Vape shops provide a valuable role in helping smokers to switch from smoking to vaping and can give helpful smoking cessation advice, according to a recent survey of vape shop staff and customers in the UK.

The UK study of 41 shop staff and 197 customers found that most vape shop customers (78%) were current vapers who had quit smoking and were using an e-cigarette to either quit or stay quit. Most had quit more than a year ago suggesting that e-cigarettes may help in sustained as well as initial quitting.

The main reasons reported for taking up vaping were wanting to quit smoking, the belief that vaping is less harmful than smoking, and e-cigarettes being cheaper than regular tobacco.

Vape shop staff provided a valuable service in giving product information, and advice on battery safety, operation and maintenance of devices.

E-cigarettes are now the most commonly used cessation aid in England, used by 34% of adults who quit or made a quit attempt in the last year.

A 2015 study in Italy looked at how effective vape shops could be in helping smokers to quit. Of 71 adults making their first purchase at a participating vape shop, 40% had quit smoking 12 months later. Another 25% had reduced their cigarette intake.

Another study in the US sampled 100 vape shop customers found that 62% of customers had quit smoking completely, confirmed by a breath test.  Most participants reported that they started vaping to stop/ reduce smoking (48%) and to improve their health (32%).

A majority reported they preferred to buy e-cigarette supplies at vape shops because of “access to staff that can help troubleshoot e-cigarette problems” (85%), and “enjoy the atmosphere” (74%).

There are now nearly 40,000 vape shops around the world according to the Vapetrotter website. The ATHRA website lists details of all the vape shops in Australia, currently around  75 and rapidly increasing. Click here to find one near you.

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