Interview-with-Lauren-Huang-from-ELFBAR-&-LOST-MARY-after-Dubai-Vape-Show-2025
I had the opportunity to visit the Dubai Vape Show 2025 and see the exhibition. I found the event to be more professional and see a lot of new brands and products showcased at the event.
Here is an interview with Lauren Huang, General Manager of the Middle East Region, ELFBAR and LOST MARY
Could you tell us about your latest product, planned for release in this region?
2025 is a landmark year for both ELFBAR and LOST MARY, furthering our commitment to bringing out region-specific products to the Middle East that reflect the audience’s preferences.
In the next few months, ELFBAR highlights a series of products tailored to the region. The E-SHISHA LUXE 30000 blends the cultural heritage of traditional shisha with a sleek, contemporary design. The ELFBAR MoonNight, featuring an iconic curved design, delivers up to 40,000 puffs and offers a selection of 20 distinct flavors. Meanwhile, ELFBAR introduced the King Series, the industry’s fullest product lineup with adjustable dimensions. In this region, King Series consists of NIC KING and SWEET KING, allowing users to adjust the levels of strength and sweetness and offering flexibility and personalization.
On LOST MARY, key upcoming products include the BM15000, the MT35000, and the NERA30K PUREVIEW, a prefilled pod system featuring a curved interactive display and a forward-compatible structural design.
ELFBAR’s e-liquid brand ELFLIQ also launched the Middle East Edition — a special lineup of 15 icy flavors inspired by regional preferences. These e-liquid are also fully compatible with ELFBAR’s open pod system, the ELFX series, providing users with a customizable vaping experience.
How was your experience at the Dubai Vape Show 2025? Did it meet your expectations?
At the World Vape Show 2025 in Dubai, the largest expo in the vaping industry, we’ve maintained a large scale and strong footfall, on par with last year’s turnout.
We hosted clients from many global markets who came to explore our most innovative products and industry-leading capabilities. Since the expo took place in Dubai, the majority of attendees were from the UAE and neighboring countries, including our trusted local distributors and dozens of store owners who contributed significantly to the event’s vibrant atmosphere.
Both the ELFBAR and LOST MARY booths garnered outstanding recognition — not only for their impressive scale but especially for their striking visual design and strong brand presence. We received consistent accolades from industry peers and clients alike.
The booth design also serves as a powerful tool to gather attention, giving us the opportunity to connect with more attendees, showcase our brand and products, and gather valuable direct feedback.
Which of your brands is popular in this region?
Both ELFBAR and LOST MARY have gained strong popularity in the Middle East. We don’t think it is fair to compare these two by popularity.
ELFBAR aims to offer general adult users who are seeking to transition harm-reduction tools that are accessible and at good pricing points. And it entered this region around 2021, way earlier than its sister LOST MARY.
LOST MARY has been dedicated to applying the latest innovative technologies to its products, always bringing the next-level user experience driven by R&D. This brand entered the region around 3 years later than ELFBAR.
Which are popular Vapes – Disposable vapes OR Open/refillable Vapes?
Both single-use vapes and open/refillable products serve different adult user groups based on their distinctive preferences when it comes to smoking cessation. Comparing these two categories requires numerous consumer behavioural studies.
While single-use vapes are still the dominant product category in some markets, this category of vapes does lower the smoking cessation threshold and boasts more flavour choices for many smokers and ex-smokers who want to jump-start their cessation journey.
However, refillable and reusable vapes are on the rise globally due to reusability, lowering the amount of waste from discarding these products. Refillable and reusable products cater to the needs of adult users who enjoy exploring different flavours based on their established user habits. For us, we have ensured consistency in flavours across our single-use, reusable, and refillable product lines, offering a seamless experience.
As many countries are banning certain kinds of Disposable Vapes? What changes have your company made?
• All we can do is stay compliant, while calling for reasonable legislation with health assessments. Take the UK market as an example – the single-use vapes ban already started restructuring our product development pipelines long before it took effect across the entire industry. From our first reusable product launched in the UK back in 2022, through to the development of tens of others reusable products in the wake of this legislative change as early as a year ago, we have been proactively preparing for this transition with an extensive reusable range.
Our reusable products are now widely available in UK stores nationwide, including leading supermarkets and grocers, supported by readily available refill pods and containers. We have worked closely with retailers, wholesalers and distributors to ensure supply and accessibility by adult users across over 50,000 outlets. We understand and respect the regulation, however, we must not underestimate the role single-use vapes play in helping adult users in smoking cessation. A complete ban, without sufficient health assessments, would inadvertently push some users back to cigarettes or into the black market. We strongly believe that adult users must be given the chance to make their own informed choices.
How do interested vapers buy your product? Do you have distributors and retailers in the region?
In the Middle East, we’ve built a strong distribution network grounded in long-standing, deeply rooted partnerships. A major milestone came in late 2024 when ELFBAR secured strategic collaborations with six top FMCG retailers in the UAE, including Carrefour, KP, ENOC, Bluemart, Freshmart, and Speedway. Then in June 2025, we marked another milestone by joining the FMCG ecosystem of Emarat, Freshmarket, and Grandiose, further cementing ELFBAR’s footprint in mainstream retail across the UAE.
LOST MARY is collaborating with local distributors and also actively exploring broader channel access, aiming to deepen its presence by engaging more channel partners. But no matter where the adult users want to buy vaping products, please do make sure you buy them from legitimate channels.
What message would you like to convey to an audience seeking an alternative to smoking cigarettes?
Vapes are not risk-free; they are made to reduce harms from combustible cigarettes, as evidenced by many global studies. There have also been quite many studies showing the effective role vapes play in helping adult smokers and ex-smokers in their smoking cessation journey. There’s growing evidence that vaping, when used correctly and responsibly, can offer a significantly less harmful alternative to combustible tobacco.
Research 1. According to a December 2024 survey by Opinium, vaping plays a major role in the smoking cessation journey. The findings reveal that 68% of adult vapers believe a range of flavors helps to stop them from going back to smoking tobacco, with nearly half (48%) using fruit or sweet flavors most often. Moreover, the study also shows that 21% of adults quit smoking over the past five years, of which 45% used vapes as part of their successful quit journey.
Research 2. “E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in smoke from cigarettes” – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US
Research 3. “Many studies show that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. This is because e-cigarettes don’t contain cancer-causing tobacco, and most of the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes are not in e-cigarettes” – from Cancer Research in the UK
Statutory Warning
Cigarette smoking causes serious diseases and is addictive. Without question, the best decision any smoker can make is to quit tobacco and nicotine use altogether.
PMI’s smoke-free products are for adults who would otherwise continue to smoke or use other nicotine products.
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