You Might be Smoking a Black Market Vape Without Even Knowing It

Take a stroll down London’s Oxford Street and, amongst the American Candy Shops and high-end retailers, you’re bound to find a man attempting to flog a pack of disposable vapes. Sold pretty much anywhere – from local off-licences to barber shops, nightclubs and tanning salons, the list goes on – Britain’s streets have become inundated with these brightly coloured, highly addictive sticks of plastic.

It's a big problem, affecting both our health and the environment. According to data from the environmental campaign group Material Focus, approximately five million disposable vapes are discarded each week in the UK. PM Rishi Sunak recently announced a ban on all single-use vapes, citing the need to prevent children from accessing these addictive devices, even though selling them to individuals under the age of 18 is already illegal. However, the blanket ban has raised concerns that it could inadvertently fuel the thriving black market for these products.

According to the BBC, 484,366 illegal vapes were seized at Kent ports in 2023, with an additional 19,349 confiscated from shops – and there are many more that slip under the radar. Industry insiders revealed to VICE that as many as 40 to 50 percent of vapes in the UK are currently illicit – as in, imported illegally and not in compliance with current UK regulations. So how did we get into this mess?

To understand the extent of this issue, we need to trace backwards: all the way to Shenzhen, China, a region of the world fittingly called “Vape Valley”. “The region has over 1,000 factories, where 90 per cent of the vapes are made globally, Markus Lindblad, director of the nicotine company Haypp, said. Following Beijing’s crackdown on the domestic market, many of these companies have now shifted their focus towards exporting abroad. 

"The UK is a significant market for vapes, both legal and illicit," Simon from Yuoto, a distribution company based in Vape Valley, tells VICE. "It's the primary market in Europe, accounting for approximately 30 per cent of total exports on the continent. I estimate that about half of these exports are illicit, obtained through illegal means."

To reach the UK many of these vapes are sold through representatives based in Vape Valley directly contacting shops, distributors, and wholesalers – often cold-called via WhatsApp. “I’ve had multiple – they are pushy,” says Usain, who works at a vape wholesale distributor in Halifax. “I don’t think the ban will do much to solve the problem.” There are also many WhatsApp groups, targeted towards wholesale sellers, that are inundated with vendors attempting to sell vapes abroad, many exceeding legal limits in terms of puffs and nicotine strength.

For small shipments, illicit vapes are often sent with minimal consequences. Paul*, from Yorkshire, who has worked in the vape industry for four years, and wishes to remain anonymous under a pseudonym, received some illicit products for personal use from China. They noted that the products arrived like any other package, without encountering issues or customs fees. 

Many Chinese distributors who contacted Paul also offered to deceive UK customs by falsely labelling their products on the packages. “I’ve had distributors contact me on WhatsApp offering to change the packaging of their products, for example, 20 milligrammes instead of 50, or 2 millilitres instead of 3.2. It’s like a get-out-of-jail-free card – if you’re caught, you can claim ignorance,” he told VICE. 

Andrej Kuttruf, CEO of the vape company Evapo, has observed mislabeling being used to classify a product as a zero-nicotine disposable, thereby circumventing UK tobacco product regulations. “This way they can sell disposable vapes with a much bigger tank size too,” he tells VICE. “The government has been aware of this issue for years and still hasn’t closed that loophole for nicotine products.”

Even when illegal vapes reach the retailer, there’s little consequence if they’re found to be selling. “There was an instance last year where a retailer was fined just £25 – that’s just absurd,” Lindblad added. “Even now, after Rishi Sunak’s latest announcement, we are talking fines of just £100 or £200.”

For larger shipments, more sophisticated techniques are likely employed. Paul mentions that he's heard of criminals exploiting the green lane shipping policy, which reduces checks to just import and export, making it easier to ship packages through bribes. Manchester appears to be a hub for illegal imports, as noted by both Paul and Kuttruf. "I know someone based in the city who imports 10 containers of vapes at a time, equating to tens of thousands of units," Paul adds. Many of these units are sold to brick-and-mortar vendors where ID checks are rarely enforced.

Paul also points out that individual dealers frequently buy these packages and utilise social media apps like Snapchat to sell them to children. "I've witnessed individual 'dealers' using Snapchat to promote vapes to school children, and it's incredibly effective. Within days, they'd have numerous customers, and because messages disappear, there are minimal consequences," he explains. Similar tactics have also been employed on TikTok, where various accounts with hefty followings are going viral, selling illegal vapes to the masses. 

So will a blanket ban eradicate this problem? Probably not. “This addictive product is very attractive to the black market already,” said Scott Butler, director of Material Focus. “We’re moving the disposable vape market from a legal market not meeting its legal responsibility [to an illegal one underground]. I would hope that channels within the black market would be more restricted, but we’re already seeing illicit vapes everywhere.” 

“This is a very similar move to what we’ve seen with the UK’s recent ban on nos (nitrous oxide),” Katya Kowalksi from the drugs policy think-tank Volteface agrees. “It’s a lot to do with populism – doing what the public love to hear but not really thinking about [the consequences]. Yes, we all want kids to not be using disposable vapes. However, what this policy doesn't highlight is that kids using vapes is already illegal. So you're banning something that is already illegal, rather than trying to prevent it from happening in the first place.”

“This is how the UK government approaches every drug or substance,” she continues. “They just opt for a blanket with very little specialism and detail. They don’t look into what works and what will reduce the mass consumption of vapes.” Instead, Kowalksi argues, the government should invest in a bottom-up approach, including better education on the risks of vaping and its environmental impacts. 

Another solution would be to implement strict licensing laws on selling vapes. “This is what the industry is calling for – and fines of up to £10,000 if retailers are caught breaking the law,” Kuttruf said. “We have approximately 55,000 retailers, including convenience stores and vape shops, in the UK. These businesses could contribute funds by obtaining a license to sell vapes, with the proceeds directed towards supporting Trading Standards in addressing this issue. . Right now, Trading Standards has been cut to the bone, they don’t have the money to enforce this – which has led to this thriving black market.” 

In typical Tory fashion, this short-sighted blanket ban will likely not resolve this problem. The vape industry is constantly evolving, with many disposable vape manufacturers investing in newer "less disposable" models, such as rechargeable pods. However, it's up for debate how these newer models will address the environmental impact of the plastic waste generated by disposable vapes.

Although this new ban, which has yet to be announced with further details, will likely impact the legal market, it also runs the risk of strengthening its competing black market. “This policy is just too simplistic,” Kowalksi concludes. “Trying to stamp out disposable vapes in this way is only going to create potential customers for the illicit black market that already exists. It’s what’s happened with nitrous oxide, and it’ll happen here. We need to focus on harm reduction, instead of a blanket ban purely for the sake of populism.”