E-cigarettes: BAT’s Vype and Vuse
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E-cigarettes: BAT’s Vype and Vuse, Tobacco Tactics, updated 15 December 2022, accessed 16 April 2024.
From 2014, British American Tobacco (BAT) developed and launched a number of e-cigarettes (also known as electronic nicotine delivery systems, or ENDS) under the Vype and Vuse brand names. The table below gives details of these products, up to 2020 when BAT began to merge the brands under the Vuse name.
- For more information including BAT’s e-cigarette strategy, acquisitions, market share and lobbying, see E-cigarettes: British American Tobacco.
Vype E-cigarettes
Vype was developed by following the acquisition of an independent company called CN Creative in 2012. BAT began selling Vype in Europe in 2013 and has since expanded sales globally.
| Year | Product | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Vype eStick | The first of BAT’s redesigned Vype product variations, launched in the UK in April, then rolled out in Europe.1 By 2019 it was no longer available on Vype’s websites, apart from in Canada.2 |
| 2015 | Vype eTank | First of the international tobacco companies to sell an ‘open-system’, refillable e-cigarette.34 The company issued a limited product recall for the eTank Pro in August 2018 due to reports of devices overheating and the risk of them catching fire.56 |
| 2016 | Vype Pebble | Launched in Milan, Italy, in a Vype ‘concept store’.78 Subsequently marketed across Europe. By 2019, it was no longer available on either Vype’s UK or Italian websites.910 |
| 2018 | Vype ePen 3 | Launched in August in the UK, with e-liquid ‘pods’ in three nicotine strengths and a range of flavours, including “blended tobacco”, “fresh apple” and “wild berries”.1112 A best seller for BAT in Europe and rolled out to other markets in 2018 and 2019.131415161718 |
| 2018 | Vype iSwitch | On sale in December, initially in BAT’s VIP branded stores in London. A variation, the i-Switch Maxx, enabled connection via Bluetooth to the myVype app which can monitor and track personal use of the device.1920 This device appeared to no longer be on sale in 2021. For more information see E-cigarettes: British American Tobacco. |
| 2019 | Vype ePod | A nicotine salt product, launched in July, using vPro capsules, containing 18 mg/ml of nicotine in the UK.2122 Nicotine salts are created when ‘freebase’ nicotine is dissolved in acid, which can make a higher dose of nicotine more palatable.23 BAT’s Head of Next Generation Products, Nigel Hardy, said at the time that: “People are looking for devices that are less harmful, less costly and with minimum complexity. As a result, there has been a rapid growth in closed systems – and it’s these that are driving growth in the market.”2425 |
In August 2019, BAT submitted a global trademark application for “Le Spot, by Vype” under the categories of e-cigarettes and tobacco products, and connected retail services. It was not clear if this was for a new e-cigarette product.26
Vuse E-cigarettes
The Vuse brand was inherited from Reynolds when BAT acquired the company in 2017, after having a licensing agreement in place since 2014. Up to 2020, Vuse products were mainly available on the US market. (See information on BAT’s rebranding below)
| Year | Product | Details |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Vuse Solo | A ‘cigalike’ inherited from Reynolds.27 |
| 2016 | Vuse Digital Vapor | Inherited from Reynolds. In 2019 this product was no longer available.28 |
| 2016 | Vuse Vibe | Inherited from Reynolds, a closed tank device marketed by Reynolds/BAT.29 In April 2018, BAT/Reynolds issued a voluntary product recall for Vuse Vibe power units due to reports of the batteries overheating and catching fire.30 In June 2018, BAT blamed a “few isolated issues”13 and said that the recall was “progressing well with the majority of displaced volume moving to SOLO and CIRO”.17 Although Vibe was restocked and sales picked up later in the year, BAT estimated that this recall had cost the company US$19million.1316 |
| 2018 | Vuse Ciro | Launched in May, promoted with the slogan “a perfect puff every time”.31 (Ten Motives produced an e-cigarette in the UK called Cirro. For more information on Ten Motives see E-Cigarettes: British American Tobacco). |
| 2018 | Vuse Alto | Launched in August, it was seen as a direct competitor to e-cigarette JUUL from JUUL Labs, which by 2017 had overtaken sales of Vuse.3233 |
Vype rebranded as Vuse
In 2020, BAT was under pressure due to lower-than-expected profits from its newer products. It began consolidating its brands, renaming its Vype products as Vuse, with the rebrand complete in April 2021.3435
For developments after 2020, see E-cigarettes: British American Tobacco
For more information on its wider product rebrand see: Newer Nicotine and Tobacco Products: British American Tobacco
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