ANCHORAGE — Alaska officials say that e-cigarettes may be responsible for last year's larger-than-normal drop in the state’s tobacco revenue. According to an Associated press report, officials said that tobacco consumption in the state has dipped to its lowest point since 2001 and there is a significant increase in e-cigarette use.

However, state officials say that a lack of tax data makes e-cigarette use hard to track and they cannot say conclusively whether e-cigarette products are directly diverting sales from traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes are not taxable under current Alaska state law, since it may not be clear which e-cigarette products contain tobacco, which a taxed substance, versus other forms of nicotine which are not taxed.

While vape shops are listed under the "tobacco" section of the Yellow Pages, many vendors insist their products are tobacco-free, including some companies who say their vaporizer liquids are made of ingredients such as nicotine derived from eggplant.

Cigarette sales in Alaska dropped from 53 million packs sold in 1996 to 28 million packs in 2014, even though the total population increased during that period.