Synthetic nicotine e-liquids sold in US online vape shops

Shaoying Ma; Zefeng Qiu; Jian Chen; Ce Shang

doi:10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102222

Synthetic nicotine e-liquids sold in US online vape shops

Prev Med Rep. 2023 Apr 26:33:102222. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102222. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Shaoying Ma¹, Zefeng Qiu², Jian Chen², Ce Shang^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Tobacco Research, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.
² Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
³ Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH, USA.

Abstract

Synthetic nicotine (relative to tobacco-derived, or "natural" nicotine) is an emerging feature of e-cigarettes including e-liquids in the online marketplace. This study investigated a total of 11,161 unique nicotine e-liquids sold in online stores in the US during 2021, using keyword matching approach to identify the feature of synthetic nicotine based on product description texts. We showed that in 2021, 2.13% of nicotine-containing e-liquids in our sample were marketed as synthetic nicotine e-liquids. About a quarter of the synthetic nicotine e-liquids that we identified were salt-based; the nicotine strength varied; and those synthetic nicotine e-liquids had a variety of flavor profiles. Synthetic nicotine containing e-cigarettes are likely to remain in the market and manufacturers might market those products as "tobacco-free," to attract consumers who this feature as healthier or less addictive. It is important to monitor synthetic nicotine in the e-cigarette marketplace and assess how this feature influences consumer behaviors.

Keywords: ENDS; Electronic cigarette; Electronic nicotine delivery systems; Online vape shop; Synthetic nicotine; Tobacco control; Vaping; e-cigarette; e-liquid.