The issue sits at the heart of a growing tension in British tobacco control. On one hand, enforcement agencies continue to seize vast quantities of illegal vapes and illicit cigarettes. On the other, evidence shows that vaping products are now deeply embedded in smoking cessation services across the country, with growing recognition that reduced-risk nicotine products can play a major role in lowering smoking-related disease.
Recent data indicate that failing to achieve this balance could jeopardise one of the United Kingdom’s most effective public health interventions. According to the 2026 Illegal Vapes and Nicotine Product Report published by Vape Club, enforcement activity against illicit nicotine products has weakened despite additional government funding.
Freedom of Information (FOI) responses from 170 local authorities show that Trading Standards inspections dropped from 9,431 in 2024 to 8,881 in 2025, a decrease of about 5%. And while more than half the councils reported conducting fewer inspections than the year before, the size of the illegal market is quite alarming. Authorities confiscated around 1.3 million illegal vapes and over 7.2 million illicit cigarettes in just 2025, suggesting that black-market activity is still a major issue.
These findings are consistent with warnings against harsh regulations. When consumers do not have access to their preferred products, demand does not decrease; it just shifts to alternative, generally illicit channels, where product quality, age verification, and safety standards are shaky or nonexistent. To this effect, tobacco harm reduction experts support robust action against illegal products and a sensible regulatory framework.
Studies consistently indicate that offering adult smokers appealing, regulated alternatives stands out as one of the best strategies for lowering cigarette use. When safer products are harder to find or less appealing, there’s a greater chance that smokers will keep smoking or even go back to cigarettes. And sadly, this is precisely what authorities seem intent on doing.
New proposal ignores the needs of adult smokers
Tobacco harm reduction expert Clive Bates recently revealed that the UK government and other governments have launched a consultation that includes proposals to reduce the appeal of vapes in various ways to decrease youth access. The issue with this, highlights Bates, is that unfortunately this will make safer alternatives unavailable to everyone, adult smokers included, not just young kids experimenting with the products.
The irony here, continues Bates, is that these adult smokers having access to safer alternatives may be more important than the fact that younger generations should not. The tendency by the latter to consume nicotine this way, via vapes and other novel products, is precisely why it is highly unlikely that they will ever develop smoke-related diseases, he explains. On the other hand, adult smokers who have smoked cigarettes all their lives desperately need these safer alternatives to prevent any possibly imminent illness, or help reverse or reduce the symptoms of any existing ones.
People often miss this point in public debates that focus on nicotine as the main problem. Public Health England’s major evidence reviews, along with later evaluations from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, have consistently found that vaping carries much lower risks compared to smoking. The Royal College of Physicians and independent researchers studying tobacco harm reduction have reached similar conclusions. The primary public health objective should not be to reduce nicotine use, but rather to minimise exposure to the harmful effects of combustion.
UK Stop-smoking services rely on vapes as cessation tools
Meanwhile, evidence published recently in the journal Cureus demonstrates how far vaping has become integrated into smoking cessation programmes across the UK. Researchers examined local authority Stop Smoking Services using Freedom of Information requests and found that 27 of 28 participating services supplied vaping products directly to smokers attempting to quit. Notably, none provided disposable devices. Instead, services overwhelmingly favoured refillable pod systems and tank-based products, reflecting a preference for products viewed as both cost-effective and sustainable.
The study also identified a significant finding relevant to the ongoing debate regarding flavours. Every participating service offering vaping products supplied flavoured options. Fruit flavours were available across all programmes and emerged as the most commonly used category among smokers attempting to quit. Tobacco, menthol and mint flavours were also offered, but fruit flavours consistently dominated user preferences.
For harm reduction advocates, this finding supports evidence indicating that non-tobacco flavours may facilitate smokers’ transition away from cigarettes. Although flavour restrictions are frequently proposed to address youth uptake, many adult smokers report that fruit and other non-tobacco flavours ease the process of switching from smoking.
Higher quit rates in vaping-supported cessation programmes
The Cureus study also examined smoking cessation outcomes. Among services providing comparative data, vaping-supported quit attempts achieved an average success rate of 61.5%, compared to 56.2% for alternative approaches. While the researchers noted that the observational design precludes causal inference, these findings are consistent with broader evidence that vaping can be an effective smoking-cessation aid.
The government’s “Swap to Stop” initiative really shows this trend in action. It’s aimed at helping smokers by giving them vaping starter kits along with support for changing their habits. The program has grown to include many local authorities, and the services involved have noted that they offer a wide range of flavoured vaping products. This really underscores how important flavours are in actual quitting efforts.
Yet, other research has shown that a rising number of adults mistakenly think that vaping is just as harmful as or even more harmful than smoking. This misunderstanding might prevent smokers from considering safer options, which could ultimately slow down efforts to reduce smoking rates.
Proportionate regulation
Few would argue against stronger action on illicit nicotine sales. The challenge for policymakers is to ensure that enforcement is not conflated with prohibition or the imposition of excessive restrictions on legitimate products. The latest enforcement data show that illegal trade remains strong, even with more regulations in place. While at the same time, UK stop-smoking services are increasingly looking at vaping as a viable option to help smokers kick the habit.
These trends lead to a pretty clear conclusion. The best strategy isn’t only about getting tough on illegal products; it is about setting in place sensible regulations and ensuring access to regulated, appealing, and affordable reduced-risk nicotine products, so that there is no need for illegal products. For those who support tobacco harm reduction, this also means focusing on lowering smoking rates, helping smokers who are looking to make the switch, and ensuring that public health policies acknowledge the important differences between traditional tobacco and smoke-free nicotine alternatives.
