Elf Bar

Who Makes Elf Bar?

Elf Bar is the lead product of Shenzhen iMiracle Technology Co., Ltd., a privately held company whose parent is Heaven Gifts, the Associated Press reported in December 2023.⁴ Reuters identified Heaven Gifts' owner as Zhang Shengwei and said the group, founded in 2007 according to its spokesperson, also sells EBDesign, Lost Mary and Funky Republic.⁷

Elf Bar says the brand has operated since 2018. Its site, elfbar.com, is a global site with UK and German service numbers, and it says Elf Bar sells only through distributors and retailers, in regions where vaping products are legal.⁸⁶

Elf Bar reached US stores in November 2021, the AP reported, and Reuters put Heaven Gifts' share of the US e-cigarette market above 9 percent in the year to September 2023, with more than $650 million in US sales in the year to mid-October 2023.⁵⁷ Elf Bar names no US importer. A City of New York court filing calls Demand Vape a master distributor of Elf Bar in 2022 and 2023, and an October 2025 report on the NJOY settlement named Mi-One Brands and Element Vape as authorized US distributors.⁹¹⁰

Why Elf Bar Became EB Design and EBCreate

Elf Bar became EB Design in the US after a trademark fight: on February 23, 2023 a US district judge ordered Shenzhen Weiboli Technology to stop marketing Elfbar e-cigarettes in the US, after VPR Brands, which owns the ELF trademark, showed it was likely to win its claim.¹¹ ECigIntelligence reported that the maker rebranded its US products as EBDesign to comply with that order.¹²

The second rename followed the FDA. About two weeks after the FDA directed customs in May 2023 to seize Elf Bar and EBDesign shipments, a trademark application for EBCreate was filed in the name of Nevera HK Limited, a Hong Kong company, rather than iMiracle, the AP found.⁵ In December 2023 the AP reported that iMiracle had dropped the Elf Bar name in the US, and an iMiracle spokesman said it had stopped shipping Elf Bar there earlier that year.⁴

On August 12, 2024 the Federal Circuit vacated the February 2023 injunction (No. 23-1544) and sent the case back, finding that the lower court had misread the unlawful-use doctrine.¹³

Elf Bar on the FDA Import Red List

Elf Bar firms went onto the FDA's import Red List on May 17, 2023, when Import Alert 98-06 gained ten entries for "Elf Bar or Elfbar or EBDESIGN ENDS products", among them Heaven Gifts International Limited (twice) and iMiracle (Shenzhen) Technology Co., Ltd., plus importers and shippers in the US and Asia.²

Three more entries dated October 31, 2023 covered the "ELFBAR TE6000; 6000 PUFFS; with flavors", and all of these were still listed in a December 2024 copy.²¹⁴ After the FDA split its alerts in January 2025, Import Alert 98-07 covers every e-cigarette without a marketing order, with no firm list; its September 4, 2026 revision ties detentions to the FDA's May 2026 enforcement guidance.¹⁵³

The FDA and US Customs and Border Protection announced on December 14, 2023 that 1.4 million unauthorized e-cigarettes worth $18 million had been seized at the Los Angeles airport, including Elf Bar, EB Create, Lost Mary and Funky Republic.¹⁶

Elf Bar FDA Warning Letters and Fines

Elf Bar warning letters from the FDA include a June 22, 2023 round to 189 retailers over Elf Bar and Esco Bars, which cited a CDC study that found Elf Bar the most popular disposable sold in the US in December 2022.¹⁷ On July 27, 2023 the FDA warned three distributors over Elf Bar/EB Design, Esco Bars and Puff Max.¹⁸

Letters to sellers continued through 2024: five online retailers on February 28 over Elf Bar, EB Design and EB Create among other brands, 80 retailers in 15 states on July 25, and 115 retailers on December 5 over Geek Bar and Elf Bar.¹⁹²⁰²¹ The FDA also filed civil money penalty complaints against retailers selling Elf Bar in February, April, May and July 2024.²²²⁰

In 2024 the FDA said more than half of the 2.1 million young people who currently used e-cigarettes in the 2023 National Youth Tobacco Survey reported using Elf Bar.¹⁹ The AP reported in October 2023 that the FDA had sent no warning letter to iMiracle itself.⁵

Elf Bar Lawsuits

Elf Bar lawsuits include a long fight with NJOY, the Altria-owned rival, which sued 34 companies over disposables including Elf Bar in October 2023 and in February 2024 refocused on iMiracle and its distributors and retailers over California sales.¹⁰ In October 2025 iMiracle settled, agreeing not to sell flavored vapes in California while the state's ban stands.¹⁰

The City of New York sued Magellan Technology, Demand Vape and others in 2023 over unauthorized flavored e-cigarettes, a case in which Elf Bar featured prominently, and New York's attorney general sued 13 vape companies on February 20, 2025, listing Elf Bar among the brands at issue.⁹²³

Reynolds has named iMiracle companies in three cases at the US International Trade Commission: a false-advertising complaint filed October 13, 2023 (337-TA-1381); a patent case, 337-TA-1410, in which iMiracle (Shenzhen) and Heaven Gifts International were found in default before the Commission found no violation on March 10, 2026; and 337-TA-1486, opened March 3, 2026 over alleged PACT Act, flavor ban, state directory and excise tax violations.²⁴²⁵²⁶

How to Spot a Fake Elf Bar

To spot a fake Elf Bar, Elf Bar's verification page says to scan the QR code on the package or enter its security code, and that a product counts as genuine only if the code is verified at elfbar.com.²⁷

Its FAQ adds that a genuine device's holographic laser security thread reflects light, that elfbar.com is the only official site, and that a QR scan is the more reliable check while old and new codes are both in use.⁸ No separate US verification page for EB Design or EBCreate was found.