SMOKE & MIRRORS

Law-bending devices 'flooding the market' ahead of spring 2025 block

- DAN VEVERS

A LEADING vape retailer has warned of new "big puff" single-use vapes aimed at getting around the incoming disposables ban.

Edinburgh-based chain VPZ said the larger "regulationbending" devices were already flooding the UK market ahead of next spring's ban.

One MSP dubbed the development "shocking" and accused companies of "trying to find ways to work around a ban before it's even in place".

"Big puff" vapes - which carry up to six times more e-liquid than standard disposables seek to exploit loopholes in the new laws by adding superficial recharging and refilling features.

It comes ahead of the ban on disposable vapes in all four UK nations from April 1, 2025 following a successful Daily Record campaign to outlaw the polluting gadgets.

Doug Mutter, director of VPZ, who supports the disposables ban, accused foreign manufacturers of continuing to "develop unsustainable products that inherit the same environmental and societal problems" of standard singleuse vapes as they bid to circumvent the new rules.