Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun;115(6):1141-1148.
doi: 10.1111/add.14936. Epub 2020 Jan 29.

Nicotine delivery and users' reactions to Juul compared with cigarettes and other e-cigarette products

Peter Hajek  1 , Kate Pittaccio  1 , Francesca Pesola  2 , Katie Myers Smith  1 , Anna Phillips-Waller  1 , Dunja Przulj  1
Affiliations

Nicotine delivery and users' reactions to Juul compared with cigarettes and other e-cigarette products

Peter Hajek et al. Addiction. 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Aims: To assess the pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of, and users' reactions to, Juul (59 mg nicotine/ml) as an indication of its therapeutic and dependence potential.

Design: Cross-over, within-subjects study in which participants attended after overnight abstinence on separate sessions and smoked a cigarette or used Juul or eight other types of e-cigarettes (EC) ad libitum for 5 minutes. The Juul product used was the version available in the United States that has more nicotine in the e-liquid than the one available in the European Union.

Setting: Laboratory setting in the United Kingdom.

Participants: Twenty dual users (smokers who also vape) provided data on Juul and cigarettes, with eight also providing data on other EC products.

Measurements: At each session, number of puffs taken was counted during the 5-minute product use period and blood samples were taken at baseline and at 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 30 minutes after starting smoking/vaping and analysed for nicotine. Participants also monitored their urges to smoke and rated the products on a range of characteristics.

Findings: Juul's PK profile was close to the PK profile of cigarettes [maximum concentration (Cmax ) = 20.4 versus 19.2 ng/ml; time to maximum concentration (Tmax ) = 4 versus 6 minutes; area under the curve (AUC): 307.9 versus 312.6, respectively]. Compared with other EC products, Juul had shorter Tmax [4 minutes, (IQR = 2.5-4.0) versus 6.3 minutes, (IQR = 4.7 - 8.1), P = 0.012] and higher Cmax (28.9 (SD = 15.6) versus 10.6 (SD = 5.5), P = 0.013) despite a lower number of puffs (12.5 (SD = 4.2) versus 17.0 (SD = 4.2), P = 0.084). Compared with other e-cigarette products, it also provided faster reduction of urges to smoke and obtained more favourable subjective ratings.

Conclusion: Juul's PK profile and user ratings suggest that it could be more effective than other EC products in helping smokers to quit smoking, but it may also have a higher potential to generate regular use in non-smokers.

Keywords: E-cigarettes; Juul; nicotine; nicotine delivery; pharmacokinetic; tobacco.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of own brand cigarette and Juul (mean scores with 95% confidence interval)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of cigarettes and Juul on urges to smoke (mean scores with 95% confidence interval)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of eight conventional electronic cigarette (EC) products and Juul (mean scores with 95% confidence intervals)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. King B. A., Gammon D. G., Marynak K. L., Rogers T. Electronic cigarette sales in the United States, 2013–2017. JAMA 2018; 320: 1379–1380. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kavuluru R., Han S., Hahn E. J. On the popularity of the USB flash drive‐shaped electronic cigarette Juul. Tob Control 2019; 28: 110–112. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hammond D., Wackowski O. A., Reid J. L., O’Connor R. J., International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (ITC) team Use of JUUL e‐cigarettes among youth in the United States. Nicotine Tob Res 2018. doi: 10.1093/ntr/nty237. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vallone D. M., Bennett M., Xiao H., Pitzer L., Hair E. C. Prevalence and correlates of JUUL use among a national sample of youth and young adults. Tob Control 2019; 28: 603–609. - PubMed
    1. Cantrell J., Vallone D., Hair E., Huang J., Greenberg M., Willett J. History and current trends in the electronic cigarette retail marketplace in the United States: 2010–2016. Nicotine Tob Res 2018. doi: 10.1093/ntr/nty214. - PubMed

Publication types