"Are these the 15 euro puffs?" Six months after their ban, disposable e-cigarettes are far from gone, and teenagers have no trouble getting them from grocery stores, vape shops, or online.
Four teenagers looking for puffs enter this night grocery store in Houilles (Yvelines) in the Paris region, looking for the colorful design of these products with sweet flavors, strawberry ice cream, sparkling cola, bubble gum... offering up to 9,000 puffs for some, the equivalent of some 300 cigarettes, with nicotine levels ranging from 0 to 20 mg/ml.
Accused of serving as a gateway to smoking and of being the source of an "ecological disaster" because their plastic and lithium battery quickly end up in the trash, they have been banned since January in Belgium, June in the United Kingdom and February 25 in France, but many points of sale are breaking the law.
"It doesn't change anything. We were already selling them before, there are just more risks. We've already had a few checks since then, but they're not very careful," the grocer, whose counter displays the disposable puffs, told AFP.
In Pas-de-Calais, Lisa*, a 17-year-old high school student, continues to stock up on supplies in "small grocery stores" or "bazaars." "Sometimes the puffs are hidden, but not always. Anyone can get them just about anywhere. Even as a minor, I was never asked for my ID," she reports.
-Order via Snap-
According to the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT), in 2022 one in five middle school students and 44% high school students had already vaped.
On social media, and particularly on Snapchat, many "sellers" are offering young people the option of sending or delivering disposable puffs to their homes, after ordering via private messaging.
This is what Marine*, a student at the Nanterre University, does regularly: "I used to buy at the grocery store for 15 bucks. He's 10 euros a puff, and he delivers, so it's convenient," she told AFP.
Behind the sales account is a 22-year-old student who says he "learned a few weeks after starting" that his business, which he began in March, was illegal.
"Puffs are really easy to get, (…) in Aubervilliers, you can find wholesalers," says the delivery man who earns up to 300 euros per month.
For the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT), these examples prove that "the law is not being respected."
"The government should implement far more controls, accompanied by much more dissuasive sanctions," says Amélie Eschenbrenner, its communications manager.
Questioned by AFP, the DGCCRF indicated that it had inspected "more than 160 establishments" - vape shops, tobacconists, grocery stores, bars, online sales sites, etc. - of which "13 continued to sell puffs."
-“Circumvention of the ban”-
Another problem: substitute products, so-called "refillable" cigarettes, have already taken over from single-use versions.
At points of sale, you can now find packs containing a puff equipped with a rechargeable battery and an e-liquid cartridge that can be clipped on and changed – thus escaping the new regulations.
But in many cases, the lifespan of these products is very limited and once the refill is clipped on, it is no longer possible to remove it, forcing the puff to be thrown away, the CNTC noted.
"It's simply a circumvention of the ban," warns Ms. Eschenbrenner, for whom the components and the high nicotine content of these new products could also prove problematic.
Because they systematically contain “20 mg/ml of nicotine” underlines Jérôme*, a salesman in a vaping shop in Houilles.
"Young people think it's not much, but it's the highest nicotine level in France, which is more than a pack a day," he emphasizes.
For the CNCT, it is now necessary to go "even further" and implement the measures planned as part of the national tobacco control program 2023-2027: reducing the number of flavors and imposing neutral packaging in particular.
*First names changed
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