Abstract:
To understand key product features of electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) in Chinese domestic markets, five e-cig attributes, including product type, casing material, battery capacity, product exterior appearance and e-liquid compositions, were analyzed from 130 commercial e-cig products of 65 brands sampled by using web crawler and Python data analysis software. The results showed that: 1) The e-cig samples could be divided into two types: low-powered and high-powered e-cigs, occupying 65.9% and 34.1% market share respectively. Low-powered e-cigs were mainly assembled with dischargeable e-liquid (closed) cartridges, and high-powered ones were largely assembled with manual-filled (open) cartridges. 2) The two major materials of e-cig casings were metal and resin. Different materials were selected based on the types of e-cigs according to the physicochemical properties of materials. 3) There existed obvious clusters in the battery performance and product appearance of the different types of e-cig products. 4) Dark exterior colors including black, blue and silver grey were main color scheme for the e-cigs. The main colors for about 55.7% of the sampled e-cigs were dark colors. 5) Approximate 87% of e-liquids offered tobacco, menthol and fruit flavors. The ratio between propylene glycol and glycerin in 48.9% of commercial e-liquids was close to 1∶1.