Who invented vaping, and when?
When was vaping invented, and who invented the first e-cigarette?
From the most primitive models to what we recognise as a vape today, the history of vapes spans almost a century. The concept of the e-cigarette has been iterated on and re-imagined by people such as Joseph Robinson, Herbert A. Gilbert, Phil Ray, Norman Jacobson, and Hon Lik.
Joseph Robinson – did he invent the first electric vaporiser?
Believe it or not, the idea of vaping has been around for nearly 100 years. An American named Joseph Robinson introduced the first patent for an "electric vaporiser" in the late 1920s, and the patent was approved by 1930.
Herbert A. Gilbert - did he invent the first 'smokeless non-tobacco cigarette?
In 1963, Herbert A. Gilbert introduced a patent for his invention: a device he called the "smokeless non-tobacco cigarette", an early concept that surprisingly resembles today's e-cigarettes. They say that while he was a scrap metal dealer with no prior experience in product invention, Gilbert was a smoker himself.
Unfortunately, Gilbert never secured funding for his invention. While his patent has long since expired, it has been cited many times by other inventors, including Hok Lik, who is often considered the creator of the modern e-cigarette.
Phil Ray and Norman Jacobson - how did we get the word 'vape'?
Vaping as we know it today started to become more crystallised as a concept and accessible product in the 1980s.
This is when the terms "vape" and "vaping" came to life. Phil Ray, the father of the microprocessor and manager of the Apollo Space Program, was a smoker himself. He started working on a "smokeless cigarette" with his personal physician, Dr. Norman Jacobson. Their product would not require combustion, and it differed from some other inventions thus far as it also aimed to deliver a dose of nicotine. The product also looked like a cigarette in terms of shape, colour and design. Inside the device was a filter paper which was soaked in nicotine, and once inhaled, nicotine was delivered without combustion or smoke.
Ray and Jacobson were some of the first formal researchers in the field of nicotine delivery, and commercialised their product, though it did not achieve widespread success. However, it was during trial studies of the product that Ray did not want his participants to be referred to as "smokers" who were "smoking" and thus contributed the terms "vape" and "vaping" to the vocabulary that we use today.
Hon Lik - how did we get the modern e-cigarette?
In the early 2000s, the modern and most commercially successful e-cigarette was finally born. It was invented by a Chinese pharmacist named Hon Lik in Beijing. A smoker himself, Lik's first iterations were big and bulky, and he believed that the product must be more convenient for everyday, on-the-go use in order to achieve mainstream acceptance and encourage switching from cigarettes.
Lik finally developed a smaller, refined device that used a high-frequency ultrasound emitting element in combination with a coiled heating wire to vaporise a nicotine-containing liquid. This was patented in 2003, and in 2004, e-cigarettes with a battery-powered heating element that vaporised e-liquid hit the Chinese market. By 2005, e-cigarettes started being sold internationally.
Why was vaping invented?
Most of the inventors who created "vapes" were smokers themselves who were looking for an alternative to cigarettes. Many realised the potential behind a device that could deliver a tobacco or nicotine experience without what they noted as the core issue: combustion.
Today, e-cigarettes are smoke-free alternatives to continued smoking that provide a nicotine-containing aerosol without combustion, thus with potentially lower levels of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals, although not risk-free. Of course, it is a matter of scientific assessment of each particular e-cigarette to see if this is actually the case.
New vaping technology - how are e-cigarettes different today?
Some versions of the e-cigarettes of the past did not incorporate the delivery of nicotine. It was really when that idea was introduced by Ray and Jacobson, and later improved upon by Lik, that vaping started to become commercially viable. Ultimately, it came down to being able to develop the efficient devices to deliver this experience to existing adult smokers and nicotine users.
Today, companies continue to invest in developing a wider variety of improved smoke-free technologies. For example, IQOS is able to offer different smoke-free alternatives to every adult who would otherwise continue to smoke, including heated tobacco, that heats real tobacco without the need for burning.
Learn more about the cutting-edge IQOS heated tobacco technology.
Discover if vaping is a better choice than smoking cigarettes.
This article is for general information and educational purposes. Some of the information in this article is based on external, third-party sources, and we make no representations or warranties of any kind regarding the accuracy, validity or completeness of such information.
