Unauthorized Vape Markets in the Philippines and U.S. Show What Happens When Harm Reduction Is Ignored

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Key Points:

• Parallel Crises: The Philippines and U.S. face booming black markets for unauthorized vapes, fueled by restrictive policies and sluggish regulation.

• Philippines Enforcement: Since 2023, agencies have seized and destroyed billions of pesos worth of illegal products, yet the market keeps growing.

• Evasion Tactics: Sellers use misleading packaging and underground networks; some products are imported, others made domestically.

• U.S. Crackdown: Flavored pod ban in 2020 triggered disposable vape surge; FDA has authorized only 39 products for more than 20 million adult users.

• Massive Seizures: U.S. task forces have confiscated millions of devices worth tens of millions of dollars, but demand persists.

• Policy Lesson: Enforcement without legal, accessible harm reduction options drives illicit trade instead of curbing it.

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While THR101 has previously urged Philippine delegates attending the 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to stay committed to tobacco harm reduction, we must also acknowledge the growing crisis caused by regulatory paralysis: the explosion of unauthorized vape markets. These markets, which have the potential to drastically accelerate the decline in smoking rates, are instead being stifled by enforcement-first responses and bureaucratic stagnation.

Like the United States, the Philippines is now overwhelmed with unregistered vaping products – particularly disposable devices. What started as a niche product category has become the dominant black-market supply, largely in response to ineffective regulation.

Back in August 2023, reports estimated the Philippines was poised to lose ₱13 billion (roughly $228 million USD) in government revenue due to the proliferation of unauthorized vapor products. By November 2024, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) had ramped up enforcement. In the first ten months of that year alone, the agency reported seizing ₱5.07 billion (about $88 million USD) worth of unauthorized vapes. This included operations in October 2023 and August 2024 where over 14,000 and 19,800 devices, respectively, were confiscated.

These efforts were part of a coordinated campaign involving the BOC, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and other intelligence agencies. But despite this inter-agency effort, the underground vape market has continued to grow.

In April 2025, ₱3.26 billion ($56 million USD) worth of illegal vape products were destroyed following a directive from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos to crack down on unregulated goods. By that time, the BOC had destroyed over one million unauthorized vape devices.

By May 2025, DTI had seized more than ₱41.2 million ($720,000 USD) worth of unregistered e-cigarettes, representing over 80 unauthorized brands. Yet the market remained far from under control. On July 3, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested two individuals and confiscated ₱3.9 million ($68,400 USD) worth of unregistered vapes, including more than 8,200 pods and 1,600 devices. Just days later, on July 8, another raid yielded over ₱1 million ($17,540 USD) worth of unauthorized products.

NBI Director Jaime Santiago noted that detection is becoming increasingly difficult. Sellers are using misleading packaging, and while some products are imported, others are manufactured domestically and distributed through underground channels and online platforms.

This mirrors the situation in the United States.

In the U.S., federal regulation has also failed to keep pace with the vaping market’s evolution –creating an environment where the black market thrives, largely due to demand for flavored, accessible products that the government has increasingly restricted.

E-cigarettes were introduced in the U.S. in 2007. Since then, they’ve faced a gauntlet of regulation: from being classified as tobacco products requiring FDA marketing authorization, to state and local flavor bans that limit access for adult consumers seeking safer alternatives. Despite nearly two decades of oversight, the market remains in flux.

The U.S. unauthorized vape market exploded after President Donald Trump banned the sale of flavored pod systems in early 2020. Disposables quickly filled the gap – exploiting a loophole that the FDA failed to anticipate. The agency then required all vape manufacturers to submit premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) by September 2020. In September 2021, FDA denied the majority of flavored products and issued the first authorization (to a product made by a large tobacco company) in November.

As of July 2025, only 39 e-cigarette products have been authorized by the FDA – woefully inadequate for the more than 22 million American adults who were using e-cigarettes as of 2023.

Federal enforcement has escalated. In May 2025, a federal task force announced the seizure of 2 million unauthorized vape products in Chicago – worth $33.8 million. This followed seizures in December 2023 at LAX ($18 million), multiple seizures in Chicago ports in June and October 2024 ($77 million combined), and a January 2025 bust in Miami ($7 million).

And yet, the market continues to grow. An estimated 20.3 million U.S. adults were vaping in 2023 – an increase of 2.9 million from the previous year. This rise coincides with the growth of the unauthorized vape market.

Both the Philippines and the United States now serve as cautionary tales of what happens when regulatory frameworks fail to adapt to market realities. Both countries have relied heavily on prohibition-style enforcement, task forces, and high-profile seizures – while neglecting to ensure legal, accessible, and diverse product options for adult smokers seeking safer alternatives.

If the goal is truly to reduce the harms of combustible tobacco, both nations urgently need reform – not just stronger enforcement. They need smarter regulation that focuses on consumer behavior, product appeal, and access to safer alternatives. And they must recognize that when legal pathways are blocked, illegal markets don’t disappear – they expand.

As other nations grapple with how to navigate this evolving space, the Philippines and the U.S. offer a sobering lesson: you cannot enforce your way out of a public health opportunity. You have to regulate toward it.

Nothing in this analysis is intended to influence the passage of legislation, and it does not necessarily represent the views of Tobacco Harm Reduction 101.