Why do vape brands prefer the model of social media new retail?

After the online sales of domestic electronic cigarettes reached its peak at the beginning of 2019, the growth began to stop and keep stable, and there was no obvious rising trend. Therefore, solving the problem of building sales channels and promoting sales has become the major concern of brand owners.

There are three main reasons for the decline in online sales: first, after the “3.15” party criticized e-cigarettes, e-commerce channels reduce the advertising intensity of e-cigarettes; second, social platforms control all content of e-cigarettes and restrict online marketing channels; third, the mainstream media strengthens the pressure of public opinion that vapes are harmful, and the public’s understanding of e-cigarettes is misled;

The current promotion of electronic cigarette brand in China is a great problem. Limited online promotion channels and slow penetration of brands have led many enterprises to make preparations in advance and shift their focus to the offline channel development.

However, does this mean that the online channel is dead for vapes in China?

The answer is uncertain.

Although the tightening of Internet policy will have a certain impact on online sales and promotion of vape brands, the uncertainty of vape industry and the characteristics of products in line with fast consuming categories may make online marketing gradually turn to the social media new retail mode of O2O or OMO. In addition, some new e-cigarette brands have the capital and online influencer KOL support, and they are very skilled in online marketing adaptability and strategic planning, which will also become one of the reasons for accelerating the integration of online and offline platforms.

What is the social media new retail model of O2O and OMO?

o2o online offline social media marketing

O2O, or Online To Offline, refers to the combination of offline business opportunities and the Internet, making the Internet a front desk for offline transactions. The concept of O2O is very broad. As long as the industry chain can involve both online and offline, it can be called O2O.

In the early days, the main use of O2O was to take the use of the convenience of online promotion, so as to gather the relevant users, and then lead the online traffic to offline. The main areas were focused on online group buying and promotion represented by the early Meituan. Generally speaking, enterprises use the high dissemination of the Internet to publish product information to consumers on the Internet and guide consumers to the offline shop to be served. In this process, there are unidirectional and low adhesion characteristics.

At the later stage of the development of O2O, it has basically possessed the elements that we all know and understand at present. The main feature of this stage is to upgrade to a service-oriented e-commerce model: including commodities (services), orders, payment and other processes, to transfer the previous simple e-commerce module to a more high-frequency and daily life scenario.

Because the traditional service industry has been in a state of low efficiency and insufficient digestion of labor force, there has been a carnival booming growth of O2O model business under the promotion of the new model and the catalysis of capital. so door-to-door massage, door-to-door meal delivery, door-to-door fresh food, door-to-door makeup, Didi and other O2O models began to emerge in endlessly. Due to the maturity of mobile terminal, Wechat payment, data algorithm and other links, as well as the catalysis of capital, their user group grew explosively, the frequency of use and loyalty began to rise, and the integration of O2O and users’daily life began to become an inseparable part of life.

Let’s take a look at the retail model of OMO then, OMO business model is an industry platform business model, referred to “Online Merge Offline“.

Through the effective aggregation of online sharing commerce, mobile e-commerce and offline commerce, enterprises adapts to changes of experience economy development ables the users to simplify the way to obtain physical goods and services, and build an online, mobile and offline three-in-one full-time experience marketing system, so that enterprises and users conduct transactions and consumption through various kinds of carriers and terminals.

Enterprises with such a unified platform-based business model can rationally allocate enterprise resources, formulate corresponding business strategies, and ultimately achieve a win-win situation between brand communication and actual transactions, combining their own product and service characteristics.

Simply put, online is a product line supporting mechanism, offline is another product line supporting mechanism, online channels achieve team fission through the rapid spread of the Internet, offline physical stores do local in-depth marketing through offline product line. At the same time, local offline physical stores are used as business incubation bases to provide business guidance, training and replication to the surrounding entrepreneurs, so as to promote the continuous growth of online channels.

So why put the word “social” before “new retail”? The great reason is that the success of the two retail modes of O2O and OMO is closely related to the practice of social media platform. Perhaps such an explanation is confusing, but if we take the “Wechat business” that has been rising year by year as an example, maybe everyone will understand it immediately.

Wechat business has been developing for seven years since 2012. The greatest advantage of Wechat business is to precipitate users and realize the complete aggregation of team flow fission. Although Wechat’s original intention is to be used as a social tool, marketing is not its main focus, but it also means that Wechat is more accurate than traditional e-commerce to find user groups and interconnected large data, thus greatly improving the scope of business services and orders.

Early Wechat business merchants were simply selling goods in friends circle. They were almost zero guarantee in terms of product quality, category selection, logistics, rights protection and so on. It was full of a large number of counterfeit and defective products. Because of the fission effect of agency distribution mode and viral marketing with low threshold and zero cost, Wechat merchants are springing up in the circle of friends.

During this period, Wechat merchants almost made consumers hate Wechat merchants’ advertising activities, but it is also this fast-growing social medial retailing that enables enterprises that want to get more traffic and sales to introduce the mode of O2O and OMO into Wechat merchants, and to achieve the comprehensive interchange of brand channels, decentralized traffic aggregation and user precipitation.

On the one hand, due to the early environmental impact, Wechat business practitioners need more brands with high prestige to enter the market, while consumers need products with mouth-to-mouth credibility; on the other hand, brands need to spread quickly to achieve user fission, interact directly with consumers, so as to establish brand awareness in the market. Therefore, in the context of both buyers and sellers’demand, a “new social retail” in O2O or OMO model gets favored by consumers gradually.

At present, there is no OMO’s social retail model in the electronic cigarette industry. After all, you should not have heard of such services like “sharing electronic cigarettes” or “electronic smoke cloud data” appearing on the market. But when it comes to social media new retail outlets of the type of O2O, online channels of some enterprises have begun to shift in this direction according to the surveys.

First of all, YOOZ, an electronic cigarette brand created by Uncle Cai Yuedong, was taken as an example. After its previous achievements in Taobao, Jingdong and Xiaohongshu, YOOZ is planning to make efforts in the private domain to solve the pain points faced by traditional Wechat merchants with brand-new categories and innovative models, to use traffic fission to play new retail.

YOOZ’s team includes several top Wechat business executives to improve the disadvantages of the Wechat business agent team system. For example, there are only two levels of agency sales. Flattened agency team can help YOOZ really approach the market and help agents get more product revenue. In addition, unlike traditional retailers, the quality, logistics and rights protection of electronic cigarette products are handed over to YOOZ.

When consumers use YOOZ products, they find that the product price and performance are good. They can apply to become agents through the unified entrance of Wechat built by Yooz. Agents can share products and link to social media such as friends circle, China twitter, QQ space, and realize fissile prodcut distribution based on acquaintance recommendation.

Remember the “YOOZ e-cigarette online 24 hours to get 5 million sales” incident at the beginning of this year? This is Cai Yuedong, who is well versed in Internet marketing, who demonstrates the social media new retail is best with a strong team of Internet foundations.
Look at another brand case of realizing new retail fission. It is also a popular electronic cigarette brand, FLOW, which was launched almost at the same time as YOOZ.


FLOW’s recently adopted FLOW Partner Scheme, similar to YOOZ, is a new retail model that uses social media as a channel for sales agents to achieve user fission. However, it is worth noting that FLOW’s method of becoming a distributor is simpler than YOOZ’s. It only needs to register through an entry link set up by the official Wechat account to become the brand general partner after being audited.

After becoming a partner, you can enter the Partner’s Center through the official Wechat account to check your shop situation, and share links to other consumers to earn commissions. If you become a general partner, you can get a 10% Commission on any order, and if you become a partner’s friend and successfully promote it to his friend, you can also get an additional 2% second-level invitation award.

In addition, as the amount of accumulated orders continues to rise, your partner rank will also rise. When you exceed 5000 yuan, you will be promoted to an intermediate partner with a corresponding increase of 15% and 3% in commission. When you accumulate more than 10000 yuan, you will become a senior partner with the highest commission ratio of 20% and 5%.

vape girl

Does FLOW seem to have a similar partnership plan? In fact, Airscream Bubble, an emerging e-cigarette brand, launched its Distributor Program earlier this year, along the same path. The brand has raised a lot of topics at Shenzhen Electronic Cigarette Exhibition with the “99 yuan pod vape starter kit”. Later, Bubble set up the “Bubble Ambassador” distribution officer program on Wechat, which became the first echelon for domestic e-cigarette brands to step into social media new retailing.

In the case of electronic cigarette companies, social media new retail seems to be a trend of many opportunities, although many market analysts say that the trend of bubbles has always existed because of the closeness of WeChat platform and the fact that third parties can not see the true marketing effect, and what commission system is and the two level reward. However, it is worth noting that electronic cigarette products, different from traditional consumer goods, are a “addictive” consumer market. And the marketing model of Wechat businesss + O2O has great potential to accelerate the “stickiness” and “penetration” of electronic cigarette brands to consumers remaining nontransparent.

vape girl

Generally speaking, the transition to social media new retail, a large-scale, high-precision sales channel, just meets the convenience of e-cigarette users’ demand for products. Through the direct purchase of Wechat micro APP, fixed-point transportation, at least one layer of wholesalers is removed, which not only greatly improves the convenience of consumers, reduces the problem of middlemen, but also reduces the cost of brand promotion and expands the margin space of profits. Therefore, online channel  transformation is the general trend of the future.

However, the transformation of online channels can bring considerable fission results, but at the same time, it also tests the ability of enterprises to expand offline, capital, resources, product quality and other issues. After all, once the online channel grows, it will inevitably become the opposite and competitor of the offline channel. If the market cannot be perfectly integrated and well controlled, it will easily lead to the revolt of the agents and the collapse of the hard-built offline sales channel.

Trillion-level capital group Zhongzhi Enterprise Group enters vape industry

The most low-key capital faction, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group (ZEG), has been running in the capital market for nearly 30 years. Its members are as many as 1000 companies. It has repeatedly operated over 100 listed companies and managed more than a trillion yuan of assets through multiple capital platforms.


Zhongzhi Enterprise Group already has trust, wealth company, merger and acquisition fund, new finance, new energy and mining sector. The non-controlling style company ZEG began to move from behind the scenes to the front desk since 2015, and participate in the operation of listed companies. ZEG, which is good at investing in listed companies by means of capital operation such as surprise acquisition of the target and participating in project matching financing, has changed its usual routine and frequently appeared in front of the world. First, it took over the voting rights of major shareholders, took over the stumbling * ST Yushun (002289.SZ), and then invested 168 million yuan to subscribe for new shares of Zhuoya Capital (08295.HK), becoming the company’s largest shareholder.


Recently, it has been accurately reported that ZEG has established a brand management company, and the brand management company will be involved in the brand capital operation of new tobacco categories, which means that the capital giants will also start to enter the vape industry chain.

Data show that from 2010 to 2018, global sales of e-cigarettes increased by nearly 20 times, with more than 35 million users of e-cigarettes. China produced more than 90% of total e-cigarettes in the world, but domestic market consumption only reached 6%, far less than the United States and the European Union market, even so, domestic e-cigarettes still have more than 50 billion markets!


Behind the concern of capital is the favorable development prospects of electronic cigarette industry. On the one hand, electronic cigarettes are becoming the synonym of fashion. They are similar to cigarettes in flavor and use, and have safer and healthier components. On the other hand, the world’s cigarette production is declining, while the sub-areas such as electronic cigarettes are facing high growth.

The production and manufacture of electronic cigarettes in China has formed a mature industrial chain system with broad prospects. E-cigarettes have attracted more and more attention from capitals. A large number of investment institutions in the consumer sector in the primary market are following the e-cigarettes field closely. Why such a trillion-level asset management group Zhongzhi Enterprise Group entered the market at this time? It should be attracted by the big cake as well apparently. But how will Zhongzhi Enterprise Group enter the vape market?

Judging from the way in which Zhongzhi Enterprise Group has been used by becoming the second major shareholder in recent years while participating the operation of listed companies, will ZEG join the operation of a domestic electronic cigarette brand by means of capital investment? If so, which brand will it be?

LCP New Opportunities- Alternative to HNB Material PEEK

LCP is not only an important material for 5G communication but also an excellent heat-resistant and fire-resistant material. It may replace PEEK as an e-cig material. Polyplastics exhibited LCP, an electronic cigarette recommended material at the rubber and plastic exhibition in 2019. This LAPEROS LCP material is not only an important material for 5G high-speed connectors and base stations, but also has the advantages of high heat resistance, high fluidity, dimensional stability and can be used in heat not burn products.


LCP Electronic Cigarette Recommended Material Exhibited by Polyplastics

Why can LCP replace PEEK? PEEK is currently used in e-cigs, mainly in HNB products, as heating plate base, atomization bin and other parts. Especially the base of the heating sheet, the material of this part mainly connects the heating sheet with the battery base below. Because the base contacts directly with the heating sheet, the high heat resistance of the material are required.


IQOS heater base with PEEK

LCP and PEEK belong to the six engineering plastics systems. They also have a series of excellent properties, such as high strength, high modulus, outstanding heat resistance, minimal linear expansion coefficient, excellent flame resistance, electricity insulation, chemical corrosion resistance, weather aging resistance, microwave transmission, and excellent processing properties.

LCPPEEK
AppearanceBeige (also white opaque solid powder)Coarse, fine and granular materials
Density1.35~1.45g/cm31.27~1.33g/cm3
Decomposition Temperature450℃560℃
Flame resistantUL94V-0 StandardUL94 V-0 Standard 600℃
Processing Temperature Range300~390360~400

 

By comparing the above data, the fire and heat resistance of LCP is close to that of PEEK, and the price of LCP is lower than that of PEEK. LCP is a kind of liquid crystal polymer, which can be divided into lyotropic liquid crystal polymer (LLCP) and thermotropic liquid crystal polymer (TLCP). TLCP is more common among them. According to the different molecular structure of TLCP, it can be further divided into type I, II and III.

Several Types of LCP

At present, the information of LCP resin manufacturers is listed below for reference. If there are any omissions or additions, please contact Vapehk.

ManufacturerBrand name
Celanese/ TiconaVectra, Zenite
SolvayXydar
Polyplastics,JapanLAPEROS
Yonigiko, JapanRodrun
MITSUBISHI chemistryNovaccurate
Sumikasuper ChemicalSumikasuper
Ueno Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.UENO
SIVERAS, JapanSIVERAS
Acrox, KoreaSEYANG
Shanghai Prit     —
Blonde TechnologyVicryst
Shenzhen Watt New MaterialsSELCION
Jiangmen Dezhongtai     —
Ningbo Jujia New Material     —
Nantong Haidi New Materials Co., Ltd     —

Asmodus mod vape juice review: Vape juice is alive with box mod

Many users should be familiar with Asmodus,
And its vape juice has conquered many users’ taste buds
This time I received iced strawberry, pineapple and sour apple, mint, lemon, blueberry and bear biscuit. Five Flavors of vape juice like Strawberry, Pineapple and Orange are sold by ASMODUS.


As you can see, Asmodus shows a trendy look from the design of brand logo.


Similarly, the design of the bottle stickers for these five kinds of e juice is also trendy.
We can know through the bottle sticker that the e juice nicotine strenght is 3 mg
According to the consistency of e juice, you can Judge that their VG/PG is 70/30.


Device review
DOVPOVEE Voltage Regulating Device+Voluna 2 RTA
(Clapton double 0.19 Ohm 4.2V)


Voluna 2 RTA is the manufacturer’s gift e juice, which was send with the RTA,

T-shaped silk table shows Voluna 2 RTA,
Easy-to-use,
The overall appearance also shows the trendy style


Crush Jasty Ice Strawberry Pineapple

A light fruit fragrance when opening the lid fills,
You can smell the fruit aroma of pineapple.
Mixed of strawberry flavor which makes pineapple flavor richer,
The pineapple in front of the mouth brings a slight sour refreshment to the mouth.
And then the sweet strawberries slowly emerged from the mouth
It neutralizes the acidity of pineapple to the best.
Although not as obvious as other mixed fruit e juice, the difference between the front and back mouths is enough for users with taste buds.

Sour Apple

You can smell the sour and refreshing smell of green apples when you open then bottle.
What you experience at the entrance is the sweetness of the apple.
Then came the sour flavor of green apples.
When entering the throat, I experienced a strong sense of throat hitting.
Turn down the air intake and vape,
The sour and refreshing smell of green apple is more obvious.

Cool Blue Frost Mint Lemon Blueberry

When opening a bottle and smelling the fragrance
Its flavor has some similarities to the INSECT vape juice earlier.
Its sour taste is enough to lift your taste buds
When the vapor enters, the refreshment of mint will immediately show up.
Then lemon and blueberry mixed sour flavor fills the whole mouth quickly.
And a little sweetness.
It’s sort of like kiwifruit.
Vapor layers are well shown.


WILD FIRE Bear Biscuits

When you open the bottle, you can smell the rich chocolate sweets.
The vapor smells like chocolate bitterness.
Or the smell of coffee
When vapor enters the nasal cavity
It’s more like the aroma of a chocolate-like cookie.
And the flavor is clear.


ILLUMINATI Strawberry, Pineapple and Orange

Open the bottle and you can smell the fragrance
The acidity of the mixed fruit will be stronger.
The sweetness of strawberries can be felt at the entrance of the vapor.
Then I felt the sourness of pineapple.
After careful deliberation on the taste
The flavor of orange in the tail will show.
Similarly, a layer of the flavor is impressive,
Vapor with sour and refreshing taste


According to individual differences
Everyone feels a little different about the vape juice.
So the above experience is for reference only.

Verdict

These five kinds of e-liquids are mainly about sour and refreshing taste.
Sweet in sour, sour in sweet
Suitable for summer vaping
And the layered feeling of mixing several kinds of fruits brings a better pleasure of vaping,
It’s worth trying.

Asmodus official site

The sales of RELX Alpha was stopped by RELX official – Technical upgrade or technical failure?

The sales of RELX Alpha was once stopped by RELX official. Why does RELX official stop selling its widely promoted new product? There are 2 major reasons. Continue to read the article and you’ll see.


RELX Alpha

Friends focus on electronic cigarette industry know that RELX released its latest product RELX Alpha in 2019 on March 31. The new starter kit costs 399 yuan. However, it is shocking that RELX suddenly pulled all the new products off the shelves immediately after the launch. Many users now only have the empty device in hand lacking pods to replace, and then began to complain a lot online.

When we landed in JD mall on May 23 and Tmall inquired about it, we found that Alpha was still not online in its flagship store of JD mall, but Tianmao flagship store had it online again. However, it was put in a very small and unobtrusive corner.

I raised my hand and bought one kit. But when looked through the user’s reviews, I saw that there were lots of e juice leakage reviews of user complaints, and many users complained about the leakage after receiving the goods a few days later.

relx review
It sucks, serious leakage, much worse than last version! I’m wondering how can they make the advertisement so beautiful with such garbage.
Bloody leakage. Poor flavor, just a piece of junk. Avoid it!

Above two users should have purchased RELX Alpha at its launch, but then it was officially removed online. A month after receiving the pre-order product, some users began to criticize in their official shop.

relx alpha review
Used it for some time, and changed 4 pods. EVERY pod leaks. It makes me sick in every vaping. I strongly require a refund or exchange immediately. It has ruined RELX.
I regret I didn’t rate it 1 star previously. And I haven’t seen such a scamming seller, it required pre-order, but after 1 month since it’s sale, I didn’t receive the product. They said they are out of stock. So I reported it to the mall then they shipped the product immediately after my report. Where did the stock come from? What’s worse, every pod leaked after I unboxed. So I returned it and got no response until now. Every friend around me says RELX is great but it lets me down deeply. Please be careful before purchasing!

One month after receiving the goods, a lot more negative reviews showed up.
Customer service said it was out of stock and off the shelf because it sold too well. But RELX official put an upgrade notice on the product details page in the past two weeks.


The RELX product team said it had upgraded the structure of the pods. So we speculate that the new product was put on the market but they found that the pod leakage is extremely serious. So they urgently took it off the shelf. It seems that the structure of the pod should be repaired. And I also ordered it at its launch to test the new Alpha product of RELX 2019.

RELX has been promoting its first product since its inception in 2018. After entering 2019, RELX released RELX Alpha and a disposable vape at a price of 49 yuan at the end of March, which obviously accelerated the product update and evolution. On the one hand, it may be related to the fierce competition in the electronic cigarette industry so that it must accelerate the product launch pace, and on the other hand, RELX has been developing new products all the time. It just happened to be released at the end of March.

RELX is number 1 in the Chinese electronic cigarette industry at present. No one will question the two major assessments of sales volume or financing amount.
Vapehk learns that RELX’s monthly sales have already exceeded 100 million yuan, leading the way into the club of 100 million yuan. The number 2 sales are less than 50 million yuan, which is hardly a threat to RELX.

In terms of valuation, the source disclosed that RELX latest round of financing was valued at between $2.4 billion and $2.6 billion. Before that, Vapehk had reported that RELX had completed a round of financing involving Shanxing Capital with an estimated value of $800 million, but RELX had not announced it publicly.

Let’s get back to the topic RELX Alpha.
Officials said the product launched was a self-developed and original technology solution, but it was unexpected that it could be off the shelf within three days of its launch.
We have learned from reliable sources that RELX may strategically abandon Alpha products and develop other new products, but this rumor has not been officially confirmed by RELX. Please think about it carefully.

It is speculated that the reason for the abandonment may be that the current new technology scheme cannot solve the leakage situation as good as possible. Once the proportion of leakage increases, the poor user experience will be fatal.

In fact, we would like to appeal to users to be more tolerant of RELX and innovative behavior, otherwise there will be no new progress and product innovation in the industry.

There is another reason supporting the abandon deduction. If the Alpha is perfect, RELX should continue to promote it a lot, but RELX is actually developing new replacement products. It may replace Alpha products with new products. I have exclusive pictures of RELX Alpha’s new replacement products under development.

relx new product not launched
RELX new product not launched

Basically, you can see a brief look of the RELX new product not launched. How do you think about it?

Although the innovation of most e-cigarette consumer enterprises depends on the supply chain enterprises, some trial and error in the industry are still commendable.

Essential tips on using nicotine salt e-liquids with RTA

With the rise of the pod system, nicotine salt e-liquid also become popular with the majority of vape users, especially those who have the demand for quitting smoking. In order to get a better vaping experience with flavors, many users choose the combination of RTA and nicotine salt e-liquids, which can not only reduce the craving for cigarettes but also obtain more abundant flavor enjoyment that can not be acquired in most pod systems. As to the more complex structure and more comprehensive function of the RTA, many adjustments can significantly change the flavor of nicotine salt. 

Air intake adjustment can significantly affect the flavor concentration and throat hit

Like all RTA, nicotine salt e-liquid provides a stronger flavor with a slight increase in throat hit when using a small air intake. Generally speaking, orifice-type inlet inhalation nebulizer will be more suitable for mixing with nicotine salt. At present, many RTA have added the function of an adjustable internal air intake hole, and adjusting internal air intake will directly affect the taste and throat hit of the vape juice.

Coil winding has the most direct effect on e-liquid flavor


No mater box mod or pod system, the coil winding has the most direct impact on flavor of the e juice. At present, many fancy coils specially made for RTA are very significant for improving the flavor. At the same time, users can also change the flavor by making twisted pairs or winding coils by themselves. If you need a softer flavor, you can choose to loosen the coil to get it.

The structure of RTA can change the throat hit strength of e-liquids


When many users match nicotine salt vape juice with RTA, they will feel that the throat hit is much stronger than that used in the pod systems. If you like the strong throat hit, you can choose the atomizer with small air intake hold and short vapor tube, such as KF, and if you want a more gentle throat hit, you can choose the atomizer with a large intake of long vapor tube.

The diameter and length of the suction nozzle have a significant effect on the flavor of RTA


Because of the limited amount of vapor generated by the RTA itself, the gathering effect cannot be very good only through the vapor tube. When using the atomizer nozzle with small diameter and short length, the vapor gathering effect can be obviously improved, and the flavor will become stronger accordingly.

The condensation RTA should be cleaned and the coil should be replaced regularly


Though the amount of vapor produced by the RTA is much small than that of the RDA, the design of small air intake and more contracted vapor tube structure makes the condensate produced by the RTA very fast. If the condensate is not cleaned up in time, it is easy to cause the problem of cotton discoloration with too fast carbon deposition. Regular cleaning of the condensate and maintenance of the atomizing core can ensure the best flavor from the atomizer.

The combination of RTA and nicotine salt e-liquids brings a lot of DIY fun for vapers really. For example, different power, different coil diameter, etc. will bring about changes in flavors. With the above tips, vapers will get a better vaping experience, and they will be able to control the throat hit degree of nicotine salt e-liquid skillfully at the same time, having a more comfortable vaping experience.

Time to use BLE to protect the minors from vaping

There is a problem in front of the industry currently. It is more important than questioning the impact of electronic cigarettes on human health, but how to prevent the further spread of electronic cigarettes among young people. It is not only a problem to be considered in the American market, but also a problem to be considered worldwide.

However, most of the enterprising teams do not pay special attention to this issue. but only wish to distinguish themselves from other brand products by their appearance structure and flavor. And few breakthroughs in the innovation of control technology have emerged.

As a result, the idea of the common control scheme is to set up a whole control board by using traditional MCU motor, LED indicator light, OLED screen, middlehead, heating rod, heating wire and other peripheral circuits according to different product requirements, which doesn’t work well.

The rest startups expect to enhance the operational capacity of the sales channel through the founder’s star background or capital boost. Furthermore, there is not much technical investment on the social issues of restricting teenagers’use of electronic cigarettes, which are deeply concerned by the government.

TTCIOTSDK(Shengrun Technology) believes that only by adding low-power Bluetooth(Bluetooth Low Energy technology) function to electronic cigarette products and cooperating with mobile app or online identity authentication, can the device be unlocked and used properly, which will be a minor vaping control solution and business opportunity. On the one hand, it will create a healthier market for vapes, on the other hand, it can also effectively meet the need for supervision of the government.


Bluetooth BLE technology will break through the bottleneck of the vape control, and help the upgrading of the electronic cigarette industry, which will be the next trend of vape development. JUUL, the vape giant in the United States, and Japan Tobacco have invested heavily in BLE technology to solve the social problem concerned by the government.

The traditional electronic cigarette industry has a very mature supporting industry, and its development threshold is not high. With only a small amount of capital, people can build an electronic cigarette product with the help of the mature supporting industry.  It means that the product will be related to the mobile phone and form a system for Bluetooth vapes. Besides the structure of the product itself, there are many tedious links such as mobile phone APP, interactive logic, UI design, hardware RF debugging and production test match, etc. What is more difficult is the control board. Without the application experience of Bluetooth protocol stack, it is impossible to do this, and many conditions restrict it. Under the premise of a limited budget, the startups are holding back from the development of electronic cigarette products with Bluetooth.

TTCIOTSDK(Shengrun Technology) is optimistic about the BLE development prospects. It has taken the lead in the development of BLE, and launched a Bluetooth single-chip electronic cigarette scheme, hoping to help more factories and brands who want to try Bluetooth electronic cigarettes at lowest cost This scheme has obvious volume advantage, which is not only suitable for HNB products, but also is suitable for the pod system products.


In addition, free open source hardware layout, schematic design and BOM list will also be provided to cooperating manufacturers. Manufacturers with manufacturing capabilities can produce their own products completely, while those without manufacturing capabilities can provide PCBA boards to OEM factories for assembly.

Meanwhile, TTCIOTSDK also provides a complete power consumption testing and temperature calibration production testing process. In terms of material cost, the price of PCBA is lowest by using Bluetooth chip made in China, which is over 50% lower than the cost of imported Bluetooth on the market. It is one of the important reasons for TTCIOTSDK to open source for more manufacturers to save the cost of trial and reduce the duplicate investment of resources.

Electronic cigarettes and Bluetooth will filter out the youth consumer groups to a significant degree, which seems to be unfavorable to enterprises. But in the long run, it is undoubtedly a necessary measure to regulate the market, which is more conducive to guiding the healthy development of the market. Isn’t this the common appeal of e-cigarette practitioners who want the long-term development of the e-cigarette industry? In today’s society, an enterprise with a sense of social responsibility will become the leader of the industry!

Electronic cigarettes are flooding in the American market, which sets an alarm to us. It is better to actively regulate market strategy by incorporating innovative technologies into products, improve operation level, increase user cohesion, collect consumer demand and respond to market feedback quickly, instead of passively regulated by the government supervises, thus winning users and not having to accept moral torture.


The electronic cigarette has been questioned for a long time because it belongs to the industry zone lacking policy. With the regulation of the industry standards and the guidance of policy, supported by Internet of Things innovation technology, I believe that the development of electronic cigarette industry will be better and better. And It will be an irresistible trend in the future to link offline products online like applying the BLE into vapes.

VapeEZ was financed by 10 million yuan of Shunho Stock

VapeEZ TECHNOLOGY Ltd. (formerly Shenzhen Meizhonglian International Business Co., Ltd.), which specializes in the field of electronic cigarette science and technology manufacturing, has obtained Pre-A round financing of Shunho Stock in June 2019, amounting up to ten million yuan according to the investment and financing industry report.

VapeEZ, a joint venture between China and the United States, is the former AMERICAN WHOLESALE VAPOR Ltd. in Shenzhen. Most of the E-cigarette stores in central America are distributed by AMERICAN WHOLESALE VAPOR Ltd. With its deep market base, the performance of VapeEZ has always been at the leading place of the industry.

In order to adapt to the changes in the electronic cigarette market since 2016, , the company has transformed into scientific and technological manufacturing companies integrating research and development, marketing and sales. And it’s formally renamed as VapeEZ TECHNOLOGY LTD since its establishment.

It has provided professional services to more than 3000 customers at home and abroad since its establishment, and has a profound control of sales channels and user resources. Based on the deep understanding of market trends and users, supported by the strong investment of the listed company, Shunho, VapeEZ has released new vape brand JUSTVAPE and CBD technology brand SUPCELL. Its new product has been warmly sought after by distributors all over the world before launching.


JUSTVAPE &SUPCELL

Part of VapeEZ Product Photos

In fact, most Chinese electronic cigarette factories have always had quality problems in the major technology of heating core. In addition, the professionalism of service providers is not reliable, and the two major problems of high-quality product technology as production problem of high technologies and unprofessional service of the providers closely hinder the pace of the development of brands.


In order to effectively solve these difficulties, the VapeEZ has made breakthroughs in two aspects:

1. Technology upgrading:

The first generation of SUPC CELL ceramics technology in 2018 has attracted tremendous attention since its launch in the United States in 2018.

The flat atomizer of the vape introduces the patented technology achieving zero vape juice leakage in 2 years storage. This vape juice leakage prevention technology is the first in the industry, which solves the biggest pain in the industry.

CBD technology. It has reached in-depth cooperation with the United States listed companies, and its product automation process is far ahead of the industry.

2. Service Upgrading

All the relevant personnel responsible for contacting VapeEZ customers are professional and efficient e-cigarette practitioners since November 2018, and its team is young and energetic.


“VapeEZ wants to be a respectable company. We want all the customers who have been served magnify their value through us. ” VapeEZ CEO Shi Jinglian said.


VapeEZ CEO Shi Jinglian

Since graduation in 2008, Shi Jinglian has been following the ups and downs of the industry, just as his friends gave him the nickname “Stone” with a firm and persistent character. During the period of 2014-2015, Shi Jinglian was appointed as Director of Marketing and Deputy Director of R&D Department in Luxinfeng, Shenzhen, Shunhai Group and Dongfeng Joint Venture Company. It happens that Shunho has been actively developing the whole supply chain of industrial cannabis in recent years. After a comprehensive survey to VapeEZ, considering the cumulative advantages of VapeEZ in technology and market, Shunho knows it is bound to help it to become the leader of the whole chain of CBD industry. With the acquaintance to Shi Jinglian during his tenure in Shunho, the whole financing process went smoothly.

Shi Jinglian disclosed, “The investment funds of Shunhai Stock Company in VapeEZ will focus on the automation of GMP workshop and the research and development of heating core technology. Through this win-win financing plan, I and my investors are confident that VapeEZ will rank to 3 in the  CBD and pod system sub-areas both in scale and the degree of professionalism.

What’s the alternative of ceramics atomizing core in pod vapes? – ESUN PRO NotchCoil review

Someone asks Vapehk a good question, “What’s the alternative of the ceramic atomizing core?” Here is the new technology that can change the current situation of the atomizer in vapes!

Battery, atomizing core (device) and e juice are the three elements of vapes, which complement each other. And the overall user experience is completely determined by the three parts in the vapes.

Atomizing core” is the key of vapes among the three, which is used for converting electrical energy into heat energy, heating the e juice and producing vapor. It resembles the “engine” or “heart”, or the Intel CPU to the computer. And the material and structure of the atomizing core directly determine the user experience of the electric cigarettes.

In recent years, the fever of pod system products keeps rising, which promotes the development of vape atomization technology. From the early cotton core with metal coils to the popular metal-coated ceramic technology, the products become more and more reliable and bring a better experience for users.

ceramic core
The ceramic atomizing core for pod vapes

At present, the vast majority of pod vapes on the market have adopted ceramic atomization technology, which is characterized by smooth and pure flavor and a high degree of flavor restoration. Ceramic atomization technology and nicotine salt technology have become the current “standard configuration” of pod vapes, and have been seated on the throne of pod vape atomization technology firmly.

In fact, ceramic materials have a long history in the application of vape products. Early RTA such as Rose, Caesar and BF99 have already applied ceramic materials, especially SQR atomizer, which was once famous for its good flavor in the user group, and its core is also made of ceramic materials.

(atomizer with ceramic material)

Although ceramic material atomization technology has many advantages, there are also some “congenital deficiencies“. In the technical iteration, engineers have always been optimizing and improving the sealing, e juice conductivity and material strength.

Although the history of electronic cigarette is not too long, new materials and technologies emerge endlessly in the development history of electronic cigarette, and it’s full of innovative spirit and wisdom of electronic cigarette practitioners, innovation will never stop!

Recently, new technology in the field of pod vape atomization has attracted the attention of the industry again. If this technology is successfully applied in the pod systems, it will not only change the pod systems, but also change the situation of the pod system atomization technology.

This technology is not really “new”. As early as three years ago, Joyetech has successfully applied it to RBA, and achieved remarkable results – Joyetech’s patents from R&D

Heating technology of NotchCoil stainless steel mesh core

NotchCoil, which uses stainless steel mesh around April 2016, triggered a heated discussion among users, and the author also made relevant reviews at that time.

The technical feature of NotchCoil can be summarized as follows:
NotchCoil increases the heating area by more than 50% under the same length than the traditional heating wire coil, and the atomization becomes more uniform and full.
NotchCoil’s thickness is very thin, its heat is high and fast, which greatly reduces the preheating time after power-on.
NotchCoil is made of medical grade SUS 316L stainless steel, which is acid and alkali resistant, stable in composition, more secure in safety and prolonged its in-service life.
NotchCoil is made of stainless steel and has a “temperature control” ability. This atomizing coil can work under normal conditions and in the corresponding stainless steel temperature control mode.
Produce a large amount of vapor at the same time, but also ensure a good flavor, compared with the traditional heating coil, it’s much different clearly.

The application of NotchCoil technology in pod system atomization is quite unexpected, because NotchCoil has its own limitations like ceramic technology though NotchCoil is good:
The NotchCoil heat emission rate on RBA cannot keep up with the accumulation heat rate though it has a large heating area and a fast heating speed, which will cause high temperature of the device.
The huge heat and heating speed are an ordeal for the cotton and vape juice conduction structure, and it is easy to burn the vape juice conductive materials.
Large heating area, low resistance of stainless steel and fast heating speed are all the requirements for box mod, not pod systems.

Pod systems, on the other hand, pay attention to flavor smoothness and purity, which seems to be different from Notch Coil. Moreover, Notch Coil’s resistance value is relatively low, and it needs much more power to drive. However, due to the shape and size limitation, the power of pod system is not enough to drive this coil.

However, unsuitability does not mean impossibility. Such examples have been proven numerous times in the electronic cigarette industry.

Joyetech has never abandoned the optimization and improvement of Notch Coil for more than three years, and finally developed Notch Coil Mini “square and circular mesh core” and successfully applied it in the field of pod vape atomization.

NotchCoil Mini was originally designed as a square. After continuous optimization and improvement, it adapted to a smaller size. Then it was finalized as a cylindrical “square-circle mesh core” from which it got its name.

ESUN, as the exclusive brand authorized to use the patent technology of NotchCoil Mini square mesh core in the current market, will be launched soon with the product ESUN PRO, which carries the square mesh core. This means that ceramic atomization technology will encounter a strong competitor, and the future pod atomization technology and product pattern will also change.

Its user experience is also similar to that of ceramic technology. Ceramics has achieved great success. So will the actual performance of “Notch Coil Mini Square Circular Core” really have the strength to compete with ceramic technology


The author got the test sample of ESUN PRO. Although it is not the final retail version, it has basically been finalized in the atomization core. Through practical experience, let’s see how the “square and circular mesh core” is applied to pod vapes.


The internal structure of the atomization core is very similar to the typical structure of a RBA atomizer, in which the square and circular mesh core is laid transversely, and the e-liquid conducting cotton runs through it.
Organic cotton is used as the vape juice conducting medium in the “square mesh” atomization core. If the cotton core is not properly treated, e-liquids leakage will occur. In order to fit the e-liquids conducting cotton of the “square mesh core” coil, ESUN PRO adopts multi-layer design in the packaging of the atomization core, using silicone material and unique structure to avoid vape juice leakage.


Remove the coil, then remove the vape juice cotton, the “square circle mesh core” has a smaller overall volume, and its appearance is no different from the previous version of the box mod, power supply mode also uses two electrode lead welding on both sides of the coil.
The length of the coil is 4.8 mm, the outer diameter is 1.9 mm, the shell thickness is 0.1 mm and the mesh clearance is 0.25 mm.


In practical experience, the “square and round mesh core” retains its own unique style in the vape juice vaporizing and the reductive degree of flavors, with pure flavor, clear layers and smooth experience.
Under large area uniform heating, the vape juice can be fully atomized, very delicate, smooth and pure.

At the same time, the unique mellow and thick flavor style of cotton shows up. Although some people think that the vape juice flavor difference of cotton is like a mystery, electronic cigarette has always been such a unique thing, the same vape juice has different flavor under different resistances, different structures, different vape juice conducting materials and different power.


In terms of performance, “square and circular mesh core” benefits from the thickness of ultra-thin material, and enters the working state very quickly. Even in the first vaping of the cold device state, there is no obvious difference in the sense of flavors. Every heating keeps a stable flavor.

The author care about two main aspects, one is the heat amount, and the other is whether the vape juice supply efficiency can match that. Because these two points were once Notch Coil’s weakness in the field of box mod.

The structure of pod vape is relatively compact and its size is smaller. These two points become the key to judge whether the atomization technology of NotchCoil Mini square mesh core has practical value in pod vapes.
The actual experience results exceeded the author’s expectations, and within five consecutive mouths, there was almost no obvious change in temperature outside the device. When the pods was pulled out, the surface temperature was only warm and hot.

The surface temperature of device and pods increases with the continuous use of more than 10 mouths of vaping, but the temperature change is not very large. It is totally acceptable. Only the metal contact part at the bottom of the atomizing core has a higher temperature.
Forgive me for not being prepared enough. I don’t have a laser thermometer around me. I can only describe it by feeling.

With a larger heating area and higher heating efficiency, but in the compact size of pod vapes, and its low body temperature can be maintained. In addition to the targeted optimization of heat dissipation, the author personally believes that the inherent characteristics of “square and circular mesh core” material archives that. TCR data of 316L stainless steel material is added to the chip to realizing “frequency conversion output”, that is, the temperature control. The so-called “temperature control function” controls atomization within a specific temperature (resistance value).

Although the official did not disclose more details, from the published information, ESUN PRO has the function of “anti-dry burning” protection, which is realized by the vape temperature control technology. So the author infers since the atomization core can be controlled in a lower temperature range, it should rely on “temperature control frequency conversion output”. Not only can the problem of high temperature be solved, but also the problems of dry burning and poor vape juice supply are solved, and the “power saving” ability is also attached.

It can be seen that the application of “square and round mesh core” in pod vapes not only has excellent performance in flavor experience, but also provides a simpler “temperature control” solution for pod vapes.


In terms of reliability, although the test version is in my hands, the bottom of the cartridge has not been sealed and strengthened as the formal retail version, and even a small screwdriver can easily disassemble it, in a few days, there is no obvious condensate on the surface of the cartridge and inside the device. And there is even no condensate gathered on the surface of the air tunnel in the suction port.

Therefore, even though cotton is used as oil conducting medium in the “square and round mesh core”, the inherent defects of “cotton core is easy to leak” are prevented and the reliability is greatly improved by optimizing the packaging and sealing method.

Verdict

“Square-circle mesh core” atomization technology is relatively low cost, simple process, high yield, simple packaging, has a larger heating area, and the heater is directly in contact with the conducting cotton and vape juice, its atomization effect is more sufficient, the thickness of heating outer shell is only 0.1 mm, very conducive to heat. It not only has advantages in vape juice and flavor, but also simplify the product structure, which provides more possibilities for product development.

“Square circle mesh core” is made of medical SUS 316L stainless steel. It is not only safer in material, but also inherently has “temperature control” ability. It can realize temperature control function without any modification of heating body and atomization structure. It is tantamount to providing a simple, efficient and low-cost “interface” that can be “plug and use” in creating “differentiated” and “intelligent” electronic cigarette products.

In the long run, it will promote the diversification of atomization technology, and then introduce the development and innovation of atomization technology into the fast lane, forming a new situation of diversified development.

ESUN PRO, as a vape product exclusively using “NotchCoil Mini Square Circle Core” patent atomization technology, will be officially launched in June, then you will experience the real performance of “Square Circle Core”. In a word, it is worth looking forward to.

SMOK Set up New Building to Upgrade Industrial Competitiveness

On the morning of June 2, 2019, SMOK building’s grandstone laying ceremony was held at its base in Guangming District, Shenzhen. More than 200 attendees, including special guests, shareholders and executives of SMOK, came to witness this historic moment. The successful launch of this high-end project by SMOK, which is the leading company of the e-cigarette industry, indicates another leap of Guangming District in the industrial capacity and economic development.

The SMOK building project, with a total construction area of 38,000 square meters and a gross investment of 870 million yuan ($125.95 million), covers an area of 6,400 square meters. It is a vital engineering project which is in line with the development goal of Guangming District to build “a  strong region of quality-oriented and innovation-oriented manufacturing”. It’s also an important project to promote the industrial upgrading of Guangming District, as well as to cultivate high-end manufacturingindustry with high added value. The completion of the project will upgrade the entire e-cigarette industry to a high-end manufacturing industry, integrate the upstream and downstream resources, improve product and services, and therefore enhance the competitiveness of the company and its brands, and create an advanced form of industry. Meanwhile, the project has received strong support from Guangming District governmentand has gained wide attention from all related industries.

At the beginning of the stone laying ceremony, Mr. Ouyang Junwei, CEO of SMOK, delivered an impressive speech to the audiences. Firstly, he expressed his gratitude to the guests, the partners of the company, as well as all the staffs. In addition, he shared the history of SMOK, and also put forward expectations for the future growth: the establishment of SMOK Building is a milestone, which stands for a new starting point for the company to embrace a brilliant future. SMOK will further expand R&D input, increase its speed in running projects, continuously improve the scientific and technological level of its products, raise output efficiency, and keep making progress as the leading player in the electronic cigarette industry.

Video

Mr.Ouyang’s delivering speech

SMOK executives dotting the eye of the Chinese lion

Lion plucking the greens

Lion dancing

The enthusiasm of the audiences reached a peak after Mr.Ouyang’s eloquent speech. SMOK executives and guests grabbed the golden spades, and finished the soil-shoveling ceremony in a round of rapturous applause and gun salute. SMOK Building will rise here, as a 38,000-square-meter high-tech building, it will inspire the Shenzhen city with its high-level, high-standard, and industry-leading status.

Later on, the stone laying ceremony was ended by a wonderful lion dance performance, which also preluded the construction of the SMOK building project. SMOK, an e-cigarette manufacturer with magnificent vision, will continue to make greater contributions to the industry guided by the slogan of “innovation keeps changing the vaping experience”.