Federal regulators on Friday cleared Juul Labs to sell a new version of its e-cigarette that can be locked until the user verifies that they are old enough to buy it.
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision allows Juul to introduce an updated device in the United States for the first time since the original launched more than a decade ago.
The Juul2 will be sold with updated tobacco- and menthol-flavored cartridges. Its age-verification feature is optional: users can activate it through an online app, requiring the device to remain locked until the verification process is completed.
The legal age to purchase e-cigarettes in the United States is 21.
The technology is central to Juul’s attempt to rebuild its business after years of controversy over teenage use. The company laid off hundreds of employees and agreed to pay roughly $3 billion to settle government and private lawsuits. In 2019, it stopped selling the fruit and candy flavors that had become especially popular among teenagers.
Regulators emphasized that Friday’s decision is a marketing authorization—not an FDA approval or endorsement. The agency continues to warn that people who do not already use tobacco products should not begin using Juul or any other e-cigarette.
The FDA’s finding is narrower: adult smokers who switch completely from combustible cigarettes to Juul products may reduce their exposure to carcinogens and other harmful chemicals produced by burning tobacco.
Company studies reviewed by the agency found that between 20% and 50% of smokers using Juul products had stopped smoking cigarettes after six weeks, depending on the flavor, nicotine strength and measurement used.
The commercial challenge is more complicated.
Juul is no longer America’s best-selling vape brand. That position belongs to Vuse, made by Reynolds American, the tobacco company behind Camel and Newport. Teen vaping has also declined overall, while many young users who continue vaping have shifted to unauthorized disposable products imported from China and sold in the fruit and candy flavors Juul abandoned.
That is the competitive problem the age lock does not solve. Unauthorized disposable vapes generally do not require digital identity verification, face little meaningful FDA oversight at the point of sale and often undercut authorized products on price.
The clearance also comes amid a changing regulatory climate. In May, the FDA authorized the first fruit-flavored e-cigarettes intended for adult smokers—a significant shift following months of lobbying by the vaping industry directed at President Donald Trump and his administration.
For retailers, the practical question is whether consumers will choose an app-connected device with optional age controls over a roughly $15 disposable vape that works immediately out of the package.
JBizNews Desk | Washington, D.C.
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