A few years ago, Elf bars flooded the shelves of gas stations and vape stores.

The Elf Bar even enjoyed a presence on social media, with countless memes and reels being filmed of users flaunting and wielding their Elf bars.

Then, suddenly, Elf manufacturing stopped. And some new, identical vape took it’s place but with the name “BC5000.”

Many Elf vapers were left wondering: what happened to Elf?

Here’s What Happened:

Elf Bar was manufactured by Shenzhen Weiboli Technology Co. in China.

In 2022 Weiboli Technology was sued by VPR brands, who claimed they were the rightful owners of the Elf brand.

VPR brands contended that they have been selling an Elf brand vape since as early as 2016. They sued Weiboli Technology and got what’s called a “preliminary injunction” ordered by the court that required Weiboli to cease marketing and sales of any Elf products.

So what it really came down to was a trademark violation.

But the case reveals more about the FDA and how vapes have gone entirely unregulated and untested.

The FDA typically requires a new tobacco product to receive “pre-market” authorization before it’s sold on the market.

Vapes like Logic have acquired this pre-market authorization, which typically includes troves of medical evidence, research, and public policy justifications that support the sale and marketing of the product in question.

It’s a lengthy and exacting process, and one misstep can result in the denial of your product being launched on the market.

Not that the research provided by vape companies offers any unique insights that we didn’t already know – it’s safer than smoking, the environmental impact is low. Albeit, the research is definitely biased to some degree, vape companies who receive pre-market authorization have had no issue justifying their products to the FDA, especially when they push the smoking cessation angle.

But as a procedural and regulatory safety net, it’s concerning that most vape companies bypass any FDA oversight at all and are allowed to sell their products with zero consequences and little responsibility.

If you get injured by a vape or experience health issues, there are still claims at law that you can bring. But at the very least, the FDA procedural safeguards ensure that a product is not immediately deadly and has held up to the scrutiny of at least some form of medical research and public policy justification.

Unfortunately, most products are going unregulated on the market. The FDA is understaffed and underfunded, which means they don’t have the resources to file cease and desist letters against every drug company, vape company, tobacco company, farm, pesticides service, and food company selling their products.

Many companies are in violation of FDA procedure. But it doesn’t matter until the FDA pursues you.

It’s kind of like doing your taxes. Many people misreport numbers on their taxes, but they get away with it until the IRS finds out – if they ever do.

So even though this boiled down to a trademark dispute, there are larger issues at stake that were mentioned in the case.

You can listen to the case here.

FDA only recently started cracking down on retailers who still sell Elf bars.