It has been a long time coming, and it is something that has been requested time and time again since the advent of disposable vapes hit the market in every store across the country. The government has finally announced that they intend to introduce a vape sales license which will heavily limit where these products can be sold. 

As a Vape company that has been in the industry for many years, over a decade in fact, we have watched as the vapes have come and gone in different ways. From the rise of the subohm devices to people quitting vaping and returning to smoking due to negligent media coverage of the pandemic! The rise of the disposable and the explosion of vape sales across retail, with everything from Chip shops and barbers to supermarkets and corner stores stocking them. Before this increase in outlets selling the products, the number of under 18s that vaped was very little, so few that the NHS were talking to the industry about potentially beginning to offer 0mg devices to under 18s that smoked to help them quit. Instead we saw bad actors after 2021 begin selling devices to everyone they could, and the vape industry as a whole has taken the rap for this.

Well The ASH report that the government uses and links to themselves paints this in a much better picture. “11 - 17 Year olds that vape, 49% are current smokers, 27% are ex smokers and 2% never smoked.” 

Now this might just be speculation, but as someone who is fed up with the public pointing the finger at us trying to better the world and calling us the problem, it seems to me that the same people illegally selling the vapes to minors are also the people selling them cigarettes! 

And data from ASH backs this up too. Before 2021, it was much less common for under 18s to gain access to vapes, and those that got them likely got them through family and friends over 18, potentially for the same reason we want adults to pick up vaping. (To stop smoking!) But then 2021 came around and we see a jump of 8% in 16 / 17 year olds using vapes, and a 2% jump in 11 to 15 year olds. What changed? It wasn’t the flavours. It wasn’t the vape industries morals. The devices changed but that was more a catalyst. It was who was selling them.

So… We welcome the governments statement to review the legislation surrounding vapes and to introduce a vape sales license. 

But the battle for a better industry, service, and way for better health isn’t over. The government are not just looking at the licensing and they want to information to help them to adapt to a what is seen as a major problem. 

This is where you come in. The government need to hear how it’s not a tobacco product that helped you quit smoking. They need to hear how people went through a dozen flavours before finding the one that made them not need a cigarette any more. They need to hear that people are smart enough to know that a name of a flavour isn’t the thing that started them vaping, but helped them to identify what it is they were purchasing!

As people who are heavily invested in the future of the industry, we will be speaking up for our customers and the industry as a whole, and working with the government where we can to help guide them to a better outcome for everyone, and hopefully not let them be guided by fear or misinformation and propaganda. 

Tobacco and vapes: evidence to support legislation - GOV.UK

Tobacco and vapes: evidence to support legislation - GOV.UK

https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-young-people-in-great-britain