Retailer concern over the upcoming disposable vape ban is diminishing as more customers switch to reusable alternatives.

New research from Action on Smoking and Health found disposables remain the common choice for younger users, but the proportion using them dropped from 69% to 54% year on year.

The trend is mirrored across other customers, according to five retailers Better Retailing spoke to last week.

“Now, we sell about 50% [disposables] because re­fill is very cheap,” notes Arif Ahmed, of Coventry’s Ahmed News.

In vape shops, the num­ber is even lower. Evapo said only 15% of its cus­tomers are now using dis­posable vapes.

Disposable vapes ban

The disposable vapes ban will begin on 1 April 2025. Work to also re­strict flavours, packaging, adverts and displays of all remaining vape products is currently underway.

Since the announcement of the disposable vape bans, a number of well-known disposable vape manufacturers have launched reusable, refillable and rechargeable vaping options. These include Elf Bar’s new open pod system, Elfx. Lost Mary, meanwhile, has just released BM6000, another pod device which uses prefilled pods of the same flavours as Lost Mary’s disposable vape products.

Earlier this year, an industry source told Better Retailing that many major disposable vape brands would launch new, ban-compliant variants of their larger capacity disposable devices.

The industry source said: “It will be easier for shops, because customers will be able to find a product with the same look, feel, brand and price after the change.”

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