Low-Quality E-cigarettes: What Makes Them So Bad? A Must-Read for Consumers

What makes low-quality e-cigarettes "low"? Low quality means poor quality. Many smokers start trying e-cigarettes to quit smoking or as a substitute, considering both their health and not wanting to disturb those around them. The intention is good, but unfortunately, some people have a very bad experience because the first e-cigarette they encounter is of low quality. It may come from online shopping, where they open the package only to find it leaking e-liquid; or they may have high hopes of experiencing the "real cigarette-like taste" that the product claims, only to find it worse than the smell of an unlit cigarette; or they expect to use a product that is cleaner and simpler than cigarettes, but occasionally smell an annoying burnt odor.
 

Because of the non-standard production and promotion of many e-cigarette products, it has also raised concerns and vigilance from all sectors of society. A market that is still in its infancy is flooded with low-quality products, leading many smokers to develop negative perceptions of this new type of tobacco product, which also hinders technological innovation and industry progress for these products.
As a scientist specializing in the research and development of e-cigarette products, I feel very sorry for the negative impact that low-quality e-cigarettes have on the entire industry. Originally, smokers had the opportunity to access a new type of tobacco product to help them reduce or even stop smoking faster, but low-quality e-cigarettes not only expose them to additional harm while seeking a reduced-harm tobacco product but also make them doubt the ethical standards of the entire industry.
A low-quality product may lack in various aspects such as raw material quality, performance, and product quality integrity, leading to inconvenience in users' lives or even harming the environment. In this article, I want to specifically discuss three main "low-quality" directions of low-quality e-cigarettes and their potential impacts.
1. Low-quality raw materials
Every product's birth includes three main elements: raw materials, production processes, and product quality inspection. Each element has quality management requirements and affects the final product's quality. Let's first talk about the raw materials of e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes mainly consist of cartridges (containing e-liquid and mouthpieces), atomizers, and battery devices.
First, the most concerning part should be the e-liquid and cartridge, as that is the part that smokers directly contact orally and will enter their bodies. Although the components of e-liquid generally consist of only three to four chemical substances, sometimes with flavoring agents, each substance should use the highest quality raw materials. For example, nicotine, as one of the "active ingredients," should be sourced from qualified suppliers providing USP/EP grade (U.S./European Pharmacopoeia grade) nicotine with a purity of at least 99% to ensure the lowest possible content of production impurities. However, the higher the grade and purity of the raw materials, the higher the price, and the more stringent the certification process for suppliers, which requires higher investment from production companies. Therefore, some companies may compromise on raw material selection due to financial and manpower considerations. This situation can also occur with other raw materials in e-liquid.
At the same time, the mouthpiece, being in contact with the mouth, must meet certain food safety standards. Some high-end e-cigarettes use polyetherimide (PEI) material for the mouthpiece. PEI is a non-crystalline thermoplastic with high mechanical strength and rigidity, exhibiting excellent creep resistance over a wide temperature range and under prolonged high temperatures. Additionally, it has very good hydrolysis resistance and dimensional stability, can withstand temperatures up to 200°C, and has no odor at high temperatures, with good thermal conductivity and safety. Some products may color the mouthpiece for visual effect, but this treatment must also consider whether the color will fade with long-term oral use and whether the coating is safe. Imagine, if both the e-liquid raw materials and the mouthpiece materials compromise on quality, smokers may ingest potentially harmful substances daily.
Secondly, the atomizer is the core component of the e-cigarette, which heats the e-liquid to vaporize it, generating temperatures of at least 200°C. Therefore, the atomizer and surrounding components must be made from high-temperature resistant materials with good heat dissipation properties to withstand the high temperatures of the heating and vaporization process without being damaged due to heat accumulation. Additionally, the heating process should not produce any off-flavors that could ruin the taste of the vapor, and it must have sufficient strength so that it can continue to be used after minor bumps or drops without breaking.
High-end e-cigarettes often use polyether ether ketone (PEEK) material for the atomizer oil chamber. PEEK is a unique semi-crystalline thermoplastic engineering plastic with excellent chemical properties, commonly used in hot water or steam environments, maintaining high levels of bending and tensile strength, and can withstand high temperatures, with a long-term use temperature of up to 260°C, and has no odor at high temperatures with good thermal conductivity.
The battery device's requirements are not particularly high; it generally just needs to look good, be paintable, and be able to be electroplated. However, companies like Apple, which primarily focus on phones and tablets, have chemical material testing departments at their headquarters that specifically test the components of devices that will come into contact with users' skin for composition and impurity detection, which is also a responsibility for user health.
2. Poor research and production
When the internet first emerged, a popular saying was that you never know if the person chatting with you behind the screen is a person or a dog. Now, with the rise of e-cigarettes, low-quality e-cigarettes have also begun to flood the market. I want to say that it is difficult to know whether the e-cigarette you hold in your hand was produced in a sterile and dust-free workshop or in a "three-no" family workshop. In the U.S. vaping culture, there are many so-called bathtub vape juice makers. Consumers find it hard to trace the origins of products without spending time and effort. Poor research and production mainly reflect in two aspects:
(1) Unethical companies do not strictly control the nicotine content during the production of e-liquid, randomly adding ingredients and unevenly mixing formulas, failing to conduct quality inspections as per contracts, leading to discrepancies between the nicotine concentration claimed on product packaging and actual measurements. Different batches, or even the same batch of products, may have varying nicotine concentrations. Excessively high nicotine content can pose health risks; excessively low nicotine content fails to meet smokers' needs and cannot provide satisfaction. In short, both scenarios severely affect the user's experience. As a new type of tobacco product, e-cigarettes are supposed to have simpler and clearer ingredients than traditional tobacco cigarettes. However, the randomness in e-liquid production renders the originally transparent product labels meaningless.
(2) The design and production of atomizers and electronic heating control functions are akin to the heart of e-cigarettes. Many companies have a superficial understanding of the atomization principle, and some merely follow the trend of the e-cigarette boom, superficially choosing a certain high-temperature range just to produce vapor from the nicotine in the e-liquid and to increase vapor thickness to attract attention. Indeed, high temperatures are required to convert e-liquid from liquid to vapor and deliver nicotine to smokers, but there is a limit to this high temperature. Overheating e-liquid (for example, exceeding 300°C) can lead to the degradation of glycerin, producing harmful by-products like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde that everyone avoids. This is a problem that unethical companies either did not consider or could not address. The existence of such situations easily leads people to believe that all e-cigarettes contain more harmful substances than burning cigarettes.
3. Poor user experience
From what I know about e-cigarette user experiences, the worst is undoubtedly leaking oil. Originally, taking a few puffs of an e-cigarette, with vapor swirling, one could enjoy a moment of "forgetting everything in the mist." Suddenly, oh no, oil comes out! The capacity design of a cartridge is roughly equivalent to one to two packs of cigarettes, meaning no smoker will use an entire cartridge in one go. The portability of e-cigarettes also means smokers carry them around and use them intermittently. Therefore, many people have complained that when they want to use it, they reach into their coat pocket and find, oh no, it's all oily!
This kind of user experience, I believe everyone who has experienced it would not want to go through it a second time.