CDC: Vape Pen Sales increase nearly 50% in the past 3 years

According to data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), vape pen products sales have increased by nearly 50% in the past three years. The sales amount also increase from 15.5 million in January 2020 to 22.7 million in December 2022. What’s more, the market share of disposable vape pens increase from 24.7% to 51.8%. The share of pod mod vape pens dropped from 75.2% to 48.0%.

The sales volume of disposable vape pens exceed the pod vapes.

Disposable vape unit sale in US according to flavors in the past 3 years

Fatma Romeh, lead writer for CDC market analysis, said in a statement:

“The surge in total e-cigarette sales during 2020-2022 was driven by non-tobacco flavored e-cigarette sales, such as menthol, which dominates the prefilled cartridge market, and fruit and candy flavors, which lead the disposable e-cigarette market,”

Rome also points out a data the National Youth Tobacco Survey data released in 2022. According to the survey, more than 80% of middle and high school students use vape pen with flavors such as fruit or mint.

The data shows that, disposable e-cigarettes sales is less than a quarter of total sales in January 2020. However, in March 2022, its sales has surpassed sales of pod vapes.

Pod vape unit sale in US according to flavors in the past 3 years

Between January 2020 and December 2022, the unit share of pod vape decrease from 75.2% to 48.0% of total sales. At the same time, the unit share of disposable vape pens increase from 24.7% to 51.8%.

The number of vape brands in US increase 46.2%.

The data also shows that the number of vape brands in the US market is continuously increasing. During the CDC study period, the total number of vape brands in the U.S. market increased by 46.2%, from 184 to 269.

Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of the CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health, emphasizes in a statement:

“The dramatic spikes in youth e-cigarette use back in 2017 and 2018, primarily driven by JUUL, showed us how quickly e-cigarette sales and use patterns can change,”

The vape pens sales volume growth is slowing.

According to the data, between January 2020 and May 2022, vape pen total sales increases 67.2%, from 15.5 million to 25.9 million per issue. However, the total sales are down 12.3% between May and December 2022.

Although the overall monthly sales start to decline in May 2022, sales are still millions higher than in early 2020. The CDC attributes the recent decline to a variety of factors, including efforts by the health authorities preventing flavored nicotine products sell.

At the national level, the FDA has taken a number of measures in the past few years in an attempt to curb unauthorized sales of vape pens.

“All players in the supply chain—including retailers—have a role in keeping illegal e-cigarettes off the shelves,” said by Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, in a statement.

Earlier, a CDC research report analyzes that Massachusetts’ comprehensive vape flavor ban cause a sharp decline in the sales of flavored vape pens in the state, reducing by 94%.

But it is worth noting that more and more state and local governments in the United States are also trying to impose restrictions on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes.

As of December 31, 2022, seven states (California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Utah) imposes some type of restriction on flavored vapes. In addition, there are 378 jurisdictions (including counties, cities, towns, and villages ) also restrict flavor vape pens.

However, the CDC acknowledges that other factors may also have contributed to the slowdown. For example, a “surge in high-puff disposable e-cigarettes,” which produce more or stronger doses with each purchase.

Moreover, this data is only limit to the sales of traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. That means some sales may not actually go down, but shift to elsewhere, such as online orders or specialty vape stores that aren’t included in the company’s sales figures.