US Customs Makes Multiple, Massive e-Cig Seizures from China

US Customs and Border Patrol has released new end-of-year reports on the seizure of illegal e-cig (electronic cigarette) units that were being smuggled into the US during 2024.

  The units, in some cases, included flavored vape products

Over the last few years, the assaults on the e-cig industry have ramped up. In 2022, WA State Native Tribes sued e-cig maker Juul, claiming they targeted youth with marketing campaigns to try to get them hooked.   In the fall of 2024, several Democrat legislators said they would sponsor a bill in 2025 trying to ban flavored vape products in WA State.

Flavored vape varieties produce a taste different than just the traditional 'tobacco' in the e-cig products.  It's no secret foreign manufacturers and others see this as a window to try to smuggle these high-demand products into the US.

Now, US Customs and Border Patrol say over the last 12 months, they've seized 3.2 million illegal e-cig units coming into the US, mostly from China. The units were worth an estimated $81.5 million dollars.

According to US Customs:

"Almost all the shipments originated from China and were destined to locations across the U.S. Most shipments violated the FDA’s Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), while some were seized for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations. Some of the IPR violations concerned used unauthorized trademarks associated with pop icons."

They also said about the illegal items:

"Vapes, e-cigarettes, and other electronic nicotine delivery systems that are unapproved by the FDA may contain higher levels of nicotine and other unknown, toxic chemicals, making them extremely hazardous to health."

If the efforts to contain or even ban e-cigs in the US continue, Customs says they will likely see more increases in smuggled products.