FEATURE
THE VAPE DEBATE
WHY I DON’T WANT TO SEE HEATED
TOBACCO PRODUCTS IN VAPE SHOPS
BY VICTOR MULLIN
THE SUBJECT OF HEAT-NOT-BURN HAS PROVED HIGHLY
CONTROVERSIAL BOTH IN PRINT AND ONLINE IN RECENT MONTHS.
HERE, UK E-CIGARETTE REVIEWER VICTOR MULLIN FROM YOUTUBE CHANNEL ‘VAPING WITH
VIC’ ARGUES WHY HEATED TOBACCO PRODUCTS SHOULD HAVE NO PLACE IN VAPE STORES.
Since the end of last year, a range of devices have
been appearing which have caused huge shockwaves
in the industry. Heat-Not-Burn (HnB) is a device which
essentially toasts tobacco instead of burning it. It is
classed under UK law as a tobacco product, it is taxed as
a tobacco product and it is a tobacco product.
The backstory of HnB is simple, get rid of the burning
of tobacco and switch to toasting the tobacco instead to
release the “vapour” and more importantly, the nicotine. A
choice which for all intents and purposes is in the grand
scheme of things a classic harm reduction choice for
smokers wanting to move on to something else.
I have been reviewing in the e-cigarette industry for more
than four years now. I can still remember when the HnB
device known as IQOS tried to make its first inroads into
UK vape shops. It was at the beginning of 2016 and
the IQOS reps must have visited at least 300 to 400
independent vape shops in Scotland and England alone.
Back then, they never made any inroads, which was good
for the early appearance of the large advocacy groups of
the time.
Fast forward to 2018 and things have changed.
With an estimated 500 to 550 vape shops up and down
the country now selling the IQOS (numbers from the
IQOS stand at the Vaper Expo in May), HnB has now
got a massive foothold in the industry at the high street
level, with shops displaying the IQOS front and centre on
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their windows as part of the advertising and an “incentive
package” that IQOS give them. Yes, vape shops are being
paid quite a lot of cash to stock the item, a large incentive
to sell the item and an even bigger incentive to advertise
on window real estate.
What we are looking at here is the single biggest mistake
to even happen in the UK e-cigarette scene since the
introduction of the original TPD. As more and more vape
shops are stocking HnB devices, they are leading the
high street sector of the industry into a cul-de-sac which
will be impossible to U-turn out of, if things get a little
scary in the future.