Nicotine analog vapes made by Chinese manufacturers are appearing in the US market, WIRED reported, exploiting a regulatory gap left after Congress brought synthetic nicotine under Food and Drug Administration oversight in 2022. The products use chemicals designed to act like nicotine but, under current federal tobacco rules, may not count as nicotine at all. Neat trick, if your compliance strategy is chemistry homework.
Flavored nicotine vapes are largely unlawful in the US, but convenience stores and tobacco shops have continued selling them at scale, generating billions of dollars in recent years despite FDA enforcement and periodic seizures, according to WIRED. Many of the disposable products come from China’s so-called “Vape Valley,” a manufacturing hub that has supplied much of the US flavored vape trade.
The latest workaround centers on nicotine analogs: compounds that resemble nicotine and can mimic its effects. Because federal law still defines nicotine narrowly, WIRED reported, manufacturers can sell products containing those analogs without going through the FDA’s usual tobacco-product review process, which generally requires companies to submit new products for scientific evaluation before legal marketing.
What are nicotine analog vapes?
Nicotine analog vapes are vaping products that contain nicotine-like chemicals rather than conventional tobacco-derived nicotine or synthetic nicotine. One compound found in these products, 6-methyl-nicotine, has drawn concern because animal studies cited by WIRED found it could be more potent and more addictive than regular nicotine.
Human effects have not been extensively studied. A 2024 study cited by WIRED found some nicotine analog vapes also contained unlabeled ingredients, including artificial sweeteners and cooling agents whose inhalation risks are unclear. Robert Jackler, an emeritus professor of head and neck surgery at Stanford University and founder of a research group on tobacco advertising, told WIRED that product labels often do not match what is inside.
Researchers first identified vapes containing 6-methyl-nicotine and other nicotine analogs in the US market about three years ago, WIRED reported. The chemistry is older than the products: a 2005 review of previously secret tobacco industry documents found major tobacco companies had studied nicotine-like compounds since at least the 1970s, partly because executives thought they might help avoid future regulation.
Those large US tobacco companies did not turn nicotine analogs into mainstream consumer products, according to WIRED. The compounds later surfaced in disposable vapes from Chinese manufacturers. Rich Marianos, a former official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and now executive director of the Tobacco Law Enforcement Network, told WIRED that Chinese vape companies have been highly inventive in keeping products on US shelves. The group does not publicly disclose its funding.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Montana Republican, told WIRED in a statement that Chinese companies had been sending illegal vape products into the US for years and described the analog products as “fake nicotine products” that could expose consumers to illicit and potentially dangerous chemicals.
How could US rules change?
Jackler told WIRED that federal capacity has weakened because the Trump administration effectively dismantled the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention office responsible for tobacco prevention programs and cut the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. He said four states, California, Nebraska, Indiana, and Tennessee, have expanded their tobacco-product definitions to include nicotine-like chemicals.
A broader federal change is under consideration. The Trump administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 includes a legislative proposal to expand the definition of nicotine to cover nicotine analogs, WIRED reported. The proposal says these compounds can be more potent, more addictive, and more cytotoxic than nicotine.
If Congress adopted that change, the FDA could regulate analog products like cigarettes and other nicotine products. Jackler warned WIRED that such a move would also give major US tobacco companies a lawful path to develop their own nicotine analog products, as long as they met FDA requirements. The loophole would close, but the market would not necessarily disappear.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
