Problem of Illicit Vapes & Pods
There has been an explosion in the number of teens taking to vaping leading to an alarming rise in the incidence of lung injuries. This has understandably led to some significant changes in the regulations surrounding the e-cigarette industry.
Among the problems are reported incidents of exploding cigarettes, seizures, and of course, lung injuries. In fact, exploding e cigarettes have led to people’s jaws being shattered and there have also been fatalities reported.
As to seizures and other neurological symptoms attributed to vaping, the FDA reported over 127 incidents over a decade as of August 2019. These numbers may not be that large, but the numbers for lung-related damage attributable to vaping is considerable at 2172 probable cases across 49 states, the District Columbia and the US Virgin Islands.
All of these cases of lung damage have involved the use of e-cigarettes, prompting the FDA to warn people about the use of THC vapes. They have also been advised not to use any nicotine vapes available on the streets.
What is particularly worrying is the fact that counterfeit products are commonly available, which causes a problem for consumers who think they are buying and consuming a genuine brand available in places where THC is legally sold. Another thing that the consumers of vaping products have to be careful about the pods or cartridges they buy.
Anti-counterfeit codes may be printed on the foil paper at the back of the pod cartridge packaging. Consumers can then scan the QR code using their smartphones, confirming the genuineness of the pod in question.
NanoMatriX Anti-Counterfeiting Technologies to Stop Counterfeits
NanoMatrIX is at the forefront in fighting counterfeits in the e-cigarette and vaping industry using advanced anti-counterfeit technologies, brand protection solutions, and consumer engagement.
The vaping and e-cigarettes industry is plagued by counterfeiting problems that have their origin in the supply chain. These constitute problems like pilferage, counterfeiting, product tampering, and label fraud.
Multi-level Security Holographic Labels
NanoMatriX’s holographic brand protection solutions comprise multi-level security labels containing overt, covert and forensic features.
The presence of tamper evident features as well as security taggants contained within the holographic security labels ensure that both consumers as well as inspectors can identify and call out counterfeits and product adulteration.
Genuine vaping product manufacturers can protect and secure their brands using holographic security labels made with proprietary security graphic design software.
Proprietary QR Codes for Product Authentication
Both bespoke hologram labels as well as printed labels can be embedded with QR codes enabling product authentication for consumer engagement. This will go a long way in ensuring that genuine vaping product manufacturers and their customers do not have to deal with the immense problems associated by the proliferation of fake and counterfeit products.
Vaping brands can protect themselves from major revenue losses as well as irretrievable damage to their reputations. Vaping customers will also feel secure in the fact that they are not risking their lives by using fake vaping products.
Product authentication using mobile phones boosts consumer engagement which is essential in the competitive vaping industry. Consumers also will be able to learn more about product information, join loyalty programs, or even register in custom-branded landing pages.
Conclusion
The growing popularity of vaping is causing concern to medical and social community authorities. While they actually discourage the use of THC vapes, they are concerned about consumers going in for fake vaping products bought off the streets. The concern extends to both nicotine vapes and the THC ones in places where they can be legally sold.
NanoMatriX with its over 20 years experience in guaranteeing the supply chain integrity and genuineness of products across industries is well equipped to provide ultimate brand protection to vaping brands and their customers. This is something that will also help the authorities in tackling the menace in a major way.