Tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds is introducing nicotine-free disposable vapes available in six non-tobacco flavors today in the United States. The products will not be sold under the company’s Vuse brand, but will instead be branded SENSA.
Reynolds, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco (BAT), says SENSA will be sold with the same marketing restrictions as its nicotine-containing Vuse products, some of which have been authorized by the FDA. Reynolds will require retailers to sell only to customers 21 or older, although that isn’t a legal requirement in many states. It will also be displayed in stores next to age-restricted products, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The device provides “5,000 seconds of puffs,” according to the Journal, and has a removable battery to facilitate recycling. It will retail for $19.99, making it more expensive than most popular disposable vapes.
Reynolds is not seeking FDA authorization for SENSA because the company believes the nicotine-free product falls outside FDA jurisdiction.
The 2016 Deeming Rule that gave the FDA authority over vaping products defines zero-nicotine e-liquid as a tobacco product because it can be modified by adding nicotine. But the agency has admitted in the past that a sealed, nicotine-free device incapable of modification—like a disposable or pod—would probably not fall under the agency’s authority.
There has always been a small market for nicotine-free vapes, which Reynolds claims is now 1-2 percent of the convenience store/gas station segment of the vape market.
Although the SENSA flavors—including watermelon frost, passionfruit frost and berry fusion—seem almost identical to typical flavors in nicotine-containing disposable vapes decried by the FDA as “youth-appealing,” Reynolds said in a press release that SENSA “is intended for adult tobacco and vapor consumers and does not include flavors intended to appeal to the underage.”
Reynolds itself has waged a war against flavored disposables that threaten sales of its Vuse vaping products and combustible cigarettes. Reynolds has described other companies’ “dessert and candy flavors” as a risk to youth, and the products themselves as a danger to public health, even implying they might be “laced with fentanyl.”
Reynolds’ parent company BAT sells flavored nicotine-containing disposable vapes under the Vuse name in other countries.
Because of declining cigarette sales, state governments in the U.S. and countries around the world are looking to vapor products as a new source of tax revenue.
A list of vaping product flavor bans and online sales bans in the United States, and sales and possession bans in other countries.
A closer look at PouchPoint, an online nicotine pouch store offering competitive pricing, wide selection, and a smooth shopping experience.
A practical, data-driven breakdown of where the vape market is heading—and how to position your business ahead of regulatory and category shifts.
