HOW OLD DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO VAPE IN THE UK?

HOW OLD DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO VAPE IN THE UK?

What age can you vape? The legal vaping age in the UK is 18 years old as you need to be 18 to buy E-Cigarette and vaping products because they contain nicotine. All nicotine products sold in the UK are considered restricted products because they contain nicotine and they fall under the Tobacco Products Directive - vaping regulations established in 2016. Even nicotine-free e-liquids and nicotine free vapes are subject to this minimum vaping age.

INTRODUCTION

It’s well known that once you start smoking it can be very hard to stop. The addictive chemical ‘nicotine’ is present in tobacco products, with more chemicals added that increase how much nicotine your body absorbs (1). This means that smokers get used to a strong hit of nicotine when they have a cigarette and then, as the nicotine levels in the brain go down, the smoker starts to crave another cigarette.

 

The effect of nicotine on the brain, and the detrimental effect of a lack of nicotine in a brain used to being fed nicotine, creates this desire to smoke as more nicotine gets the brain working at it's 'normal' capacity for a smoker (2). This cycle of addiction is what makes giving up smoking very tough for most people, and a dangerous position to be in – one recent study found that smoking a cigarette costs you, on average, 11 minutes of life.

 

With this knowledge, it is clear that tobacco harm reduction products have an important role to play in helping people to stop smoking and reduce the potential health risks.. Things get a bit tricky when it comes to youth smoking due to the age restriction of being 18 or older to buy nicotine products in the UK, even though nicotine replacement products can be used for children over 12 years of age (3). As vaping is proving to be a successful method of quitting cigarettes, you may be wondering what is the legal age to vape UK?

 

WHAT IS VAPING?

Vaping is the act of inhaling on an E-Cigarette and exhaling the vapour produced. The term ‘E-Cigarette’ literally means ‘electronic cigarette’ and this includes all types of vaping device (sometimes referred to as ‘END S’ or ‘electronic nicotine delivery system’) – that means everything from the cigaike devices that are designed to look and feel like a tobacco cigarette, to the bricks-with-chimneys that some vapers use.

 

The vape device works by heating up a mixture known as e-liquid or ‘vape juice’ into an aerosol, which is inhaled by the user, and then expelled in a cloud of vapour! This is great because the e-liquid can contain nicotine, allowing smokers to satisfy nicotine cravings without all of the harm that comes from smoking tobacco.

 

Many smokers are finding nicotine vapes to be a great way of quitting smoking because vaping provides a hand-to-mouth action – just like traditional smoking (4) – allowing current smokers to get their nicotine in a similar way to smoking, just with most of the harm removed! Even better, studies have shown that E-Cigarettes could be up to twice as effective as a smoking cessation tool compared with nicotine replacement therapy products, such as nicotine gum and patches, for quitting smoking!

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF E-CIGARETTES?

As the vaping industry is still relatively new, there is wide range to choose from when it comes to selecting your vape device. These can be divided into a number of categories, the first of which is ‘open or closed systems’ – this indicates whether the vape device is self-contained; open systems let the vaper add the e-liquid of their choice, where closed systems use pre-filled refills.

 

Closed systems include the cigalike vape devices, pre-filled pod vapes and disposable vapes. These often come in two parts: the refill and the battery. Once the refill is used up, put a new refill on the battery and away you go!

 

Open systems include anything refillable: vape pens, pod vapes, vape mods (the big bricks) and mechanical mods. Open systems require more maintenance because some parts need to be cleaned or changed over time and there is always a risk of spillage or leak creating a mess or getting into the main housing, which could cause issues.

 

Closed systems are the easiest to use and can take the stress out of quitting smoking, making them the best choice for heavy smokers trying to quit. Check out the SMOKO VAPE POD Starter Kit for an easy-to-use, pre-filled device that takes the stress out of quitting smoking!

 

Refillable devices range from fairly simple vape pens to complex vape mods that allow the user to fill the tank with their own e-liquid, choose the type of coil used to heat up the e-liquid and choose the power output of the device – all factors that impact the vaping experience. 

 

High powered vapes are best suited to low nicotine e-liquids, and liquids that are more balanced in favour of vegetable glycerine. This is down to the amount of vapour produced; both nicotine and propylene glycol contribute to the throat-hit as the vapour goes into the lungs – so If you use a high nicotine, PG favoured e-liquid in a powerful device you may end up having a coughing fit!

 

WHY SHOULD YOU VAPE?

The E-Cigarette was designed to be a way of getting nicotine in a similar way to smoking but without the harm we know is associated with tobacco use. In the UK, the health authorities including Public Health England and the Royal College of Physicians found that E-Cigarettes are at least 95% less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes, showing that vaping is a valid tobacco harm reduction tool.

 

Many smokers have a really hard time when they try to quit smoking, which is why quit rates are generally quite low (5) – not only are there physical cravings, but the impact of these cravings can then increase stress, create mood issues while your body is adjusting to the lack of nicotine, which in turn can have a bad effect on your relationships. There are a bunch of other side-effects of quitting, like headaches and trouble sleeping, so it is understandable that smokers trying to quit may relapse to alleviate these issues.

 

This is where E-Cigarette use can help. E-liquid contains propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, flavourings, and nicotine. This means that vaping delivers the nicotine, alleviating nicotine withdrawal symptoms, while eliminating the 4000+ chemicals found in tobacco and the nasty biproducts made by burning it, like tar and carbon monoxide.

 

Vaping is therefore meant to be a way for adult smokers to reduce the harm they are doing to themselves and those around them. Not only is vaping 95% less harmful than smoking, there is no ‘passive vaping’ risk because there is no sidestream smoke (this is when a cigarette continues to burn when not being inhaled on) and the exhaled E-Cigarette vapour is over 99% water vapour!

WHAT IS THE BEST VAPE FOR QUITTING SMOKING?

 

Finding a way of vaping that works for you is key to making the switch from smoking to vaping as seamless as possible. There are some studies that have investigated which type of vape appears to be best a helping people to quit, and it looks like a win for the low-powered, pre-filled devices.

 

A combination of factors may be responsible for this. Smokers first making the switch to E-Cigarettes are likely to choose a cigalike style device due to the shape and feel being so close to an actual cigarette. This allows the smoker carry on with the habit as if they hadn’t stopped smoking, but with 95% of the harm removed!

 

Low powered devices require using an e-liquid that favours PG instead of vegetable glycerine (VG) as VG heavy liquids are thicker, so need more power to vaporise. This isn’t a bad thing – as PG contributes to the throat hit that smokers are looking for when they switch to vaping. 

 

WHAT IS THE LEGAL AGE TO VAPE IN THE UK?

 

All products containing nicotine require a minimum age of 18 to buy here in the UK. This includes all vaping paraphernalia, and even zero nicotine e-liquids or disposable vapes. How well these rules are stuck to, however, is another matter altogether.

 

So, just like tobacco products, people under 18 shouldn’t be able to get their hands on vaping products – with a big emphasis on ‘shouldn’t be able to’…

 

 

WHAT IS THE LEGAL AGE TO VAPE WORLDWIDE?

 

In the UK, you are considered an adult at 18 years of age. This means the majority of products and activities restricted to ‘adults’ in the UK require you to be at least 18 years old. As this is not the case from country to country, it is worth noting that the legal age for vaping is different depending on where you are in the world.

 

The legal age for vaping in Europe is 18, as it is in Brazil, China, the United Arab Emirates and Australia – though you need a doctors prescription to legally buy E-Cigarettes in Australia. The rules in Canada vary between provinces, requiring a minimum age of 18 or 19; South Korea has the minimum age set at 19, Japan has theirs at 20 years old, and the United States has the minimum age requirement set at 21 years.

 

Be wary if you are a travelling vaper as there are some countries where vaping is illegal – make sure to check the rules for vaping in your country of destination before you book a holiday to avoid a sticky situation!

 

WHAT CONCERNS DO THE AUTHORITIES HAVE ABOUT UNDERAGE VAPING?

 

Part of the uphill battle that E-Cigarettes have been fighting is the argument that they appeal to young, impressionable people. It cannot be denied that the increase in youth vaping is present, though figures suggest the amount of underage vapers has stabilised in the UK (6). With appealing flavours intended to make choosing to vape a better choice than choosing to smoke and the availability of disposable vapes, there have been issues raised about how this makes vaping an enticing pastime for younger people, and whether vaping acts as a gateway to smoking. Due to the addictiveness of nicotine, there are concerns about the impact this has on the developing brain and the potential to increase addictive behaviours.

 

This point of view has been reinforced by the behaviour of certain E-Cigarette manufacturers in the United States, who have since been in a lot of trouble because they were found to be marketing specifically to middle and high school students for underage sales (7). This undermines the whole aim of E-Cigarettes to get smokers away from tobacco on to a less harmful alternative, with a view to reducing tobacco use in the population or eliminating it entirely!

 

In the UK, we haven’t seen this kind of brazen disregard of the minimum vaping age for the next generations, though the issue of underage teens getting their hands on vaping equipment is still present, and there have been examples of flavoured vapes and e-liquids named after sweets, to ‘bring back the childhood memories’ which is cutting a little close to youth marketing.

 

Just in our local vicinity, two shops that sold E-Cigarettes (among other things) were shut down for selling vaping equipment to under 18s. This creates problems for everyone – anti-vaping groups latch on to these instances to say that there is a ‘youth vaping epidemic’ and while there may be some truth to youths getting their hands on vapes by illegal means, this has been true of tobacco in the past.

 

Whilst not condoning selling nicotine products to children, it raises an important question of whether, as a society, we would prefer teens experiment with tobacco or vaping. The sale of vapes to underage teens is certainly a concern, but this is made worse by the presence of illegal vapes on the shelves of UK retailers. Many disposable vapes were found to have illegal levels of e-liquid, some overfilled by 50%, which increases the likelihood of starting a nicotine addiction. As it is the disposable vapes ending up in the hands of teens, cracking down on vape brands breaking UK regulation would be a great step in the right direction.

 

It seems that the best way to tackle this issue will be to impose hefty fines for individuals and companies for selling vapes to children, and anyone purchasing nicotine-containing products on behalf of someone underage. The first will make any retailers think twice before trying to get away with selling a product to someone who isn’t legally allowed to buy it; and increasing any penalty for those who try to purchase nicotine products on behalf of underage children will help to minimise the number of teens getting their hands of any form of E-Cigarette. Another course of action would be to increase the penalty for selling vapes to children, and buying for underage teens (which is already a criminal offence).

*2024 Update - This year, the UK government has announced a ban on disposable vapes due to the increase in use among underage teens and marketing practices of some disposable vape companies targeting youth appeal.

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF VAPING?

The issue of the youth appeal of E-Cigarettes is being tackled in several ways – in the U.S, for example, all flavours other than tobacco and menthol have been banned. This extreme course-correction has occurred due to the lack of initial regulation and the occurrence of marketing to the youth, such as naming flavours that would appeal to underage vapers.

There are stirrings in Europe and the UK about raising the age you can buy tobacco and nicotine products year-on-year, with a view to eliminating tobacco use and harms from smoking altogether. While this raises questions about our freedom as consumers, we may see the age at which you can buy E-Cigarettes (as well as tobacco products) increase as time goes by. The Smokefree 2030 campaign in the UK gives you an idea of the steps the UK government want to take in order to tackle the health burden society faces from tobacco use.

It is important to recognise that in the UK, E-Cigarettes are considered to be at least 95% less harmful than smoking combustible cigarettes due to the evidence reviews put forward by Public Health England (or 97% less harmful according to Cancer Research UK) but a survey from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) found that 40% of UK smokers wrongly believe that vaping is as harmful or worse than smoking! In a well-regulated market that keeps harmful chemicals out of the e-liquid, there is little doubt that vaping is a less harmful alternative to cigarettes.

IS THERE AN AGE LIMIT TO VAPING NICOTINE-FREE?

Yes, there is an age limit to vaping nicotine-free products in many countries, including the UK, the US, and much of Europe. Despite containing no nicotine, these products are still subject to the same age restrictions as nicotine-containing vapes due to concerns about the potential health effects of inhaling vapor and the appeal of vaping to younger audiences. In the UK, the legal age to purchase any vape product, including nicotine-free options, is 18, while in the US, it is 21. These regulations aim to prevent young people from picking up vaping habits and to address the broader concern that vaping, even without nicotine, can still normalize smoking-like behaviors. Therefore, it is illegal for retailers to sell any vaping device or e-liquid to individuals below the legal age, regardless of nicotine content.

HOW OLD DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO VAPE IN THE UK - CONCLUSION

It is perfectly understandable that many countries view vaping as a form of smoking, leading to the restrictions we see today. We may still see changes in the laws yet; we have certainly seen updates to the laws since E-Cigarettes first became available, but it is logical that the same restrictions on smoking have been applied to vaping as a starting point for the regulations and then amended as our understanding of vaping increases.

The legal age to vape UK is 18, and the UK may just be the best place to buy your vape kits. The regulation in place in the UK means that only high-quality e-liquid is available, tested by the UK’s health agency, the MHRA, so you know you are getting a good quality product.

Here at SMOKO, our high-quality vape products are closed systems which means that our UK-made e-liquids are tested in our hardware by the MHRA as well, giving our customers the peace of mind they need when trying to quit smoking! Ideal for smokers, the SMOKO E-Cigarette cigalike starter kit replicates the look and feel of a traditional cigarette, which is why so many of our customers have quit with it!

For vapers seeking a more modern design, the SMOKO VAPE POD is small and discreet, using prefilled pods just like the SMOKO E-Cigarette so you don't have to worry about vape coils, device maintenance and messy filling!

If you are over 18 and looking to quit smoking - make the switch with SMOKO today!

 

REFERENCES

(1) Europa: Tobacco Additives

(2) Nicotine Addiction

(3) NHS: Stop smoking treatments

(4) 7 Ways to Help Curb Hand-to-Mouth Addiction

(5) CDC: Smoking Cessation: Fast Facts

(6) Use of vapes (e-cigarettes) among young people in Great Britain

(7) FDA finalizes enforcement policy on unauthorized flavored cartridge-based e-cigarettes that appeal to children, including fruit and mint

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Written by Dan Overgage

Dan Overgage – is a former smoker of 10 years until he became a client of SMOKO E-Cigarettes.  Dan started working with SMOKO 5 years ago after successfully quitting using our e-cigarettes and works across our Customer Service and heads up our content creation and research with a strong focus on all things quitting smoking.  During his tenure with SMOKO, Dan has written countless blogs and consults with countless clients every day to help them to stay smoke-free.