Philip Morris Gets Greedier…And Crazier

While a decade ago there were just a handful of patents connected to electronic cigarettes and the vaping industry, there are now in excess of 600. While the vast majority of these patents originate from China, US tobacco giant Philip Morris is seemingly looking towards a “pay-as-you-go” type of electronic cigarettes in the future. So, what can we expect from the electronic cigarette industry in years to come?

When you bear in mind the massive array of different flavours and different devices available today, momentum in the electronic cigarette industry has been very impressive over the last decade. This is an industry which literally came from nowhere at the turn-of-the-century and is expected to turnover in excess of $2 billion in the US alone during 2015.

Pay-as-you-go electronic cigarettes

As bizarre as it sounds, Philip Morris is supposedly looking towards a pay-as-you-go type ecigarette which will allow you to buy a number of “doses” of your electronic cigarette via your computer. Quite how this would work in practice remains to be seen but this is just one of an array of patents and proposed devices which may emerge in the medium to longer term.

There also seems to be significant interest in introducing an array of other additives to the electronic cigarette industry with caffeine mentioned as a potential alternative to nicotine. Whether or not there is appetite for this particular style of electronic cigarette remains to be seen and indeed it would be interesting to see how the regulators would cope with this kind of development.

Does the humble electronic cigarette need updated?

As the electronic cigarette is based upon an electronic delivery system there are many different attributes and functions which can be added to the “humble” electronic cigarette. The introduction of USB connections also brings in an array of different computer related services such as the “pay-as-you-go” and indeed devices which will only deliver a certain number of puffs over a given period. While many of these ideas and projects sound very interesting on paper we have yet to hear any feedback from the general public about their introduction.

Again, this perfectly illustrates the fact that regulators and governments around the world are behind the curve on electronic cigarettes and it will take an immense push to catch up. Regulations for the most basic of electronic cigarettes are yet to be rubberstamped by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and indeed European regulations are not yet set in stone. If, and there is no certainty as yet, we see further developments such as the use of caffeine, pay-as-you-go devices and other variations on the traditional electronic cigarette, how long before these are regulated?

Conclusion

The emergence of hundreds of new electronic cigarette patents, the majority of which originate from China, have exposed various regulatory regimes as behind the curve. We have yet to see concrete regulations placed on the statute book to cover traditional electronic cigarettes and now electronic cigarette companies are looking towards the next generation of devices. While there will be many challenges for the electronic cigarette industry going forward you could argue that regulators and governments around the world face the greatest challenge, keeping up with developments!

Mark Benson

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