An inside look at vape products in Aotearoa, New Zealand : the culture and the chemistry

Abstract

Electronic cigarettes are cited as early as 2003, but their introduction into the New Zealand market was not until 2006. Since the appearance of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in New Zealand, Ministry of Health statistics has shown a gradual increase in e-cigarette use amongst adults in New Zealand. This research aims to gain an understanding of the vaping culture in New Zealand and investigate the chemical composition of electronic cigarette liquids (eliquids) available on the New Zealand market. Web scrapping was carried out from July 2021 – to February 2022 to obtain knowledge regarding the vape products available on the New Zealand market. A research survey was conducted from October 2021 – to April 2022 to investigate the similarities and differences between New Zealand vape user preferences and experiences. Fifty refill e-liquids, prefilled pods, and disposable pens were purchased from vape retail locations in Auckland and online. All products were analysed for propylene glycol (PG), glycerol (VG), alcohol, nicotine and other chemicals present using gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS), high-performance-liquid-chromatography (HPLC) and other analytical tools. Web scrapping for vape products on the New Zealand market showed that product availability was impacted heavily by new vape regulations and other events such as inflation in the economy. Our research survey shows that females were more likely than males to report using a regular tobacco cigarette before an e-cigarette (91.0% vs 77.1%). Youth were more likely than young adults and adults to report only being an e-cigarette user with no past tobacco use history (youth 44.1% vs young adults 13.0% vs adults 2.4%). Other results show that preferences regarding the reason for purchase, nicotine preferences, flavour preferences, and device preference were significant by gender and age. All products analysed recorded the presence of PG and VG in their labels, but no indication of the amount was listed. Analytical tools such as GC-MS confirmed the presence of both PG and VG and one or more potentially harmful chemicals not listed on any of the products analysed. Study results also detected the presence of alcohol in 23 out of 50 products using GC-MS, and HPLC confirmed the inaccurate measure and mislabelling of nicotine concentrations found in New Zealand sold vape products. Nicotine concentrations from our analysis showed that the majority of the products analysed were found to be 10-20% different from the product label. Our research provides evidence that the use of an e-cigarette as a smoking cessation tool in New Zealand youth is uncommon, and the need for better quality control and continuous regulations in New Zealand sold e-cigarette products is required to make e-cigarettes safe for consumption in New Zealand.