As of just over a month ago, smoking laws and regulations in the UK changed alarmingly quickly. Almost overnight the selling and licensing of tobacco products was upped in price and laws on where you can smoke were tightened. Due to electronic cigarettes containing nicotine, the way they were sold and their ingredients regulated were also affected. This has caused widespread panic and chaos within the vaping community, at the hands of retailers and customers alike. This uncertainty and worry has definitely influenced the market place for vape shops up and down the country but there is little to fear once you break down the rules.
What are the new regulations?
Although there is no doubt that the laws will change vaping, it will have more of an impact on the tobacco market. The way it will change the vape community is still sizeable.
10 ML max refill containers
The containers in which you can buy refills for vape juices cannot exceed 10 millilitres, when before you could buy up to 30.
Maximum nicotine strength of 20 mg
There are a variety of nicotine strengths you could buy vape juice in which in the past could go up to 70 mg. Now 20 is the legal limit making the upper echelons of nicotine content illegal.
2 ml tank capacities
Larger devices with a better sub-ohm have now become obsolete, leading to a decrease in product variety.
How will this affect the vaping industry?
It’s all well and good knowing the laws, but how in the last month has this affected the industry itself? Knowing how to traverse the new landscape will come in very useful for both your customer satisfaction and your wallet.
Refill containers
Any refill tank over 10 ml will have to be properly registered, meaning that there is far more paper work involved in legitimising your company’s products. This means that mail order e-juice suppliers will find a massive change in the market. Companies who sell online often specialise in 15 ml bottles and therefore will have to change their whole output to sell smaller bottles. The problem with this is that it is still too early to tell if this will be a viable option. Right now, size matters, and people could end up paying more due to higher demand as smaller refill tanks are used up and sold quicker. The best thing to do now that 10 ml is the new maximum, is to capitalise on deals for multi packs.
Nicotine content
The Nicotine content within vapes will have many people who are used to a bigger hit in their vaping habits, feeling outraged. Although you can’t buy a vape juice on the market over 20mg anymore, you can still mix your own as part of the ever-growing DIY Vaping community. This may require more moving parts and some more of your time and concentration, but if you’re looking to keep that 20mg+ hit going, then you can still buy your own nicotine and nicotine-less vape juice to mix yourself.
Vape Tanks
If the tank is over 2ml, you may now be at risk of having your device confiscated due to it being an old model. This means a massive change up of brands scaling down their popular devices and a race to find the next best under 2ml tank vape devices.
Child friendly
Other changes to the refill bottle includes making them child friendly. This then will require a redesign and a whole new range to be put on the market so that children can’t open them.