Published 29th May 2024 Well, that was unexpected! After months of concern that a hastily written bill was about to eliminate vaping as we know it, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which could have banned vape flavours has been dropped in the furore around an unexpectedly early election. Gone but not forgotten? With both main parties supporting the bill, it is.....
Ashtray Blog - Chronicling Vaping's Journey Since 2008
Published: 24th April 2024The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is currently winding its way through Parliament, and has major implications for vapers. While the intention of the bill is to stop under-18s using electronic cigarettes, it could also mean that vaping becomes unpleasant and unattractive for millions of adult vapers.Unfortunately, most coverage of the bill has focused on the smoking elements. So.....
Published: 7th March 2024 Last update: 3rd May 2024In a move welcomed by the tobacco industry, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a planned ‘vape levy’.The proposals look to be some of the most severe and complicated in the world, and will (at least) double the cost of vaping for most vapers.In this post, we’ll take a look at what’s planned,.....
95% safer than smoking. That’s what Public Health England told us about vaping in a statement endorsed by numerous institutions and charities, from Lung Cancer Research to the NHS. Yet, buffered by misinformation and negative stories, many people think e-cigarettes are as bad or worse than smoking. To counter misperceptions, and to show that the legitimate vape industry can not.....
Vaping is at a crucial juncture, with the UK government considering banning flavours, imposing vape taxes, enforcing plain packaging and other measures. At this key time, the superb E-Cigarette Summit has once again brought together top experts and scientists for an unparalleled exchange of science, evidence and (often conflicting) views. The themes and questions this year are powerful. They include:How misinformation.....
Published 24th April 2024Vaping is under scrutiny again, and that’s partly the result of its own success. Since vaping has become popular in the UK, smoking rates have fallen to the lowest in decades, with regular smoking amongst children now below 1%. (1)At the same time, vaping, while better than smoking, is not problem free. Many of these problems derive.....
Published: 20th September 2023Calls for a ban on disposable vapes are growing, and it’s easy to see why.Most of us have seen a disposable device carelessly thrown onto the side of a road - not to mention the headlines telling us about the millions being binned every week.Disposables have also been blamed by many for an increase in youth vaping. They’re.....
Early reports suggest the World Health Organisation (WHO) is about to launch a new assault on vaping. Indeed, The New Nicotine Alliance (NNA) has identified proposals that are likely to destroy vaping as we know it. What’s more, member states like the UK are bound by law to apply the proposals. In this post we’ll cover some of the worst proposals, and what.....
Predicting the future of vaping can be hard - but whether you’re in industry, research or advocacy, it’s also key to making effective decisions.So every year we invite top experts from different countries, continents and fields to use their unique insight and expertise to peer into the future of vaping. (The extent of geography also means there is a bit.....
The vape industry is currently contending with two major problems.The first is illegal devices, which often have an e-liquid capacity of more than 2ml (and may have higher nicotine levels than allowed). As I’ve written before, the real danger is not higher nicotine levels or higher capacity, but the danger that untested, poor-quality e-liquid is used.Secondly, more younger people.....
Since 2013, the E-Cigarette Summit has been shaping the vaping debate, bringing key scientists, policymakers and public health professionals together. It’s an incredible opportunity to learn a huge amount about vaping in a very short period of time, and as usual Amanda Strange has done a simply superb job putting it together.In these posts, we’ll be aiming to.....
On October 27th 2021, the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR) launched their latest report ‘Fighting the Last War: The WHO and International Tobacco Control' at a conference at London’s Oval Cricket Ground - with both physical attendees and a further 100 (including us!) watching online. What the report saysWith 1.1 billion smokers worldwide, 8 million annual smoking-related deaths.....
I remember my local pub a decade ago.Just outside, the smokers would gather, sipping their beer and blowing streams of smoke into the air by the road. Even when I vaped, I would join them, as quite often that was where the most interesting conversations were.How different it is now.One by one, the smokers took their last puff and switched.....
The UK government has recently been mulling lifting the age limit on buying cigarettes and vaping products to 21.There are complex arguments around raising the age limits on cigarettes (think personal freedom, whether you have a choice when you are addicted, net public health gain and so on). But this is a vaping blog, so I’m purely going to.....
The World Health Organisation can sound pretty negative on vaping at times.So it might surprise you that harm reduction (such as switching from smoking to vaping) is embedded in its tobacco control charter.It might surprise you even more to find that one of the biggest influences on WHO policy is from an individual in a country that has not ratified.....