Vapers Digest 24th September
Wednesday’s News at a glance:
Parliament Matters ~ Fife PR Specialist Officers ~ Retailer Says Vapers Still Vaping ~ “Experts” Demand Plain Packaging ~ Spanish Anti-Tobacco Bill Slammed ~ Do Vapes Cause Diabetes? ~ Ireland’s delayed vape tax set to take effect by end of year ~ Vaping is not a reliable predictor of smoking initiation, new analysis shows ~ Media Watch: Rochdale Borough Council ~ France bans nic pouches – time to boycott Champagne? asks next gen Haypp Group ~ MAHA and Tobacco Harm Reduction in the United States ~ Russia may ban e-cigs – Putin backs regional restrictions ~ Banning vaping in public? What is Labour smoking? ~ Global nicotine pouch retailer Haypp calls on customers to boycott champagne ~ Editorial: How far should a vape shop be from a school? ~ USA: Illegal Vapes ~ A Note About An Appalling Insanity Regarding Nicotine Products ~ Spain’s Draft Tobacco Law: A Step Forward or a Risk for Public Health? ~ BC teacher’s vaping intervention leads to a reprimand, remedial course ~ CIGARETTE CESSATION: Mark Carney should embrace Conservative idea to help cut smoking
Five Six From Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Parliament Matters
In our latest exciting instalment from the Houses of Parliament, Ashley Dalton fields questions from MPs Mike Wood (Conservative), Jim Dickson (Labour) and Navendu Mishra (Labour). Topics cover vaping in outdoor places, what is happening with the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, and preventative health services.
Fife PR Specialist Officers
Fife Council’s Cabinet Committee says it has approved an initiative to host two full-time Scottish Illegal Tobacco Officers (SITOs) as its part of a United Kingdom-wide effort to disrupt the trade in illicit nicotine products at the retail level. Time will tell if two extra people working in a region covering 512 square miles and including 324,995 retail businesses will bear fruit.
Retailer Says Vapers Still Vaping
The ban on the manufacture, importation and sale of disposable vapes has been in place for three months. Prior to the ban, Yorkshire Cancer Research conducted research predicting that around 1 in 5 disposable users would return to smoking. Some retailers have reported trade in ecigs dropping off due to stockpiling or relapse to smoking, but one retailer says its survey points to a more positive climate.
“Experts” Demand Plain Packaging
Hysteria about child vaping (despite evidence that it is not increasing) has led to experts demanding that the government treats vapes like tobacco products and implements plain packaging. In a study from University College London and King’s College London, ten “experts” spectacularly fail to appreciate the threat of unintended consequences resulting from concreting smokers’ misunderstanding about the relative safety of vaping.
Spanish Anti-Tobacco Bill Slammed
The World Vapers’ Alliance has slammed the Spanish Government’s new Anti-Tobacco Bill which equates all alternative nicotine products with traditional cigarettes. While flavour bans and the de facto ban on nicotine pouches were already presented earlier this year in a separate royal decree, this bill extends smoking bans to reduced-risk products, erasing crucial distinctions with combustible cigarettes.
Do Vapes Cause Diabetes?
University of Georgia researchers have produced a study that could possibly be one of the worst for 2025. In it, they state, people who use e-cigarettes, cigarettes or both face an increased risk for developing diabetes. The study has been published in the journal AJPM Focus.
Two From Ali Anderson, Clearing The Air
Ireland’s delayed vape tax set to take effect by end of year
Ireland’s delayed tax on vape liquid is now “likely” to be introduced by the end of this year, with preparations to implement it described as “well advanced.”
In the Budget 2025, then finance minister Jack Chambers announced that a levy of 50c per millilitre would be applied to all e-liquids. He said at the time: “A typical disposable vape contains 2ml of e-liquid, and costs in the region of €8. This new tax will bring the price of such a product to €9.23 including Vat.”
Vaping is not a reliable predictor of smoking initiation, new analysis shows
Reanalysis of gateway studies shows their models predict smoking no better than chance when tested properly.
Most papers never reported how accurate their models were, and many authors refused to share their results.
Using better methods made the models only slightly more accurate – and vaping turned out to be one of the weakest predictors of smoking.
The findings match real-world data: teen smoking keeps falling, suggesting a “diversion effect” rather than a gateway.
Media Watch: Rochdale Borough Council
Richard Crosby, The Daily Pouch
On the 19th of September Rochdale Borough Council published the kind of article we’re used to seeing from local councils and the like – a well-intentioned piece titled “Council warns parents about new nicotine product legally sold to children”. Now I typically get a little annoyed at these low-effort ‘warnings’ but thought I’d take a different approach here…
France bans nic pouches – time to boycott Champagne? asks next gen Haypp Group
Andy Marino, Asian Trader
On Friday, 5th September, the French Government announced a total ban on nicotine pouches, with the ban expected to come into force in March 2026. The strict new law will ban a whole range of oral nicotine products, including pouches, gums, and liquids. Only products classified as medicinal products or medical devices will be exempt. The French ban was opposed by a number of EU countries, including Sweden, Italy, and Greece, who see the prohibition as disproportionate and damaging for anti-smoking strategies.
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