New laws affecting cigarettes and tobacco are coming in to force from tonight, which could mean some serious changes for smokers.
From early on Sunday 21st May, small packs of cigarettes will no longer be available and big bottles of vaping juice will no longer be up for sale.
Small pouches of tobacco – under 30g – ten-packs of fags, large bottles of vaping liquid and high capacity e-cigarettes are to be banned under the new laws.
This has been a long process for the tobacco industry, as in May last year, packaging became standardised, but shops had a year to get rid of old stock.
Some flavoured cigs and roll-your-own baccie in fruit, spice, herbs, alcohol, candy or vanilla varieties are also all banned, with a complete ban on menthol cigarettes due for May 2020.
The new laws will mean:
Refillable tanks must have a capacity of no more than 2ml
E-liquids can not be sold in quantities greater than 10ml
Unless registered as a medicine e-liquids can not have a nicotine strength of more than 20mg/ml
E-liquid packaging must be child-resistant and tamper evident
Additives including colouring, caffeine and taurine are banned
All e-cigarettes and e-liquids must be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency before they can be sold
Stricter labelling requirements
Menthol cigarettes are flavoured with compound menthol, a substance which triggers cold-sensitive nerves in the skin without actually providing a drop in temperature.
The charity Action on Smoking and Health explains the staggered phasing out of a selection of tobacco based products is to try and stop younger generations from smoking all together.
Amanda Sandford from the charity said:
Cigarettes are already expensive and the price increase of cigarettes is a key factor in making people quit smoking.
So by removing the packet of ten cigarettes this means people will have to find that extra money for a packet.
It will hit poorer and younger smokers harder who are more likely to buy smaller packs.
This is again to deter people as they will have to spend more. At the moment people are able to buy it in packets of 10g, 20g and so on.
These are some big changes ahead.
If you’re fan of flavoured cigs then it’s not looking good…
