Puff Bar Exploiting Pandemic to Sell Its E-Cigarettes to Teens, Legislators Say

The makers of Puff Bar, a disposable e-cigarette, are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to market their product to teens, according to the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week to ban the disposable devices, The New York Times reports. Puff Bar has replaced Juul as the most popular e-cigarette among young people, the article notes. More than 300,000 Puff Bar sticks are sold per week.

A recent Puff Bar ad features a photo of a bedroom, with the caption, “We know that the inside-vibes have been … quite a challenge. Stay sane with Puff Bar this solo-break. We know you’ll love it. It’s the perfect escape from the back-to-back zoom calls, parental texts and WFH stress.”

In his letter to the FDA, Rep. Krishnamoorthi said, “This advertisement is designed to convince children home from school to vape in their rooms without their parents noticing.”
The Trump administration banned fruit, mint and dessert flavors in refillable cartridge-based e-cigarettes in 2019, but exempted brands that are used once and thrown away.