Electronic cigarette

The concept of vaporizing nicotine without combustion had been patented as early as 1963, when Herbert Gilbert filed for a 'smokeless non-tobacco cigarette.' But the technology to make it practical—miniaturized heating elements, rechargeable batteries, and reliable atomizers—didn't exist in consumable form. Decades of attempts produced devices that were too bulky, too unreliable, or too unsatisfying to attract smokers.

Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist whose father had died of lung cancer, developed the modern e-cigarette in 2003. Working at Golden Dragon Holdings in Beijing, he created a device using piezoelectric ultrasound to vaporize a liquid containing nicotine. His motivation was personal: a heavy smoker himself, he sought a way to get nicotine without the tar and carcinogens of combustion. By 2004, e-cigarettes were selling in China under the brand Ruyan ('like smoke').

The adjacent possible required several converging elements: lithium-ion batteries small enough for handheld devices yet powerful enough for heating, microprocessors that could regulate voltage delivery, and atomizer technology that could consistently vaporize nicotine solutions. Hon Lik's innovation was integrating these components into a cigarette-like form factor, solving the user experience problem that had stymied previous attempts.

China's manufacturing ecosystem enabled rapid iteration and scaling. Shenzhen's electronics factories could produce components cheaply. The regulatory environment was permissive—e-cigarettes occupied a gray area, not clearly regulated as tobacco products, pharmaceuticals, or consumer electronics. This ambiguity allowed the industry to grow before regulatory frameworks caught up.

The devices spread globally through online sales and import shops. By 2007, e-cigarettes had reached the US and Europe. The market fragmented into competing formats: cigalikes mimicking traditional cigarettes, pen-style devices, box mods with customizable settings. Juul, founded in San Francisco in 2015, achieved explosive growth by combining nicotine salt formulations (enabling higher nicotine delivery with less harshness) with sleek design and aggressive youth marketing—a strategy that eventually attracted intense regulatory scrutiny.

The public health implications remain contested. Proponents argue that e-cigarettes offer harm reduction for smokers unable to quit—delivering nicotine without the thousands of chemicals produced by combustion. Critics point to the epidemic of youth vaping, concerns about long-term health effects, and the gateway hypothesis (that vaping leads to smoking). The regulatory response varied dramatically by jurisdiction: the UK encouraged vaping as harm reduction, while the US moved toward flavor bans and marketing restrictions.

By 2025, the e-cigarette industry had matured into a multi-billion dollar market, with major tobacco companies having acquired leading brands (Altria bought Juul, British American Tobacco bought Reynolds American). The technology that began as one pharmacist's attempt to quit smoking had transformed global nicotine consumption patterns—for better or worse, depending on perspective.