From Banana Taffy To Dragon Drink: The Illegal Chinese Vapes Flooding The U.S. Market

NASHVILLE — Banana Taffy, Dragon Drink, Hawaiian Fruit Punch. Those aren’t smoothies or soft drinks. Those are a sampling of the variety of vapes that continue to enter the United States illegally from China in 2025.

Cases of the brightly-colored devices lined the booths at this year’s Alternative Products Expo in Nashville, Tennessee. Some vape devices featured LED screens. Some were stackable, allowing up to three flavors, enabling the user to concoct their own mixture of candy-like vape flavors. Other vapes were stylized as designer purses. One wholesaler employee pitched a pastel vape device that doubled as a fidget toy.

And as of 2020, all of them were illegal.

A promotional flyer for the Alternative Products Expo in Nashville, Tennessee.

While American manufacturers like JUUL only sell vapes in menthol and tobacco flavors — the only legal flavors in the United States — wholesalers skirt Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations by importing vape products from China. These unregulated Chinese vapes are flooding the United States, despite warning letters and threats of seizure by the FDA. At the Alternative Products Expo, wholesalers promoted their illegal, Chinese vape products completely out in the open.

The Chinese company Kangvape prominently displayed its TC8000 vape. The booth stocked the flavors Cool Mint, Miami Mint, Pineapple Coconut, Vintage, Virginia Tobacco, and Watermelon Ice. A flyer advertised an additional 23 flavors, including Rainbow Paradise.

Kangvape also sold its Speedy Beast vape in 20 flavors — none of which included tobacco or menthol. Instead, the Speedy Beast boasted the exotic-sounding Blue Laffi Taffi, Ruby Delight, and Tropical Starburst.

These are being openly hawked with no concern for past threats of action. The FDA cited the Rainbow Paradise flavor of the TC8000 in a warning letter from December 2023. Another FDA warning letter from April 2024 noted the illegal Kangvape Onee Stick. 

ZColors by ZLAB is another Chinese vape company that sells its products in the United States.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said cracking down on illegal vapes is a “top priority” for the agency, The Daily Wire previously reported.

“Eighty-five percent of the vaping products sold in the vape stores are illegal according to the FDA’s list,” Makary said. “We don’t even know what’s in some of these vaping products.”

There are only 39 vape products that have been authorized by the FDA.

An FDA spokesman says a federal task force is facilitating actions against illegal products.

“FDA has taken numerous actions against unauthorized new tobacco products from international firms, including e-cigarettes that are most popular with youth,” the spokesman told The Daily Wire.

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The FDA reports that it has seized millions of dollars’ worth of illegal products. In January, the agency seized $7 million worth of vape products, including the brand Geek Bar, which an FDA press release stated “may appeal to youth.”

The seizures haven’t scared Kangvape. The company sold dozens of boxes of Geek Bar vapes at the Expo, featuring flavors ranging from Banana Taffy Freeze to Blue Razz Ice.

Federal action appears to have had little impact on Chinese vapes in general. The Expo featured wholesalers that have received FDA warning letters and seemingly ignored them.

One such wholesaler, Safa Goods, was a sponsor of the Expo. Its name appeared on Expo nametags, as did advertisements for two other illegal vape brands, Beri Crush and Raz LTX.

The warning letter to Safa, sent in October 2023, cited the illegal vape product EB Design BC5000 Blue Razz Ice. Safa’s booth didn’t advertise the EB vapes. But it did sell the illegal vape Raz LTX 25K, which was cited in an FDA warning letter from May 2025.

The Raz LTX 25K is a rebrand of the Raz DC25000, which has also been cited in multiple FDA warning letters. Safa’s Expo booth sold the flavor Mango Loco, which was named in an FDA warning letter from May 2025.

Safa Goods, a U.S. company that distributes Chinese vape products, was a sponsor of the Alternative Products Expo in Nashville.

Safa also sold dozens of flavors aside from menthol and tobacco in additional brands.

The company is the subject of a New York lawsuit suing multiple vape distributors “for illegally distributing, marketing, and selling flavored disposable vapes.”

A primary concern with these vapes, with flavors more fit for a candy store than a tobacco shop, is that they appeal to children. Illegal e-cigarettes often attract children and teens through bright colors and fruit- and candy-based flavors, according to Makary.

The FDA spokesman said the agency works with “federal partners to combat these attempted illegal imports and enhance enforcement activities,” especially against vape products “that may be appealing to youth.”

An FDA seizure in 2023 included the illegal brand Lost Mary. Expo wholesaler Strictly E-Cig’s 2025 product catalog advertised 30 flavors of Lost Mary vapes, with names such as Dragon Drink, Rocket Popsicle, and Scary Berry. The Lost Mary products are available for purchase online.

Another wholesaler, Sol Trading, leaned into pastel colors and “cutie, fruity flavors” to market its UT Bar vape, which one employee pitched as both a vape and a fidget toy.

The UT Bar combines two flavors into one vape. The flavor combinations included B-Pop and Watermelon, Citrus Ice and Sour Fab, Cool Mint and Icy Mint, and Raspberry and White Peach.

Multiple sellers advertised flavor combinations at the Expo. Chinese-based company Ziip Lab sold its Z-Land vape, which allows the user to stack up to three vape pods for more than 125,000 flavor combinations, according to a handout from the booth.

The flyer advertised stacking flavors such as Berry Mix and Guava, as well as Blueberry, Green Apple, and Orange. Z-Land comes in a total of 51 flavors, including Milk, Rainbow Rain, and Skittle Ice Fruits.

Another wholesaler, Unishow, sold GeakNexx vapes at the Expo. Unishow received an FDA warning letter in 2019 for selling illegal products. The GeakNexx vapes came in about a dozen illicit flavors, including Blue Oat Donut, Frozen Fcuking Fab, and Strawberry Banana.

The Alternative Products Expo, Kangvape, Safa Goods, Strictly E-Cig, Unishow, and Ziip Lab did not respond to requests for comment.

The illegal vapes didn’t stop with the wholesalers. The Alternative Products Expo itself advertised a giveaway of $50,000 worth of illegal vape products, including the disposable Geek Bar Pulse and the Raz DC25000, and the Raz TN9000. The Geek Bar Pulse, Raz DC25000, and Raz TN9000 have been cited in FDA warning letters.

The Expo promoted the illegal vapes giveaway with a large sign and a locked case of vapes just inside the entrance to the convention center. It also marketed the giveaway online and in the official show book.

The advertised flavors included Blue Razz Ice, Fire and Ice, and Miami Mint. An additional flavor, Strawberry Burst, did not contain nicotine.

The Expo was not only for vapes, but also “the full spectrum of alternative products,” including CBD-based products, mushrooms, and Kratom, another drug that’s become dangerously popular with America’s teenagers.

Many of these vapes are smuggled into the United States. A previous Daily Wire investigation found that over 90% of imported Chinese vape products in 2024 were not included in U.S. import data. The companies often disguise their products by labeling them as battery chargers and flashlights.

“[What] we have been doing is laughable,” Makary said. “We’re going to start confiscating and seizing. We’re going to take this seriously.”