The 30k puff disposable e-cigarette well meets the demands of heavy consumers through its ultra-long battery life and high e-liquid capacity. According to the 2023 Global e-cigarette consumer Survey, 18% of “heavy users” take more than 800 puffs (about 4ml of e-liquid) per day, while traditional 5000 puff devices (having about a 3-day battery life) need to be replaced 2.3 times per week. puff 30k prolongs the replacement period to 18 days (with an average one-day consumption of around 1,667 puff), cutting the shopping frequency by 67%. Let’s take the US brand Elf Bar as an example. Its puff 30k product “ElfBox 30000” contains 15ml of e-liquid (with a 5% nicotine content) and a 1200mAh battery. It can be used continuously both day and night for 20 hours (10 pups per minute calculated) and the rate of e-liquid usage is 92% (75% for common cotton cores). The complaint ratio for throat irritation has decreased by 41% based on user comments.
From a technical perspective, puff 30k enhances efficiency through innovating the atomization core. The Smoore FEELM 3.0 ceramic core technology improves the porosity to 55% (10% higher than the previous generation), stabilizes the atomization temperature at 260°C±5°C, improves the volume of smoke to 0.45ml/puff (+2% error), and reduces the power consumption per puff at the same time by 28% down to 0.018Wh. The “Crystal Pro 30K” of British origin SKE deploys a dual-core parallel structure. With a 2.5A of load current, the output power is increased to 6.25W, and the atomization rate of e-liquid is 0.003ml/puff, which can enable the device to also have a battery life of 30 hours when used uninterruptedly and in high frequency (15 ports/min). Third-party tests show its battery cycle life as up to 600 times (reduction of capacity to 80% of initial value), way beyond the industry average of 300 times.
Cost savings forces heavy users to make a shift to puff 30k. The price of a single device is approximately 25 US dollars (equivalent to 180 RMB), and the average cost per day calculated is 0.83 US dollars, which is 31% lower than that of the open cartridge device with an average cost per day of 1.2 US dollars. Take the Southeast Asian market for example. Malaysian brand HQD’s “Cuvie Plus 30K” reduced the end price to $18 through local production, and the repurchase rate was as much as 48% (the industry average was 32%). Reports from Philippine customs in 2024 show that the imports volume of puff 30k products increased 220% year over year. Among them, 70% of the consumers stated that “the decline in price sensitivity” was caused by the improvement in the utility of one consumption.
So that restrictions can be passed through, puff 30k applied technological innovation. EU TPD stipulates that the capacity of e-liquid should not be more than 2ml. Yet British brand Elux has achieved an equal puff 30k experience in 2ml of e-liquid with denser nicotine salts (20mg/ml) and optimum atomization efficiency (optimized to gain 28,500 puffs). As the US FDA PMTA examined Vaporesso’s “Luxe X 30K,” it offered over 80,000 pages of information confirming that the concentration of formaldehyde in its aerosol was below 0.08μg/g (the country standard of 0.5μg/g), and thus it became one of the first puff 30k products to pass the certification. The market share in North America surged to 29% during Q1 2024.
Market reaction reflects consumer behavior changes. Average daily usage duration of heavy users has been extended from 42 minutes of traditional devices to 68 minutes, yet frequency of daily usage has reduced from 32 times to 18 times (with a prolongation of interval by 45%). 62% of the users of puff 30k, according to a 2024 survey carried out by the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research, indicated a reduction in “anxious smoking behavior” owing to power outage anxiety caused by improved device reliability. But the Australian Medical Association is cautioning that puff 30k could cause a 1.8-fold rise in daily nicotine intake (from 4.2mg to 7.5mg), leading the country to reduce the nicotine level limit from 5% to 3% by 2024.
Environmental protection and supply chain pressures are forcing a makeover. A single pack of one puff 30k contains 3.2g of lithium batteries and 14g of plastic. Otherwise, it will produce three AirPods’ worth of waste. Chinese brand Relx increased the recycling rate from 2% to 15% with the “Exchange 1 old device for a 10-yuan coupon” scheme. Meanwhile, it has reduced the accuracy error of e-liquid filling from ±0.1ml to ±0.03ml, saving raw material by 5%. Against the backdrop of a 40% increase in global lithium prices in 2024, puff 30k maker replaced typical 18350 cells (200Wh/kg energy density) with 21700 cells (300Wh/kg energy density), increasing the range by 50% as volume increased by 12% and the total supply chain cost decreased by 8%.