The Electronic Cigarette Revolution

Regulations to treat electronic cigarettes as medicinal products are due to be adopted later in 2016.  When these come into place, high quality and reliable products will shape the future of this emerging market.

Production and manufacturing environments will no doubt be key focus points for manufacturers in ensuring the highest levels of quality are achieved.

The E-cigarette Market is currently a highly debated topic, and with forecasted annual growth of 31% there are enormous opportunities within this sector. As quoted recently on BBC News, E-Cigarette users are 60% more likely to quit smoking.

Regulation to Smooth Controversy

National No Smoking Day on the 12th March sparked a debate on e-cigarettes, with the concerns voiced about e-cigarettes attracting the youth market and being glamorised in advertising.  In short, it seems there is a concern that e-cigs are becoming the latest new craze, as opposed to the smoking cessation aids for which they were intended.

This coupled with Wales being the first country to propose initiating a ban on e-cigarettes in public places makes this a very current topic.

The upcoming regulation on nicotine containing products (NCPs) was announced in 2013 by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the European Commission’s draft Tobacco Products Directive.  Medicinal products have strict rules governing advertising and so regulation will help address these concerns and lead to a more positive future for the electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) market.

Focus on Quality Production

One organisation which has noticed a change in pace from e-cigarette manufacturers is contamination control company, Connect 2 Cleanrooms who manufacture bespoke modular cleanrooms, which organisations use to create clean manufacturing environments in which the concentration of airborne particles is controlled.

Airborne particles, although invisible to the eye, could create microbial contamination in the vapour from electronic cigarettes.  Cleanroom production will significantly reduce this risk for personal vaporiser (PV) manufacturers, as cleanrooms are constructed and used in a manner to minimise the introduction, generation and retention of these particles.

Connect 2 Cleanrooms recently installed a modular cleanroom for The E-Liquid Company to accommodate their e-liquid mixing and dispensary machine providing a ISO 14644-1 standard  Class 5 (Federal Class 10,000)  clean area.

“By investing in a cleanroom environment, The E-Liquid Company is recognising the importance of creating controlled clean environments when producing the liquids for the e-cigarette applications. It also gives our customers reassurances that the products will be produced in a clean environment, preventing potentially harmful contamination and stands us apart from competition, particularly the home manufacturer competitors.” Suhail Virmani, Director of The E-Liquid Company.

The E-Liquid Company’s products contain a variety of every day food components that can be digested, including food flavours and vegetable glycerine that helps to produce the vapour. E-liquid flavours range from drink flavours, to food flavour to tobacco flavour. They contain nicotine and offer a nicotine free option but have NO alcohol and are nut free. They are a mixture of flavour and vapour.

“The provision of our modular cleanrooms to e-cigarette industry leaders, The E-Liquid Company, will help to shape the industry and support new legislation whilst highlighting the importance of producing the e-cigarette products in a controlled environment.”, says Joe Govier, MD. Connect 2 Cleanrooms Ltd.

Connect 2 Cleanrooms’ consumables division, Cleanroomshop.com, which distributes cleanroom disinfectants and consumables, has also noticed an increase in demand from the e-cigarette market.  It notes a sharp rise in demand for premier disinfectants, which have full technical files documenting kill rates for potentially harmful micro-organisms.

They have been advising newcomers to contamination control about suitable cleaning and disinfecting techniques, which will reduce the risk of potentially harmful build-up of micro-organisms.

Connect 2 Cleanrooms is an industry leader in creating modular cleanroom solutions for critical environments, both in the UK and internationally.  The company designs and manufactures hard and soft wall cleanrooms in-house and delivers quality cleanroom solutions to meet the ISO 14644-1 standard required. 

Its consumables division, Cleanroomshop.com, supplies a full range of consumables, equipment and furniture to the cleanroom industry worldwide.