‘Smart Vapes’ collided to target children with integrated video games, telephone features: ‘is a trap of behavior’

Experts have issued a new warning on “dangerous” heat with integrated video games called a “flagrant attempt to target children”.

Described as “Smart Vapes”, the equipment enables users to enter pre-installed games, get and call, play music and follow fitness.

A number of products are available online, with names such as Posh Pro Max, Craftbox V-Touch and Halo Synix, and cost about $ 53.

Experts Artur Galimov, Liam Obaid and Jennifer B. Unger last month expressed concern in a forum post for the British Medical Gazette for equipment, “integrating models and functionalities similar to smartphones into vaping equipment” that is likely to appeal to young people as they can help raise the real nature of the product.

Some of the devices come with integrated speakers, fitness tracers and the ability to enable social media announcements.

They have rechargeable batteries and Bluetooth allowing them to be traced and connected to smartphones.

The heat comes to the fruit and sweet fragrance and on average give up to 30,000 puffs.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last October issued warnings for nine online retailers and a manufacturer to stop the sale and marketing of electronic cigarettes with models and functionalities resembling smart technology.

He said the products are advertised “How to have a variety of models and functions that can appeal to young people, such as the ability to play games, connect to a smartphone, receive text notifications or call, play music or personalize paper -custom products.”

Brian King, the director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, said: “They are illegal to sell and a flagrant attempt to target children.”

But research shows that these vapes are available to buy online, with similar models available in the UK for about $ 53.

Jennifer Unger, a professor of the Population and Public Health Sciences at the University of Southern California School of Keck Medicine, is concerned about the growth of “Smartphone” steam and their potential to connect more adolescents and children to nicotine.

She said: “I think they can have a truly harmful impact on youth.

“These devices are combining three things that are very reinforcing: nicotine, video games and sweet tastes.

“And they are packing in a way that makes them feel safe, fun and even nostalgic.

“For young people, especially those who are exposed to stress or trauma, this is a dangerous combination.

“And in communities where evaporation is already widespread, it can simply make it worse – using normalization, reducing the start age and making it harder to recognize when someone is vaping.

“When a heat looks like a toy and rewards you to use it, it’s not just a product – it’s a trap of behavior.”

The professor first became aware of the equipment in 2023 and 2024 – initially on the websites of retailers and then more widely through social media.

She said: “What is surprising is how they are not only traded as nicotine products, but as fun tools, fashionable. Some of them look like keyboards or playgrounds, and others are actually movable, with retro -style games immediately.

“They are clearly designed to attract the attention of young people, and marketing follows that bullet – through impacts, boxless videos and viral content on platforms like tiktok. It’s not difficult to imagine a teenager thinking:” It looks good “before you understand that it’s a heat.”

The big difference between the conventional heat and the “smartphone”, Professor Unger said, was the interactive element.

She said: “A conventional heat simply gives nicotine.

“These newer devices add gaming elements-sometimes with full video games that reward the user with points or prices whenever they get a powder.

“This pairing – Nicotina and Gameplay – is a concern because it creates a powerful reaction loop. You are strengthening behavior with a chemical and a psychological reward. It has nothing to do with evaporation – it’s to have fun while you do it.”

The equipment is created to be “discrete” and “taking emotionally,” she says. “All vapors hold risks, but when combining nicotine with games – especially in a product that looks like a toy or a phone – you are adding numerous layers of appeal, especially for children and teens.

“It makes them more difficult for adults to recognize and more difficult for young people to rest. So yes, I’m more worried – not just because of nicotine, but because of the way these devices are created to connect users in more ways than one.”

The professor, who looks at adolescent health behavior, substance use and tobacco control as research areas, wants a “strong and coordinated” response from the government to resolve these issues.

She said: “At the level of politics, we need FDA to attract a clear line: if a product gives nicotine, it should also not be a toy or a game. This is a line we should not pass.”

But, she added, schools and parents needed help to identify these young aircraft, which look different from traditional ones.

She said: “We need to push against marketing that aims children in such deceptive and manipulative ways.

“Education is important – but so is implementation. These devices do not only appear by accident.

“They are designed and traded on purpose. And we must respond at the same level of purpose.”