College of Public Health and Human Sciences

Objectives

In this study, we examined the concordance of manufacturers' labeled nicotine concentration on flavored electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) liquids with lab measured nicotine concentrations and how nicotine is marketed on product labels.

Methods

The top 10 selling flavored e-cigarette liquids for 7 brands were purchased from 7 vape shops in 2 major US cities – Richmond, Virginia and Honolulu, Hawaii, in 2015. We examined the nicotine concentration using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (.05mg/mL limit of quantification) and descriptive information on the e-cigarette bottles (N = 40).

Results

All nicotine-based samples showed discordance between the labeled and lab measured nicotine concentrations. Overall, 27% showed a higher mean level of measured nicotine, and Richmond, VA samples showed the highest levels of discordance (-60% [pipe tobacco]; 39% [green goblin]). Additionally, 90% of the 6 different types of nicotine-related warning statements indicated that the product "may" contain nicotine ("e-liquid may contain nicotine") even when the product contained nicotine. Moreover, 20% of the e-cigarette liquids included descriptors (low, medium, high nicotine).

Conclusions

The findings show that e-cigarette manufacturers provided inaccurate information about nicotine on product labels. Studies are needed to determine what quality control standards are needed to protect the public from the harms of nicotine.