A ban on popular ‘gateway' disposable vaping products would reduce youth access, according to industry experts.

Disposable e-cigarettes or disposable pods have a finite number of uses per vape, known as ‘puffs'. Depending on the size purchased, each disposable vape can range from 400 to 3500 puffs.

Latest New Zealand research shows a fifth (20 per cent) of students are vaping daily or several times a day, and the majority are vaping with high nicotine doses.

The study found dairies and petrol stations are the most common source of vaping products for over half (57 per cent) of this age group.

Shosha spokesperson Nabhik Gupta says there are over 600 different varieties of disposable vapes available, most of which are fruit flavoured.

He says New Zealand should adopt recent US moves in banning the sale of some of the most popular disposable vapes, allowing the industry to focus on smoking cessation.

'As a measure of how ubiquitous these products are among this demographic, international research has found a disposable pod vape is the e-cigarette of choice for a quarter (26 per cent) of high school students.

'What we know about disposable vapes is that they are popular with youth due to their lower cost and their wide variety of fruit flavours - which appeal to younger people.

'The access to these products is having a deleterious impact on Kiwi students with almost half (47 per cent) reporting negative health outcomes from vaping.

'We urgently need new regulations introduced which prevent the import and sale of disposable vapes. It is essential that the industry's focus be on the use of vaping purely as a smoking cessation aid, which is in line with the Ministry of Health's guidelines and the country's Smokefree 2025 goals.

Gupta says disposable vapes start at around $10 which makes them more affordable to young people.

'In comparison, a refillable vape product, which is used by smokers, would cost around $50+.

'This is still considered very economical when compared to the cost of cigarettes, and therefore works well as part of a smoking cessation programme.

'However local research has found students are bypassing age restrictions at stores by sourcing vapes from friends and family members, we know that cost can be used as a barrier if we remove the cheaper products from the market entirely.

'What we can see from experience in other countries is that the lower cost disposable products are acting as a gateway for thousands of non-smoking youths, exposing them unnecessarily to a nicotine addiction.”

Gupta says he has talked to other specialty retailers who are supportive of the move to ban disposable vapes.

He says the high volumes of disposable vapes being consumed also has an environmental impact with each containing a lithium battery.