Reduce harmful sources in vape and return to natural experience

Nicotine Y has changed the current main formula of e-liquid and the release mechanism of nicotine. At the same time, because the main precursor of the aroma in tobacco is used, it provides an experience closer to the origin of tobacco.

The invention of nicotine salt has greatly promoted the marketization of vaping products. The emergence of nicotine salt e-liquid has also made the industry understand that technological innovation in the field of e-juice is also important for product upgrades. In the past few years, as the inventor of nicotine salt, Dr. Xing Chenyue led the MYST Labs team to develop the non-nicotine salt formula Nicotine Y independently based on the technical development route of nicotine salt, which brought more efficient nic absorption to the industry by taking using of the new formula.

In order to promote the industry to maintain a healthy and compliant development trend, on December 7, 2021, at the IECIE International Electronic Cigarette Industry Expo site, 36Kr and IECIE jointly held the 3rd Electronic Cigarette Industry Forum. The theme of this forum is “Competition In the second half of the e-cigarette, talk about the core competitiveness of manufacturers.”

The following is a selection of sharing content brought by Xing Chenyue, chief scientist of Mystlabs:

Hello, everyone, I’m Xing Chenyue. Due to the epidemic, I can’t come to the scene to communicate with you face to face. Today, I will briefly talk about the development of e-liquid technology in the past ten years and the future direction of development through video.

A vape is an electronic device containing a dilute solution containing nicotine. The electronic cigarette is heated by electricity. The solution in the heating device is commonly called e-liquid, which causes the e-liquid to evaporate and atomize to form an aerosol. The user mouths take draw of nicotine-containing atomized aerosol, nicotine then passes through the respiratory tract to the lungs, enters the blood through the gas exchange on the alveolar surface, and finally passes through the blood to reach the blood-brain barrier, and enters the brain through the blood-brain barrier. Therefore, e-cigarettes are an electronic delivery system used to deliver nicotine. The entire design mimics the process of evaporating nicotine in solid tobacco at high temperature from traditional cigarettes, and allows smokers to inhale this process into the lungs, while atomizing at a relatively low heating temperature. E-liquid whose composition is hundreds of times simpler than that of cigarettes achieves the purpose of nicotine transmission. Therefore, the core role of e-cigarettes is a new type of nicotine delivery method other than tobacco products.

As a combined product, the innovative iteration of vaping device is for the efficient transmission of nicotine, and only the innovative iteration of e-cigarette liquid is the key to promoting the upgrade of e-cigarette’s influence. A brief review of the development history of e-cigarette liquid in the past ten years. In 2004, Chinese pharmacist Han Li obtained the e-cigarette patent authorization. His first-generation e-cigarette directly used the main addictive substance in tobacco nicotine, dissolved in propylene glycol in the form of nicotine free base to make a diluted solution, the concentration is usually as follows 1% to 5%. In 2005, the Chinese e-cigarette company Ruyan launched the first e-cigarette based on this invention. In 2007, electronic cigarettes began to enter overseas markets such as the United States. Between 2005 and 2015, e-cigarettes in the global market used the first-generation e-liquid formula of nicotine free base. On this basis, users have different perceptions of the thickness of e-cigarettes exhaled and the sensation of throat hitting during inhalation. Requirements, the e-liquid solvent has gradually changed from the original pure propylene glycol to the mainstream propylene glycol glycerin mixed solvent on the market. At the same time, in accordance with the needs of users, as well as the taste and experience of the e-liquid itself, manufacturers began to add different types of e-liquid to the e-liquid. Flavors, the first generation of electronic cigarettes entered the market as alternative cigarettes, but the level and speed of the top level are very different compared to cigarettes, and they cannot meet the needs of smokers to relieve their addiction. Therefore, during that period of time, smokers’ acceptance of e-cigarettes has been at a low level, but there are also a group of e-cigarette players who mainly use e-cigarettes, especially open, high-power, large-smoker systems, as a trendy play. The focus is on box mod and different open pod systems, e-cigarettes are generally popular in vaping circles.

In 2015, the American e-cigarette company JUUL studied the chemical environment of nicotine in tobacco and its chemistry and morphology, and believed that the main reason for the lack of addiction relief in the first generation of e-cigarettes was the use of nicotine free alkali alone, so it invented nicotine salt e-liquid formula and successfully obtained patent authorization. In the same year, JUUL’s newly designed e-cigarette completely changed the model and technology of the past ten years from appearance to cartridge to heating mechanism. With the invention of their nicotine salt e-liquid formula, it completely broke through the anti-addiction barrier of e-cigarettes. It has increased the conversion rate of American smokers from cigarettes to e-cigarettes by more than several times. Therefore, JUUL opened up the market in the US market, and quickly occupied the main market share. After the launch of JUUL, the explosive influence, nicotine salt e-liquid formally entered the Chinese market in 2018, and has since become the mainstream formulation of Chinese e-cigarettes, and it has also started the “thousand-vape war” described by the media in the past two years. Since 2018, Chinese e-cigarette brands have carried out formula optimization in various aspects of e-liquid formulations based on nicotine salt, but there has not yet been a new formula that can truly make a qualitative leap like nicotine salt e-liquid formulations in a few years.

Is nicotine salt e-liquid the “ceiling” of e-liquid? Will there be the next generation of e-liquid that can truly achieve the ultimate goal of being highly addictive and infinitely close to natural tobacco?

The entire development process of e-liquid, in simple terms, first extremely simplify the natural composition of tobacco, remove harmful by-products and other ingredients that are not related to the above and addiction, and leave only nicotine. Because of the need for an addiction-free experience, other substances are gradually added to the e-liquid to enhance the e-cigarette use experience. In terms of the current development direction of the global e-cigarette industry and regulatory agencies, the most important needs for the current development of e-liquid technology are: 1. Reduce the content of nicotine, but still provide smokers with a high degree of satisfaction from addiction; 2. Remove multiple flavors , let the e-liquid match the original flavor of tobacco; Third, use the product to experience the fullness of the smoke in the nasal cavity.

In order to meet the current needs for the development of e-liquid technology, the development direction of e-liquid technology of various e-cigarette companies is mainly focused on: First, continue to optimize the formulation of nicotine salts, such as using different nicotine salts or compound salts; Second, reanalyze the natural ingredients of tobacco , Non-nicotine salt formula of tobacco origin. I will introduce them separately below.

The first is to optimize the nicotine salt formula. In 2015, the first nicotine salt e-liquid used nicotine benzoate. Based on the results of testing more than a dozen different nicotine salt formulas within JUUL, the most powerful nicotine salt formula was selected. The strongest and most balanced one. In the same year, the American e-cigarette company NJOY also launched nicotine salt e-cigarettes, and they used nicotine citrate. Their choice was also based on internal test results. However, from the perspective of anti-addiction, the market responded greatly to citrate e-cigarettes. Not as good as JUUL’s benzoate. After 2015, the work of optimizing nicotine salt formulations has not stopped. It is mainly divided into screening other nicotine salts and compound salt formulations that use more than one salt, such as Myst Labs’ Nicotine X. The purpose is to optimize the e-liquid experience, taste and The amount of organic acid.

In the past few years, the production of nicotine salt e-liquid on the market has changed from using benzoic acid alone to using tartaric acid, citric acid, and lactic acid. The e-liquid formulation has been modified in a small range, and the throat feel is adjusted and similar to the taste through the use of different organic acids. There is no essential difference and improvement in the overall addiction-relieving effect of e-liquid. Nicotine X, a type of nicotine salt formulation that uses a compound salt, uses a combination of organic acids to maximize the spatial combination of nicotine molecules and organic acid molecules. Through the use of organic acid combinations, the spatial combination efficiency is improved and the nicotine atomization transmission efficiency is guaranteed. In the case of reducing the overall dosage of nicotine and acid, the overall anti-addiction effect is still maintained, but these two optimization methods on the nicotine salt formula have not yet been able to produce qualitative changes and breakthroughs in e-liquid technology.

Natural tobacco contains more than 4,000 different ingredients. The nicotine and organic acids currently used in e-liquid are only two of them. The other ingredients in tobacco are not completely ineffective. They provide the unique aroma of tobacco and are comprehensively assisted. , It enhances the nicotine’s upper head feeling, and also adds different types of throat hitting and nasal filling to the smoke, making the cigarette richer, which is not achieved by current electronic cigarettes.

The research and development of nicotine Y carried out from the perspective of returning to the origin of tobacco, firstly re-analyzed the heating products of different types of components in tobacco and their role in the tobacco experience, starting from the end, deducing from the target function, and proceeding based on the role of the heating product. After splitting and combining, a preliminary e-liquid formula of nicotine Y is made. We used an objective avaping method to analyze the new e-liqudi vapour samples to determine whether the thermal decomposition products under the heating conditions of the e-cigarette are consistent with the target of the cigarette, and whether there are additional toxic by-products produced , Measure the conversion rate of the main components. At the same time, we also conduct subjective smoking experiments to evaluate the addiction relief of the new e-liquid formula, to simulate the mouth and nose filling and impact of cigarettes, and to enhance the texture of the tobacco aroma of e-liquid.

The main change of nicotine Y to e-liquid technology is that it changes the current main e-liquid formulation and nicotine release mechanism, and no longer directly uses organic acids to neutralize nicotine and stably convert the free alkali of nicotine salt in the smoke. At the same time, it plays the same role as in cigarettes, increasing the taste level of vapour. Because nicotine Y uses the main precursor of the aroma in tobacco, it provides an aroma closer to the origin of tobacco, thereby enhancing the benefits of e-cigarettes and comprehensive experience for smokers.

In summary, the development process of e-cigarette technology is a process in which e-cigarettes derive innovation from tobacco products. First, subtract and then add. In the future, the source of artificial addiction will be minimized and the experience of returning to the origin of tobacco will be realized. thank you all.