Nicotine content, labelling and flavours of e-liquids in Canada: a scan of the online retail market from 2020-2021

The e-cigarette market in Canada has rapidly evolved following the implementation of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act in May 2018, which liberalized the promotion and sale of vaping products. In 2021, Canada adopted new regulations limiting nicotine content and flavours of vaping products. To date, there is little data on the market profile of key product attributes, including nicotine content, labelling practices and flavours, and how these have changed in Canada following the recent regulatory changes. Online scans of vaping product retailers were conducted in 2020 and 2021 to assess e-liquids available on the Canadian market. Data were extracted from websites and product images regarding the nicotine content, labelling and flavours of e-liquids. In 2020, we identified 1746 e-liquids, with a total of 4790 different nicotine concentrations. Approximately half of the e-liquids were offered with salt-base nicotine (46.6%) and half with freebase nicotine (53.2%); the remainder were hybrids (0.2%). The mean nicotine concentration of salt-base e-liquids (3.4%) was higher than freebase e-liquids (0.5%) (p < 0.001). Labels indicating the presence of nicotine were visible on two-thirds of e-liquid packaging displayed online (63.2%) while three-quarters of packaging displayed the nicotine concentration (73.7%), and more than half of packaging displayed health warnings (58.9%). A variety of flavours were also identified, with fruit being the most common (43.6%), followed by candy/desserts (27.6%) and non-alcoholic drinks (12.5%). Changes in 2021 will be presented to examine changes in the market following regulations on nicotine limits and flavours. Findings demonstrate the diversity of the online e-cigarette market in Canada, including the availability of higher-concentration salt-base nicotine products. Flavour restrictions have the potential to dramatically reduce the number of e-liquid flavours on the market, while restricting nicotine concentrations to <20 mg/mL will predominantly restrict salt-based e-liquids.