FDA Regulations Could Eliminate Most Eliquid Flavors and Triple Ecig Prices

As we wait to hear the final details of the FDA’s ecigarette regulations, no one is feeling good about the future of the industry. Details are slowly leaking out about what the FDA is planning and it is clear that major changes are ahead. The days of walking into you local vape shop to browse hundreds of eliquid flavors could be over soon. With a strenuous FDA approval process and massive tax hikes, some wonder if the ecig industry can survive at all.

Mike Schleiker, manager at Colorado-based Vapor Source, fears that the regulations will be a death nail for most ecig businesses. He’s especially concerned that ecig prices will sky rocket almost overnight. “With the tobacco tax, you’re looking to pay at least triple,” he said. “Cause if you look at cigarettes, the way they went up with the state tax, the local tax, the tobacco tax, all that stuff, they almost tripled in price.”

Jessica Haliburton, general manager of Jvapes, said eliquid companies would have to downsize if they want to even try to survive in a newly regulated environment. “They’ll have an application process for each flavor, each nicotine strength that will cost $9 million per nicotine strength, per flavor. You know, only big tobacco who already have vaping companies would be able to afford something like that,” she said.

Haliburton said the financial losses would be massive. “We would lose a lot,” she said. “We could potentially lose employees, just due to the fact of it we lose customers, we’re gonna have to shut down shops, start downsizing you know, everything of that nature.”

Because ecig users rely on a variety of flavors to keep them away from tobacco products, Haliburton said the end of the ecig era could be coming soon. “I know that the vaping industry could not be around in two to four years if everything goes through.”

Are you stocking up on extra eliquids right now just in case they disappear after the regulations are implemented? Do you think ecig companies will survive the coming changes?