This elf bar craze ........

[VoluptuaGoodshag]

It's getting worrying. There is little research into the long term effects. It seems to have risen from less than 1% of teens using them in January 2021 to over 50% in a year. Each elf bar has the equivalent nicotine of 50 fags!! My teenage son thankfully has body swerved them but says virtually every girl he knows is addicted to them, even having sly puffs in the class room. They are advertised everywhere with juicy sounding flavours, marketed at the young imo and not much is being done about it.

Yes it is worrying
I quit smoking, and then through lockdowns etc started having the odd one

Then suddenly all my friends were on elf bars from mid-2021 and I also got hooked!!

We are all 30+ so not kids but somehow we thought it was better than cigarettes and when I eventually tried to stop them I was an absolute mess, the withdrawal was nothing like what I had experienced with cigarettes.

Successfully stopped all vaping but seeing as when I was smoking cigarettes at the end it was 1 or 2 a day it seems like I just set myself back massively

I'll admit I know very little, how do they differ from other vapes? Is the % of all teenagers using elf vapes or 50%; of teenagers who vapes use elf? (Sorry for the daft question )

Be interested to know what's different from other nicotine liquids?

This is such a problem in schools too.

We have some parents buying them for their teenagers - we desperately need a government warning on these ASAP

I thought this would be something to do with Christmas Elves...

I have never heard of them!

Never heard of them! I though you was from the East End and was describing one of those muesli/protein snacks.

Off to google .....

I'm an ex smoker, now vaper.

I've tried these a couple of times and I cannot get on with them at all. They are way too strong for me. I believe they are 20 mg of nicotine

A friend of mine uses them and can easily get through one in an evening

@WhiteFire here's the quote from the press. It suggests that half of 18 year olds vape and half of those use elf bars.

Dr Nye said: “A recent study has shown from January 2021 to January 2022, there was a 14-fold increase in the percentage of vapers that used disposables, rising from 1.2 per cent to 16.7 per cent - the percentage of 18-year-old vapers using disposables rose from 0.89 per cent to 56.7 per cent. So over half of reported vapers aged 18 are using these Elf Bars.

Hopefully this might put some off -

According to vapoholic, the side effects of using elf bars can include a dry mouth, a cough, nausea, mouth and throat irritation, headaches, and shortness of breath. TikTok dentist Anna Peterson said that the nicotine inside Elf and Geek Bars can lead to tooth loss and gum disease.7 Jun 2022

@BobbyBobbyBobby I did chortle at that. Elf is just a disposable brand of vape, they seem more available and more popular amongst the yoofs

I admit I am a vaper so I wouldn’t want them banned (selfishly) however it is worrying how many children are using them.

I think they need to get rid of the colourful boxes & tubes (similar to the cigarette box change) and they need to start doing age checks on places selling them like they do alcohol. And not just vape shops.

I vape. They are totally aimed at kids, the flavours, the colours, the collectability. I can't think of how they could attract more teenage attention. It's blatant.
They hit better than other vapes and are £3.50 each from online retailers.

Just asked my 14 and 16 year olds and they have never heard of these at their school.

@Hwory that's what really concerns me - they are just so visible. Fags are hidden behind covers and the packets carry pictures of cancer ridden lungs to warn folk of the effects. Vapes and elf bars in particular, are right there in your face at the check out, beside the sweets, in groovy colours and tempting flavours.

@MontyK so your mate is effectively smoking 2.5 packets of fags in one night. How can this not be bad for you!!!! My son says some of his peers are the same and get through an elf bar in a day, every day, which is the equivalent of 350 fags a week or 17.5 packets of fags a week.

Remember when people were encouraged to smoke and nobody thought it had health risks?
Look what happened there!!

I have a refill pod elf bar, pack of two refills is £5. I can use a pod a day if I'm not careful. It's like having a bag of jelly beans you just keep going.

I think you’ve read this wrongly, tbh.

It doesn’t anywhere say what proportion of teens are vaping.

What it says is that AMONG VAPERS, 1.2% used to use disposable (as opposed to refillable) vapes.

Now, 16.7% OF VAPERS use disposable as opposed to refillable.

It then points out that among 18 year olds WHO VAPE, 56.7% now use disposables.

So this report is entirely about people who already vape switching to disposables from refillable.

It absolutely doesn’t mean that half of teens are using vapes.

They're not just bad for your health, they're also atrocious for the environment.

The only reason they exist is to make someone money. They have absolutely no benefits to anyone else and the sooner they're banned the better imo.

I have this little theory that the tobacco industry are trying to get people addicted to vape - like a starter cigarette - and then anticipate they switch to real cigarettes. No basis for this but just think there are a lot of clever marketers in that industry and a lot of money to be made! Very sad anyway for young people's health.

My daughter's friend is hopelessly and unhappily addicted to them, which is no surprise when you see how high the nicotine content is; they're far more addictive than cigarettes.

@Threadkillacilla is right in saying:
They are totally aimed at kids, the flavours, the colours, the collectability. I can't think of how they could attract more teenage attention. It's blatant.

They definitely need regulation in line with tobacco sales, I agree.

I vape and I have always loved my kit that I can refill on the go.

However, these Elf bars and Lost Mary disposables (same company) just hit differently. If I had to choose between my little pod device and an Elf bar it would be an Elf bar every single time.

Which is obviously concerning, both for the addictive levels and the environment.

It's utter madness.
We are on the verge of another health crisis with these vapes.
The design and marketing is totally aimed at the young. We are taking them off 11 yr olds FFS.

Not quite true; tobacco industry is investing in vaping because it IS the future of smoking.

Tobacco will be dead in 20 years; people will vape instead.

.... And then in another decade, who knows, the tsunami of respiratory and oral cancers may start.

Never heard of elf bars. I was thinking a ( wine) bar decorated with elves but these are the little plastic things, look like mini lighters, I keep seeing on pavements? Great, more litter.
Also, if they contain that much nicotine and I assume are consumed fairly quickly there’s a risk of mouth and throat cancer? Friend died that way, it was a horrible, traumatic, drawn out way to die. Surely they should at least have similar warnings to cigarettes.