First introduced in the early 2000s, vaping has enjoyed considerable growth in France and around the world since 2010, mainly as a result of word-of-mouth advertising by enthusiastic ex-smokers.
In France, to meet demand, a network independent of the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries has been set up, and in just a few years has become France's leading network of stop-smoking professionals.
A veritable revolution in public health, vape quickly attracted the interest of scientists, healthcare professionals and public authorities, and subsequently the entire "tobacco ecosystem", which it profoundly disrupted: cigarette manufacturers, tobacconists, the pharmaceutical industry, anti-tobacco lobbies, and so on.
Described as a "UFO" by some observers, vaping has developed at lightning speed, mainly driven by smokers themselves, who have discovered a particularly effective new tool for quitting smoking.
Because of its novelty, and its "closeness" to cigarette smoking, vaping raises many questions and controversies. From "miracle" to "new danger". Whatever the point of view, everyone agrees that vaping has been disrupting the tobacco ecosystem for almost two decades now.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in France, accounting for 75,000 premature deaths a year, 20% of all cancers (80% of lung cancers), not to mention respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. For many diseases, smoking is an aggravating factor and can penalize treatment.
How does it work?
There's no tobacco or combustion in vaping. No smoke, no tar, no carbon monoxide, and none of the myriad carcinogenic molecules that are the main cause of smoking's harmful effects.
Vaporization
The principle of vaping is very simple. A liquid contained in a tank soaks a wick inserted in a resistor, which heats up and transforms the liquid into an aerosol that is inhaled by the user. The sensation is similar to that of a smoked cigarette.
The liquid is mainly composed of a diluent carrier that evaporates at low temperature, a mixture of propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (GV). These two compounds have been known for decades, used in food and in the development of medicines, including those intended for inhalation. These bases, essential for vaporization, are "neutral", i.e. tasteless. Flavors can be added, which considerably enhance the experience. The liquid may also contain nicotine, a key component in the success of vaping as a smoking cessation aid.
Nicotine
"People smoke for nicotine but they die from the tar " - Michaël Russel (1932-2009).
Nicotine does not kill or cause disease. It has been used in nicotine replacement products for decades. Its drawback is that it is addictive, particularly when smoked. Substitution treatments in the form of medication have been recognized in France since 1992, as they enable people to consume nicotine without smoking, thus avoiding craving.
Vaping is therefore a new form of tobacco substitution, providing not only nicotine, but also sensations and gestures, as well as a certain form of pleasure, thanks in particular to flavors. All these parameters can be adjusted to suit each user's comfort level and maximize their chances of quitting smoking.
The amount of nicotine in e-liquids varies (up to 20 mg/ml, or 2%). By lowering the rate or spacing out consumption, you can aim for total withdrawal, including from nicotine.
Hardware
There is a huge range of vape equipment available. Manufacturers are constantly innovating to offer products that are ever more efficient, practical, reliable and comfortable, with a significant improvement over the years in the quality/price ratio for consumers.
There are several "formats" of equipment, but they always contain two main elements, separable or not: a battery (removable or not) and a vaporization chamber containing the liquid and resistance (atomizer, clearomizer or pod).
Most devices can be recharged with both liquid and electricity, making them the most economical and environmentally-friendly. The table below summarizes the different types available on the market, with their advantages and disadvantages. It can be hard to keep track!
Hardware family
Design | Type of equipment | Size / weight | Rechargeable electric | Refillable with e-liquid | Adjustable power | Practical DIY possibilities | Environmental impact |
 | Battery + screw-on or magnetic clearomizer | Large model | Yes | Bottle | Yes | Yes | Light |
 | Medium model | Yes | Bottle | Bottle | Yes | Yes | Light |
 | Battery + rechargeable pod-type clearomizer | Small model | Yes | Bottle | No (but sometimes) | Yes | Very light |
 | Battery + non-rechargeable pod-type clearomizer | Small model | Yes | Cartridge | No | No | Fort |
 | Cartridge Puff | Small model | Yes | Cartridge | No | No | Fort |
 | Disposable Puff | Small model | No | No | No | No | Very strong |
Science
Over 10,000 studies have been published on vaping. Innovative by nature, it is undoubtedly one of the most scrutinized areas of science in recent years. Unfortunately, the quality of scientific protocols and approaches is highly uneven, sometimes leading to alarmist controversy and misinformation.
Thanks to a number of institutions and learned societies, there is now a very reassuring consensus on vaping products, especially when compared with the proven dangers of smoking.
The interest of vape professionals is to offer the safest and most effective devices for quitting smoking. E-cigarette and e-liquid manufacturers constantly monitor scientific developments to improve the quality of their products for consumers. Specialist retailers advise their customers to help them adopt good practices and avoid misuse (starting up, adjusting and maintaining equipment).
Smoking cessation
Vaping is only of interest to smokers (99% of users). It has developed all over the world and works particularly well for quitting smoking. Today, rigorous scientific, clinical and epidemiological studies confirm with a high degree of certainty the role of vaping in helping millions of people quit smoking.
According to the most recent studies, vaping is twice as effective as nicotine substitutes, and as effective as prescription-only varenicline-based treatments (which, however, have not been available on the market since 2022) or cytisine-based treatments (not authorized in France).
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Benefits/risks
With no combustion and no tobacco, vaping instead of smoking eliminates all the risks associated with smoking. However, vaping does not "repair" the damage caused by a smoking past. Ideally, you should neither smoke nor vaporize.
The potentially harmful effects of vaping are infinitely less than the proven and profoundly deleterious consequences of tobacco. They are limited to irritation during the very first days of use, when the throat still bears the lesions caused by tobacco smoke. Very rare cases of allergy have been reported, but the scientific consensus is clear: vaping does not cause any serious illnesses similar to those associated with smoking, such as cancer, respiratory or cardiovascular disease.
The priority is to stop smoking, and vaping is an effective way of doing this.
References :
- Dr Rosemary Leonard and Dr Lion Shahab:
Official notices
As with scientific studies, the quality of official advice varies widely, depending on who commissioned it, who carried it out, the resources available and the evaluation methods used.
In the interests of transparency, please find below the link to the most recent official opinion issued in France by the French High Council for Public Health (HCSP). When it was published, the HCSP was strongly criticized, particularly as regards the selection of scientific references, which systematically rejected positive studies, while referencing studies whose quality was questioned. Some of these studies were even retracted and invalidated. The overall negative tone of the opinion suggests that there is no evidence that vape can help people to stop smoking, thereby overlooking the abundant scientific literature and population-based studies that confirm this with certainty (see Smoking Cessation above).
Undeniably, it's in the UK that the most robust monitoring of evidence around vaping is being carried out. As early as 2015, at the request of Public Health England (equivalent to our Direction Générale de la Santé and Santé Publique France), groups of independent experts were tasked with collating existing studies (several hundred), in order to assess every year the benefits/risks of vaping for individuals and for public health. In their first report in 2015, the experts concluded that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking. This point of view is still the consensus of the international scientific community today, and continues to grow stronger.
References :
Regulations
Contrary to popular belief, vaping products and practices are highly regulated, on the one hand by specific regulations, and on the other by broader regulations due to the very nature of the products themselves (CE regulations, CPL, REACH, see below: products). Depending on the case, several bodies, such as ANSES and the DGCCRF, are responsible for monitoring and controls.
These measures are reassuring for consumers, and can be supplemented by voluntary standards and labels to which manufacturers adhere: AFNOR certification, ORIGINE FRANCE GARANTIE...
Products
Several articles of the French public health code, EC regulations and decrees govern vaping products, whether e-liquids or equipment: classification, packaging, toxicovigilance declaration, standards for electronic devices, environmental standards and recycling, etc.
One of the main measures concerns the bottling and labeling of nicotined e-liquids, which must not exceed 10 ml and a nicotine content of 20 mg/ml. It stems from a European directive transposed into French law in 2016.
Public places
Vaping in public places is not subject to the same prohibitions as smoking. These provisions are the subject of a decree which has followed the advice of the Conseil d'État :
Regulation of smoking in public places
Advertising and promotion
Despite being the most effective and popular smoking cessation aid, vaping is banned from advertising in France.
This measure is penalizing, as it doesn't allow the 15 million French smokers to be properly informed about good practices, products and their origins. For example, consumers can't tell the difference between products from the independent French sector and those from the tobacco industry.
It should also be pointed out that some anti-smoking lobbies are opposed to vaping, even going so far as to file lawsuits which only serve to maintain the confusion between vapers and smokers in public opinion, and maintain this precarious communication context on vaping, even when the messages are clearly aimed at smokers.
Sales to minors
As of 2016, by ordinance, the sale of vaping products, e-liquids and materials is prohibited to minors.
Vaping in France
France is one of the countries where vaping has met with great success. This is probably due to the fact that smoking prevalence is one of the highest in Western Europe, far ahead of our neighbors. The proportion of smokers in France is three times higher than in the UK, whereas it was the same in the early 2000s. It is also in France that the business sector run by players independent of the tobacco industry has developed the most, and today they largely dominate the market.
MERCI LA VAPE | White Paper
Vaporizer profiles
Resources on vaping users are quite weak, as Santé publique France has been slow to update the nature and frequency of reliable indicators on vaping since 2017. FIVAPE regrets this. Nevertheless, it is a fact that vapoteurs.euses are essentially smokers or ex-smokers. People who start vaping with no smoking history are anecdotal.
The average age of vaping users is around 42, showing a long history of smoking.
References :
Young people
Despite the ban on sales to minors since 2016, as with cigarettes, alcohol and other risky substances or practices, young people may be led to experiment with vaping. While some stakeholders accuse vaping of being a gateway to smoking, there is plenty of scientific evidence to the contrary.
Since the arrival of vaping in France in the early 2010s, smoking has fallen most sharply, steadily and continuously among the youngest age groups. This raises the question of how to deal with underage smokers who might be interested in vaping as a way out of their smoking habit. It should be remembered that the average age at which people start smoking is between 13 and 16, which raises the far more urgent question of access to tobacco cigarettes.
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The associations
In addition to FIVAPE, which represents the French vape sector independent of the tobacco industry, other associations have been set up by civil society, particularly consumers.
Here's a list of associations that unambiguously declare their independence from the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries:
Health professions
Individually, or through learned societies and associations, healthcare professionals appear divided on the issue of vaping.
Generally speaking, it seems that doctors in the field who deal with patients who smoke welcome vape. Some fully integrate it into their support and cessation approach.
The training of healthcare professionals in vaping is a subject that is struggling to make headway in a climate where they receive contradictory injunctions from public authorities, institutions and learned societies.
References :
Environment
Vaping produces waste that can be harmful to the environment, with recycling capacities that vary in geometry: batteries, electronics, plastics, composite and soiled materials.
Some equipment formats are more polluting than others, the worst being disposable devices after a single use: puffs and sealed cartridges, massively promoted by the tobacco industry. Generally speaking, refillable products, the flagship devices of the independent sector, have a much longer lifespan and greatly reduce the environmental impact of vaping.
In the case of e-liquids, regulations imposing a maximum 10 ml bottle size for nicotine products leads to largely avoidable overconsumption of plastics (bottles and caps), which would be considerably reduced by allowing larger containers.
Vape professionals have set up recycling programs to reduce their impact on the environment: in-store collections and partnerships with specialized organizations.
Media
Communication on vaping is forbidden, which is very penalizing when addressing smokers. Authorized media are intended for professionals only. There are several magazines, but to date only one has adopted a policy of independence, refusing tobacco industry advertisers: the Vaping Post(www.vapingpost.com).
When it comes to the mainstream media's treatment of vaping, it is most often tinged with sensationalism, focusing only on negative news that is often unfounded and rarely verified. Many major scientific studies, including those carried out by French institutions, receive almost no coverage in the mainstream media. Vape professionals independent of the tobacco industry are given too little say.