Ban on the Puff: what you need to know

On 3 September, the prime minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the Puff electronic cigarette would be banned. As part of the plan against smoking, this disposable e-cigarette is judged to be too dangerous. Here is a closer look.

The Puff: the fashionable accessory on social media

It was born on the other side of the Atlantic and crossed the ocean to sweep across the European market. The Puff is a disposable electronic cigarette, with or without nicotine, allowing a limited number of puffs, between 300 and 600. In the space of a few months, it became a favourite among teenagers.

Social media has a great deal to do with this, since it is through those channels that the electronic cigarette met with such success across the continent and in France in particular. Because it targets teenagers specifically, however, it represents a real risk for that group. That is why the government wants to curb its sale in France.

For the moment, all that is known is that the government is going after this disposable e-cigarette. At a press conference on 3 September, Elisabeth Borne said that the Puff would be banned on French soil in order to reduce smoking. She also made clear that the terms of that removal would be set out in due course. In her view, even though some Puffs contain no nicotine, they give young people bad habits and the gestures that go with them, which could tempt them towards smoking.

A ban already announced in several European countries

Eye-catching packaging, an accessible price and flavours that appeal to the youngest: the audience targeted by Puffs really is teenagers. Yet that group needs to be protected from the harmful effects of tobacco. Furthermore, even though minors are not in theory allowed to buy this type of product, some tobacconists admit that they are not very strict and even sell them to the youngest customers. It should be noted that many governments have already restricted, or even banned, the sale of the Puff. That is the case in Germany, Ireland and Belgium, among others. It will therefore be a little while yet before the shape and the terms of this ban in France become clear.