Tag: U.K.

Aquavape to Distribute IQOS Devices in U.K. Vape Shops

The U.K.-based next-generation nicotine distributor Aquavape has partnered with Philip Morris Limited (PML), the supplier behind IQOS, to offer heated tobacco products for the first time. Philip Morris Ltd. (PML), the U.K. affiliate of Philip Morris International
This year, vape retailers have been challenged by the needs of their consumers, which are changing rapidly, according to Better Retailing. While over a quarter of adult smokers will explore smoke-free products in 2022, 58 percent haven’t yet found a satisfying alternative to cigarettes.
The challenge for vape retailers, said PML, is twofold: meeting the growing consumer demand for smoke-free products, while matching individual preferences based on taste, satisfaction, ritual and other potentially complex needs.
“It’s fair to say that no one single product can achieve this which is why retail outlets of all sizes have evolved as vape specialists, to become multicategory operators. Aquavape is one supplier which has made the move to multicategory, both for the benefit of its retailers’ customers and to the revenues generated by its business,” a spokesperson for PML told betterRetailing.com.
Ebrahim Kathrada, managing director at Aquavape, said historically, the company did not list multiple smoke-free categories: “We now supply a range of smoking alternatives that meet market demands and trends.”
Ebrahim believes a complete smoke-free product offering is essential to diversifying sales and increasing chances of satisfying more customers. “If you don’t have a category in the store, you can’t sell it and explore its potential. If you do, you become the one-stop shop conveniently catering to all the customer’s needs which increases overall takings, basket spend and retention,” he explained.
June 6, 2022
U.K. Regulators Release E-Cig Pricing Guidance
The U.K. Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have released an enforcement notice for promotional online pricing of e-cigarettes.
According to the notice, CAP writes the advertising rules, which are enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, the U.K.’s independent advertising regulator.
The enforcement notice relates to the manner in which e-cigarette pricing appears on websites. According to CAP, companies are allowed to present factual information but not in a way that would constitute promotion. The enforcement notice states that some companies are portraying pricing in ways that would be considered promotion, for example, emphasizing discounts and savings.
“Please take immediate action to ensure your advertising complies,” the notice states. “We will be monitoring websites in the coming months. If we see continued problems in this area, we will take targeted enforcement action to ensure a level playing field. This may include—where advertisers are unwilling to comply—referral to our legal backstop.”
February 25, 2022
Vapor, Oral Products Continue to Boost BAT Sales
A seven percent rise in full-year adjusted revenue to 25.7 billion pounds ($34.8 billion) was reported by BAT Friday, helped by sales of e-cigarettes and oral nicotine.
The world’s second-largest tobacco company also announced a dividend increase of 1.0 percent to 217.8 pence and a 2 billion pound share repurchase program for 2022, according to Reuters.
It posted a 51 percent rise to 2.05 billion pounds in adjusted sales of its “new categories” product line which includes e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and oral nicotine. Though the division has yet to turn a profit, BAT said it was on track to report revenue of 5 billion pounds and profitability by 2025.
“Continued growth in new categories is a cornerstone of BAT’s long-term plans for success,” Third Bridge analyst Ross Hindle said. “With over 1.1 billion smokers still using combustibles, the opportunity to convert consumers towards New Categories is highly attractive.”
The company said 4.8 million more consumers than last year used non-combustible products such as Vuse e-cigarettes, glo heated tobacco and Velo oral nicotine.
February 14, 2022
Gay: Are Prescription Vapes Better Than Consumer Vapes?

By George Gay
I love the following heading, which heralded a recent Taiwan News story: Over 40 percent of Taiwanese vapors unaware e-cigarettes may contain nicotine.
I mean, if vapors have reached a level of consciousness that has allowed them to dabble in the concepts of awareness and unawareness, and to articulate, for instance, an unawareness to researchers, they need to be accorded rights. Regulators need to engage with these vapors before, for instance, removing flavors from them.
It cannot be right to take such action without holding a consultation, difficult as that might be with what, after all, would be a somewhat ethereal interlocutor. We can only hope that if regulators fail in this duty, a good lawyer will step forward and mount what would have to be a pro bono challenge on behalf of vapors.
I suppose I shouldn’t laugh at the heading. I often make the vapors/vapers error while typing, and it is only through the eagle eyes of my proofreader wife that these errors get corrected. But the heading struck another chord. What does it say about more than 40 percent of vapers in Taiwan, and, I assume, fairly large proportions of vapers in other places, that they happily consume something of which, to an important extent, they are ignorant? And what happens during a visit by such a vaper to one of those doctors who wrongly believes that nicotine in the amounts inhaled during vaping is dangerous? Imagine the confusing consultation if you will.
Doctor: Ah, there you are. Come in, take a seat.
Patient: Thank you.
Doctor: No, no, leave it where it is, just sit on it; and for goodness’ sake, leave your clothes on.
Patient: Sorry.
Doctor: Now, firstly, let’s talk about your smoking.
Patient: I don’t smoke anymore.
Doctor: You don’t? Well done. How did you give up?
Patient: I switched to vaping.

Doctor: Dear me, that’s no good. Nicotine is dangerous and addictive.
Patient: Vapes don’t include nicotine.
Doctor: They don’t? Oh well, I was going to prescribe these nicotine patches, but I guess you won’t be needing them.
Patient: But I thought you said nicotine was dangerous and addictive.
Doctor: I did? Yes, you’re right. Excuse me, I seem to be a little confused. Perhaps I need to step outside for a smoke. Care to join me? These are really low nicotine cigarettes as “recommended” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Patient: Is that right? Well, in that case, I don’t mind if I do.
Doctor: By the way, how’s the back pain?
Patient: I don’t have any since I started taking the opioids you prescribed.
Doctor: Splendid. Do you want a drink with that?
It makes you wonder how extensive such ignorance is in other fields and in other places. How many times do some people have to pick themselves off the floor before they realize wine contains alcohol? And how many fits of the giggling munchies do some people have to experience before they realize marijuana contains tetrahydrocannabinol … well, before they realize it contains stuff that makes you a bit silly—a bit sillier.
In defense of the 40 percent or more of vapers, it has to be said that in most jurisdictions, vaping devices would be regulated as a consumer product and so vapers would probably assume that, like in the case of much of the food they eat, they don’t have to delve into things too deeply. In addition, the immediate effect of vaping with nicotine would be far more subtle than the effects of drinking wine or smoking marijuana, so perhaps they could be forgiven their ignorance. And, in any case, I always thought there were effects for which it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to identify a cause.
But perhaps I was wrong, and it is always possible to get to the bottom of things. Take a look at what is my favorite heading so far this year: Study links smoking by grandfather to women’s body fat. This is not a joke—at least I don’t think it is. I guess there wasn’t room in the heading for the “s” that would have rendered the grandfather plural and taken some of the guilt off his shoulders. Poor chap; it seems so unfair. I wonder who he was?

“Now researchers believe they have pinpointed higher body fat in females with grandfathers or great-grandfathers who began smoking before the age of 13,” said The Guardian story of Jan. 22. I’m not sure what the word “pinpointed” is supposed to mean here, but it suggests to me an accuracy of linkage (given the heading) that cannot possibly be right, especially given the equivocations of the next sentence but one (with my emphasis added). “The research suggests exposure to substances can lead to changes that may be passed through the generations, though the team [at Bristol University] say more work is needed to confirm this and understand how it may happen.’
I’m not sure whether one of my grandfathers was a smoker (the other took snuff), because I never met him, but I guess I can work back and say probably not because none of his granddaughters or his great-granddaughters was fat. Certainly, none of his three daughters was fat, something the researchers might like to put down to the fact that the daughters’ grandfather did not smoke while young. I would suggest a more likely and direct cause was that their father was killed during WWI, and while his widow managed to feed their daughters well, there was never the sort of excess of food that would render a young person fat, leading to her being fat in later life.
Smoking might not be good for you, but it doesn’t “kill,” and expending effort trying to trace its effects through multiple generations strikes me as a waste of time, partly because smoking is dying out. Additionally, you cannot, as far as current knowledge has it, go back in time and alter the behavior of your grandfather or great grandfather, and, given that smokers are not moved by the grotesque health warnings they are exposed to and that threaten terrible consequences being visited upon them in the near future, it seems unlikely they are going to quit because of the possibility their smoking might or might not lead to their female grandchildren or great-grandchildren becoming fat. Being shot by a sniper does kill, and the effects of such a death are immediately tragic and not hard to trace, so I think we would be better off trying to research how we can prevent pointless conflicts.
But I digress. Let me take a look at another story, this one on the BMJ website, entitled “Should e-cigarettes be licensed as medicines?” Perversely, I was attracted to this one because I have a dislike of headings that ask questions. I mean, I don’t believe in keeping a dog and barking myself. On this occasion, however, my eye was drawn to an introduction that read, “As the U.K. announces support for medicinal licensing of e-cigarettes, Nicholas S. Hopkinson argues that this will give doctors another means to help smokers quit. But Jorgen Vestbo, Andrew Bush and Jonathan Grigg say that its benefit is unproved and that harms are likely.”*
What I found intriguing here was the statement attributed to Vestbo, Bush and Grigg making the point that “its [medicinal licensing of e-cigarettes’] benefit is unproved.” Given that later in the piece these three, under the name of Vestbo, write, “[n]o country in the world [like there are countries not of this world] other than the U.K. has licensed e-cigarettes as drugs …,” it seems to be obvious that the benefit of medicinal licensing could not have been proved. This is especially so given that, as far as I am aware, no “e-cigarette” has been given a medical license in the U.K.
So this is the dangerous-precedent/slippery-slope-type of thinking that, if it had been ingrained in humans from the beginning, would have meant we would never have ventured outside our caves to look for food, with the inevitable result that we would have died out. Now you possibly think that might have been no bad thing, and I would not entirely disagree with you.

But we are where we are, and, in my view, medicinal licensing needs to be given a chance. The idea that the U.K. is to try medicinal licensing, providing manufacturers want to go down that route when other countries are not, provides a fantastic opportunity to test fully whether such a system is beneficial. The U.K. will be going head-to-head with countries that won’t introduce medical licensing; so, by comparing the results it achieves with those from otherwise “similar” countries, useful conclusions could be drawn.
In fact, we are currently in a situation whereby, to my way of thinking, we can set the world up as a giant quit-smoking laboratory. We can study the relative performances, in whichever way is thought best, of the U.K. with its medicinal licensing of e-cigarettes and acceptance of combustible cigarettes; New Zealand with its introduction of a smoking endgame along with its acceptance of e-cigarettes; and India with its ban on e-cigarettes but not on traditional cigarettes.
OK, I can imagine that some people might complain that what I am suggesting would raise ethical concerns to do with using people as a means to an end rather than as ends in themselves, but the “experiments” would involve only observations of what was being caused to happen, independent of the observers.
It cannot be denied that there are potential benefits to what the U.K. is proposing. For one thing, as Hopkinson points out, medically licensed devices have the potential to be more effective than consumer devices because they can be made available in strengths greater than those permitted for consumer products.
Additionally, Hopkinson points out, the fact that devices would go through a medical licensing process “should provide further reassurance to healthcare professionals that they can help their patients to quit smoking in this way, particularly in mental health settings where smoking rates remain high.”
And he makes the point that the introduction of e-cigarettes that have been through a stricter medicinal licensing process is likely to improve confidence among smokers who so far have been reluctant to try this approach.

That last point does raise a question about whether some smokers would baulk at being treated as patients in need of medical devices, but what I like overall about Hopkinson’s piece was its positive approach. There was a spring in his step such that even when he wrote of other tools being available for smoking cessation, those tools were such as to support smokers to make the switch.
On the other hand, the piece by Vestbo, Bush and Grigg seemed to my way of thinking to be negative, though I would urge you to read it for yourself, or yourselves if there is more than one person still reading this piece. There was no spring in the step and, when it came to other tools available for smoking cessation, the propositions were not about support but about punishment. The three wrote of an “arsenal of evidence-based tools, such as further increases in taxation and decreased availability, that can further reduce smoking prevalence with far less risk of known—and unknown—adverse health effects.”
Why is it that such people believe smokers should be subjected to restrictions not imposed on others, many of whom also indulge in risky behaviors? I could probably understand their position if the extra taxes they call for were ringfenced for use in supportive quit schemes, but they are not. They go into general revenue where they are used to pay for things that benefit the wider public. Perhaps nonsmokers need to think about declaring an interest when they call for additional taxes on smokers.
*Nicholas S. Hopkinson, professor of respiratory medicine and chair of Action on Smoking and Health (U.K.); Jorgen Vestbo, professor of respiratory medicine; Andrew Bush, professor of pediatrics and pediatric respirology and the European Respiratory Society’s guidelines director; and Jonathan Grigg, professor of pediatric respiratory and environmental medicine and chair of the European Respiratory Society’s tobacco control committee.

February 11, 2022
Retail Group Launches Guide to Help U.K. Vapor Sellers
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), a U.K.-based retailers group with more than 33,500 members, has launched a new guide to help retailers with the sale and supply of e-cigarettes and other vaping products.
The guide, which is part of a wider group of Assured Advice guides, covers the regulations that govern the sale and supply of e-cigarettes, retailers’ responsibilities when selling these products, how to ensure packaging and labelling are compliant with the regulations, and advice on how to make sure underage sales do not take place.
Within the guide, ACS recommends retailers use the Challenge25 policy when selling e-cigarettes and vaping products. Challenge 25 is a retailing strategy that encourages anyone who is over 18 but looks under 25 to carry acceptable ID.
As part of an update to Challenge25 materials launched in January, there are new posters, badges and other downloadable materials which refer specifically to e-cigarettes. The new guide is available to download from the ACS website. The Assured Advice guides have the backing of Surrey and Buckinghamshire trading standards departments.
February 8, 2022
Inquiry Shows Extent of Illicit Vapor Market in Liverpool
An inquiry into the extent of the illicit vaping and e-cigarette products market has revealed the scale of Liverpool, England’s growing black market. City council trading standards officers found large numbers of retailers in the city selling illegal vaping products.
Credit: SYCprod
Vaping devices are highly regulated by the government to control the amount of nicotine available and have to be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA), according to a story in Liverpool’s Echo newspaper. The devices should contain no more than 2 percent nicotine or hold more than two millilitres of liquid, equivalent to 600 puffs or a packet of cigarettes.
However, in a recent test purchasing exercise across the city to check on compliance, officers were able to buy illegal products at 74 retailers – some containing up to 3,500 puffs, almost six times above the legal limit. Now council is offering the retail trade the opportunity to contact Trading Standards for advice on their products with the proviso that compliance visits will be carried out in the New Year and any illegal products still on sale will be seized.
The council have also been receiving a large number of complaints over the sale of these products to children and is asking parents with information and evidence to contact them. Councilor Abdul Qadir, cabinet member for Neighborhoods, said: “E-cigarettes and vaping products are seen by many people as a way of giving up smoking.”
January 5, 2022
U.K. Urged to Use Brexit Rights to Tout Vaping at WHO

Photo: sea and sun
David Jones, a former Welsh Secretary and Brexit minister, has urged Britain to use its Brexit freedoms to tout the health benefits of e-cigarettes during the next summit on tobacco organized by the World Health Organisation, reports The Express.
The parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are set to meet virtually in November to discuss tobacco control policies.
Delegates will debate the success and failure of recent and ongoing tobacco control initiatives. They will discuss how best the world can be convinced to give up traditional cigarettes, and they will debate matters such as law enforcement’s involvement in the illicit tobacco trade.
Both the WHO and the EU have taken a dim view of e-cigarettes, pushing for ever-tighter restrictions. The WHO has claimed on its website that there is growing evidence of risk from e-cigarettes.
Britain has taken a pragmatic approach to the category, allowing vapor products to remain on the market within a comparatively light regulatory framework.
“Unlike previous COPs, the U.K. does not have to join the EU’s position,” said Jones. “We are not bound by Brussels, we are independent and free to back the science, back Public Health England, and back our own health experts, over the WHO.
“We must not fall into bad habits and simply join the EU position because it would be the easy thing to do. Brexit meant control over our own policies. This is our chance to show the electorate what that means in reality. We must use our freedom to save lives.”
There are concerns however that the WHO will not recognize the U.K. as an independent voice at its summit. Instead, it may defer to the EU as the voice for the Europe region.
October 12, 2021
VPZ Launches AEQ Pod Device Kit in U.K. Stores
A new pod device has been launched by the largest vapor retailer in the U.K. VPZ’s AEQ Pod Device Kit has been designed and developed in VPZ’s purpose-built facility in Edinburgh to support smokers looking to make the switch to vaping, according to a press release.
Credit: VPZ
“The device is an easy-to-use new to vaping product which offers smokers the freedom to choose a range of flavors and e-liquid strength,” the release states. “The AEQ is already outselling other packages in the new to vaping category and has been introduced as VPZ launches its first ever Vape Clinic.”
Doug Mutter, director of VPZ, said VPZ is spearheading the fight against the U.K.’s No. 1 killer: smoking. “The Pandemic has triggered an increase in smoking rates and the public health problem has been compounded by funding cuts for NHS stop smoking services and local support groups,” he said. “The launch of our new AEQ device has been developed by us in response to helping smokers take the first steps in their stop-smoking journey. The development of this dedicated new to vaping product, as well as the launch of our pilot Vape Clinic truly underlines our commitment to helping the UK achieve its ambitions to be a tobacco-free nation by 2030.”
VPZ is the UK’s largest vaping retailer with over 150 stores. A new report from Royal College of Physicians Tobacco Advisory Group backs vaping as an effective treatment for tobacco dependency and recommends that it should be included and encouraged in all treatment pathways. The report also found that the long-term impact of vaping is 95 per cent less harmful than smoking cigarettes.
July 28, 2021
VPZ Opens First Vape Clinic to Help Smokers Quit
U.K.-based vaping retailer VPZ launched its pilot Vape Clinic on July 5 at its flagship Newbridge store. The company now plans to roll out the service across all its locations in the coming months. According to a press release, the vape clinic was begun to meet the growing demand for smoking cessation services.
Credit: VPZ
The moves comes as access to local stop smoking services and vaping retailers massively reduced during Covid-19 lockdowns, according to the release, adding that thousands of smokers were left without any services to help them quit smoking combustible cigarettes. Vape Clinic quit coaches will be specialists in helping smokers quit and advising the alternatives available. VPZ recently announced it had opened five stores since the end of lockdowns.
“With around 78,000 people in the U.K. dying from smoking year on year, and with many more living with debilitating smoking-related illnesses, the vape clinic has been designed to support the nation’s smokers quit for good,” the release states. “VPZ’s confidence in the success of the new Vape Clinic service is backed by its customer promise to provide a money back guarantee for hardware purchased and any unopened boxes of e-liquids and coils if customers are unable to make the switch to vaping entirely.”
Doug Mutter, director of VPZ, said the company is spearheading the fight against the nation’s No. 1 killer: smoking. He says that the “coaches” are trained and have expert knowledge and work to the individual needs of the customer. Many of the specialists are former smokers who have quit through vaping, so they understand the ups and downs of the journey.
“Smoking statistics are continuing to rise as the pandemic has triggered an increase in smoking rates and the public health problem has been compounded by funding cuts for National Health Service (NHS) stop smoking services and local support groups,” Mutter stated in the release. “Our new Vape Clinic concept is an investment to fill the void left by the loss of local NHS stop smoking services. We are so confident in the success of our new service that we are offering our customers a money back guarantee if they are unable to make the switch entirely.”
VPZ Vape Clinic is open 7 days a week, 10am to 5pm to all customers who book a free, 30-minute appointment here.
July 7, 2021
VPZ Opens 5 New U.K. Stores Since End of Lockdown
One of the largest vaping retailers in the U.K., VPZ, has announced that it has opened five new stores since the end of lockdown restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The new stores are located in Helensburgh, Port Glasgow, Castlemilk, Glenrothes and Farnborough, bringing its total footprint to 159 stores and creating 15 new jobs.
Doug Mutter/Photo: VPZ
Since lockdowns ended in April, the company has seen a 165 percent increase in first-time vapers kit sales. The demand has been driven from smokers having no access to National Health Service (NHS) stop smoking services and vaping retailers being closed due to not being classed as essential during lockdown, according to a press release.
Doug Mutter, director of VPZ said, the company is spearheading the fight against the nation’s No. 1 killer: smoking.
“The Pandemic has triggered an increase in smoking rates and the public health problem has been compounded by funding cuts for NHS stop smoking services and local support groups,” said Mutter. “This latest investment in our offering and expansion of our store footprint underlines our commitment to playing our part in regaining this lost momentum and helping the UK achieve its ambitions to be a tobacco-free nation by 2030.”
June 30, 2021