Vaping

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

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).

Our science news

Smoking cessation

Vaping is primarily popular among smokers (97.2% of users). It has grown in popularity worldwide and is particularly effective in helping people quit smoking. Today, rigorous scientific, clinical, and epidemiological studies have reached a consensus and confirm, with a high degree of certainty, the role of vaping in helping millions of people quit smoking.

According to the most recent research, vaping is twice as effective as nicotine replacement therapies and just as effective as prescription drug treatments containing varenicline or cytisine, which is not approved in France.

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.

• Dr Rosemary Leonard and Dr Lion Shahab:

Official notices

As with scientific studies, for many years the quality of official opinions has varied depending on who commissioned them, who carried them out, the resources available, and the evaluation methods used. 

For example, below is a link to the most recent official advisory issued in France by the High Council for Public Health (HCSP), which served as a reference for several years. However, this advisory was heavily criticized upon its publication, particularly regarding the selection of scientific references, which systematically excluded positive studies while citing studies whose quality had been called into question. Some of these studies were even retracted—and thus invalidated. The overall tone of the advisory, which was generally negative, suggested that there was no evidence showing that vaping could aid in smoking cessation, thereby disregarding a wealth of scientific literature and population-based studies that nevertheless confirm this with certainty (see “Smoking Cessation” above).

But in France, everything changed with the publication in late 2025 of the report by ANSES, the scientific and health agency under the Ministry of Health (link in the references below). After three years of work, this 700-page report confirms that vaping poses fewer risks than smoking cigarettes. In short, while vaping is probably not harmless, it is not comparable to the risks of smoking, whose harmful effects are well established. Click here for a very comprehensive analysis of this essential report.

Since the emergence of vaping, it is undeniably in the United Kingdom that the most robust tracking of evidence regarding vaping has been conducted. As early as 2015, at the request of Public Health England (the equivalent of France’s Directorate General for Health and Public Health France), independent expert groups were tasked with compiling existing studies (several hundred) to assess the benefits and risks of vaping for individuals and public health on an annual basis. It was in the first report, published in 2015, that the experts concluded that vaping is at least 95% less harmful than smoking. This view remains the consensus within the international scientific community today and continues to gain strength.

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.

Since February 2025, puffs (disposable, non-rechargeable devices) have been banned in France.

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 detrimental because it prevents the 14 million French smokers from being properly informed about best practices, products, and their origins. For example, consumers cannot tell the difference between products from the independent French tobacco 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

The "Hamon" Law on consumer protection was published in the Official Journal on Tuesday, March 18, 2014. It regulates the ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors. It will be implemented starting in June 2014.

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

Profile of Vapers

According to Santé publique France, 2.8% of daily vapers have never smoked. Vaping is primarily practiced by smokers who want to quit or by former smokers.

The most comprehensive analysis of vaping by Santé publique France—particularly its use as a smoking cessation aid—dates back to 2017, and it has never been fully updated. Every year, there are fewer and fewer questions in the health survey. Smokers are no longer even asked which method they used to quit.

According to the most recent data, 8.4% of people aged 18–75 have tried vaping, and 6.5% use e-cigarettes daily. These figures have doubled over the past 10 years, while smoking rates have fallen by about 10%.

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.

Public Health Code - Article L3513-5

The myth of the bridge effect

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.

According to the most recent data from the OFDT, youth smoking rates in France have plummeted, dropping from 15.5% in 2018 to 2.9% in 2024 for daily use. The “net rate” of tobacco or vape use (with or without nicotine—this is not specified in the publication) among high school students has been cut in half over the past 10 years, dropping from 18.2% to 9.5%. Contrary to popular belief, there is neither a gateway effect leading to cigarette smoking nor a new nicotine epidemic.

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:

• www.aiduce.org
• www.sovape.fr
• www.lavapeducoeur.fr

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. 

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:

VAPING POST
Historic magazine that has always been aimed at professionals and refuses tobacco industry advertisers: www.vapingpost.com.

E-CIG MAG
Another historic magazine, originally aimed at the general public and distributed on newsstands, but now aimed solely at professionals in compliance with regulations: www.e-cigmag.com

LA CHAINE DE LA VAPE
Video media broadcast on screens in specialist vape stores independent of the tobacco industry: La Chaine de la vape - Youtube.

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.