E-cigarettes: Tobacco Company Interests in Single Use Products

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Key points

  • “Disposable” products are not new – transnational tobacco companies have sold ‘cig-a-likes’ in the past and some still do
  • Transnational companies all launched new products to catch some of this rapidly growing market
  • Company marketing material emphasises consumer convenience
  • There are concerns around increasing youth use of e-cigarettes and how much single-use products are responsible
  • Products contain plastic and lithium batteries are often discarded and there is increasing evidence of environmental harm, with additional risks in case of inappropriate disposal
  • There has been a growing international consensus on the need to regulate or ban these products

Background

Since 2019, there has been a rapid growth in the market for ‘disposable’, or single-use, e-cigarettes.12 Market research company Euromonitor International estimates that these products made up approximately 29% of the global e-cigarette market by retail value in 2024.3

Single-use products have been controversial, with concerns around increasing youth use (see Box 1 below) and environmental impact leading to widespread media coverage,45678 and warnings from health advocates and policy makers.9101112 Some large UK retailers announced that they would no longer sell single-use e-cigarettes, before a national ban was introduced.1314

Despite their sustainability claims,151617 three of the ‘big 4’ transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) launched new single-use e-cigarettes in 2022 to compete in the fast-growing market, saying that this was to meet consumer demand and a desire for convenience. However, single-use products are not new, or even new to TTCs. Earlier products resembled cigarettes, referred to as ‘cig-a-likes’, or pens. As of early 2023, some of these products were still being marketed alongside the new bar-type products (see below).

Box 1: Increased youth use in the UK
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) reported survey data showing the prevalence of e-cigarette use (ever use) among youth aged 11 to 17 in the UK. This increased rapidly from 11% in 2021 to 20% – equivalent to 1.1 million children – in 2023. 34% of 16-17 year olds and 15% of 11-15 year olds reported use.18
The 2023 Scottish Health Survey also noted a rapid increase in use of e-cigarettes among the 16-24 age group in Scotland.1920 There was also a rapid increase in the use of single-use products from 2021, with 69% of young people reporting their use in 2023. However, after adverse media coverage, political interventions, and announcements of future restrictions on these products (detailed below) this figure fell to 52% in 2024, and 42% in 2025.18
As of 2025, overall reported youth use of e-cigarettes in the UK remained around 20%.18

Calls for bans and taxes

There have been growing calls in multiple countries to ban single-use e-cigarettes. In 2024, European waste management and recycling associations pushed for a complete EU-wide prohibition.21 Some countries have implemented bans, or plan to introduce them.

Bans announced

Bans on single-use e-cigarettes have been introduced in Australia2223 and New Zealand,2425 and in a number of European countries, including the UK, Ireland,26 Belgium,27 France,28and some Swiss cantons.29 Other countries have been reported to be considering bans.3031323334

The case of the UK – where a ban came into force in June 2025 – is detailed below.

UK ban

After running a consultation on youth vaping,3536 the UK government, in January 2024, announced a proposal to ban single-use e-cigarettes – “a key driver behind the alarming rise in youth vaping” – alongside other measures to prevent the sale of e-cigarettes to children.3738 ASH had proposed a specific tax on single-use products in preference to a ban. In March 2024, the UK government instead announced plans to increase taxes on all e-cigarettes according to the level of nicotine in the e-liquid.83940.

The Scottish Government announced in January 2023 that it intended to ban single-use e-cigarettes,41 and commissioned a review into their environmental impact.42 After two public consultations,4344 new regulations were announced in February 2024, under existing environmental protection legislation.45 4647

On the 1st June 2025, the ban on the sale and supply of single-use e-cigarettes in the UK entered into force across all jurisdictions: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.48

Challenges enforcing regulations

UK

In the UK any e-cigarette product on sale must be notified to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is responsible for checking the data submitted by manufacturers and importers.4950 If this information meets the required checks products are listed on the MHRA website and can be legally sold on the UK market.51 While the MHRA can investigate reports of non-compliance, local Trading Standards officials (in multiple separate local authorities) are responsible for checking that products on sale match the information supplied to the MHRA.4952 This is increasingly challenging as huge numbers of new products are added to the database: on 30 March 2023, a search of the MHRA product database for ‘disposable’ e-cigarettes produced over 10,000 entries for products listed since January 2021, with over 1000 new entries every two months, an average of around 200 per week.51 By July 2023 this figure has risen to nearly 12,000.51

US

In the US some companies argued that the use of synthetic nicotine in single-use e-cigarettes means that they are not ‘tobacco’ products and therefore fell outside the remit of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).53 Proposals to tighten regulation were welcomed by US e-cigarette market leader JUUL Labs (which at the time was part-owned by Altria):

illegally marketed and illicit products and products designed to evade federal and state oversight undermine harm reduction and a responsible e-vapor category.”5354

In April 2022 a law came into force specifying that the FDA could regulate products with nicotine from any source, closing this loophole.55 In June 2023, at an investor conference, British American Tobacco (BAT) CEO Taddeu Marroco described the enforcement of the regulations for synthetic nicotine as “very weak”.56

For examples of other challenges arising from attempts to introduce restrictions on single-use products see Undermining Regulation below.

Fast growing market

The value of the global market for single-use e-cigarettes has grown rapidly from US$1.2 billion in 2020 to approximately US$6.5 billion in 2024 (both figures in 2024 prices),57 coinciding with the arrival of ‘puff-style’ single-use e-cigarettes. This figure has been projected to triple over a decade, according to analysis published in the tobacco industry publication Tobacco Reporter.1

Market size

While Euromonitor reported 16 out of 99 countries with declining single-use e-cigarette market value from 2023, potentially due to the increasing bans and regulations on single-use products, both the global e-cigarette and single-use market continued to grow, by approximately 6% from 2023 to 2024. 57

In 2024, the total value of the market for all e-cigarettes and related products was nearly US$23 billion.3 The single-use product market was worth approximately US$6.5 billion, accounting for 29% of global e-cigarette sales by value. 57 The market volume figures show a slightly different picture – in 2024, the single-use market had a total volume of approximately 33 billion cigarette stick equivalents, approximately 18% of global e-cigarette sales by the same metric.58

Of the single-use e-cigarette markets that Euromonitor records in 2024, the UK was the largest in the world, with the market value of US$1.4 billion,57 ahead of Canada with a market value of approximately US$600 million, Poland at US$560million, and Italy at US$500. 57

In terms of the market volume of single-use e-cigarettes, the UK market was also the largest at around 5.4 billion cigarette stick equivalents, followed by Russia (4.7 billion sticks) and Canada and Malaysia (close to 3 billion sticks each).58

Company and brand shares

Globally in 2024, as in previous years, the two leading single-use brands were manufactured by Shenzhen Imiracle Technology: Elf Bar and Lost Mary.59(ElfBar is now known as EBDesign in the US owing to a patent dispute with a US company.)60

In terms of TTC global market share, in 2024, BAT’s Vuse and Imperial Brand’s blu held much smaller shares.59 Gold Bar (owned by JTI after it took a controlling stake in Flavour Warehouse in 2024),61 and PMI’s brands (IQOS and Veeba) held a negligible share.59

In the UK, the two Shenzhen Imiracle Technology brands (Elf Bar and Lost Mary) and the Shenzhen SKE Technology brand dominated.59

In 2021, two other brands held a sizeable share of the global single-use market: Kaival Brands’ Bidi Stick and EVO Brands’s Puff.62

In June 2022, Philip Morris International (PMI) reached an agreement with Kaival to manufacture, distribute and market bidi stick and forthcoming “disposable” products outside the US (see below for details).6364 No sales outside the US have as yet been recorded by Euromonitor but products have been reported on sale (see below).

EVO’s products had not received market authorisation in the US.6566

Threat to TTC sales?

The rise in the use of single-use e-cigarettes was a potential threat to sales of TTC’s flagship products. An academic research study published in 2022 suggested that users of reusable e-cigarettes were switching to single-use products.667 A retailer magazine reported Nielsen data suggesting that disposables had negatively affected UK sales of rechargeable devices from JTI, Imperial and JUUL and BAT’s 10 Motives (although this brand also includes single-use products).68

This points to a key reason for TTCs to invest in new single-use products. See Market motivation below for more.

Old products – new variations

Image of cigalike e-cigarettes

Image 1: Disposable e-cigarettes (Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) 69

Cig-a-likes and pen shapes

Early single-use devices were generally small ‘cig-a-likes’ which resemble cigarettes, often with a white body and imitation filter. The nicotine containing liquid is held in a small container or cartridge which is not refillable, and the device contains a battery which is not rechargeable.70

Pen-shaped e-cigarettes resemble a pen or laser pointer and are often larger than cig-a-likes, with more battery capacity.71 Many of these devices are refillable, although TTCs have also sold single-use versions (see image 1).69

  • Japan Tobacco International (JTI) sold pen-shaped “disposable” e-cigarettes in the US after acquiring the Logic brand in 2015.7273
  • British American Tobacco has marketed a single-use cig-a-like in the UK under its subsidiary brand Ten Motives.74 Euromonitor began recording sales of this brand in 2021.75 By February 2022 the Ten Motives website was also selling BAT’s new bar-type disposable product 76
  • Imperial Brands also had a single-use e-cigarette shaped like a pen on sale in the US.77 Most of Imperial’s rechargeable products, sold under the myblu brand, received a marketing denial order from the FDA in April 2022, meaning they cannot be legally sold in the US.78 See also E-cigarettes: Imperial’s Blu
  • Prior to 2020, Philip Morris International focussed on developing and promoting its heated tobacco product IQOS and displayed little interest in e-cigarettes. Its rechargeable e-cigarette VEEV ONE – previously IQOS VEEV, and originally launched in 2020 as Mesh – is now available in multiple markets.79

See E-cigarettes: The Basics for information on other product types

New bar-type products

In mid-2022 BAT and PMI launched new bar-type single-use e-cigarettes within two months of each other.

In 2022 BAT referred to Vuse Go as its “first disposable – modern disposable – product”.80 In February 2023 it reported that it was on sale in 24 countries.81

In July 2022, PMI launched VEEBA, initially in Canada. Kaival Brands stated that its subsidiary Bidi Vapor’s IP, patents and development methods were used for VEEBA as part of their agreement with Philip Morris.1828384 VEEBA was officially launched in the UK in March 2023.85 In mid-2023, PMI rebranded VEEBA as VEEV NOW.6486

Imperial Brands followed, launching its bar-type single-use Blu Bar in the UK in November 2022.87

Nicotine salts

Like many other e-cigarettes, Vuse Go,88 VEEBA (VEEV NOW)89 and Blu Bar,90 all use nicotine salts. These are created when ‘freebase’ nicotine is dissolved in acid, which can make a higher dose of nicotine easier to inhale and less irritating to the throat.919293 This can also increase the speed and level of nicotine delivery to the user,93 which  has been linked to increased initiation, dependence and frequency of use among youth.92949596 A study in the Netherlands, published in 2022, found that single-use products more often contained nicotine salts than refillable ones.93

Market motivation

In February 2023, BAT reported that the growth of the single-use market had negatively impacted its e-cigarette market share in a number of countries.81 It also stated that sales of single-use products may, to some extent, replace other BAT products already on the market.81

BAT’s Vuse Go launched first in the UK in May 2022, which the company described as its “fastest concept to market delivery to date.”9798 This appears to be a response to a falling e-cigarette market share in France, Germany and the UK.  After launching Vuse Go BAT’s market share stabilised.81

In a presentation to investors in June 2022, finance and transformation director described BAT’s intention to launch new products every year:99

“We have just opened up a new hub in China to be closer with suppliers, so we are able to develop a stronger pipeline and making sure that, for every single of these categories, we have a rhythm of reaching at every single year with novelties in the market.”99

Imperial Brands, in a conference for investors and analysts, stated: “what we are observing is not that the market is switching from pod systems into disposables. The disposable growth goes on top of the pod-based systems”.100 At that time Imperial said “we are clearly going to watch whether that is an opportunity that we see, long term, being part of the proposition”.100

In February 2022, PMI stated that “profit per user” was estimated to be similar for “disposable e-vapor” as for nicotine pouches.101 Exactly one year later in another presentation to investors PMI noted that ”disposable e-vapor” was a “category where loyalty is low and things are moving very, very, very fast” and that a lack of consumer loyalty could “weaken the model to generate profit”.102 PMI stated that it intended to develop disposable products in “the profitable manner with the highest standard of ethic [sic] and responsibility”.102

In June 2023, after PMI rebranded its single-use e-cigarette VEEBA as VEEV NOW, PMI’s chief financial officer Emmanuel Babeau stated in a presentation to investors that:

“…with VEEV NOW and VEEV ONE, we have really 2 great products on disposable and closed system (…) let’s go for the market where vaping is a significant market; where there is the hope for minimum regulation today or coming soon.”103

BAT acting against competitors

Lobbying against rivals in the US

BAT, as Reynolds American, used a ‘citizen’s petition’ to lobby the FDA to have its rival’s products removed from sale, citing use by young people.104105106 US advocacy group the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) called BAT’s actions “shameless hypocrisy”, pointing out that BAT/Reynold’s e-cigarette Vuse was the second most popular brand among youth after Puff Bar in the US.107 CTFK also noted that BAT/Reynolds was “seeking to overturn the FDA’s decision denying marketing authorization for two menthol-flavored Vuse products – a decision the FDA made precisely because of the risk these products pose to youth.”107

Testing products in the UK

According to the trade publication Better Retailing,  letters sent to wholesalers showed that from 2021 BAT had been commissioning its own lab tests on single-use products produced by its UK competitors.108 Better Retailing quoted BAT’s letter urging retailers stop selling any “non-compliant products”.108 It also wrote to the MHRA, and local authority Trading Standards teams throughout the UK.108109

BAT said:

Where we discover apparent compliance issues, we consider it can be constructive to share this independently certified evidence with our trade partners, regulators and enforcement agencies”.108

The Independent British Vape Trade Association (IBTVA) released a statement on 21 March, saying that, while it accepted that there were issues with compliance in some products, it was:

“becoming increasingly concerned that the tobacco industry and its affiliates are using this minority non-compliance to build a narrative that the independent vape industry cannot be trusted.”110111

The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), which at the time had tobacco company members, also put out a statement, but it did not refer to tobacco companies.112

In April 2023, the UK government announced that it would be launching a new “illicit vapes enforcement squad” to enforce regulations, led by Trading Standards with product tests conducted by an accredited independent laboratory.113114

In March 2024, BAT’s chief executive told the Financial Times that it welcomed the new tax on single-use products, saying “we love regulation”.115 Later that month, he told the BBC that a ban would not work and would result in an increase in illicit trade.116

Image of an Imperial Tobacco presentation slide showing blu bars

Image 2: Slide for presentation at Consumer Analysts Group of New York conference, February 2023 (Source: imperialbrandsplc.com)117

U-turn: Launching unauthorised products in the US

After years of protesting about the sale of unauthorised single-use e-cigarettes, BAT shifted strategy in 2025 to join the market it had previously condemned. According to BAT’s financial statements, its sales volumes in the US have declined by 10% since 2022, despite the notable single-use e-cigarette market growth.118Luis Pinto, spokesman for Reynolds/BAT, stated that “Not having access to this world weighs on our company’s bottom line.”118

According to Reuters, BAT planned to launch its new single-use product, Vuse One, in late 2025 despite lacking an FDA license,118 despite having previously told the FDA that unauthorised synthetic nicotine products were “illegally” damaging legitimate businesses.

A representative from American Vapor Manufacturers, Jim McCarthy, condemned BAT’s shifting strategy as “breathtaking audacity.”118The FDA also considered BAT’s plan to market Vuse One unlawful.118

Promoted for convenience

When talking about single-use products on their websites, and in corporate presentations, tobacco companies all refer to convenience for the consumer.

On its website, BAT promotes the product as “designed for on the go moments”,119 In material directed towards investors it has referred to “the modern disposable segment with its convenient and flexible format.”120 This fits with BAT’s promotion of its various products, including cigarettes, for different “moments” in the day.

In February 2022, at a consumer analysts conference in New York (CAGNY) PMI stated to potential investors that:

Responsibly marketed disposables provide a convenient and simple entry point to adult smokers switching for the first time, and a hassle-free option for smoke-free poly-users.”101

When PMI presented its financial results in July, it used the same statement, but the term “legal-age smokers” was used instead of “poly users”.121 See also the section on dual and poly use on the page about IQOS heated tobacco products.

In a presentation to potential investors in early 2023, Imperial Brands referred to the “new convenient format” of its disposable blu bar (see image 2).117

Fast moving consumer goods marketed for convenience or ‘On the go’ use are frequently littered, potentially increasing environmental harm.122123

Environmental impact

The manufacturing of single-use e-cigarettes, like that of other newer products, involves a range of processes that are significantly more environmentally intensive compared to the process for producing combustible cigarettes. These can include the production of plastics, the extraction of metals like lithium for electronic components, and the chemical production of nicotine-containing liquids.124 For more information see Tobacco and the Environment.

Single-use e-cigarettes are classed as electronic waste and should be disposed of following the correct procedures to avoid fire hazard, and the release of toxic chemicals into the environment. 125 However, most are improperly discarded in household waste or the environment.8126127  This leads to e-liquid chemicals such as nicotine salts, microplastics from the plastic casing, and flammable lithium-ion batteries and associated chemicals (heavy metals, lead, mercury) in waterways and soil, and consumed by wildlife.128129

According to the not-for-profit Material Focus, each single-use device battery contains on average 0.15g of lithium, making for an estimated 10 tonnes of this “critical” raw material being discarded  globally per year, equivalent to the batteries in around 1,200 electric vehicles.8125126127 They also contained copper, roughly the equivalent needed for 1.6 million home electric vehicle chargers.8 If they were not discarded after a single-use, the lithium-ion batteries could be recharged or recycled into new batteries.125126127

Despite a legal obligation, in the UK and EU, for producers of any electronics to provide recycling schemes for these products,8 properly disposing of e-cigarettes is a difficult process, particularly for users without their own transport.130 TTCs have promoted their individual recycling schemes on their websites.90125126131132 However, an investigation by UK newspaper The Financial Times, found that supermarket staff in London were not aware of recycling schemes for these products.8

UK retailers face potential fines for not providing a ‘take back’ service for used e-cigarettes.133 Retail magazine Better Retailing reported in April 2023 that the large tobacco companies did not appear to be supporting UK retailers with the recycling of their products.134

Undermining regulation

Product innovation

To adapt to the UK’s single-use e-cigarette ban, the TTCs have introduced reusable e-cigarettes as an alternative product with similar price points and designs to their single-use e-cigarettes.135BAT has replaced the single-use Vuse pen with the Vuse Reload pen, which requires pod refills after 1000 puffs.135Imperial Brands launched a box-style rechargeable e-cigarette, which was marketed as having the same flavour options as the single-use e-cigarette.136

However, it is not yet clear if these new reusable products will lead to a reduction in waste.

In August 2025, the Mail online reported that a survey of 1,000 e-cigarette users, which it said was conducted for manufacturers and the results leaked to the newspaper, showed that a new reusable device is repurchased every 16 days instead of a refill.137138 Within the first month of the ban’s implementation in the UK, sales of reusable e-cigarettes reached over 5 million devices; however, only 1.4 million refill units were sold.137 If this data is reliable, such a disparity between device sales and refill purchases could indicate that reusable devices are often treated as single-use products.

A BBC article said that, according to a large UK waste management company, consumers were disposing of these new reusable devices in the same way that they would single use products – by putting them in their rubbish bins or general recycling. However, the Independent British Vape Trade Association said that consumers were refilling and recharging devices, and that the waste could be accounted for by “disposable products washing through the system, either through illegal traders or through the illegal black market.”139

Lobbying via third parties

The third party technique is a well-known tobacco industry tactic. Several organisations linked to TTCs, either through funding or membership, have lobbied against the regulation of single-use products, as well as attempts to introduce generational smoking bans.

In 2023 and 2024, there were two public consultations that covered the proposed bans in Scotland and another consultation on UK ‘Smoke free generation’ legislation which included questions on single use e-cigarettes. TCRG researchers analysed contributions from the four TTCs, and 10 industry-linked organisations. They found that:

“TTCs and TTC-linked organizations positioned themselves as responsible actors aligned with public health and environmental goals, while opposing the ban. Youth use and environmental harms were reframed as problems of individual noncompliance and enforcement failure. The ban was portrayed as disproportionate, procedurally flawed, economically harmful, and likely to increase illicit trade and tobacco use.”140

The research, published in December 2025, also reported alternative measures put forward to industry and third parties, including targeting individual behaviour and product innovation.140

Responses from the UK government under the Freedom of Information Act revealed consultation contributions critical of prohibiting the sale and supply of single-use e-cigarettes from BAT, Philip Morris Ltd (PMI’s UK subsidiary), JTI and Imperial Brands. Other responses were sent by the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA – see below), Knowledge-Action-Change (which has received funding from the PMI-financed Foundation for a Smoke-Free World), the think tanks the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Adam Smith Institute (of which We Vape’s Mark Oates is a fellow), as well as the pro-smoking organisation Forest.141

The WVA, set up by the tobacco company funded Consumer Choice Center (CCC), and also funded directly by BAT, urged the public to respond to a UK government consultation to oppose the single-use e-cigarette ban, as well as e-cigarette flavour restrictions.142 After the consultation closed, WVA urged the government to reconsider its stance on banning single-use products.143 We Vape, whose director Mark Oates has received funding from CCC, has also criticised the UK ban, calling it “a colossal failure”.144

In addition to BAT,145146 and Imperial Brands,147148, WVA and CCC also responded to a consultation on the draft regulations in Scotland.149150

Several trade and retail organisations with tobacco company members have also responded to consultations and criticised the ban:

  • The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) whose members include BAT, JTI, PMI, Imperial Brands and JUUL.151 stated in December 2023 that it did not support a ban on single-use products.152 ACS submitted responses to the Scottish consultations.153154 ACS members, including major UK retailers, have also lobbied against the ban.155
  • The Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF) is a trade association for convenience stores which has tobacco company members. It submitted responses to the Scottish consultations,156157 and stated that there would be “unintended consequences” of the ban including an increase in illicit trade.158159
  • The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) responded to a consultation on the proposed ban in Scotland.160
  • The Federation of Independent Retailers (formerly known as NFRN) responded to a consultation on the proposed ban in Scotland.161
  • The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), which at the time had tobacco company members, also criticised the proposed regulations, stating “the tobacco industry and illicit markets will be the only winners from bans on disposables and flavoured vapes”.162 (UKVIA stated in September 2023 that all of its tobacco company memberships had ended. For details see the UKVIA page).

Organisations have also lobbied in other countries where bans have been proposed. In March 2024, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, which has received funding from BAT, cautioned against banning single-use products, also arguing that it could lead to unintended consequences, including a resurgence in smoking, and increased health risks from the emergence of an unregulated black market.163

Relevant Links

Product regulation 
Up to 2023, the Policy Scan Project, by the Institute for Global Tobacco Control (at Johns Hopkins University) tracked and reported regulatory approaches to e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products (HTPs) and nicotine pouches around the world.  For information on product regulation, and tobacco regulation more broadly, see the Tobacco Control Laws website, published by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK).

Tobacco Tactics Resources

TCRG Research

The tobacco industry at the health–environment nexus: a framing analysis of the UK ‘disposable’ e-cigarette ban, P. Lonngam, R. Hiscock, K. Evans-Reeves, B.K. Matthes, Health Promotion International, 2025, 00, daaf2018, doi:10.1093/heapro/daaf218

For a comprehensive list of all TCRG publications, including TCRG research that evaluates the impact of public health policy, go to the Bath TCRG’s list of publications.

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