History of E-cigarettes

A fact you may not have expected: Although someone made a prototype of an e-cigarette a long time ago, the modern e-cigarette we see now was not invented until 2004. Not only that, but this seemingly foreign-style product is actually "exported to domestic sales".

American Herbert A. Gilbert obtained a patented design for a "smokeless, non-tobacco cigarette" in 1963. The device heats liquid nicotine to generate vapor, imitating the feeling of smoking. In 1967, several companies tried to produce this type of e-cigarette, but because the harm of cigarettes had not been paid attention to by the society at that time, this project was not really commercialized in the end.

In 2000, Dr. Hon Lik in Beijing, China, proposed to dilute nicotine with propylene glycol and atomize the liquid with an ultrasonic device to produce a water mist effect (actually, atomized gas is generated by heating). The user can use this to inhale the nicotine-containing mist into the lungs and deliver nicotine to the blood vessels. Among them, the liquid nicotine diluent is stored in a device called a pod for easy portability. This is the prototype of modern electronic cigarettes.

In 2004, Hon Lik obtained the invention patent of this product, and began to commercialize it in the following year, and it was sold by China Ruyan Company. With the popularity of anti-smoking campaigns abroad, e-cigarettes have also flowed from China to Europe and the United States; in recent years, major cities in China have begun to implement strict smoking bans, and e-cigarettes have gradually become popular in China.