[3][4] In 2005, two former cigarette smokers, Adam Bowen and James Monsees, met while they were graduate students in product-design at Stanford University and developed an e-cigarette called Ploom.

[1] Unable to find support from financial institutions, Ploom relied on private investors to launch their products.

[4] The initial Ploom e-cigarette did not have commercial success; it experienced multiple technical errors that caused people to be burned, receive an electrical shock, and struggle to make the pod release the product.

[13] In November 2016, the Pax 3 was released, featuring compatibility with both extracts and plant matter, new tools and accessories, and a complementary smartphone app.

The same month, Pax also introduced an extract-based vaporizer called the Era, which operates by heating a concentrated cannabis liquid held in very small containers.

[14] Pax closed a $420 million equity round in April 2019, which valued the company at $1.7 billion.

[17] In June 2015, the company introduced Juul, a type of e-cigarette that utilizes nicotine salts that exist in leaf-based tobacco, for its key ingredient.

[22] Each cartridge (called a Juul pod) contains about the same amount of nicotine as one pack of cigarettes[21] and delivers approximately 200 hits.

[25] Given the high nicotine concentrations in Juul, the nicotine-related health consequences of its use by young people could be more severe than those from their use of other e-cigarette products.

Compared to its predecessor, the Pro edition features several add-ons, including ExpertTemp technology, pod memory, haptic feedback, and a UL-certified battery.