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

61 replies

VoluptuaGoodshag · 25/11/2022 08:02

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.

OP posts:
PeloFondo · 25/11/2022 10:11

@CarefreeMe the flavours have been about a LONG time, just not the disposable type
I was buying flavoured liquid in 2013 Grin
Am 38 and a vape is the only thing that got me to quit my 30 a day habit. Currently on milk biscuits flavour - I don't like tobacco now I've quit

DarkShade · 25/11/2022 10:11

I used to smoke, and switched to vapes to try to stop - this was about 10 years ago and they'd just come out. They were so incredibly addictive, way worse than cigarettes. I hated them with a passion and hated how addicted I was. I actually did successfully quit. One day I was too ill to vape, and when I felt better I thought well it's been 2 days, just keep going without and see. It was awful, but the fact that I hated them so much probably is what made me quit. It sounds like now they are just too addictive.

Floydthebarber · 25/11/2022 10:14

Threadkillacilla · 25/11/2022 09:04

www.electrictobacconist.co.uk/elf-bar?filter=t28-1019

Look at these and tell me they aren't aimed at kids.

I think it's more specific than children, they are aimed at teenagers, these ones in particular teenage girls
www.electrictobacconist.co.uk/elf-bar?filter=t28-1018

They look like make up compacts.

Tinner01 · 25/11/2022 10:41

Definitely aimed at teens… £6 each, in every corner shop, taste like sweets, smell doesn’t linger so no parents noticing, very full of nicotine!

CarefreeMe · 25/11/2022 11:59

Am 38 and a vape is the only thing that got me to quit my 30 a day habit. Currently on milk biscuits flavour - I don't like tobacco now I've quit

I also used vapes to help me quit although they personally didn’t work for me as I just became addicted to them instead.

Having a flavour you enjoy is counterproductive as the point is to wean yourself off.
Not just find a new addiction.

But the flavours are absolutely aimed at a younger demographic and the accessories and how they’re advertised is definitely not aimed at current smokers who are older, which is the issue.

PeloFondo · 25/11/2022 12:13

I'm not fussed about weaning myself off, I just don't want to smoke
I have a nicotine addiction the same as a caffeine one, and vaping is the best solution for me
The actual flavours aren't the issue as there wasn't a mad craze for them in 2013-2019 because elf bars etc weren't a thing - it's the easy to access disposable vapes being sold to under age that is

VoluptuaGoodshag · 26/11/2022 09:39

Just been reading up on nicotine itself - never knew it used to be used as an insecticide.

OP posts:
Icannoteven · 26/11/2022 09:55

I've just kicked my elf bar addiction a few months ago. I absolutely agree with the person up-thread who said it is much more difficult to give up than cigarettes. The cravings hang around so much longer!

Whenever I gave up cigarettes in the past - such as when I was pregnant - it would take around 3 days for the cravings to subside and that was that. With vaping, it too around 2 months. 2 months of cravings and terrible insomnia!

Tbf though, one reason that smoking is easier to give up is that within around a day after quitting, you feel so much better - healthier, cleaner, a I.e. to breathe more easily etc. You don't get this with vaping, the benefits of quitting aren't clear and immediate because while you are vaping you don't experience coughing and mucous, palpitations and all of the other horrible things you get with a smoking addiction. It doesn't FEEL like it is affecting your health at all (I gave up for financial reasons. Though I took up knitting socks so I had something to do with my hands. Now I have a yarn addiction as expensive as the vaping addiction 😬)

VoluptuaGoodshag · 26/11/2022 13:50

@Icannoteven but at least you’re health won’t be compromised and you’ll have toasty tootsies 😄

OP posts:
thesnailandthewhale · 26/11/2022 15:59

It's not just the Elf bars ...

www.healthline.com/health-news/teens-and-disguised-vaping-devices

Threadkillacilla · 26/11/2022 17:28

thesnailandthewhale · 26/11/2022 15:59

Obviously no adult would need a vape hoody. It's worrying and frightening knowing just how addictive it is.

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