods, while chemical synthesis faces many challenges such as high cost and complex process. Biosynthesis may be worth further exploring.
The opening ceremony of Shenzhen VapeEZ Technology Co., Ltd. (Sub-Brand: NEXCORE/ JUSTVAPE/ SUPCELL) was grandly held in Building E Funing High-tech Industrial Park, Lixinhu District, Baoan District, Shenzhen at 10:30 on August 25, 2019.
This is another milestone in the strategic layout and strength development of VapeEZ following the investment of Shunhao and Dongfeng shares in two A-share listed companies in June this year. It is believed that with the large-scale production, VapeEZ will have a cross-stage progress.
The R&D center of VapeEZ new plant is integrated with the manufacturing center. All customer-centered is the core idea of VapeEZ Intelligent Manufacturing. The industry’s top standard 10,000-class dust-free workshop, equipped with automated and semi-automated production hardware, supporting 7S management mode, GMP standard production environment, and ISO 9001 quality management system, provides a strong guarantee for production and quality control.
VapeEZ now has over 5,000 square meters of modern manufacturing center and R&D center, and a production and manufacturing team planning to exceed 1,000 staff. Its monthly production of atomizing device is as high as 5 million pieces, providing stable and reliable “one-stop service” integrating R&D, design and manufacturing for hundreds of customers around the world.
VapeEZ new factory
Leakage has always been a major pain point in the industry. VapeEZ, known as the pain point crusher in the electronic cigarette industry, has been sinking down to do the research and development of the underlying technology innovation, which has been warmly sought after by major brands and distributors.
After two years of research by VapeEZ Institute of Technology, we took the lead in introducing the patent technology of leakage proof atomization device with storage capacity of 2 years, which successfully solved the problem of e juice leakage and solved a major pain point in the industry.
VapeEZ introduced that they use the upper chamber separation design, and let the experiential officer realize the upper chamber atomization invisibly. Negative pressure test, high and low temperature test, vibration test environment ensuring zero leakage, perfect solution to the production, transportation, storage, sales process of leakage risk. It realizes the design concept of globalization of electronic cigarette.
At the opening ceremony, Huang Yu, founder and CEO of Wonton smart vape, a strategic partner of VapeEZ, representatives of suppliers and invited guests attended the opening ceremony. They witnessed the historic moment of VapeEZ with the leaders of VapeEZ Chairman and General Manager Shi Jinglian.
The opening ceremony opened in a grand and festive atmosphere. Statements were made by VapeEZ Chairman and General Manager Shi Jinglian, Xu Meng, Vice President of Shanghai Shunhai Group, and key customer representatives and supply chain representatives.
VapeEZ CEO & manager, Shi Jinglian
Verdict:
VapeEZ is a new factory that’s invested by listed companies. Its investors are not vape producers so people shouldn’t expect too much from VapeEZ.
It’s a factory that’s suitable for small vape brand OEM like Wonton.
As to bulk OEM order and professional ODM, ALD Group Limited founded in 2009 with 40,000 square meters factory, 4000 employees and 12 highly automated product lines can’t be more suitable.
High-quality exhibitors, the whole industry chain exhibition scope, more consumers. Every year, Shenzhen Electronic Cigarette Exhibition uses its strength to create communication, trade, experience and distribution platform for the industry. What’s the surprise of the electronic cigarette industry this year? Come and see in the 4th Hall of Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center.
KMOSE closed the RMB 10 million RMB angel financing round. The investors will not disclose it for the time being; this round of funds will be mainly used for KMOSE product development and production, sales channels and brand building.
Founded in March 2019, KMOSE is the e-cigarette brand of Shenzhen Fun Core Technology Co., Ltd. The core founding team has many years of experience in Internet, fast consumer goods and media operation experience. KMOSE disposable vape pen K1 has been sold both online and offline. And K1 has 12 different flavors in different colors.
KMOSE has been on the shelf of eight well-known domestic chain convenience stores (including exclusive cooperative KA channels), covering more than 4000 terminals. In addition, KMOSE has adopted a “single point penetration” strategy, which involves both zoning management, sales channel customer information collection and brand activities, so as to achieve the refined operation of the area. It aims to achieve the city’s full sales channel coverage.
Liu Haonan said, “When we visited Xiamen market last week, we have made KMOSE accessible everywhere. How high is the terminal density? For example, if the user can’t buy KMOSE at this convenience store. The storekeeper will tell him to buy it at the milk tea shop beside. If they still don’t have, he can buy it at the coffee shop next around the corner.
On the other hand, circle and topic are the two main directions of KMOSE in brand image and fan culture construction. Based on the above series of development strategies, K1 series of disposable vape pen of KMOSE achieved revenue of 3 million yuan in the first month of listing.
After the completion of angel round financing, KMOSE will continue to invest in new product research and development and sales channel layout, and apply the experience of mature areas such as Xiamen to more domestic markets. Liu Haonan revealed that KMOSE is currently in the stage of continuous financing.
