Latest news with #ElfBar600
Daily Record
23-05-2025
- Daily Record
Which vapes will be illegal under the UK ban and why are they being outlawed?
Vapers will be saying goodbye to all their favourite disposable vapes, from Crystal Bars to Lost Marys. There's just over a week left before all disposable vapes will be stripped from the shelves in Britain. The UK-wide move is a bid by the national governments to protect the environment and deter young people and children from turning to the colourful nicotine sticks. Throwaway vapes will be completely illegal to sell both in stores and online from June 1. Those found ignoring the ban in Scotland can be fined £200 in the first instance. Repeat offences will increase the fine by £200 each time a supplier is found selling the soon-to-be-illegal products. A maximum fine of £5000 can be issued to repeat offenders, or even a two-year stint in prison. But as the ban looms, questions are rising on which specific vapes will become illegal, as reusable vaping products will not be outlawed. So, which vapes will no longer be available in the UK? Here's everything you need to know. Which vapes will become illegal under the UK ban? Elf Bar 600 One of the most popular brands, the disposable Elf Bar 600 (meaning it contains 600 puffs before it goes dead and needs replaced) will become illegal to sell. Lost Mary BM600 Another extremely popular disposable vape, the short and stocky Lost Mary BM600 will also become illegal. SKE Crystal Bar Like many disposable vape brands, SKE have released reusable versions of their throwaway vapes. But selling single-use versions of the popular Crystal Bar will be illegal from June 1. Vuse GO 1000 Previously sold in many supermarket kiosks and corner shops, all disposable versions of Vuse vapes are also included in the nation-wide ban. Why are disposable vapes being banned by the government? The UK Government has decided to ban vapes for two reasons- to protect the environment and to deter young people from vaping. Nearly five million disposable vapes were littered or discarded every week in 2024, according to Material Focus. Littered vapes leak harmful chemicals into soil, rivers and streams, and contain lithium which can cause fires. Many vapes end up in landfill or the incinerator, where valuable materials are wasted instead of being recycled. Disposable vapes are the most commonly used nicotine product for young people, and with their sweet flavours, bright designs, and colourful marketing, disposables have been blamed for the huge increase in youth vaping. NHS figures from last year showed nearly a quarter of children in the age bracket of 11 to 15 had tried vaping, and nearly one in 10 vaped frequently. As well as protecting the environment, the ban aims to deter young people and children from turning to the nicotine products, which have been found to have serious health consequences. In fact, the first ever report on the health effects of vaping found that consistent use of vapes increases the risk of heart disease, organ failure and dementia. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump tariffs could lead to surge of cheap Chinese vapes in UK, experts say
China is set to flood Britain with cheap vapes, researchers have said, as manufacturers seek to capitalise on the world's second biggest market after Donald Trump's tariffs. A trade standoff between Washington and Beijing has thrown the business world into chaos, with investors watching as each country dares the other to blink first. After last week's uneasy truce, the total US import tax on Chinese-made vapes stood at about 60%. That has sent China's $11.1bn (£8.4bn) e-cigarette export industry, already scarred by stringent domestic restrictions in 2022, back to the drawing board. It comes as the UK's forthcoming ban on disposable vapes, which aims to reduce the number of devices that are thrown away – about 8m a week – and stop young people from taking up the habit, has brought new models of e-cigarette into the market. Deborah Arnott, an honorary associate professor at University College London and the former chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said China's natural response would be to target the UK. 'With reduced access to the US, there will be growing competition to sell to the UK market, as it's the main alternative,' she said. Factory owners have already felt the pinch over the past few weeks of global uncertainty, according to Dr Steve Shaowei Xu, a research scientist at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, and an expert on the Chinese e-cigarette industry. 'Already there are reports [that] shipments have been blocked and US orders cut in half,' Xu said, adding that the 'very sophisticated' industry would find ways to circumnavigate the current 'disaster'. Related: Gone in 40 days: how Trump's 'liberation day' tariff assault unraveled Britain, where more than 90% of e-cigarettes are imports from China, has its own internal problems with vaping. Ministers are preparing for a domestic ban on disposable vapes from 1 June, with the aim of curbing youth vaping and reducing plastic waste. Experts are concerned that the industry has already come up with a workaround that will stymie the efforts of the UK government, while cheaper Chinese imports diverted from the US could put downward pressure on prices. Manufacturers have been rapidly developing new models that comply with the ban, with variations of popular brands now widely available. These vapes are rechargeable, and have a replaceable pod and a changeable coil, which means they qualify as a 'vape kit' and not a disposable. But experts say these often look 'very similar' to disposable versions, raising fears they will be treated as such. There are also concerns over the availability of refillable pods. The Guardian went to 30 stores in London and Manchester, looking for refills of the Elf Bar 600 prefilled-pod kit. Only two shops stocked them. Arnott said: 'All the main manufacturers produce these products now and they look the same and are very similar prices to the disposables they are replacing. 'My concern is that because they don't look any different and are still very cheap, people may carry on treating them like disposables and throwing them away rather than buying refills.' Xu said the Chinese vaping industry was a 'very sophisticated, fast-moving consumer goods industry' and would continue to find workarounds to comply, particularly in the face of 'disaster' tariffs. He added: 'In the longer term they can try to move manufacturing overseas to circumvent the tariffs, but in the short term they have to find replacement markets to survive.' Scott Butler, the executive director of Material Focus, a not-for-profit organisation that runs the Recycle Your Electricals campaign, said the ban did not break the 'throwaway vaping' habit. He said: 'This ban takes the most environmentally wasteful and damaging types of vapes off the market, so that is a good thing. 'But millions and millions of vapes are going to continue to be sold, and unless there's real action to make it easier for the public to recycle them, they'll keep ending up in bins, on streets and in landfill.' An Elf Bar and Lost Mary spokesperson said: 'We can confirm our refill pods and containers are widely available across the UK, including all key wholesalers and major supermarkets – and that this scale continues to grow. 'However, we understand your concerns around refill accessibility, as we are not in a position to know the extent to which all other brands are making refill parts available. 'Although we have not had the opportunity to review the research in question, we are disappointed the availability of our refills does not appear to be fully reflected. To give an accurate and balanced picture of the current market landscape, it is important that all major brands are included.'
