About Vaping
2023 Predictions for the Vaping Industry
MY 2023 PREDICTIONS FOR THE VAPING INDUSTRY
A new year has arrived, and with every new year brings hope, promise, prospect and goals to be achieved for nearly all people around the world. It also means a new year for the vaping industry, and fresh new challenges await the industry after a bit of a rollercoaster 2022!
In this article, I’m going to make some predictions for what I think is in store for the vaping industry in 2023, both for here in the UK as well around the world. Looking back on the happenings of 2022, and working out if these things will carry over into 2022, or whether the vaping industry will get fresh new challenges to face in the new year ahead, lets look into it!
More bans on flavours will come in the United States
2022 saw several more states join the other states in unison and banning flavoured vape juices being sold within the state.
They all had the same reasonings in common, with that being they wanted to stop the attractive sounding fruity and candy flavours of vape juices being over appealing to adolescents who may begin vaping whilst being underage.
The USA faced a youth vaping epidemic in 2018-2020 with an alarming number of teens, still in school, taking up vaping by using flavoured pod devices, and more recently disposable vapes as well with the recent introduction of them onto the market.
But what is interesting is, youth vaping rates have started declining quite drastically over the last couple of years, and are nowhere near the numbers of what they were in 2018-2020. These numbers have started falling by themselves, and without the need for flavour bans, so do they really need to happen?
I feel it is a little bit of a case of closing the gate once the horse has bolted, then in turn the horse has come back on its own accord.
The numbers of youths vaping in states across America has started to dwindle, but still flavour bans are happening. This is then in turn causing problems with adult vapers who rely on flavoured vape juice to keep them from relapsing, and unfortunately in some states, smoking prevalence has seen an increase once a flavour ban has been implemented which is very sad to see.
So, I do believe that more bans will come in 2023 in specific states in America, but I also believe we may see some already existing ones reversed as the year progresses and statistics show it’s having the wrong impact on the wrong demographic. I also believe that there will be a reversal of decisions in Australia also, who have notably admitted failure on the restrictions put in place to stop underage vape usage.
Netherlands flavour ban will finally come into effect, and others may follow suit
Keeping in trend with the flavour ban topic but in Europe now, and I believe the proposed flavour ban in the Netherlands will finally come into effect after a very long deliberation process and multiple delays.
Netherlands have been pushing forward a ban of flavoured vape juice ever since June 2020, with the original legislation suggesting the ban be implemented from July 1st 2022.
But there were several flaws found in the government’s legislation, and after a long consultation process it was decided that the ban would be moved to come into effect from January 1st 2023.
The ban meant that only vape juice made with ingredients from an “approved substance” list written out by the government would be allowed to be made and distributed in the country of Holland.
But at the tail end of last year, and in the metaphorical 11th hour, the ban was postponed yet again, and a new date was set, but this time with a bit more leniencies given to retailers and consumers.
It was announced that the ban would not be coming into effect from July 1st 2023, with the added addition that would allow retailers to sell through remaining stock to customers until October 1st 2023, before the full ban comes into effect.
I personally think that other countries in Europe will follow suit with this once it comes into effect, especially if it sees positive results, but I don’t think there will be positive results personally.
As mentioned above about the USA, when flavour bans are initiated, the smoking rate sees an incline in numbers, and people are also smart enough to think of loopholes like going to alternative places where the ban is not upheld and stocking up, like neighbouring countries etc.
I can’t predict which countries will follow suit, and wouldn’t like to take a guess, but one country in Europe we may see make the move is Ireland, who made it quite clear their intentions to enforce a ban of flavoured vape juice in the country, which may come to fruition in 2023. We shall see!
Disposable Vapes will still hold the throne for popularity
Of course, I had to write about Disposable Vapes and their popularity. It goes without saying that 2022 really was the year of the Disposable, with the usage of them reaching record highs amongst adults, but also sadly amongst adolescents who are not of legal age to use them.
These have been at the fore front of nearly all vaping news articles printed in the tabloids, with a lot of misinformation printed about them which has been proven wrong by experts in the know.
They’re also held in a dark light due to them not being a sustainable way to vape and causing massive problems to the environment with millions going into landfill every month due to them not being able to be recycled even though they are a single use plastic. I’ve written a separate article about 5 reasons why you should ditch the disposables which highlights these problems
2022 also saw the market being swamped by counterfeit devices being sold in the UK, with shops illegally selling disposable vapes that contained more than 2ml of vape juice or more than 20mg of nicotine, both of which are the legal limit permitted to be sold in the UK under TPD laws.
There’s been numerous crackdowns and raids on these shops flouting the rules by Trading Standards Agencies and I think more will continue to be done, as long as the correct funding is provided by the government to help bolster these services to be able to work as hard as they do and efficiently.
I do believe that Disposables will continue to be as popular as they have been, but may see a slight decline in usage, especially with the recent announcement of Waitrose stopping selling single use Vaping products, more shops may follow suit, on top of more people realising that they are not a cost effective way to vape, nor are they sustainable for the environment and people will opt to use a refillable device such as a pod system, which brings me on to my next prediction
2023 – The second coming of the Pod System and other old favourites
I’ve been involved in the Vaping industry in one way or another for the last 6 years, and I’ve seen so many different “fads” and “crazes” in the vaping world across the years, and every year there’s something new that comes along, or something that was previously popular come back around and it goes essentially full circle.
And I think 2023 won’t be any different, and my prediction is there will be a rise in the usage of pod systems, especially by those who are upgrading from using Disposables as a more cost-effective way to vape.
Pod systems haven’t completely dropped off the radar, with a lot of people still using them, but with the amount of people using Disposables, I think the popularity of these devices will see a sharp incline in popularity.
A lot of Disposable vape brands have even started producing refillable pod systems that look like their Disposable devices they’re well known for and selling Nicotine Salt vape liquid that is based off the flavours of the popular flavours of Disposables.
The tail end of 2022 saw Elfbar also bring back an old classic in the form of a Cigalike!
They released a disposable vape featuring the same flavours as the classic colourful ones, with a few new flavours added, but this time the design feature was a slimline all white Cigalike design.
I think this is also a way to try and break away from the colourful devices they’re well known for and that has been at the centre of criticism for them appealing to a younger audience, and this could likely be a thing we see done by other vaping manufacturers.
England will take a big step forward to becoming a Smoke Free country
This is more of a big hope than a prediction, but I really believe this year we will see some strong and confident intervention from the Government in their bid to make England become Smoke Free by 2030, which was their goal they set out in 2019.
As it stands, there has not been a lot of intervention, and multiple calls have been made from various sources for the Government to step in and bolster the already existing help outlets like GPs, Hospitals and Stop Smoking Services by giving them additional funding and training to be able to help people quit smoking and start vaping, which we all know is a much safer and healthier alternative than smoking cigarettes.
2022 saw Stop Smoking services trial a voucher to vape scheme which was a roaring success, but also saw the numbers of smokers needing help and advice overwhelm the services due to the sheer lack of services available to be able to cater for the needs of those wanting to quit smoking.
More funding into these services would be great to see, and it’s something that needs doing sooner rather than later to help them survive and provide the first class service that they already providing, but on a bigger scale.
Javed Khan made an independent review into the state of affairs, and the Government have acknowledged this and said they are taking all of his critical recommendations into account, and I really hope we will see more done by the Government than we have currently seen, and big positive steps in the right direction will become a frequent thing.
Conclusion
That concludes my predictions for the forthcoming year for the vaping industry. As mentioned, these are strictly just my predictions and thoughts, and mine only. I believe that the vaping industry will continue to grow stronger this year, coming off the back of a very positive 2022, with a huge economic contribution seen from the Vaping industry to the UK economy, I believe the numbers will increase further than what they are this year.
I’m looking forward to what this year will bring, and you can be sure I’ll be frequently updating you on all of the happenings in the vaping industry as they happen!
