According to a Reuters report on February 24, according to private retail sales data reviewed by Reuters, unauthorized flavored disposable e-cigarette sales in the United States in 2024 were about $2.4 billion, accounting for 35% of the total e-cigarette sales in convenience stores and supermarkets and other channels.
According to market research firm Circana, the market share of illegal e-cigarettes declined in 2024, compared to $3.2 billion in 2023 and $2.8 billion in 2022. Circana said it could not confirm or comment on the data because it was not publicly available.
Circana’s data tracks about 11,000 unauthorized flavored disposable e-cigarette products on the market, spread across hundreds of brands with flavors such as “cookie and cloud” and “magic cotton candy.” This shows the scale of illegal e-cigarettes in the U.S. market, which is flooded with unauthorized products.
Circana told Reuters it estimates the entire e-cigarette market it tracks, including licensed products and non-disposable e-cigarettes, to be worth $6.8 billion in 2024, meaning flavored disposable e-cigarettes account for about 35 percent of the market tracked by Circana. The company’s data only tracks sales from certain channels, such as convenience stores, and does not include sales from online sales, independent stores and specialty e-cigarette retailers.
According to the data, sales of flavored disposable e-cigarettes have contracted by 25% since 2023. Industry sources said Circana’s 2024 figures are preliminary and its figures for single-use e-cigarettes have been revised upwards in the past. British American Tobacco (BAT) and Altria (Altria) say the e-cigarette market is expanding in the United States. Billy Gifford, CEO of Altria, said at a conference on Feb. 19 that the e-cigarette market in the United States is expected to grow by 30 percent in 2024 and is driven entirely by illegal products.
The data show that the FDA’s crackdown is beginning to pay off. Previous best-selling brands ESCOBAR and ELFBAR have fallen out of the top 10 best-selling devices in 2024 after the FDA blocked their imports in 2023. However, other brands have taken their place.
Here are the projected retail sales of the top 10 single-use vape devices in the United States in 2024 (these figures do not include sales from online sales, independent stores, or specialty vape retail outlets) :
Geek Bar Pulse: $582.8 million
Breeze Smoke: $311.1 million
Raz: $293.7 million
Mr Fog: $81.7m
Breeze Prime: $74.4 million
Juicy Bar: $70.3 million
Lost Mary: $58.3 million
Fuma: $50.2 million
Loon Max: $49.8 million
Kangvape: $47.4 million
Geek Bar Pulse, Breeze Smoke and Raz rounded out the top three.
Projected retail sales for 2024 of the top 10 single-use e-cigarette devices in the U.S., with Geek Bar Pulse by far the most popular brand with $582.8 million in sales