The ban on single-use guns in the UK has been in place for a few days, but the effects started to be felt even before 1 June. Thousands of UK users were stocking up like crazy, while shops were selling out.
"Banning an aid that actually helped me quit smoking is counterproductive and stupid," says Claire Fox, one of millions of 1TP8 users in the UK.
At the turn of the month, disposable vejps were finally banned from sale in the UK, and in the face of the ban, users across the country have been stocking up on their favourite flavours before the products disappear from the shelves. But while many vejps have become 'hordes', politicians, environmental organisations and scientists alike are raising their voices - not only against the environmental impact of disposable products, but also against how users dispose of them.
"They saved me from smoking - now they are banned"
Claire Fox, Baroness and former heavy smoker for 40 years, tells radio station LBC that she has been smoke-free for 18 months thanks to disposable vejps.
"They worked marvellously. Now they're banning a tool that actually helped me quit smoking - it's counterproductive and stupid," she says.
She is far from alone in her criticism. Many British vejpers, who have used disposables as an alternative to cigarettes, are frustrated by the ban. Several describe how they have already started stockpiling large quantities of products to get by for a while after the law comes into force.
"Ten vapes for £20"
25-year-old Cara Hallinan, who used to smoke a packet of cigarettes a day, tells the BBC she has a stash of 40 disposable vejps at home - and plans to buy even more before it's too late.
"I've bought whole boxes of them from my local shop. They're trying to get rid of them, so I've got ten vejps for £20," says Cara Hallinan in the programme.
She says she realises there are plenty of alternatives, but seems too used to the easily accessible.
"With everything else going on in my life, what if I forget to charge my vejp? And then I wake up one morning without the vejp, or the battery runs out at work?" she asks herself in the programme.
"It's not rubbish - it's resources"
While users are buying up supplies, environmental organisations are warning that disposable vejps are creating huge waste problems. Scott Butler, director of Material Focus - an organisation that works on electricity recycling - tells LBC that the products are an environmental trap.
- "We throw away eight million disposable vejps a week. They contain lithium and copper - materials needed for the green technologies of the future. It's not rubbish. They are resources."
He explains that the products are sold as 'disposable', but society has no functioning infrastructure to deal with them. As a result, they often end up in household waste, which can lead to fires, environmental damage - and soon, heavy fines. After 1 June, private individuals who dispose of their e-cigarettes incorrectly risk fines of up to £600 (just over €8,000), while retailers face fines of as much as £6,000.
Research: Use of disposable products is already decreasing
Despite the bunkering, however, there are signs that the ban may not be so disruptive in the long run. A recent study from University College London, which Vejpkollen wrote about recently, shows that the use of disposable vejps has declined - particularly among young adults. Of those currently using vejps, the proportion using disposables has fallen from 44 %s to 29 %s over a year.
The UK ban only applies to sales - not possession - which means that after 1 June it will not be illegal to use disposable firearms. However, it will no longer be possible to legally buy them within the country.
