Juul to halt sale of some flavor ‘pods’

Juul Labs announced Tuesday it will stop selling many of its flavored nicotine “pods” at the roughly 90,000 convenience stores, vape shops and tobacco retailers that sell its products — at least temporarily.

The San Francisco company, the e-cigarette maker with about 70 percent of market share, has come under scrutiny from the Food and Drug Administration and public health experts for popularizing “juuling” among teens — using Juul’s sleek palm-size vaporizer to smoke flavored nicotine that tastes like mango, creme and

cucumber.

These flavors will no longer be sold in retail stores but will continue to be available on Juul’s website, where the company will implement additional age-verification measures to restrict the product to people 21 years and older.

However, Juul said it will “restart” selling mango, creme and cucumber flavors at retail stores if the stores meet certain criteria for ensuring that people buying the products are 21 and over. To do so, the stores must use point-of-sale technology that designates flavored Juul products as restricted, and store clerks must electronically scan IDs and visually verify customers’ ID.

Juul will continue to sell its tobacco and menthol-based pods, which come in menthol, mint, classic tobacco and Virginia tobacco flavors, in stores and online.

The move comes amid news reports saying the FDA is considering banning the sale of flavored e-cigarette products in convenience stores.

“Our intent was never to have youth use Juul products,” Juul CEO Kevin Burns said in a statement. “But intent is not enough, the numbers are what matter, and the numbers tell us underage use of e-cigarette products is a problem. We must solve it.”

Nearly 1 in 3 high school seniors reported vaping — either marijuana or nicotine — in a one-year period, according to 2017 figures from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. Public health experts say the growing popularity of flavored nicotine is particularly concerning because it is prompting many teens who otherwise would not have started smoking traditional tobacco cigarettes to become addicted to e-cigarettes.

Juul also said it will stop promoting its products on social media and monitor third-party accounts that promote its products.

Juul, which is privately held, has raised $1.2 billion, the company said in a July corporate filing. It does not disclose what portion of its sales come from retail stores versus online. It is unclear how much, or whether the new restrictions on flavored pods will affect the company’s bottom line.

Analysts estimate Juul sales surpassed $200 million as of Nov. 3 — up from roughly $25 million just a year ago, according to an analyst note issued Tuesday by Cowen Equity Research, citing Nielsen Co. research. However, growth began slowing over the summer, around the time the FDA began cracking down on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. About 83 percent of Juul sales come from pod refills, and 17 percent comes from the kits that include pods and the vaporizer, according to the note.

The Juul vaporizer, which looks similar to a flash drive, will continue to be sold in retail stores. A Juul “starter pack” sells for $50 and includes the rechargeable vaporizer and four flavor pods. Refill pods cost $16 for a pack of four. Each pod lasts for about 200 hits and has the nicotine equivalent of a pack of cigarettes.