The law banning puffs is passed and comes into force immediately. The ban sparked debate about its implications for public health and the environment, but also about the influence of the tobacco industry, which succeeded in having sealed cartridges exempted from the law.
A useful tool for smokers...
Puffs, which are simple to use and require no refills, are often seen as an easy way for smokers to discover vape, the first approach before they move on to more responsible refillable vaping devices. Like all vaping products, puffs enable smokers to reduce or stop their tobacco consumption, with immediate benefits for public health.
...but disastrous for the environment
Manufactured in China, puffs are disposable devices incorporating batteries, generating a considerable negative environmental impact. For this reason, and as for all disposable battery-powered devices, their prohibition was already foreseen by European battery regulations by 20271.1.
Market drift
Driven by aggressive marketing, puffs have been diverted from their original purpose: to help people stop smoking. Non-specialized sales channels have pushed puffs to the top of their shelves, offering self-service puffs close to the checkout, encouraging purchases without advice or strict compliance with the ban on sales to minors, with the sole aim of benefiting from financial returns on a simple product with comfortable margins. These commercial abuses have greatly contributed to the popularity of puffs among young people, creating a fashion effect. Anti-smoking associations were alarmed, seeing puffs as a risk of initiation to smoking.2.
An uncertain victory for public health
Vapor: a brake on smoking
Since 2014, vaping has made a major contribution to a massive reduction in smoking in France. All the data indicates that vape is overwhelmingly used to quit smoking. And contrary to the belief that there is a "gateway effect" towards cigarettes, we have to admit that youth smoking has been divided by 3 in 10 years3. Some studies even show that vape is a "barrier" to smoking4 by making it "less attractive".
A ban with uncertain effects
Although the ban is intended to protect young people, it does not guarantee the disappearance of puffs, not least because of the black market, but also because of the workarounds offered by sealed cartridges. These are closed, proprietary models, promoted by the tobacco industry, whose environmental impact is scarcely less than that of puffs.
The tree that hides the forest
This ban means a reduced-risk alternative -95%.5 less harmful than tobacco cigarettes - as potentially more dangerous than tobacco itself. Tobacco, the leading cause of avoidable death in France, remains authorized, including in the forms most accessible to young people: roll-your-own tobacco, chichas... And it removes from the debate the scandal of the average age at which people start smoking - between 13 and 16 - most of which comes from cigarettes bought from tobacconists, agents of the State.
A victory for the tobacco industry
An exception in favor of sealed cartridges
The law explicitly protects sealed cartridges, a favorite vaping product of cigarette manufacturers. However, these devices have similar characteristics to puffs: accessibility, a loss leader, the aim of making money on a product with a simple yield, a polluting disposable principle, in contradiction with the initial stated objectives of reducing the incentive to vape for young people and the environmental impact.
Disturbing interference
While independent professionals welcome the government's ban on puffs as a polluting product, they regret that the debates it has sparked off have not compared the relative risks of vaping with those of smoking. They also regret the lack of distinction, despite their numerous reminders, between "closed" disposable devices and "open" refillable systems. They call for the sacralization of refillable vaping devices, which are the most environmentally friendly.6 and the most effective way to quit smoking through vape. Finally, they denounce the tobacco industry's influence in the legislative process, which has led to the interests of its multinationals being preserved.
Conclusion
The puff ban is an undeniable environmental step forward, but raises questions about its effectiveness in terms of public health.
The preservation of sealed cartridges highlights the persistent influence of the tobacco industry, and calls for greater dialogue between public authorities and independent vape operators.
French vape:
While puffs and disposable cartridges mainly come from China, 65 to 70% of the e-liquids consumed by the French are manufactured, controlled and declared in France, thanks to the independent vaping sector. The French vape industry, independent of the tobacco industry, represents a turnover of 1.2 billion euros, several thousand companies and 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Minors :
The sale of vaping products has been prohibited to minors since 2016. According to a survey by UFC QUE CHOISIR, this measure is fully respected in specialist vape stores, in contrast to the practices found in tobacconists and grocery stores7.
- Vape in Europe: upcoming regulations and threats to the French industry - https://fivape.org/vape-en-europe-les-reglementations-a-venir-et-les-menaces-pour-la-filiere-francaise/ ︎
- 15% of teens have used puffs. The urgent need to vote for a ban on disposable electronic cigarettes - Press release and survey conducted by the BVA Institute - https://alliancecontreletabac.org/2023/11/14/perception-et-usages-de-la-puff-chez-les-13-16-ans/ - Please note: the details of the 15% are specified in the survey = 10% once or twice to try, 2% have tried but no longer use, 3% use from time to time. ︎
- OFDT - Drogues et addictions, chiffres clés - Édition 2025 - https://www.ofdt.fr/sites/ofdt/files/2025-01/dacc_2024.pdf ︎
- Experimenting first with e-cigarettes versus first with cigarettes and transition to daily cigarette use among adolescents: the crucial effect of age at first experiment - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.15330 ︎
- Research and analysis: E-cigarettes: an evidence update - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/e-cigarettes-an-evidence-update ︎
- The tobacco industry model is 8 x times more polluting than "open vape" - Assessment based on the carbon impact of 365 discarded sealed cartridges per year versus 20 refillable pods + 70 10 ml bottles and their plastic caps. ︎
- UFC QUE CHOISIR - Forbidden to minors, really? - https://www.quechoisir.org/actualite-cigarettes-electroniques-puffs-camera-cachee-interdites-aux-mineurs-vraiment-n107898/ ︎