Juul of denial: castigated vaping brand aims to defy ruin with age assurance tech

Juul, which for a time led the booming market for fruity vapes, is back. The company has paid out billions of dollars to settle U.S. lawsuits over dishonest marketing practices that fueled what New York Attorney General Letitia James called “a nationwide public health crisis” among youth.

Its various reprisals, which included an order to pull its wares from stores, left it more or less written off as a casualty of the regulatory jungle. But, having had its ability to appeal to young vapers hobbled by law, the company is returning to the U.S. market with fresh capital from early investors and founders, to focus on its original mission: helping adult smokers quit combustible cigarettes.

Its vehicle for reentry into is the JUUL2 platform, a device that, according to its website, “utilizes unique PodID authentication to address illicit products, and incorporates age-verification technology capabilities.”

Specifically, according to a piece from Tobacco Reporter, “users must verify their age and identity through a companion smartphone app using Face ID or other phone-based biometrics, and each pod contains a chip that only unlocks for the authorized user.”

The biometric checks are done through a “vetted independent age verification provider.” The company appears to have used a number of biometric age assurance tools over the years, including products from TruAge, Veratad and Jumio.

Juul is still waiting for U.S. approval of its tech, and has been waiting for a while.

IKE Tech sees preference for point-of-use verification

Vapes, also known as electronic or e-cigarettes, are a growing market for age assurance providers.

IKE Tech LLC has already received an Acceptance Review letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) for a blockchain and Bluetooth-based tokenized age assurance system built into nicotine vapes.

According to the company’s research data, slightly more people favor verification at the point of use over checks at the point of sale. It says support for innovation is strong among adult vapers, 89 percent of whom say they’d buy devices equipped with biometric safeguards.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  children  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  Juul  |  retail biometrics