Portsmouth vaping shop staff welcome the new plans to reduce smoking

The newly-released government-commissioned report promotes vapes as an effective ‘swap to stop’ tool to help people quit smoking.

The first e-cigarette and vape stores hit the UK just before 2010, with more than a dozen popping up across the Portsmouth area.

At Vapestore Portsmouth, in Crasswell Street, one staff member said that most customers were tobacco-users looking move to a smoke-free source for their nicotine hit.

Shop assistant Michael Dymock said: ‘I have worked here for four years and the majority of customers are people looking to move away from tobacco.

‘A lot of people want to start with a high nicotine product and then go down and wean themselves off it.’

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth smokers welcome idea

Speaking personally, the shop worker said he approved of the plans put forward by the Khan Review.

He said: ‘I took (smoking) up when I was 18.

‘I moved onto vaping a couple of years afterwards.’

But the vape seller remained sceptical that the country could see a smoke-free society within a generation, saying that he believes he would have still taken up smoking even under the proposed increasing age restrictions.

He said: ‘I would have still possibly taken it up – it depends on the people you’re around.’

In many e-cigarettes, puffing activates the battery-powered heating device, which vaporises the liquid – which often contains nicotine – in the cartridge or reservoir.