Juul gets OK to sell updated vaping device with age-gating technology
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- FDA authorized Juul Labs to sell Juul2, the company's first new e-cigarette device in over a decade, featuring an optional age-verification system via online app that must unlock the device before use
- Juul Labs has paid roughly $3 billion to settle government and private lawsuits over teen use and laid off hundreds of employees in recent years
- Juul2 will launch with updated tobacco- and menthol-flavored cartridges, and CEO K.C. Croswaite said the company plans to add flavors beyond tobacco and menthol targeted at adult nicotine consumers
- Juul is no longer the top-selling e-cigarette brand in the U.S., trailing Vuse, sold by tobacco giant Reynolds American, which also makes Camel and Newport cigarettes
- According to FDA-reviewed company studies, 20% to 50% of smokers using Juul products quit smoking at six weeks, with rates varying by flavor and nicotine strength
- Federal figures show teens have shifted away from Juul, with most underage vapers now using unauthorized disposable e-cigarettes imported from China in fruit and candy flavors
Why it matters: Juul's re-entry comes as the FDA shifts toward authorizing e-cigarettes as harm-reduction tools for adult smokers — company studies showed 20-50% quit rates at six weeks. But Juul no longer leads the market, trailing Reynolds American's Vuse, and teen vaping has migrated to unauthorized Chinese disposables that bypass FDA oversight entirely.
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