Vapers Digest 2nd January
Friday’s News at a glance:
Parliament Matters ~ High Tax Undermines Health Goals ~ Vape Club Looks to 2026 ~ Pouches Partner Ferrari ~ Flavour Bans Increase Smoking ~ Superflu Suggestions ~ Yorkshire Says Yes ~ Two Illegal Vapes Seized Per Minute ~ ASH Scotland Attacks Vaping (Again) ~ The health effects of vaping and e-cigarettes: consensus recommendations ~ FDA Introduces ‘Chain of Risk’ Framework to Advance Tobacco Harm Reduction ~ End of Year Thoughts: Why are So Many Anti-Tobacco Groups Attacking a Product with Few Acute Risks, But Saying Nothing About Truly Risky Tobacco Products? ~ FDA Authorizes Six on! PLUS Nicotine Pouch Products — First Decisions from the Pouch PMTA Pilot ~ Jumping to (Policy) Conclusions ~ Scary headlines, shaky science: why some vaping studies don’t add up ~ I Quit Smoking. Public Health Wants Me Silent. ~ How History Will Judge the Vaping Panic ~ The Hidden Mental Health Cost of Australia’s Vaping Prohibition ~ Harm reduction isn’t about loving nicotine, it’s about surviving smoking ~ Australia’s Vaping Prohibition: One Year On, the Harm Is No Longer Theoretical ~ Events ~ Nomination for X Post of the Year – Vapers Lung ~ Wrapped: Our Year Together at the World Vapers Alliance ~ A New Cigarette Every Two Days, But No Vapes ~ Fatal Flaws in the EU’s “Safe Hearts Plan” Reflect Deeply Embedded Harm Reduction Ignorance ~ 2025 in review: Sweden’s policy works, now the EU must listen ~ Mexico’s ENCODAT 2025 finds smoking rate falls as vaping rises ~ Bangladesh Approves Strict New Tobacco-Control Measures ~ Tech Startups Are Handing Out Free Nicotine Pouches to Boost Productivity ~ The Truth About Nicotine: Alzheimer’s, Brain Health, & Focus ~ A Global Trend of Change | GFN Wishes for 2026 with Carmen Escrig and Ian Fearon
Nine From Dave Cross, Planet of the Vapes
Parliament Matters
In our final coverage of conversations about vapes and tobacco harm reduction from Westminster in 2025, Jim McMahon repeats concerns about vape (and barber) shops. Meanwhile, thanks to some pesky European countries, the government’s proposed Tobacco and Vapes Bill, currently progressing through parliament, has comes under threat if it is implemented in Northern Ireland.
High Tax Undermines Health Goals
Imposing high taxes on safer nicotine alternatives (such as vapes, heated tobacco products, and nicotine pouches) is counterproductive, according to Smoke Free Sweden. According to new research, when lower-risk products are made less affordable, instead of reducing harm, the high taxes push nicotine consumers back to smoking traditional cigarettes, “with potentially devastating public-health consequences”.
Vape Club Looks to 2026
As we approach the end of 2025, one of the most transformative years for the UK’s vaping landscape, new data and insights from UK’s largest online vaping retailer, Vape Club, reveals how 2025’s major regulatory and behavioural shifts are already shaping the outlook for 2026.
Pouches Partner Ferrari
Philip Morris International (PMI) has announced an expanded partnership with Scuderia Ferrari HP and with Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, the single-marque motorsport championship created in 1993, for the 2026 season and beyond. The company’s ZYN brand of nicotine pouches will be featured on the Italian marque’s Formula 1 cars at select races.
Flavour Bans Increase Smoking
New research looking at the impacts of restricting the sales of flavoured nicotine vaping products shows that rates of vaping declined as ex-smokers returned to tobacco. The comprehensive 42-page paper was produced by Brad Davis, Abigail Friedman, and Michael Pesko, and published as a pre-print on SSRN.
Superflu Suggestions
The media has been awash with talk of a superflu over the festive period, could your vape be a contributory factor? According to Google, “superflu” was a peak search term just prior to Christmas on top of the 1,430 average monthly searches for vape cleaning advice, indicating that people are becoming increasingly concerned about the state of their vape. Experts at Vape Superstore have put together some easy tips for Planet of the Vapes readers on how to keep your vape clean to ensure you don’t get ill.
Yorkshire Says Yes
Yorkshire and the Humber region are saying ‘yes to quitting’ through an innovative multi-level targeted campaign to help smokers stop their use of tobacco. The “Yes to Quit” campaign is running across TV, radio, transport links and social media, throughout Yorkshire and the Humber. It is highlighting the things smokers stand to miss, including weddings, births or quality time with others.
Two Illegal Vapes Seized Per Minute
Industry experts at the UK’s largest online vaping retailer, Vape Club, warn consumers of potentially dangerous products, as over half of UK vapers duped into buying an illegal vape. Two illegal vapes were seized every minute in 2025, according to new UK council data, with a total of 1.2 million illicit vapes seized off high streets this year.
ASH Scotland Attacks Vaping (Again)
ASH Scotland is urging politicians to prioritise driving down smoking-related deaths and save taxpayers £1.5bn each year – but forgets all about the part vaping plays in doing this. The Scottish ‘anti-smoking’ charity has a long history of opposition to the use of electronic cigarettes as a quit smoking tool and continues its attack on vapes and vaping.
Wrapped: Our Year Together at the World Vapers Alliance
Michael Landl, World Vapers’ Alliance
What a year. 2025 was intense but also inspiring. So, I’d like to look back together with you and share what we accomplished as a community, as well as where we pushed back against bad policy and made efforts to move things in the right direction.
This is not a press release. It is a personal thank you from me to you. Without you, none of this would have happened.
A New Cigarette Every Two Days, But No Vapes
Justin Leventhal, Real Clear Health
The FDA does not have smokers’ best interests at heart. While nearly half a million Americans die each year from smoking-related causes, the agency continues to deny smokers access to harm reduction tools that could prevent many of those deaths. It has authorized almost 180 new cigarette products each year on average—almost one new cigarette every two days—while only approving 23 vaping products total, despite strong evidence that vaping is both far less harmful than smoking and one of the most effective tools smokers use to quit.
Fatal Flaws in the EU’s “Safe Hearts Plan” Reflect Deeply Embedded Harm Reduction Ignorance
Diane Caruana, Vaping Post
Smoking remains one of the leading preventable causes of cardiovascular disease across Europe. Combustible tobacco dramatically increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and peripheral vascular disease, primarily through toxic combustion by-products rather than nicotine itself. The European Commission has unveiled its new “Safe Hearts Plan” as a flagship response to the continent’s growing cardiovascular disease burden.
2025 in review: Sweden’s policy works, now the EU must listen
SnusForumet
Looking back, Patrik Strömer sees 2025 as one of the most confusing years in recent memory. But the Secretary General of the Association of Swedish Snus Manufacturers believes it’s clearer than ever that Sweden’s policy approach of focusing on harm reduction has led to exactly that – reduced harm.
EU proposals for sharply increased nicotine taxes, internal processes ahead of COP11, and a growing international understanding of harm reduction set the tone for the debate in 2025.
Mexico’s ENCODAT 2025 finds smoking rate falls as vaping rises
2Firsts
ENCODAT 2025 (Mexico’s National Survey on Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Consumption) indicates a structural shift in tobacco and nicotine use: combustible tobacco use declined while e-cigarette use increased.
The report notes that ENCODAT 2025 added specific questions to measure other tobacco products (including smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco/rapé/snus and heated tobacco products, PTC), and also incorporated emerging nicotine products such as e-cigarettes (vapeadores) and nicotine pouches
Bangladesh Approves Strict New Tobacco-Control Measures
Tobacco Reporter
Bangladesh’s Council of Advisers approved the Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance 2025 on December 24, paving the way for stricter tobacco control measures. The ordinance proposes a ban on the use, production, and marketing of emerging tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and “similar items,” while expanding the definition of tobacco products to include nicotine pouches.
Tech Startups Are Handing Out FreTech Startups Are Handing Out Free Nicotine Pouches to Boost Productivity (PDF)
Angel Au-Yeung, Wall Street Journal
Meet the tech industry’s latest perk: nicotine-pouch fridges and vending machines.
Nicotine pouches, which have grown in popularity in recent years, including among Wall Street bankers, have become a go-to stimulant for a subset of tech workers who claim the products help them focus and get through the workday, despite health hazards.
These pouches, the size of a piece of gum, are tucked between users’ gums and cheeks, coming in flavors such as mango, espresso and mint.
The Truth About Nicotine: Alzheimer’s, Brain Health, & Focus
The Liz Moody Podcast
Have you ever thought of nicotine as only dangerous? This conversation might change the way you see it. Vanderbilt neuroscientist and psychiatrist Dr. Paul Newhouse joins me to explore what decades of research reveal about nicotine’s surprising effects on memory, mood, and brain health.
In Memoriam
