Inside the world of vaping where influencers, big tobacco and the black market stare down vape reforms and users hunting for a fix
At a festival, I caught sight of a trainer from my gym. David's head was engulfed by a cloud. When the vapour cleared, he was looking peaky.
"How's this?" he slurred, gesturing at the stage. Further words eluded him for a few minutes.
Ordinarily, at the gym, he covertly puffed on a vape concealed in the palm of his hand. I assumed that tonight he'd loaded it with cannabis, but no, he assured me, when his eyes came back into focus. It was just an SUV-sized hit of nicotine, delivered through a dual-battery vape mod, as adjustable vapes are called, with the heat and vapour set to max.
David* actually gives a lot of thought to health optimisation. He bought his vape because the occasional joints he smoked developed into a nicotine habit and he surmised vaping would be the healthier option. He's a regular listener to The Joe Rogan Experience, where guests sometimes debate whether or not vaping is a lesser evil to smoking tobacco. He also follows TikTok accounts from self-professed health influencers and some doctors on social media, who promote nicotine as having cognitive enhancement benefits, which further muddies the waters for David. He knows that his chosen route of vaping nicotine is at odds with these people's recommended route of lozenges and patches, but for now he's coasting on the ambiguity that surrounds vaping. Some experts promote vaping as an effective smoking cessation aid and a form of harm-reduction; others declare vaping Australia's biggest public health crisis.
At 36, David would argue that he's an autonomous adult capable of making educated decisions about his health. He's not the target of the government's vaping crackdown which is supposed to prevent younger people picking up the habit. But he's still affected by it.
Australian vapers like David are receiving mixed messages from every direction. Politicians are divided: if the Coalition had won the last election, it would have taxed vapes and allowed them to be legally sold in retail stores and overturned Labor's legislation that requires all legal nicotine vape purchases to be made through pharmacies. GPs are split, too: some view vaping as a valuable smoking cessation aid, while the Australian Medical Association put out a media release titled 'Vapes are not a smoking quit aid'.
Then, of course, there's the law. Since 2024 buying vapes has been severely restricted and non-pharmacy vape sales are criminalised, while smoking and selling heavily taxed tobacco is not. Personal use of vapes is not illegal but anyone importing or selling vape goods apart from pharmacies could face penalties.
What is clear is that the reforms have provided no easy fix.
Nicotine's new gatekeepers
David's vape is the kind that's marketed on websites with a sleek, masculine, techy aesthetic. There's a hint of luxury and discernment, like cigar and whisky advertising through the ages. But getting his nicotine is less of a top-shelf experience.
As of October, 2024 the Department of Health directed that only a pharmacist can sell a vape, with a month's supply of nicotine at a time. If a person doesn't have a prescription, they can access a nicotine concentration of 20mg/ml, or less. Precise comparisons are tricky but that's equivalent to around 20 cigarettes. A higher nicotine dose requires a doctor's prescription. The most recent laws, released just this month, mean even with a prescription vapers can buy a maximum of 50 mg/ml of nicotine.
David — who doesn't have a prescription, which is why he was intent on using mods to extract the biggest possible hit from his dose — has managed to find a willing pharmacy, but it was hard tracking one down. According to Quitwise, a site that helps people locate pharmacies selling therapeutic vapes and nicotine, the nearest to David is 16 kilometres away.
As any vaper trying to avoid black market disposables could tell you, pharmacies generally do not want to step into the fray.The pharmacist must discuss the product and dosage, as well as other quitting options, something that could take up to 30 minutes. This process has meant many bricks-and-mortar pharmacists have opted out, leaving online pharmacies, which have fewer hoops to jump through, to dole out nicotine more freely.
One Melbourne-based pharmacist, who prefers to remain anonymous, told the ABC many pharmacists felt angry they weren't consulted about this new nicotine supply framework. He felt the government was passing the buck and compares the current method for procuring vapes through pharmacists to the provision of methadone.
"If you go back 30 years there was a real reluctance to be a methadone pharmacy, because you didn't want to be seen by your other customers as encouraging 'those sort of people' to come in the neighbourhood," he says. "It's similar with vapes, except the stigma is more around selling something perceived to be bad for a person's health."
It's not just pharmacists who are reluctant, either: a qualitative study of Australian GPs published in 2024 concluded that "Australian GPs are concerned about their role as gatekeepers to e-cigarettes and the potential risks to patients." And while some GPs clearly will prescribe nicotine, the Australian Medical Association takes a hard-line approach, applauding the government's vaping reforms.
Australian vapers consider their options
With legal access to vapes now more complex than buying cigarettes, many Australian vapers argue they face a double standard. The rules may deter some from vaping at all and indeed the latest figures show vaping rates among those aged 14-24 are slowing. But evidence suggests some switch to cigarettes whether they were a tobacco smoker before or not. While expensive and heavily-taxed at least, the argument goes, cigarettes are easy to buy.
Others are attracted to buying black market disposable vapes that often deliver a larger hit of nicotine, or to import a slick design from overseas, crossing their fingers that the goods make it through customs.
Even as crackdowns spread to other countries — the UK banned disposable vapes in June — the market continues to evolve. Globally, the vape market is forecast to grow from $59.2 billion in 2025 to $159.95 billion by 2033, according to Straits Research.
As one commenter on the subreddit AussieVapers puts it, rather than find a willing pharmacist and settle for a 20mg/ml dose, it's often cheaper and easier for someone to get their nicotine fix via black market disposable vapes bought from under the counter of a tobacconist who has decided to just factor fines into their profit margins.
That calculation may be getting harder as states and territories adjust fines. In NSW for example, the penalty for illegally supplying vaping goods rose in November and now includes up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of up to $1.54 million. The actual penalty is likely to be far lower.
Approved therapeutic vapes on a GP's prescription cost between $30 and $150, plus the cost of the doctor visit and refills for non-disposable models. A 5000-puff vape sold illegally might cost $50. These cheap and disposable vapes, often loaded with more than 45 milligrams of nicotine but with no indication of that quantity on the label, are the very kind the government sought to stamp out.
'They're potent. Who knows what's in them'
Travis, a 50-year-old who works in the entertainment industry, told the ABC that he swapped his decades-long cigarette habit for vaping, using a reusable Geekvape sold by participating pharmacies.
The one time he used a disposable, bought under the counter at a petrol station, he was horrified. "I felt like I was going to pass out after one inhale," he says. "My head was spinning, my fingers and legs were tingling. They're potent — the kids do it for the buzz. Who knows what's in them? At the counter I asked for a weak one and they said they wouldn't know what was strong or weak, it's not labelled."
Travis loads his reusable vape with 6 milligrams of nicotine that he gets on prescription, so that he can monitor his consumption, with the aim of eventually tapering off. "My doctor loves me doing this, rather than cigarettes, because he tells me cigarettes have thousands of chemicals and the best chemical is the nicotine," he says — though many GPs would vehemently disagree.
"My use has increased," Travis admits. "I vape at work, at home, in the car. I'm vaping right now. But I've actually reduced my nicotine intake over the years. With a reusable vape I'm in control. I'm starting to think about stopping, because I'm at an age now where it's a bit silly, like I'm not a kid anymore," he says. "I could just not put the nicotine in and just smoke empty juice [carrier oil, made up of vegetable glycerine and propylene glycol] — that's my plan."
Dr Lisa Juckes is a Sydney-based psychiatrist who has had a long career in the addiction sector. She believes the usual methods for treating nicotine dependence in combustible smokers don't easily apply to people who vape.
"When I see somebody who's very nicotine dependent, and I say, 'Could we convert you over to having patches so you're not up in the middle of the night having to vape?' I'm having to completely guess the dose — whether it's three or four patches — because the person doesn't know how much they've been vaping," she says. "Some people have the equivalent of 30 or 40 packets of cigarettes a week of nicotine in their nervous system."
'A flashback to the '90s'
Laws haven't stopped under the counter trade and they haven't stopped promotion of vapes either.
Australia has strict legislation against tobacco and vaping advertising, but there are always loopholes.
Marketing of vapes in Australia is most likely to rely on social media that uses a grey zone to navigate advertising bans.
Professor Becky Freeman, from the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, believes the problem is transnational tobacco companies that have launched vape products to stay in the market as cigarette smoking declines globally.
Freeman's research includes how online and social media influence public health. She doesn't believe influencers have that much clout in comparison with tobacco companies that have launched vape products.
"To me, the big problem is these transnational tobacco companies have massive marketing budgets and are going back in time, doing exactly the same kind of marketing they used to do for cigarettes," she says.
Health tech companies like China's ICCPP, that owns vape band Voopoo which make the DragX2, are also influential. DragX2 promises a "dense cloud experience" and also "endless pleasure".
While 'pleasure' is a throwback term used by cigarette advertisers dating back to 1950 — in slogans for Churchman's No.1, Camel, Silk Cut, Player's, Peter Stuyvesant, Newport, Golden Lights, Benson & Hedges, Marlboro, Barclay and Kent — vape marketing tends to favour more reassuringly competent, lab-tested language, using words such as 'innovation', 'premium smart device', 'revolutionary' and 'pioneer'.
Freeman draws my attention to the Instagram profile of Vuse, a disposable vaping product from the giant multinational cigarette, tobacco and e-cigarette manufacturer British American Tobacco.
Posts include a 'day in the life of a DJ'; a collaboration between three hip-hop artists with a vape front and centre in the video; and lots on Formula 1 team McLaren, which is sponsored by Vuse.
"It's frustrating that Meta claims to ban e-cigarette and tobacco advertising, and yet allows this because it doesn't meet the technical definition of an advertisement," Freeman says. "They talk out of both sides of their mouth. Vuse hires influencers to go to festivals and has youth ambassadors from the graphic arts, from fashion, from design.
"Is this a flashback to the '90s? It's exactly the kind of thing we legislated the tobacco companies from not being allowed to do."
The power of vape fashions
Travis tells me he pays no attention to vape recommendations on social media — he chose his through word of mouth.
"Mine's like a Tonka truck. They call it the tradie's vape because it's waterproof and you can drop it," he says.
But if he were the type to be swayed by shiny new things, there's plenty out there to tempt him.
The vape market is evolving at great speed, even with the addition of nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products to the landscape. One "old-time vaper" on the subreddit AussieVapers complains that vape fashions are too hard to keep up with.
"The other day I was called a veteran, being seen with my dual battery mod and dual coil RTA," he writes.
Vape influencers and brand ambassadors remain influential. They fetishise hardware and cloud size, underscoring the idea that vape mods are for a more sophisticated user than those of disposable vapes.
A guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, media personality Adam Curry, wants to make that very clear.
"This is organic juice," he says of the model in his hand. He also wound his own coil out of silver and uses American-made cotton — "not from China".
Trends lean hard on novelty, providing plenty of content to influencers and brand ambassadors. On YouTube I find the FugginVapeBoys reviewing a Voopoo 'Roto' vape with a built-in fidget spinner for people with ADHD.
"Hear me out, I don't think it's ass," drawls Nate, although he also ponders the "stigma" of having a fidget-spinning vape. "I don't know how many people that are over the age of 18 are super into fidget spinners."
In 2023, Wired reported on Chinese disposable 'smart vapes', some with LCD screens that claim to show how many puffs are left, and others that play knock-off versions of games such as Tetris. In the reusable world, the glow-in-the-dark Xlim DNA has a flavour 'replay mode' so that if users particularly enjoyed one inhale, they can save it as their favourite.
Even Etsy creators are getting in on the game, creating wearable vape accessories and covers. Since vape manufacturing is a wild west with innumerable shadowy players, it's impossible to slap regulatory health warnings on all products, so cute packaging is winning out over dead babies and gangrenous feet.
David managed to sneak his chosen vape in through Australian customs, ordering it from an international website (even tourists to the country, who don't have a prescription, are allowed limited quantities or risk having their vapes found and seized).
People who seek out vapes on what purport to be Australian sites will likely have a disappointing experience, as many have been reported by unhappy punters to be scam sites that take the money and evaporate.
Influencers want you to believe nicotine is a 'smart drug'
If social media campaigns and vape trends are not enough to lure new users then some believe nicotine as a health choice will cut through.
If I search for 'nicotine' on Instagram, the 275,000 posts are hidden by Meta as "sensitive content". TikTok does show me the results, albeit with a warning titled "Be informed and aware". Posts tend to be either about quitting, or claims about nicotine being a "nootropic stimulant" or cognitive enhancer, and emphasising that it's "all natural", too.
I find posts from a subculture of self-styled experts promoting the benefits of nicotine. There is biohacker Nate Belmar ("In my opinion most people should be taking nicotine … I think nicotine pouches are probably one of the best ways to do it") and US MD Lewis Clarke ("Are you still falling for that lie that nicotine is bad for you?") as well as Dr Bryan Ardis ("why do they continue to make us so scared of nicotine in tobacco if it's in our vegies?"). Dave Asprey claims nicotine is "the next big smart drug". He does not recommend smoking to get it but does promote lozenges and gum that he sells on his website for a discount.
Health experts acknowledge that nicotine can have short term positive effects on things like attention and fine motor skills. But long term the story is not so good and can lead to difficulty processing information, remembering things and an increase in impulsivity.
None of these proponents of nicotine address another obvious fear of health experts and policymakers: an individual will likely upgrade to vaping or cigarettes if they feel the dose from gum or lozenges is no longer activating their reward pathways.
Even experts are sending mixed messages
A group of 44 of Australia's leading drug and alcohol harm-reduction advocates, among them doctors, researchers, addiction medicine specialists and lecturers (with no links to tobacco or e-cigarette companies) signed a letter sent to Health Minister Mark Butler in 2023. The petition urged the loosening of restrictions around e-cigarettes. Psychiatrist Juckes was encouraged to sign but says she refused because of evidence young people are using vaping as a gateway to cigarette smoking.
"At the time I was already reading some stuff, particularly around young people in North America, where young people who were never smokers had taken up e-cigarettes and then converted to cigarettes," she says. "In Australia we were world leaders at reducing onset of cigarette smoking, and so our young generations have been historically the lowest up-takers of combustible cigarettes."
Nicotine's next big things
Beyond pharmacies, treatment or reduction options can be a wild west, using novelty additions to increase allure. Some have dangerous consequences.
There's now a wide range of smokeless inhalers — sold online, globally, although illegal to sell, buy or advertise in Australia — aimed at quitting vaping or smoking, some of which sub in caffeine for a familiar buzz. The Capnos range of devices comes with a 'bite cap' to tackle oral fixation. There's a range of flavour packs to choose from — or you can just use air — and a built-in fidget spinner.
Then there's Cigtrus, which is one of a few products that offer a lungful of essential oils rather than nicotine. The site promises 'Natural ingredients. Only essential oils. No additives', but as Professor Freeman says firmly, "Our lungs are evolved to inhale fresh, clean air, so just to be very clear, I do not recommend inhaling essential oils."
The Cigtrus site has a whole page devoted to being a product aimed at smoking cessation. And yet right there on the home page is another claim: "No need for any smoking experience."
If the ALP and the Coalition were divided over vapes, that has nothing on the way nicotine pouches are dividing politicians in the United States.
Pouches, which sit between the lip and the gum, are regulated under the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and can not be legally sold in Australia.
They are heavily marketed in the US and are appealing to a young crowd who may never have smoked cigarettes, but who enjoy the stimulant buzz.
Some brands sound positively healthy, like Lyfe Citrus. The most popular brand, Zyn, owned by Philip Morris International, contains from 3 milligrams right up to 150 milligrams of nicotine. 'Zynfluencers' promote the pouches on social media and podcasts as a healthier option to vaping, since there is no inhalation.
There are some unintentional Zynfluencers, too: There was much media speculation as to whether or not Robert F Kennedy, the US Secretary of Health, popped a pouch in his mouth during his Senate confirmation hearing.
The debate over pouches goes even further. They are at the centre of a culture war in the US, with Democrats cracking down and Republicans using this as a way to raise a rebellion, sending mixed messages about health impacts.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson used to back Zyn, but then launched his own brand, Alp. He promotes nicotine as having health benefits including describing it as "a life-enhancing God-given chemical", and "a powerful work enhancer, and also a male enhancer".
Despite some Australian influencers promoting pouches last year (and one being kicked off TikTok for his troubles), the product is yet to take off in Australia in a big way. The highest uptake, though, has been among 18- to 24-year-olds and it may be an issue coming down the pipeline for Australian politicians in the near future.
Generation Vape is an Australian national research project into the growing use of e-cigarettes among young people. Data collected in October/November 2024 found that 12.9 per cent of this age group had tried nicotine pouches.
"I think we need to be very aggressive in our prevention efforts," says Freeman, who oversees the Generation Vape project, "and not wait for this to become a problem, so that, in six years' time, I'm not having this exact same conversation with another journalist. It's just so frustrating to me. Can we not learn from history?"
*David is a pseudonym
Credits
Words: Jenny Valentish
Editor: Catherine Taylor
Illustrations: Kylie Silvester, Adobe Stock Images
