Wondering How Much Nicotine is in a Geek Bar? Let’s See!
After arriving on the scene a year or so ago, disposable vapes are all the rage right now with products such as the Geek Bar proving particularly popular. But after some alarming reports about ‘super strong’ disposable vapes emerged in the media recently, lately we’ve noticed a lot of our customers asking questions like “are Geek Bars too strong?” and “how much nicotine is in a Geek Bar?”.
If you’re one of those vapers wondering if the Geek Bar nicotine content might be too much to handle, or you’re just curious to know what your disposable vape is packing, fear not as we’re on-hand with all the answers.
What are Geek Bars?
Geek Bars are throw-away devices that have skyrocketed in popularity since arriving on the market around a year ago. Manufactured by GeekVape, one of the vaping industry’s most recognised and respected brands, these disposable vape pens come in a range of flavours.
Priced at around £5 each, they offer a cheap and easy way to start vaping, and with no need to change coils or refill the e-liquid, they’re also extremely easy and convenient, making them the go-to product for many beginners.
But although they’ve proven popular with some, it’s fair to say Geek Bars have divided opinion since they arrived on the scene, with a certain section of hardcore vapers unimpressed by a product they see as wasteful and restrictive.
Nonetheless, it looks as though disposables are here to stay so let’s clear up a few misconceptions about the amount of nicotine they contain.
Rules on Nicotine in Vape Devices
Without trying to bore you to death, before we get into exactly how much nicotine is in a Geek Bar, it’s important to have a basic understanding of the rules and regulations around vape products.
In 2016, the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) was introduced for EU member states, and with that came a raft of brand-new regulation for the manufacturing and sale of tobacco products, as well as e-cigarettes and other vaping products.
Since then, for a vape device or e-liquid to be sold in the UK, it must conform to the regulations set out by the TPD, which dictate the following:
- How much a vape tank can hold
- Maximum strength of nicotine in an e-liquid
- All products must be submitted to MHRA before sale
- All product must have relevant health warning and info
How Much Nicotine is in a Geek Bar?
As a result of the rules put in place by the TPD, vape products including disposables are only available in certain strengths and volumes in the UK.
As such, in line with the TPD’s regulations, the tank in each device must be capable of holding no more than 2ml of e-liquid, while the nicotine strength is also capped at 20mg/ml (20%).
The Geek Bar comes in three different variations: the standard Geek Bar, the Geek Bar Lite and the Geek Bar Pro. When we take a look at the standard Geek Bar and the Geek Bar Lite, we can see both of these models are TPD-compliant.
The Standard Geek Bar contains 2ml of e-liquid with 40mg of nicotine, whilst the Geek Bar Lite comes with 1.8ml e-liquid with the same liquid:nicotine ratio.
Only the Geek Bar Pro, with 4.5ml of e-liquid and a 50mg/ml fails to meet the TPD’s rules, which is why this device is not on sale here in the UK.
The Geek Bar Pro is on sale in the U.S, where regulation is different. Although the future of the vaping industry across the pond currently hangs in the balance as the FDA decides whether or not it should blanket ban the sale of flavoured vape products, right now in the U.S the rules around the strength and amount of nicotine allowed in vape devices are much more lenient than here in the UK.
How Many Cigarettes in a Geek Bar?
As a result of the absurd stories in the media about disposables containing the “equivalent to over 100 cigarettes”, we’ve had a lot of our customers asking ‘how many cigarettes in a Geek Bar?’ lately. The simple answer to that question is none.
Cigarettes contain over 5,000 chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens. If that wasn’t bad enough, they also contain tar and carbon monoxide which are the two chemicals responsible for the vast majority of smoking-related illnesses.
Thankfully, e-cigarettes contain neither of these, so how is a Geek Bar equivalent to cigarettes in any way? For the media to compare the two and come up with an arbitrary conversion system based solely on the nicotine content – a relatively harmless chemical – is simply ridiculous.
If we take just the nicotine into consideration, then with the average cigarette containing around 10 mg, we can calculate that there’s around 4 cigarettes-worth of the chemical in a Geek Bar that carries 40 mg. Hardly worthy of national news, and as stated already this comparison fails to look at the bigger issue with cigarettes which is the cancer-causing tar and carbon monoxide found only in combustible tobacco products.
So Why the Media Frenzy?
So now we know the Geek Bar nicotine percentage and we can see these disposable devices conform to the rigorous standards of the EU, you might well be asking what all the fuss is about and why the media is printing these scare stories.
“Super-strong Geek Bar vape craze causing health scare in kids” and “Health fears over new craze among young people for super-strength nicotine devices” are just some of the headlines published recently, but never ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story we can see the media has taken something out of context and tried to spin it into a juicier story.
This is nothing new. Here in the vaping industry we’re used to sensationalist publications printing outlandish stories to get clicks. Nevertheless, it’s still disappointing to see the media take a product that doesn’t comply with EU regulation and hold it up as an example of why Geek Bars are dangerous to people in the UK.
So hopefully that clears up any questions you had about Geek Bars. If you’re ready to purchase your first one then head over to the Geek Bar product page now!
If you’re still on the fence about throw-away devices then check out our ‘Disposable Vapes – Are They Worth it?’ post where you can learn all about the advantages and disadvantages of the units.