Juul wants to put a child lock on its vapes to keep the teens away

Despite creating the legitimate demographic of “Juul Teen,” Juul’s latest warpath is all about making its products more mature. The Wall Street Journal reports the company is pitching a new vaporizer to the FDA that only allows those 21 and older to use it. Juul will also submit more than 250,000 pages of materials supporting its efforts to curb underage use, and is only offering two flavors (menthol and Virginia tobacco) in response to the flavored vape ban.

Juul Jail — In the U.K. and Canadian versions of Juul’s app, users have the option to set up a lock with a picture of their face and a government ID. Then, the Juul locks and unlocks via Bluetooth. Juul’s U.S. proposal would ship the vapes locked, and then users would have to confirm their age to use it. It’s unclear whether this will be done through an app (of which there currently is none in the U.S.) or if retailers will be able to unlock them.

There’s something about a retailer unlocking a vape that feels more secure than Bluetooth, but as any remotely cool-kid adjacent in high school will tell you, a lot of retailers don’t care about the law. Part of why Juul pulled out of Indonesia was due to the company’s inability to prevent retailers from selling to minors. Juul’s presence in Asia is fraught in general, with two senior executives stepping down last week. As it leaves country after country, including major markets like India, it’s clear Juul really needs to make things work in the U.S.