English: The Latest Data Shows That The Scale Of The Illegal E-cigarette Problem Is Enormous.

According to the report by Talkingretail on January 2nd: In 2025, more than 14,000 enterprises were identified as owning, storing or selling illegal electronic cigarettes.
Meanwhile, a large number of illegal nicotine products flooded local stores - in the past 12 months, the police seized 7.15 million illegal cigarettes, 257,000 illegal disposable electronic cigarettes and nearly 10,000 nicotine pouches.
Industry experts warn consumers to pay attention to some clues, as more than half (54%) of British electronic cigarette users believe they were deceived into purchasing illegal electronic cigarette products. These data come from requests made by local councils across the UK under the Information Freedom Act, collected by the largest online electronic cigarette retailer Vape Club as part of its annual illegal electronic cigarette report.
A consumer research conducted by Vape Club in 2025 surveyed 2,000 electronic cigarette users across the UK. The results showed that a significant portion of British electronic cigarette users had purchased suspected illegal products from local convenience stores (36%), followed by local electronic cigarette stores (33%), and market stalls or street vendors (26%).
The reform measures announced in the November budget may impose a fine of £10,000 and imprisonment on unscrupulous merchants selling illegal electronic cigarettes.
Dan Marchant, the director of Vape Club and a founding member of the British Electronic Cigarette Industry Association, said: "The irresponsible sale of illegal and non-compliant products has caused great damage to the reputation of the electronic cigarette industry. The legal existence of the electronic cigarette industry is to help adult smokers quit cigarettes." "More measures must be taken to crack down on illegal electronic cigarette stores. The Trade Standards Department has done its best to utilize existing resources, but they simply do not have enough manpower to deal with these issues."