The Story Vol 22

% ORDER OF USE – TOBACCO, CIGARETTES AND E-CIGARETTES
Tried real cigarettes before first trying e-cigarette Tried e-cigarettes before first trying real cigarette
Have never smoked real cigarette but have tried e-cigarette
70.2 63.7
56.9
51.6
45.9
48.7
47.2
18.3
7.9
22.3
9
29
10.2
26.5
16.6
29.7
20.6
27.8
18.4
27.2
20.4
39.8
29.3
24.6
2014
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
The percentage of 11–18 year olds who tried real cigarettes before vaping has almost halved since
2014 (39.8%), but is still higher than the number who tried vaping before smoking (24.6%). There has
been concern that the growing visibility of vaping would lead to an uptake in young people smoking
tobacco cigarettes, but recent studies have found that vaping is viewed differently from tobacco, so
attitudes towards smoking do not seem to have softened. 2
So What?
Young people’s awareness
of e-cigarettes may well have
increased, and the likelihood of
trying or currently using e-cigarettes
also seems to increase with age
and smoking status. However, this
data doesn’t seem to suggest any
significant increase in the use of
e-cigarettes among young people
since 2015. We are curious to see
if this trend changes in 2022, given
our experience locally of a sharp
increase in young people vaping.
Gemma Milligan,
Assistant Director of Youthscape Luton:
“Vaping is attractive to young people for many of the
same reasons that it provides challenges to youth
workers: it’s illegal for under 18s, it can be done
discretely, there is no bad smell, and it fits neatly in a
pocket. So, many of those we work with on our youth
programmes are vaping in the toilets and then lying
about it, which is challenging when we are wanting
to build a culture of respect and trust. Rather than
banning vaping (which doesn’t stop it) or banning those
who vape (who we want to support), we are currently
creating contexts where vaping can occur on our terms.
This helps maintain good relationships and allows us to
explore the reasons behind the behaviour.”
1. Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). Use of e-cigarettes among young people in Great Britain. 2021. 2. Brown et al (2020).
A qualitative study of e-cigarette emergence and the potential for renormalisation of smoking in UK youth. International Journal
of Drug Policy (75)
P.7