A new study in JAMA Network Open looked at what happens when states try to regulate vaping through directory laws, and the answer isn’t good news for anyone hoping this approach would curb flavored e-cigarette sales among teens.

Quick answer: Researchers tracked three states with e-cigarette directory laws (Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana) against 31 states without them. Two states saw no effect on sales at all. The third saw a temporary drop that fully reversed within a year, with unauthorized menthol products filling the gap. By 2025, unlisted products still made up more than half of all e-cigarette sales in every state studied.

What Directory Laws Are Supposed to Do

E-cigarette directory laws let states restrict sales to only the products listed on a state-run registry. Sixteen states have passed them, and the policy has backing from major tobacco companies. The pitch is straightforward: stop unauthorized, youth-appealing flavored vapes from being sold, since more than 6,000 e-cigarette products are on the US market without FDA authorization, most of them fruit, candy, or dessert flavored.

The stakes are real. Over 1.44 million middle and high school students reported vaping in 2025, and more than 89% of young users choose flavored products. Researchers Fatma Romeh M. Ali, Margaret Mahoney, Elizabeth L. Seaman Jones and colleagues wanted to know whether directory laws actually move the needle on that.

Two States, No Change

They analyzed retail scanner data from Alabama and Oklahoma, the first two states to launch directories, comparing sales trends against a synthetic control built from 31 non-directory states. In both cases, the law made no measurable difference.

Alabama’s nicotine sales actually climbed after its May 2022 directory took effect, going from 47.8 mg to 89.6 mg per capita, with flavored products holding above 90% of the market the entire time. Oklahoma followed a similar path: sales rose from 45.0 mg to 59.3 mg per capita after its 2023 launch. Neither state showed a statistically significant shift tied to the directory itself.

Louisiana’s Drop That Didn’t Stick

Louisiana looked different at first. Sales fell sharply after its November 2023 directory started, bottoming out at 16.9 mg per capita by mid-2024, a real reduction. But it didn’t hold. By April 2025, sales had climbed back past pre-directory levels.

The reason is the interesting part. As flavored disposable sales dropped, sales of menthol prefilled cartridges shot up 50%, driven mostly by one brand, Vuse Alto, which doesn’t have FDA authorization either. People didn’t stop vaping flavored products. They switched to a different unauthorized product the directory hadn’t caught up with.

Most of What’s Sold Still Isn’t Supposed to Be

Here’s the number that cuts through the noise: by April 2025, products not on any state directory made up 92% of nicotine sales in Alabama, 54% in Oklahoma, and 52% in Louisiana. In every single state with a directory law, most of the market is still running on products the law was written to keep out.

Why This Might Be Doing More Harm Than Good

The study’s authors don’t hold back on what they think is going on. They argue directory laws, pushed by an industry with an obvious interest in shaping how vaping gets regulated, end up looking like action without actually being action. Worse, they may pull attention and money away from strategies that do have solid evidence behind them: flavor bans, smoke-free laws, higher taxes on tobacco products.

And these laws aren’t cheap. Legislative estimates from 2025 put enforcement costs above $8 million in Oklahoma alone, and a proposed Texas version was projected at $27 million. States also have no independent way to check whether a manufacturer’s claims about a product’s market history are even true, so enforcement runs almost entirely on the honor system.

What This Means Going Forward

The takeaway is fairly blunt: e-cigarette directory laws, as implemented so far, haven’t delivered a lasting cut in flavored e-cigarette sales. Where a dip happened, it reversed. Where it didn’t reverse, it never happened at all. If the goal is actually reducing youth vaping, the researchers point back to the tools already known to work, price increases, comprehensive flavor restrictions, and smoke-free policies, rather than a registry system that unauthorized sellers keep finding ways around.

Source: JAMA Network