LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) - Popular vape brands like Geek

Bar may get more expensive in the U.S. - if you can find them at

all.

Shipments of vapes from China to the U.S. ground to a near

halt in May from a year ago, official data shows, hit by U.S.

President Donald Trump's tariffs and a crackdown on unauthorised

e-cigarettes in the world's biggest market for smoking

alternatives.

That includes Geek Bar, a brand of flavoured vapes that is

not authorised to sell in the U.S. but which had been widely

available due to porous import controls.

One retailer, who asked not to be named because their

business sells unauthorised vapes, told Reuters that one of the

store's vape suppliers normally receives 100 boxes of Geek Bar

vapes per week, but is now getting just ten. Another supplier

imposed unprecedented purchase limits.

"There were a lot of supply chain issues" during COVID-19,

the person said. "But I've never seen this."

The U.S. supplier limited purchases to five boxes at a time

due to "tariff-related price increases and limited market

availability", an undated notice to customers seen by Reuters

showed.

Trump's decision to impose steep tariffs on China, now at

30% after peaking at 145% in April, as well as blockbuster

seizures of unauthorised vapes, have constrained the supply of

Chinese-owned vape brands and Geek Bar in particular, according

to five industry sources and notices from U.S. Geek Bar

wholesalers reviewed by Reuters.

Between May 1 and May 28 the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration recorded just 71 shipments of products labelled

as e-cigarettes or vapes from China, compared with nearly 1,200

over the same period last year. Such imports had fallen between

40% and 60% in February, March and April, after Trump came into

office, but collapsed in May, the data show.

"Due to increased tariffs, rising production costs, and

reduced supply chain capacity, the manufacturer has informed us

that they will be reducing supply volume in the near-term," one

U.S. regional Geek Bar wholesaler wrote to customers on April 22

in an email shared with Reuters.

'WE'RE TALKING ABOUT NICOTINE HERE'

In the meantime, vape distributors expect prices to go in

one direction. "With tariffs, it'll definitely go up," said one

U.S. vape distributor who asked not to be named.

But that might not impact sales much. Unauthorised vape

manufacturers enjoy hefty margins, and so can eat some of the

cost of tariffs, Luis Pinto, a spokesperson for British American

Tobacco's ( BTI ) U.S. subsidiary, said.

Meanwhile, consumers hooked on vapes tend to keep buying,

even as the price goes up.

"If the price goes up, the price goes up. We're talking

about nicotine here," the vape distributor said, adding unlike

other products, addicted users need their fix.

Vapes like Geek Bar - priced around $20 currently - would

still be good value even with a $5 increase, the person said.

Geek Bar manufacturer, Guangdong Qisitech, did not respond

to a request for comment sent to its general email address.

Pinto agreed the tariffs will increase prices but probably

not to the point "where it is a barrier to usage".

Many of the vapes landing on U.S. shelves are manufactured

in Shenzhen, which meets the majority of the world's demand for

vapes.

Some factories there make devices for large tobacco

companies with the legal licence to sell their products in the

United States, such as Japan Tobacco International.

Others fuel a booming market for unregulated devices that U.S.

authorities say are illegal to import or sell.

To mitigate tariffs, illicit vape producers can mislabel or

undervalue their shipments or spoof their origin entirely to

make it look like they came from a lower-tariff country like

Indonesia, Vietnam or Mexico, Pinto said.

Vapes from China are often smuggled into the U.S. disguised

as other items entirely, such as shoes or toys, to evade

officials hunting for unauthorised vapes at the border,

according to public statements from the FDA and Customs and

Border Protection.

Geek Bar was by far the most popular unauthorised vape brand

in the U.S. last year, accounting for around a quarter of sales

tracked by market research company Circana in 2024 despite

lacking a licence to sell from the FDA, which has struggled to

contain illegal imports from China.

The brand, as well as thousands of other labels often made

in China and lacking FDA permission, are stocked by wholesalers

and retailers around the country, often sold alongside

authorised labels from big tobacco companies like BAT and Altria ( MO )

.

PANIC BUYING

U.S. tariffs have driven panic buying of vapes by U.S.

buyers, higher shipping costs and increased risks at the border,

the distributor, a former distributor and a person who used to

work for a major Chinese vape company said.

Substantial vape seizures were also a big driver of Geek Bar

supply issues, two of the sources said. The FDA announced a

large seizure in Chicago in February, and new FDA commissioner

Marty Makary has pledged to crack down on unauthorised vapes.

Government notices on seized goods show further vape

seizures in March and April.

The growth of Geek Bar and other unregulated vape brands

have eaten into the market share of cigarette companies like

Altria ( MO ) and BAT, which estimates unauthorised e-cigarettes

accounted for some 70% of all U.S. vape sales last year.

Altria ( MO ) CEO Billy Gifford told investors in April that he

hoped tariffs would lead to "much more enforcement" of vapes at

the border.

Trump's trade war with China has also seen China-U.S. air

freight and shipping capacity collapse limiting shipping

capacity for cargo including vapes.

The FDA's data only captures shipments properly declared as

vapes. As a result, it has recorded declining vape shipments

since 2020 even as industry sales have grown.

An FDA spokesperson said the agency expects the number of

shipments it captures to increase as it ramps up efforts to

ensure compliance and prevent illegal imports.

Unauthorised vape makers have also been moving production to

Indonesia - a shift that prolonged tariffs on China would likely

accelerate, the former employee said.

Vape makers are "highly adaptable", the person said.

"Whatever happens in the U.S., the industry will survive."