What ban? E-cigarettes, vapes freely available for Mumbai smokers

Be it alcohol, pornography or e-cigarettes, Indians have always managed to circumvent bans.

On September 18, 2019, in what was termed as a “major health and wellness initiative for the country”, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Promulgation of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage, and advertisement) Ordinance, 2019, thereby slapping a complete ban on e-cigarettes and “vapes” throughout the country.

Upon the promulgation of that Ordinance, any type of production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale (including online sale), distribution or advertisement (including online advertisement) of e-cigarettes was deemed a cognisable offence punishable with imprisonment of up to one year or fine up to Rs 1 lakh or both for the first offence; and imprisonment of up to three years and fine up to Rs 5 lakh for a subsequent offence.

The storage of e-cigarettes would also be punishable with imprisonment up to six months or a fine up to Rs 50,000 or both.

Smoke-and-throw avatars

Three years on, e-cigarettes seem to have once again found their way to Mumbai’s underground markets and into the hands of Mumbaikars. Be it roadside paanwaalas or cigarette shops located in south Bombay’s Crawford Market, or as far as in the western suburbs of Juhu, everyone is stocking up on a product that has for long been marketed as a tool to help smokers reduce their smoking of traditional cigarettes. Only, this time, the product has a new avatar.

The new vapes that are being sold fall in the “one-time-use” category, meaning that their batteries cannot be recharged. Most of them are manufactured by Chinese companies. Depending on the seller, these vapes can cost anywhere between Rs 600 and Rs 2,000 per piece, for an average of anywhere between 2,500 and 4,000 puffs.

Be it e-cigarettes, vapes or traditional cigarette sticks, the primary agent in all of them is a toxic substance called “nicotine”, which is highly addictive and is known to raise the body’s blood pressure and adrenalin, thereby making a person more prone to having a heart attack. Nicotine causes cravings and leads to withdrawals if the craving is ignored.

Gen-next’s favourite

E-cigarettes have been marketed as a tool to help smokers cut down on their smoking since it does not contain tobacco and other carcinogenic components that make up the constitution of traditional cigarettes. However, they do contain a high component of nicotine. At the same time, due to their attractive flavours such as mint ice, raspberry cola, mango, peach, and countless variations more, e-cigarettes and vapes have managed to tap a newer, much younger generation, putting them on a lifelong journey of nicotine addiction.

“I only stock up on the flavours that have high demand…there are a lot of flavours available in the market but every consumer has their own favourite and some flavours sell more widely than others,” a retail seller at Crawford Market told The Federal. “The variants that give more drags per unit are priced higher than the ones giving fewer puffs.” 

Another seller based out Juhu said: “The minimum price I charge for these vapes is Rs 800 [2,500 puffs]. The stock that I get doesn’t last beyond a week since the number of people buying this product has been going up consistently. People want what their friends have. Also, it’s a cheaper alternative to cigarettes.” 

There are also pdf files being shared by e-cigarette sellers on WhatsApp with their regular customers, which contain all the flavours of the week, the different brands that are available, special “vape of the day” offers and also a home delivery system.

Defining e-cigarettes

An “e-cigarette” means an “electronic device that heats a substance, with or without nicotine and flavours, to create an aerosol for inhalation. A notification published by the Press Information Bureau of India describes it as “battery-operated devices that produce aerosol by heating a solution containing nicotine, which is the addictive substance in combustible cigarettes”. These include all forms of electronic nicotine delivery systems, heat not burn products, e-hookah and similar devices.

“These novel products come with attractive appearances and multiple flavours and their use has increased exponentially and has acquired epidemic proportions in developed countries, especially among youth and children,” stated the notification.

“For me, it is the ease of use,” said 28-year-old Rohan (name changed), who has been vaping for the past two months. “I used to spend Rs 350 on a daily basis to buy a pack of cigarettes, but now I buy one of these [disposable vapes] for anywhere between Rs 600 and Rs 900 and it lasts me for almost the entire week. The fact that there is no smoke produced [only vapor] means that I can smoke it in the comfort of my room or a vehicle without having to worry about any kind of smell. I don’t have to go all the way to the ground floor of my office anymore and into the designated smoking area to smoke a cigarette; I instead just take a few quick drags on the staircase and come back to my desk to work.”

32-year-old Mohit (name changed) said: “I came across my first disposable vape at a well-known cigarette retail shop in Crawford Market in February. Funnily enough, this shop has been around for more than 50 years and used to be a place my father used to visit regularly to buy his imported cigarettes back in the 80s. The product wasn’t advertised or kept in the open… the seller gave it to me from a plastic box that was hidden somewhere inside his shop. I have been a regular cigarette smoker for almost 14 years now and haven’t quit smoking traditional cigarettes completely… I still smoke from time to time. But the e-cigarette has become my go-to because its quicker, tastier, and from what I understand, less harmful.”

Strangely addictive

However, both, Rohan and Mohit said that when they first started vaping, their device used to last nearly a week. But as they went on to become regular “vapers”, the e-cigarette started lasting a shorter while. “Mine now gets over in maybe three or four days,” admitted Mohit. “It is strangely addictive and easy to smoke.”

According to the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, vaping is less harmful than smoking traditional cigarettes, but it is “still not safe”.

In February 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 2,807 cases of e-cigarette or vaping use-associated lung injury and 68 deaths attributed to that condition. Medical research also suggests that vaping is bad for the heart and lungs and that electronic cigarettes are “just as addictive” as traditional ones. Furthermore, the Centre found that e-cigarettes weren’t the “best smoking cessation tool”.