When it comes to nicotine delivery, not all electronic cigarettes are created equally, according to Penn State researchers. New research from Penn State College of Medicine shows that JUUL, a popular pod-based electronic cigarette, can deliver more nicotine at a faster rate than most other types of electronic cigarettes that have been studied.

Jessica Yingst, first author and researcher at the College of Medicine, said that previous studies of other electronic cigarettes with high liquid nicotine concentrations revealed that many delivered very little nicotine to the user. The researchers profiled the nicotine delivery capabilities of JUUL, which is known to have a high concentration of nicotine in its pods.

“The JUUL users we studied obtained blood nicotine concentrations almost three times as high as most of the e-cigarette users we previously studied,” Yingst said. “JUUL’s nicotine delivery is very similar to that of cigarettes.”

The researchers published their findings today (Nov. 15), in JAMA Open Network. Six regular JUUL users were asked to puff on their device every 20 seconds for ten minutes for a total of 30 puffs. Blood was collected at intervals during and after vaping. The researchers used liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyze the amount of nicotine in the blood at each time point.

This study was supported by Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. It used the institute's special observation suite within Clinical Research Center at Hershey.