Vape MuseumResearch cutoff · July 18, 2026

The story
of vaping

From scattered experiments to a global industry—told through products, people, companies, markets, law, and public-health turning points.

Begin the story

Technical ancestor · 01US 1,775,947J. Robinson · applied May 3, 1927 · not a modern e-cigarette

7eras

31turning points

94story nodes

9market lenses

Chapter 01 · OriginsScroll freely, or play the guided tour

01 / 07

A vertical industry documentary

Seven chapters.
One connected story.

Follow the product first. Pause whenever you want the patents, filings, laws, studies, brands, and corporate relationships underneath it.

1927–1985 · Chapter 01

Ideas before a market

The object existed before the category.

Long before a nicotine industry formed, inventors and researchers separated aerosol from combustion.

Interpretive lineup of vapor-device ancestors against a global map

May 3, 1927

Joseph Robinson files an electric-vaporizer patent.

His device heated medicinal compounds for inhalation. It proves portable electrical aerosolization predates the e-cigarette, not that Robinson invented a nicotine vape.

00:00 / 07:42

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 4 turning points · 4 named actors

Long before a nicotine industry formed, inventors and researchers separated aerosol from combustion. These records are ancestors, not proof of a continuous product lineage.

What changed in the product

Electrical heating, flavored air, and nicotine aerosol were separate experiments. No shared cartridge, battery, atomizer, or supply chain yet existed.

How the story moved globally

The surviving record is concentrated in the United States. There was no global vapor market to map—only disconnected ideas waiting for batteries, materials, and manufacturing to catch up.

The cast inside this chapter

Before brands, four people and products tested the premise.

The heating idea

Joseph Robinson

A 1927 patent solved portable electrical aerosolization for medicinal compounds. It supplied a technical ancestor, but not a nicotine liquid, cartridge system, consumer brand, or manufacturing chain.

Open the record

The cigarette-shaped concept

Herbert A. Gilbert

Gilbert described heated, moist, flavored air in 1963. The drawings look strikingly modern; the missing story is commercialization. The idea arrived before batteries, materials, regulation, and distribution could make a category.

Open the record

The language of “vaping”

Phil Ray & Norman Jacobson

Their 1979 nicotine-aerosol work helped separate nicotine use from smoke and helped popularize the language later used by an industry, while remaining outside the modern product lineage.

Open the record

The instructive failure

Favor

Advance Tobacco Products brought a non-combustible nicotine product to market in 1985. Its short life showed that a clever object alone could not create the refill, retail, trust, and regulatory system a category needs.

Open the record

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01May 3, 1927

ProductExact patent record

Joseph Robinson files an electric-vaporizer patent.

His device heated medicinal compounds for inhalation. It proves portable electrical aerosolization predates the e-cigarette, not that Robinson invented a nicotine vape.
US1775947A
02April 17, 1963

ProductExact patent record

Herbert Gilbert proposes a smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette.

The patent replaced burning tobacco with heated, moist, flavored air. The drawings are real; mass production and adoption are not established by the patent.
US3200819A
031979

ProductRetrospective record

Phil Ray and Norman Jacobson test nicotine aerosol.

Their work is remembered for a smoke-free nicotine inhalation experiment and for helping popularize “vaping” as a term, while remaining outside the later commercial e-cigarette chain.
Historical review
041985

ProductRetrospective record

Favor reaches the market—and fails to create a category.

Advance Tobacco Products marketed a non-combustible nicotine product. Short commercial life and a different delivery architecture make it a precursor, not the start of the modern industry.
Peer-reviewed history

2003–2008 · Chapter 02

The modern e-cigarette becomes commercial

A Shenzhen product turns an old idea into a market.

Hon Lik’s patent family, Ruyan’s recorded sales, and a growing Chinese supply chain form the first commercially successful modern lineage.

Interpretive early atomizer components and Ruyan archive material

April 29, 2003

Hon Lik’s modern atomizing-cigarette patent family claims priority.

This anchors the best-documented modern commercial lineage. A priority claim is not a retail launch date, and the exact first SKU and launch month remain unresolved.

00:00 / 09:18

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 5 turning points · 2 named actors

Hon Lik’s patent family, Ruyan’s recorded sales, and a growing Chinese supply chain form the first commercially successful modern lineage. Patent, launch, sales, and overseas entry are different dates—and the Museum keeps them separate.

What changed in the product

Battery, controller, liquid reservoir, and atomization chamber become one consumer object. Early versions appear in cigarette, cigar, and pipe-like forms.

How the story moved globally

Commercial activity begins in China, then company filings report entry into selected Asian, European, and North American markets. Global diffusion begins before global rules exist.

The cast inside this chapter

The next era was built by named companies—not an abstract market.

Modern commercial lineage

Ruyan / Dragonite

Hon Lik’s patent family and Ruyan’s recorded 2004 sales anchor the best-documented modern commercial story. The listed group later sold a defined e-vapour asset package to Fontem.

Early OEM/ODM scale and multi-platform atomization manufacturing

FirstUnion / 深圳合元科技

FirstUnion belongs in the industry story because many globally sold devices begin with an invisible manufacturing platform. Its official history traces the group to Shenzhen in 2004 and reports work with more than 200 brands across over 80 countries, supported by nicotine, non-combustion-heating, medical, and functional-substance atomization platforms.

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01April 29, 2003

ProductExact patent record

Hon Lik’s modern atomizing-cigarette patent family claims priority.

This anchors the best-documented modern commercial lineage. A priority claim is not a retail launch date, and the exact first SKU and launch month remain unresolved.
WIPO patent family
022004

CompanyCompany filing · year-level

A later HKEX filing records Ruyan e-cigarette sales.

Golden Dragon reported HK$11.687 million in electronic-cigarette sales for 2004. That proves commercial activity by year, not a single ceremonial “launch day.”
HKEX interim report
032004–2005

CompanyCompany-reported history

FirstUnion establishes an early Shenzhen manufacturing platform.

FirstUnion’s official history dates the group’s Shenzhen start to 2004 and reports early overseas activity from the following year. The record shows how quickly the category developed an OEM/ODM layer alongside consumer-facing inventors and brands; its “first export” language remains a company claim.
FirstUnion official history
04From 2006

ProductCompany-reported

Ruyan reports entry into foreign markets.

Listed-company records describe overseas expansion from 2006. This is management reporting, not a complete customs ledger or proof of market share.
HKEX annual report
05September 19, 2008

Public healthExact institutional record

WHO challenges unproved cessation claims.

The first global public-health confrontation is about evidence and marketing language: WHO says e-cigarettes should not be presented as proven cessation therapy without supporting evidence.
WHO statement

ProductApril 29, 2003

Hon Lik’s modern atomizing-cigarette patent family claims priority.

This anchors the best-documented modern commercial lineage. A priority claim is not a retail launch date, and the exact first SKU and launch month remain unresolved.

Company2004

A later HKEX filing records Ruyan e-cigarette sales.

Golden Dragon reported HK$11.687 million in electronic-cigarette sales for 2004. That proves commercial activity by year, not a single ceremonial “launch day.”

Company2004–2005

FirstUnion establishes an early Shenzhen manufacturing platform.

FirstUnion’s official history dates the group’s Shenzhen start to 2004 and reports early overseas activity from the following year. The record shows how quickly the category developed an OEM/ODM layer alongside consumer-facing inventors and brands; its “first export” language remains a company claim.

ProductFrom 2006

Ruyan reports entry into foreign markets.

Listed-company records describe overseas expansion from 2006. This is management reporting, not a complete customs ledger or proof of market share.

Public healthSeptember 19, 2008

WHO challenges unproved cessation claims.

The first global public-health confrontation is about evidence and marketing language: WHO says e-cigarettes should not be presented as proven cessation therapy without supporting evidence.

2009–2013 · Chapter 03

Cigalikes, open systems, and the first corporate race

The cigarette lookalike loses control of the category.

American cigalikes reach mass retail while Shenzhen hardware becomes modular.

Interpretive exploded view of a modern atomizing device

October 2009

Joyetech says it develops the Joye eGo.

A larger 14 mm battery and manual-button format helped detach vaping from the cigarette silhouette. The milestone is company-authored, so its “first” claims are treated as claims, not neutral certification.

00:00 / 10:06

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 5 turning points · 4 named actors

American cigalikes reach mass retail while Shenzhen hardware becomes modular. The eGo battery, 510 connection, cartomizers, clearomizers, and tanks let users mix components—and create a specialist market alongside convenience-store brands.

What changed in the product

Manual switches, larger batteries, threaded connections, transparent tanks, and replaceable coils turn a sealed imitation cigarette into an interoperable system.

How the story moved globally

China becomes the hardware workshop; the United States becomes a legal and retail battleground; Europe, online forums, and specialist shops help normalize open-system use.

The cast inside this chapter

The next era was built by named companies—not an abstract market.

510, eGo, tank, replaceable-coil ecosystem

Joyetech

Joyetech helped make hardware modular and recognizable: the Joye 510, eGo battery, eGo-T tank, and eGo-C changeable atomizer became reference forms across specialist retail.

Clearomizers, EVOD, Protank, Subtank

Kangertech

Kangertech’s clearomizer and tank families helped turn replaceable coils and visible reservoirs into ordinary parts of the open-system experience.

Court path, bankruptcy, regulatory return

NJOY

NJOY helped establish the U.S. tobacco-law route, made the King disposable a visible premium cigalike, passed through bankruptcy-era asset transfers, and re-emerged around the ACE pod.

Early independent brand to merger asset

blu

Jason Healy’s blu became one of the first recognizable U.S. e-cigarette brands and showed how quickly independent vapor brands could become strategic tobacco-company assets.

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01October 2009

ProductCompany-reported

Joyetech says it develops the Joye eGo.

A larger 14 mm battery and manual-button format helped detach vaping from the cigarette silhouette. The milestone is company-authored, so its “first” claims are treated as claims, not neutral certification.
Joyetech history
02December 7, 2010

Law & policyExact legal record

Sottera v. FDA fixes the U.S. tobacco-law path.

The D.C. Circuit upheld the ruling that ordinary e-cigarettes marketed without therapeutic claims could be regulated as tobacco products rather than automatically as drug-device combinations.
FDA court summary
03April 24, 2012

CompanyFiled transaction record

Lorillard buys blu for $135 million.

One of the first major tobacco-company acquisitions turns an independent e-cigarette brand into a national corporate asset—and starts a chain of later merger divestitures.
Lorillard SEC filing
04December 2012

ProductContemporary secondary record

NJOY King pushes the disposable cigalike toward premium retail.

NJOY’s compact disposable became a recognizable U.S. object just as open systems were moving in the opposite direction toward larger, refillable hardware.
Contemporary profile
05October 23, 2013

CompanyFiled transaction record

Dragonite completes a US$75 million e-vapour asset sale.

Patents, trademarks, domains, know-how, claims, and records move to Fontem, linked to Imperial. Inventory and receivables stay behind: the invention becomes an asset package, not a simple company takeover.
Dragonite HKEX filing

ProductOctober 2009

Joyetech says it develops the Joye eGo.

Law & policyDecember 7, 2010

Sottera v. FDA fixes the U.S. tobacco-law path.

The D.C. Circuit upheld the ruling that ordinary e-cigarettes marketed without therapeutic claims could be regulated as tobacco products rather than automatically as drug-device combinations.

CompanyApril 24, 2012

Lorillard buys blu for $135 million.

One of the first major tobacco-company acquisitions turns an independent e-cigarette brand into a national corporate asset—and starts a chain of later merger divestitures.

ProductDecember 2012

NJOY King pushes the disposable cigalike toward premium retail.

NJOY’s compact disposable became a recognizable U.S. object just as open systems were moving in the opposite direction toward larger, refillable hardware.

CompanyOctober 23, 2013

Dragonite completes a US$75 million e-vapour asset sale.

Patents, trademarks, domains, know-how, claims, and records move to Fontem, linked to Imperial. Inventory and receivables stay behind: the invention becomes an asset package, not a simple company takeover.

2014–2016 · Chapter 04

Performance hardware meets regulation

Power, tanks, coils, and chips become the product story.

Box mods, sub-ohm tanks, ceramic heating, and replaceable-coil ecosystems accelerate.

Interpretive before-and-after vapor devices showing regulatory redesign

April 3, 2014

The EU adopts the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

Article 20 creates a distinct product architecture: notification, 20 mg/mL nicotine ceiling, 2 mL tanks, 10 mL refill containers, warnings, and child-resistant requirements.

00:00 / 09:54

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 5 turning points · 4 named actors

Box mods, sub-ohm tanks, ceramic heating, and replaceable-coil ecosystems accelerate. At the same time, the EU and United States write the category into law—making capacity, concentration, warnings, and premarket status part of design.

What changed in the product

The object gains variable power, screens, replaceable cells, airflow control, sub-ohm coils, and ceramic heating. Specialist brands compete on platforms rather than a single disposable SKU.

How the story moved globally

Shenzhen brands supply global specialist retail; the EU imposes product dimensions and notification; the U.S. moves toward product-by-product authorization.

The cast inside this chapter

The next era was built by named companies—not an abstract market.

Nautilus and Atlantis tank platforms

Aspire

Aspire’s Nautilus and Atlantis lines sit at the transition from mouth-to-lung clearomizers to mainstream sub-ohm tanks, with coil families becoming durable platform assets.

ODM scale and ceramic atomization platform

SMOORE / FEELM

SMOORE grew as a design-and-manufacturing platform serving other brands, then made the FEELM technology name visible on closed-system ceramic solutions.

SMOORE’s global consumer hardware brand

Vaporesso

Vaporesso translated SMOORE’s component and manufacturing base into a visible consumer brand spanning regulated mods, tanks, and later pod systems.

Closed pods and nicotine-salt formulation

Ploom → PAX → JUUL

The founders moved from Ploom tobacco-vapor products to PAX, then launched JUUL. JTI acquired specified Ploom tobacco-vapor IP—not the whole company—and JUUL later separated from PAX Labs.

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01April 3, 2014

Law & policyOfficial legal text

The EU adopts the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

Article 20 creates a distinct product architecture: notification, 20 mg/mL nicotine ceiling, 2 mL tanks, 10 mL refill containers, warnings, and child-resistant requirements.
Directive 2014/40/EU
02June 1, 2015

ProductFiled commercial-use claim

JUUL records first commercial use of its brand.

A small closed pod, USB-like form, and patented nicotine-salt formulation re-center the category on convenience and nicotine delivery rather than visible power.
Federal court filing
03July 28, 2015

CompanyFiled transaction record

Japan Tobacco completes its acquisition of Logic.

A 2010 independent U.S. brand—with cigalikes, disposables, and a tank system—becomes JTI’s direct route into the American e-cigarette market.
JT completion notice
042015–2016

ProductCompany-reported

SMOORE moves ceramic heating toward a platform business.

FEELM’s own timeline places first-generation ceramic development in 2015 and metallic-film ceramic launch in 2016. These are company milestones, best read alongside patents and later HKEX filings.
FEELM milestones
05May–August 2016

Law & policyOfficial regulatory record

EU product rules and the FDA Deeming Rule take effect.

The same category now faces two different architectures: standardized product limits and notification in Europe; federal tobacco authority and premarket review in the United States.
FDA Deeming Rule

Law & policyApril 3, 2014

The EU adopts the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

Article 20 creates a distinct product architecture: notification, 20 mg/mL nicotine ceiling, 2 mL tanks, 10 mL refill containers, warnings, and child-resistant requirements.

ProductJune 1, 2015

JUUL records first commercial use of its brand.

A small closed pod, USB-like form, and patented nicotine-salt formulation re-center the category on convenience and nicotine delivery rather than visible power.

CompanyJuly 28, 2015

Japan Tobacco completes its acquisition of Logic.

A 2010 independent U.S. brand—with cigalikes, disposables, and a tank system—becomes JTI’s direct route into the American e-cigarette market.

Product2015–2016

SMOORE moves ceramic heating toward a platform business.

FEELM’s own timeline places first-generation ceramic development in 2015 and metallic-film ceramic launch in 2016. These are company milestones, best read alongside patents and later HKEX filings.

Law & policyMay–August 2016

EU product rules and the FDA Deeming Rule take effect.

The same category now faces two different architectures: standardized product limits and notification in Europe; federal tobacco authority and premarket review in the United States.

2017–2020 · Chapter 05

Pods, capital, youth backlash, and EVALI

The pod becomes a global consumer object—and a political crisis.

Nicotine-salt pods compress performance into a smaller device, venture capital and tobacco money accelerate distribution, and youth use shifts the public debate.

Interpretive PAX and JUUL closed-pod archive exhibit

July 25, 2017

BAT completes its acquisition of Reynolds American.

Vuse moves inside a fully consolidated global tobacco group. Distribution, regulatory capability, and R&D become as important as the device itself.

00:00 / 08:46

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 4 turning points · 5 named actors

Nicotine-salt pods compress performance into a smaller device, venture capital and tobacco money accelerate distribution, and youth use shifts the public debate. EVALI then collapses distinct products and supply chains into one word: “vaping.”

What changed in the product

Closed pods prioritize draw activation, high-strength formulations, portability, and brand-controlled consumables. Open systems continue, but the mass-market center moves back toward closed hardware.

How the story moved globally

BAT consolidates Vuse through Reynolds, RELX scales in China, JUUL expands internationally, and a U.S. lung-injury outbreak changes risk language worldwide.

The cast inside this chapter

The next era was built by named companies—not an abstract market.

Closed pods and nicotine-salt formulation

Ploom → PAX → JUUL

The founders moved from Ploom tobacco-vapor products to PAX, then launched JUUL. JTI acquired specified Ploom tobacco-vapor IP—not the whole company—and JUUL later separated from PAX Labs.

Mass-retail digital vapor to authorized pod platform

Vuse

R.J. Reynolds launched Vuse with tobacco-company R&D and distribution; BAT later inherited the brand through its Reynolds acquisition.

China’s branded-store pod era

RELX / RLX Technology

RELX turned China from primarily an export manufacturing base into a branded domestic vapor market, combining closed systems, a store network, capital, and later in-house laboratories.

Rebuildables, Aegis durability, global specialist brand

Geekvape

Geekvape entered through enthusiast hardware and later used the Aegis family to make shock-, dust-, and water-resistance a recognizable product proposition.

Chip-led mod and pod-mod brand

VOOPOO / ICCPP

VOOPOO’s DRAG made chipset speed and regulation visible marketing ideas, while later VINCI products helped define the pod-mod hybrid.

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01July 25, 2017

CompanyCompany transaction record

BAT completes its acquisition of Reynolds American.

Vuse moves inside a fully consolidated global tobacco group. Distribution, regulatory capability, and R&D become as important as the device itself.
BAT transaction release
02January 2, 2018

ProductFiled corporate history

The operating business behind RELX begins.

RLX’s SEC filings trace operations to Shenzhen Wuxin Technology. A domestic branded-store network soon turns a Chinese manufacturing center into a Chinese consumer-brand market.
RLX SEC registration
03December 20, 2018

CompanyFiled transaction record

Altria pays $12.8 billion for a 35% economic interest in JUUL.

The deal values JUUL at $38 billion and pairs startup growth with cigarette-company distribution. It is a minority investment—not an acquisition—and later becomes a cautionary capital story.
Altria SEC exhibit
04August 2019–February 2020

Public healthOfficial outbreak record

EVALI changes the meaning of “vaping” in public.

CDC’s investigation strongly linked the outbreak to vitamin E acetate in THC-containing products, especially informal sources. It did not establish that all nicotine e-cigarettes caused EVALI.
CDC archived investigation

2021–2023 · Chapter 06

Platforms, national standards, and product-by-product survival

The category stops being one market.

The U.S.

Official EU and United States regulatory documents displayed as museum records

October 12, 2021

FDA grants the first ENDS marketing orders.

The first decision covers one Vuse Solo device and two tobacco-flavored cartridges. It is product-specific authorization under a population-health standard—not a brand-wide pass or safety approval.

00:00 / 11:12

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 4 turning points · 6 named actors

The U.S. authorizes individual products, China licenses a domestic industry under a mandatory standard, and tobacco groups re-enter through acquisitions. Meanwhile, unauthorized disposable brands scale faster than review systems can respond.

What changed in the product

Regulatory status attaches to named device-and-consumable combinations. In China, national standards constrain flavors, emissions, hardware, labeling, and transaction channels.

How the story moved globally

The U.S. PMTA pathway, China’s monopoly licensing, and Europe’s product limits generate different portfolios. A brand may be lawful in one market, altered in another, and unauthorized in a third.

The cast inside this chapter

The next era was built by named companies—not an abstract market.

Mass-retail digital vapor to authorized pod platform

Vuse

R.J. Reynolds launched Vuse with tobacco-company R&D and distribution; BAT later inherited the brand through its Reynolds acquisition.

China’s branded-store pod era

RELX / RLX Technology

RELX turned China from primarily an export manufacturing base into a branded domestic vapor market, combining closed systems, a store network, capital, and later in-house laboratories.

Early OEM/ODM scale and multi-platform atomization manufacturing

FirstUnion / 深圳合元科技

ODM scale and ceramic atomization platform

SMOORE / FEELM

SMOORE grew as a design-and-manufacturing platform serving other brands, then made the FEELM technology name visible on closed-system ceramic solutions.

Court path, bankruptcy, regulatory return

NJOY

NJOY helped establish the U.S. tobacco-law route, made the King disposable a visible premium cigalike, passed through bankruptcy-era asset transfers, and re-emerged around the ACE pod.

Global flavored-disposable scale

Elf Bar / EB Design / EB Create

Elf Bar paired compact industrial design, many flavors, and fast-moving global distribution. In the U.S., trademark litigation was followed by EB Design and EB Create naming.

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01October 12, 2021

Public healthOfficial regulatory record

FDA grants the first ENDS marketing orders.

The first decision covers one Vuse Solo device and two tobacco-flavored cartridges. It is product-specific authorization under a population-health standard—not a brand-wide pass or safety approval.
FDA marketing orders
02November 2021–October 2022

CompanyOfficial regulatory record

China moves e-cigarettes into a national licensed system.

The State Council framework, administrative measures, and mandatory GB 41700-2022 standard connect manufacturing, product design, domestic transactions, and taxation.
China MIIT legal text
03June 1, 2023

CompanyCompany transaction record

Altria completes its acquisition of NJOY.

The deal puts an FDA-authorized pod platform inside Altria after its JUUL investment had collapsed. The NJOY brand’s earlier bankruptcy history means brand continuity is not legal-entity continuity.
Altria completion notice
04May–December 2023

Law & policyOfficial enforcement record

Elf Bar becomes an import-enforcement case study.

FDA places the unauthorized brand on import alert; U.S. names shift through EB Design and EB Create amid trademark litigation. The same manufacturer also markets Lost Mary.
FDA import alert summary

2024–2026 · Chapter 07

Disposables, bans, and regulated redesign

Scale collides with waste, youth use, borders, and authorization.

High-puff disposables become a global retail phenomenon while enforcement, environmental rules, and product review push the object toward rechargeable, refillable, age-gated, or tightly listed formats.

Interpretive device redesign showing reusable and single-use product forms

January–October 2024

Australia moves legal vape supply into pharmacies.

Import controls, pharmacy-only supply, and therapeutic-product rules create a distribution model unlike both ordinary retail in Europe and PMTA review in the United States.

00:00 / 10:28

Read the complete historyFull chapter transcript 4 turning points · 6 named actors

What changed in the product

Screens, dual coils, larger reservoirs, and rechargeable batteries blur “single-use.” Regulation increasingly tests replaceability, refillability, flavor, nicotine source, and exact product identity.

How the story moved globally

Australia moves legal supply to pharmacies; Belgium, France, the UK, and New Zealand ban disposable formats; the U.S. authorizes a small set of named products while seizing large unauthorized shipments.

The cast inside this chapter

The next era was built by named companies—not an abstract market.

High-puff, screen-led disposable era

Geek Bar

Geek Bar’s later products made screens, dual-coil modes, rechargeable batteries, and very high puff claims visible features of a category still commonly called “disposable.”

Global flavored-disposable scale

Elf Bar / EB Design / EB Create

Elf Bar paired compact industrial design, many flavors, and fast-moving global distribution. In the U.S., trademark litigation was followed by EB Design and EB Create naming.

Sister-brand architecture for disposables

Lost Mary

Lost Mary shows how a manufacturer can operate multiple consumer identities around the same fast-moving disposable supply and distribution system.

Disposable + pod systems

VOZOL

VOZOL is one of the globally visible post-2019 brands that moved from disposables toward multi-flavor and reusable formats across Europe and the Middle East.

Rebuildables, Aegis durability, global specialist brand

Geekvape

Geekvape entered through enthusiast hardware and later used the Aegis family to make shock-, dust-, and water-resistance a recognizable product proposition.

Chip-led mod and pod-mod brand

VOOPOO / ICCPP

VOOPOO’s DRAG made chipset speed and regulation visible marketing ideas, while later VINCI products helped define the pod-mod hybrid.

The complete chain reaction

Every date, actor, consequence and evidence boundary.

Nothing from the historical record is removed by the visual chapter above. Every step remains linked to a patent, filing, law, regulator, study, or clearly labelled company record.

01January–October 2024

Law & policyOfficial regulatory record

Australia moves legal vape supply into pharmacies.

Import controls, pharmacy-only supply, and therapeutic-product rules create a distribution model unlike both ordinary retail in Europe and PMTA review in the United States.
Australian TGA
022025

Law & policyOfficial legal guidance

Disposable-vape bans take effect across multiple markets.

Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand target the single-use format on different legal schedules. These are product-format bans, not interchangeable total prohibitions on all vaping.
UK ban guidance
03July 17, 2025

Public healthOfficial regulatory record

FDA authorizes five JUUL products.

The return covers one device and four tobacco- or menthol-flavored pods at specified strengths. It does not erase earlier enforcement, litigation, or youth-use history—and is not a safety approval.
FDA authorization
04May 5, 2026

Law & policyOfficial regulatory record

FDA authorizes the first non-tobacco, non-menthol flavored ENDS products.

The decision expands the authorized set without creating a general flavored-vape pathway. Named products survive; adjacent products remain separate legal questions.
FDA authorization

The global lens

The device traveled.
The rules and brands diverged.

Nine market lenses show why one global timeline is never enough. Each country combines a different legal route, retail structure, consumer culture, and mix of local and international brands.

A luminous world map showing the vape industry's product, manufacturing, regulatory and retail routes — Global ripple map · 9 market lensesOne device category, nine different outcomes

United States

Retail sales + national youth survey

The market splits between FDA-authorized cartridge systems and a fast-moving unauthorized disposable segment. Brand visibility is not the same as authorization.

VuseJUULGeek BarBreezeNJOYRAZHQDElf BarMr. Fog

CDC sales and NYTS

United Kingdom

2026 adult survey · multiple responses

After the single-use ban, familiar disposable names moved into pod systems while refillable tank brands retained a large adult base.

Lost MaryElf BarCrystalbluVuseIVGVaporessoSMOKInnokinAspireVOOPOO

ASH / YouGov 2026

China

Company filings + licensed-market + manufacturing records

China is both the global manufacturing center and a tightly licensed domestic market. Consumer brands and manufacturing platforms are labelled separately; this is a visibility map—not a league table.

RELXYOOZMOTISNOWPLUSFirstUnion · 合元GeekvapeVOOPOOVaporessoSMOK

RLX filing + brand records

European Union

Official distribution + country retail visibility

Europe is not one brand market. Notification, tax, flavor, and disposable rules differ by country, so the Museum shows cross-border presence without claiming one EU-wide rank.

VusebluElf BarLost MaryVOZOLVaporessoSMOKGeekvapeVOOPOOOXVA

EU product-rule context

Middle East

Official regional channels + company reporting

The UAE and nearby distribution hubs connect international pod and disposable brands with local standards. Country legality and channel quality vary sharply.

VOZOLMYLÉRELXVuseNASTYElf Bar

Company presence records

Southeast Asia

Local brands + regulator and official channels

Indonesia and Malaysia support strong local brand cultures, while the Philippines regulates registered products and enforcement. Other countries in the region prohibit sales.

FOOMNASTYRELXVOOPOOVaporessoSMOKGeekvapeMOTI

Regional official records

South Africa

National adult survey + local channel

Twisp led the 2021 national adult survey; Vuse later joined the local Twisp operation. More recent urban research also records Vuse and SMOK visibility.

TwispVuseSMOKJUUL

South Africa GATS

New Zealand

Local retail history + notified product system

A locally developed specialist-retail market sits alongside global hardware brands. Single-use products were prohibited in 2025, accelerating reusable systems.

VAPO / alt.VaporessoSMOKAspireInnokinGeekvape

VAPO + Health NZ

Australia

Therapeutic pharmacy route

The Museum deliberately publishes no consumer-brand leaderboard for Australia. Legal supply is restricted to TGA-notified therapeutic products through pharmacies; illicit visibility is not treated as legal market leadership.

No legal consumer-brand leaderboard is published.

TGA notified vape list

The VapeRisk story library

China · since 2015

Story in preparation

Inclusion documents historical or market relevance. It does not mean safety, legality in every market, current leadership, or VapeRisk endorsement.

Major brands & enterprises

The names behind
the objects.

A curated editorial index of the companies that made devices, built atomization platforms, scaled new formats, or changed how a major market understood vaping. Official wordmarks keep their real colors and proportions.

Global pods & closed systems3 profiles

Closed pod

RELX · 悦刻

A domestic branded-store network turned China from primarily an export workshop into a major branded consumer market before the 2021–2022 licensing reset.

Closed pod

Vuse

Vuse links Reynolds’ U.S. retail power with BAT’s global new-category network and the first U.S. marketing orders for an electronic nicotine-delivery system.

Closed pod

JUUL

Nicotine salts and a compact pod re-centered the mass market, then youth use, litigation, capital loss, and product review reshaped the company’s trajectory.

Reusable hardware & technology6 profiles

Open systems + pods

Geekvape

From rebuildables to the durable Aegis platform, Geekvape became one of the defining global hardware names and later supported adjacent disposable brands.

Mods + pod-mods + pods

VOOPOO

NJOY

United States · 2006 / 2012 relaunch

NJOY helped establish the U.S. tobacco-law route, made the King disposable a visible premium cigalike, passed through bankruptcy-era asset transfers, and re-emerged around the ACE pod.

Ownership / structure: The historical debtor and the later NJOY Holdings are not the same legal continuity. Altria acquired NJOY Holdings in 2023.
Why it changed the industry: FDA marketing orders for named ACE products made NJOY a product-specific authorization platform, not a blanket-approved brand.

Early independent brand to merger asset

blu

United States · 2009

Jason Healy’s blu became one of the first recognizable U.S. e-cigarette brands and showed how quickly independent vapor brands could become strategic tobacco-company assets.

Ownership / structure: Lorillard bought blu for $135 million in 2012. The brand moved to Imperial in 2015 as part of assets divested around the Reynolds–Lorillard combination.
Why it changed the industry: Its story is a clean example of why brand history and corporate ownership must be read together.

510, eGo, tank, replaceable-coil ecosystem

Joyetech

Shenzhen, China · 2007–2008

Joyetech helped make hardware modular and recognizable: the Joye 510, eGo battery, eGo-T tank, and eGo-C changeable atomizer became reference forms across specialist retail.

Ownership / structure: Privately held brand history; the dates and “first” language on its history page are company-authored.
Why it changed the industry: The eGo format brought larger batteries and a manual switch to mass users, while the 510 connection outlived individual product generations.

Clearomizers, EVOD, Protank, Subtank

Kangertech

Shenzhen, China · 2007

Kangertech’s clearomizer and tank families helped turn replaceable coils and visible reservoirs into ordinary parts of the open-system experience.

Ownership / structure: Shenzhen Kanger Technology is a private manufacturer. Product dates on its own corporate materials are company claims and should not be treated as independent market-share proof.
Why it changed the industry: The Protank era normalized glass tanks; the later Subtank era brought rebuildable and replaceable-coil logic into one mainstream platform.

Nautilus and Atlantis tank platforms

Aspire

Shenzhen, China · 2013–2014

Aspire’s Nautilus and Atlantis lines sit at the transition from mouth-to-lung clearomizers to mainstream sub-ohm tanks, with coil families becoming durable platform assets.

Ownership / structure: Brand of Shenzhen Eigate Technology. The milestone and sales figures on its timeline are company-reported.
Why it changed the industry: Atlantis-era sub-ohm hardware made higher-power direct-lung performance accessible without requiring users to build every coil.

Early OEM/ODM scale and multi-platform atomization manufacturing

FirstUnion / 深圳合元科技

Shenzhen, China · Group 2004 / operating company 2007

Ownership / structure: Firstunion Group is the corporate identity; 深圳市合元科技有限公司 is a principal Chinese operating company. The group’s 2004 founding story and the operating company’s 2007 registration are related but not the same legal date. Scale, customer, laboratory, and export figures are company-reported.
Why it changed the industry: The Shenzhen story becomes more than named consumer brands: design, tooling, laboratories, regulatory support, and contract manufacturing become industry infrastructure in their own right.

ODM scale and ceramic atomization platform

SMOORE / FEELM

Shenzhen, China · 2009 / FEELM 2019

SMOORE grew as a design-and-manufacturing platform serving other brands, then made the FEELM technology name visible on closed-system ceramic solutions.

Ownership / structure: SMOORE International is HKEX-listed. FEELM is a technology brand within the group, not a separate public company.
Why it changed the industry: The supplier itself becomes industry infrastructure: patents, heating platforms, factories, and customer relationships matter more than a single consumer SKU.

SMOORE’s global consumer hardware brand

Vaporesso

Shenzhen, China · 2015

Vaporesso translated SMOORE’s component and manufacturing base into a visible consumer brand spanning regulated mods, tanks, and later pod systems.

Ownership / structure: Created by parent company SMOORE. Product milestones and sales totals on brand pages are company-reported.
Why it changed the industry: A contract-manufacturing group proves it can also build a durable global consumer identity.

Rebuildables, Aegis durability, global specialist brand

Geekvape

Shenzhen, China · 2015

Geekvape entered through enthusiast hardware and later used the Aegis family to make shock-, dust-, and water-resistance a recognizable product proposition.

Ownership / structure: Shenzhen Geekvape Technology is privately held; its founding and sustainability records are company publications.
Why it changed the industry: Durability becomes a brand system rather than an incidental specification.

Chip-led mod and pod-mod brand

VOOPOO / ICCPP

Shenzhen, China · 2016–2017

VOOPOO’s DRAG made chipset speed and regulation visible marketing ideas, while later VINCI products helped define the pod-mod hybrid.

Ownership / structure: VOOPOO is a brand established by ICCPP. GENE partnership, launch dates, and performance claims are company-authored.
Why it changed the industry: Control electronics move from an internal component to the center of the brand story.

Closed pods and nicotine-salt formulation

Ploom → PAX → JUUL

United States · 2007 / JUUL 2015

The founders moved from Ploom tobacco-vapor products to PAX, then launched JUUL. JTI acquired specified Ploom tobacco-vapor IP—not the whole company—and JUUL later separated from PAX Labs.

Ownership / structure: Altria bought a 35% economic interest in JUUL in 2018, not control. The investment was later fully impaired and unwound; JUUL remained a separate company.
Why it changed the industry: A high-convenience pod reshaped nicotine delivery, youth use, enforcement, litigation, and product review worldwide.

Mass-retail digital vapor to authorized pod platform

Vuse

United States · 2013

R.J. Reynolds launched Vuse with tobacco-company R&D and distribution; BAT later inherited the brand through its Reynolds acquisition.

Ownership / structure: R.J. Reynolds Vapor → Reynolds American → BAT. Product authorizations apply to named devices and cartridges, not every Vuse product worldwide.
Why it changed the industry: Vuse Solo received the first U.S. ENDS marketing orders in 2021, making PMTA review tangible to the entire industry.

Independent cigalike and tank brand acquired by JTI

Logic

United States · 2010

Logic moved from rechargeable cigalikes and disposables into the Logic Pro tank, then gave Japan Tobacco an established U.S. vapor route.

Ownership / structure: JTI completed its acquisition of Logic Technology Development in July 2015.
Why it changed the industry: The acquisition shows how tobacco groups bought access to existing vapor brands rather than building every market entry from zero.

China’s branded-store pod era

RELX / RLX Technology

China · 2018

RELX turned China from primarily an export manufacturing base into a branded domestic vapor market, combining closed systems, a store network, capital, and later in-house laboratories.

Ownership / structure: RLX Technology is a Cayman holding company using subsidiaries and historical contractual arrangements described in SEC filings.
Why it changed the industry: China’s 2021–2022 regulatory reset forced the business from rapid consumer retail expansion into a licensed national system.

Global flavored-disposable scale

Elf Bar / EB Design / EB Create

China · 2018–2019

Elf Bar paired compact industrial design, many flavors, and fast-moving global distribution. In the U.S., trademark litigation was followed by EB Design and EB Create naming.

Ownership / structure: Court and trademark records link iMiracle, Heaven Gifts, and affiliated manufacturers/distributors; private-company structure is less transparent than a listed issuer.
Why it changed the industry: FDA import alerts, seizures, and retailer actions made brand-name mutation and border enforcement part of the product story.

Sister-brand architecture for disposables

Lost Mary

China · 2021

Lost Mary shows how a manufacturer can operate multiple consumer identities around the same fast-moving disposable supply and distribution system.

Ownership / structure: The U.S. trademark is registered to Shenzhen iMiracle Technology; FDA says the brand is manufactured by the same firm as Elf Bar.
Why it changed the industry: Regulators increasingly target clusters of brands and responsible firms rather than treating each label as an unrelated product.

High-puff, screen-led disposable era

Geek Bar

China · 2020 U.S. use claim

Geek Bar’s later products made screens, dual-coil modes, rechargeable batteries, and very high puff claims visible features of a category still commonly called “disposable.”

Ownership / structure: U.S. trademark records identify Guangdong Qisitech as the owner. Brand founding dates and technology claims on the official site are company-reported.
Why it changed the industry: The brand’s U.S. growth was followed by FDA warnings and seizure activity around unauthorized flavored products.

Built to be cited—and corrected

The story is edited.
The evidence stays open.

Patents, court decisions, company filings, laws, regulator records, surveys, scientific studies, and company-authored histories are labelled by source type and certainty.

Primary recordsPatents · courts · SEC · HKEX

Law & regulationFDA · EU · WHO · national rules

Market evidenceSurveys · retail sales · official channels

Evidence boundariesAuthorization ≠ safety · presence ≠ leadership

Research cutoff · July 18, 2026Reduced motionIndustry research for adult audiences · inclusion is not endorsement

The storyof vaping

Joseph Robinson files an electric-vaporizer patent.

Joseph Robinson

Herbert A. Gilbert

Phil Ray & Norman Jacobson

Favor

Joseph Robinson files an electric-vaporizer patent.

Herbert Gilbert proposes a smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette.

Phil Ray and Norman Jacobson test nicotine aerosol.

Favor reaches the market—and fails to create a category.

Joseph Robinson files an electric-vaporizer patent.

Herbert Gilbert proposes a smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette.

Phil Ray and Norman Jacobson test nicotine aerosol.

Favor reaches the market—and fails to create a category.

Hon Lik’s modern atomizing-cigarette patent family claims priority.

Ruyan / Dragonite

FirstUnion / 深圳合元科技

Hon Lik’s modern atomizing-cigarette patent family claims priority.

A later HKEX filing records Ruyan e-cigarette sales.

FirstUnion establishes an early Shenzhen manufacturing platform.

Ruyan reports entry into foreign markets.

WHO challenges unproved cessation claims.

Hon Lik’s modern atomizing-cigarette patent family claims priority.

A later HKEX filing records Ruyan e-cigarette sales.

FirstUnion establishes an early Shenzhen manufacturing platform.

Ruyan reports entry into foreign markets.

WHO challenges unproved cessation claims.

Joyetech says it develops the Joye eGo.

Joyetech

Kangertech

NJOY

blu

Joyetech says it develops the Joye eGo.

Sottera v. FDA fixes the U.S. tobacco-law path.

Lorillard buys blu for $135 million.

NJOY King pushes the disposable cigalike toward premium retail.

Dragonite completes a US$75 million e-vapour asset sale.

Joyetech says it develops the Joye eGo.

Sottera v. FDA fixes the U.S. tobacco-law path.

Lorillard buys blu for $135 million.

NJOY King pushes the disposable cigalike toward premium retail.

Dragonite completes a US$75 million e-vapour asset sale.

The EU adopts the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

Aspire

SMOORE / FEELM

Vaporesso

Ploom → PAX → JUUL

The EU adopts the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

JUUL records first commercial use of its brand.

Japan Tobacco completes its acquisition of Logic.

SMOORE moves ceramic heating toward a platform business.

EU product rules and the FDA Deeming Rule take effect.

The EU adopts the revised Tobacco Products Directive.

JUUL records first commercial use of its brand.

Japan Tobacco completes its acquisition of Logic.

SMOORE moves ceramic heating toward a platform business.

EU product rules and the FDA Deeming Rule take effect.

BAT completes its acquisition of Reynolds American.

Ploom → PAX → JUUL

Vuse

RELX / RLX Technology

Geekvape

VOOPOO / ICCPP

BAT completes its acquisition of Reynolds American.

The operating business behind RELX begins.

Altria pays $12.8 billion for a 35% economic interest in JUUL.

EVALI changes the meaning of “vaping” in public.

BAT completes its acquisition of Reynolds American.

The operating business behind RELX begins.

Altria pays $12.8 billion for a 35% economic interest in JUUL.

EVALI changes the meaning of “vaping” in public.

FDA grants the first ENDS marketing orders.

Vuse

RELX / RLX Technology

FirstUnion / 深圳合元科技

SMOORE / FEELM

NJOY

Elf Bar / EB Design / EB Create

FDA grants the first ENDS marketing orders.

China moves e-cigarettes into a national licensed system.

The story
of vaping

The device traveled.
The rules and brands diverged.

94 routes out of
the Museum.