After milk tea cups faded, herbal atomization emerges: another "disguise" for illegal vaping devices

"A millennium of traditional Chinese medicine is encapsulated in every breath." In the promotional recruitment for the herbal atomizer brand "Weigongzi," traditional Chinese medicine seems to have been elevated to a "strategic height."

Apart from Weigongzi, Blue Whale Finance reporters noticed that recently, a batch of new brands focusing on herbal atomization, including "Laixi," "Weiduo," "Xihu," and "Zhizhe," are active in the market. They claim that their products contain "zero nicotine" and are "atomized with traditional Chinese medicine," promising effects such as "herbal throat soothing" and "lung conditioning," attracting customers with selling points like "varied flavors" on social media and e-commerce platforms, and enticing agents with highlights like "zero-cost entrepreneurship."

Some brands have expanded their channels offline, opening specialty stores. According to updates from Laixi Biotechnology's official WeChat account on May 19, their first specialty store in Shanghai is about to open. They also claim that Laixi's traditional Chinese medicine atomizers are already being sold in multiple provinces including Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong.

The momentum seems quite favorable. So, is the herbal atomization industry a new trend? E-cigarette industry expert Chen Zhong told Blue Whale Finance reporters that it is not a new trend, but rather a revival of old concepts. "Before the regulation of e-cigarettes, many companies with herbal atomization concepts existed, but after the regulations took effect, many of these companies transformed or ceased operations due to risk control."

Meanwhile, reporters noticed that after carefully comparing these herbal atomizer products, some netizens remarked: "These products are almost identical to e-cigarettes. From the appearance to the working principle, the only difference is the herbal liquid components in the replaceable pods."

It is understood that regarding the e-cigarette market, since 2021, China has successively released and improved national standards and management methods related to e-cigarettes, and on October 1 of last year, the national standard for e-cigarettes was officially implemented, banning the sale of fruit flavors. Since then, the industry has gradually moved towards order after nearly a decade of multiple rounds of survival of the fittest.

So, do these newly emerged traditional Chinese medicine atomization products also belong to the category of e-cigarettes? What kind of regulation should they be subjected to? In response to these questions, the Beijing Youth Daily previously pointed out in a recent report that the so-called "herbal atomizers" sold on some social media platforms attract consumers by relying on "traditional Chinese medicine plant extracts." Although the sellers of these products repeatedly emphasize that these products are not e-cigarettes, but rather "atomized throat soothers," "atomized chewing gum," or even "herbal smoking cessation sticks," due to the similarity in appearance and usage methods to e-cigarettes, they still face skepticism from many netizens.

In this regard, some consumers reported to Blue Whale Finance reporters that some WeChat sellers claimed that all products contain no nicotine and therefore are not subject to the "E-cigarette Management Measures." #p#分页标题#e#

An anonymous e-cigarette industry insider pointed out that the national standard for e-cigarettes has clearly defined e-cigarettes as "electronic delivery systems used to generate aerosols for inhalation," including e-cigarettes that do not contain nicotine in the definition. These products marketed as "zero nicotine" and "traditional Chinese medicine atomization" are clearly illegal products that violate the national standard for e-cigarettes. "This is somewhat similar to the 'tea cigarettes' that were popular a few years ago, which, although claimed to contain no tobacco components and even promoted as traditional Chinese medicine health products, were ultimately deemed illegal and confiscated."

Image source: Official website of the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau

Meanwhile, reporters learned from the official release by the National Tobacco Monopoly Bureau regarding the "E-cigarette Management Measures" and the "E-cigarette" national standard that, given the strong appeal of flavored e-cigarettes and non-nicotine e-cigarettes to minors, which can easily induce minors to smoke, the standards clearly state that products should not present flavor characteristics other than tobacco, and explicitly require that "atomized substances must contain nicotine," meaning that non-nicotine e-cigarette products cannot enter the market for sale.

Chen Zhong pointed out that according to the national standard for e-cigarettes, products that are e-cigarette-like and do not contain nicotine are explicitly banned from sale in the country, regardless of whether they have medical device qualifications, and fall under the regulation of zero-nicotine atomization, thus should be banned from sale.

"As far as I know, several local tobacco bureaus have already enforced laws against such products, clearly informing store owners that they are illegal products and cannot be sold domestically." In his view, the reason why some products are still circulating in certain areas may be related to local law enforcement not keeping up. "Currently, the enforcement focus is on eliminating illegal e-cigarettes like fruit flavors, which presents a priority issue, but store owners should clearly understand that only national standard e-cigarettes can be sold legally, and other operations carry risks."

However, these products are already circulating in the market. Regarding the regulation of this, Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iiMedia Consulting Group, also emphasized that there are several points to note: "First (in our observation), herbal atomization brands emphasize their products' claims in health and conditioning, which may violate advertising laws and related regulations; second, there are currently no clear safety and quality standards from national testing departments for such products, so the guarantee of consumer health and safety is uncertain; finally, in terms of product promotion and education, (currently) it is easy for consumers to associate them with e-cigarettes, so extra attention is needed during market circulation to avoid purchases by minors."

Overall, from policy regulation to market operation, the compliance and quality control of circulating herbal atomization products need to be verified by authoritative departments. "These products also hit the current people's concern for their health, but how their prospects will unfold remains to be seen, and consumers and agents need to observe calmly," Zhang Yi said.