On March 22, 2021, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a draft of regulations that would subject vapor products to tobacco rules. The news caused share prices of leading Chinese e-cigarette companies, such as RLX Technology and Smoore International, to plunge from the stratospheric heights they had reached prior to the announcement. The prospect of operating under the umbrella of China's State Tobacco Monopoly (STMA) has clearly frightened investors, but what exactly would it mean for the vapor business to be governed by China's tobacco rules? Bullet Finance, a Chinese-language business publication, recently interviewed Miao Wei (not his real name), a former officer in charge of raw materials at the China National Tobacco Corp. (CNTC) who now heads an e-cigarette company.
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