In this article...
- 14 years of vaping trends with flavours, kits and perceptions
- There are over 5.6 million current vapers in Great Britain
- 47% of current vapers use fruit flavours
- Worrying rise in misconceptions surround the harms of vaping
Over the past 14 years, there have been changes in trends within the vaping industry and the trends of vapers, with many ex-smokers using vaping products for a better, healthier life. A recent report from the public health charity, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), highlighted how the vaping industry has evolved since 2010[i]. The study looks at:
- How many people gave up smoking with the help of vapes
- The increase in popularity of flavoured vapes
- A shift in types of vaping devices used to help smokers the journey to giving up cigarettes
- How vapes are perceived from the view of current smokers
How Have Vaping Trends Changed in Great Britain Since 2012?
Since the year 2012, the number of vapers has increased by a whopping 6000% to roughly 5.6 million. Additionally, the proportion of vapers that are ex-smokers, so have likely used vaping to help quit smoking, has risen from 28% to 53%. In terms of numbers, vaping ex-smoker numbers have gone from 364,000 (2013) to around 3 million (2024), an 8-fold increase.
In the year 2016, the most popular flavoured vape was tobacco with 33% of vapers at the time opting for a flavour that tastes similar to traditional cigarettes. At that time, just 22% of vapers chose to use fruit flavoured vapes.
Fast forward to 2024 and the vaping trends changed. The report suggests that there are as many as 2.6 million vapers now looking towards more fruity flavours with only around 900,000 choosing the traditional taste of tobacco.
The future of vape flavours is currently up in the air. The previous Conservative government attempted, but failed to pass the Tobacco and Vapes Bill into law, which would have given them powers to limit available flavours[ii]. The newly formed Labour government has the opportunity to analyse the data from research such as the ASH Report to make more informed decisions without impacting the progress of people using vape flavours to quit smoking. It's an opportunity they really need to take.
What Is the Preferred Vaping Method?
As of 2024, the number of vapers opting for a tank or pod, coincidentally mirrors that of ex-smokers that have used vapes to quit cigarettes. This stands at 53%, and is clearly the preferential method of vaping. Over the past 3 years, this proportion has decreased from 77%, with the number of vapers using disposable vapes increasing from 2.3% to 30% in 2024.
It’s worth a look at the actual numbers underlying those percentages though. In 2021 there were about 2.9 million vapers using tanks or refillable pods. In 2024, despite the fall in the proportion using them, refillable vape use had actually risen to about 3 million people. But the growth in use of disposable vapes over the same period was staggering. It rose from around 85,000 in 2021, to almost 1.7 million adults using disposable vapes in 2024. The lazy assumption that the rise in disposables is from existing vapers changing over to them can't be right. It does seem that a lot more people have turned to an easy way of taking up vaping, and almost all of them are smokers.
Calls for a vape ban
Disposables have pretty much dominated the vaping headlines over the past 18-24 months, being one of the newest trends in vaping as of 2019. Many local councils and environmental agencies are calling for an outright ban on the sale of these products. The issues raised about them are often the very visible increase in people under 18 taking up vaping. Also their impact on the environment through littering and irresponsible disposal.
The Scottish government have confirmed that they will introduce a ban effective from 1 April 2025. This includes both nicotine and nicotine-free disposables[iii]. The UK Government have a similar ban proposed, with the environmental legislation required for this already drafted.[iv]
What Do the General Public Think About Vaping?
As we all know, the media are naturally very good at creating ideologies for the simple purpose of click bait. The vape industry can at times be the target for these companies. They tend to go out their way to demonise or misinform vaping.
In 2019, when vaping rarely hit the main headlines, only 27% of the public believed that vaping was as or more harmful than smoking. Since then, the figure has almost doubled to 50%. Adult smoker perceptions of vaping follow the same worrying trend increasing from 22% to 50%.
The decrease in accurate public information and media coverage of youth vaping is considered as the root cause of these perceptions increasing.
Worrying misconceptions about vaping
Among smokers that have never vaped, the incorrect belief that vapes are the same as or more harmful than cigarettes has increased from 27% in 2019 to a concerning 60% in 2024. Let's take a look at the *timeline between these periods:
2019: 27% of smokers believed that e-cigarettes were the same as or more harmful than smoking.
2020: This figure increased to 42%. Around the same time that UK media covered the vaping injuries to health in the US... by products that were banned in the UK.
2021: Of the 2,182 smokers surveyed in this year, only 1% more perceived vaping as more harmful than smoking.
2022: This time period saw a decrease, with the figure being 36% – a welcome decline.
2023: Within 12 months the perceptions changed again, rising to 44%. Slightly higher than 2020 and 2021
2024: The misperception reached its highest level yet. 60% of smokers who had never vaped believing that vapes were as or more harmful than smoking.
Bearing this in mind, our own public health bodies such as the NHS, state that vaping is considerably less harmful than smoking and is encouraged as a smoking cessation[v]. The UK government have even introduced a "swap to stop" scheme to help transition smokers away from cigarettes and onto vapes[vi].
*Figure 11. Incorrect perceptions of relative harm of vaping among different groups, GB Adults (2014-2024): Use of vapes (e-cigarettes) among adults in Great Britain
What The Future Holds With Vaping Trends
The new Labour government has an opportunity to strike a balance in its review of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The ASH report offers promising data, showing a positive trend in the use of vapes as a smoking cessation tool.
They will need to closely examine the proposal to limit vape flavours to just four. This could potentially undermine the efforts of ex-smokers. It's also is important that the government addresses misinformation head-on. While also considering the role of vaping and flavours for those wanting to quit smoking.
References
[i] https://ash.org.uk/resources/view/use-of-e-cigarettes-among-adults-in-great-britain
[ii] https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3703
[iii] https://www.gov.scot/news/action-on-single-use-vapes/
[iv] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-environmental-protection-single-use-vapes-england-regulations-2024-draft-si
[v] https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/vaping-to-quit-smoking/
[vi] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smokers-urged-to-swap-cigarettes-for-vapes-in-world-first-scheme
