Turkmenistan has banned the sale of electronic cigarettes and other vaping products, according to media reports.
E-cigarette use has grown in the country where conventional tobacco products are almost completely banned.
Buying disposable electronic cigarettes, reusable vape devices, spare parts for them, as well as filling liquids has recently become almost impossible, according to the reports.
Officially, no regulations were issued, the goods simply disappeared from sale. Sellers tell buyers that they have been banned.
Previously, electronic cigarettes were sold online and in some brick-and-mortar stores.
“In particular, high-end night shops throughout Ashgabat have become a popular place[s] to sell this product,” media reports. These shops are owned by relatives of the president’s family.”
Sources note that even now in some of these stores people can still buy disposable electronic cigarettes, as well as hookahs and tobacco for them, according to media reports.