They taste like apple or mint, and even grandma’s vanilla pudding is available as a flavor: e-cigarettes are clearly gaining ground in customer favor.
Germany’s e-cigarette industry continues its boom. Sales of devices, liquids and accessories are estimated to be 810 million euros this year, 40 percent higher than in 2022, as the Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment (BfTG) announced at the Intertabac trade fair in Dortmund. In 2022 there was also an increase of 40 percent.
When it comes to cigarettes, however, things are going downhill. Sales have increased slightly so far this year, but according to the tobacco industry association BVTE, this increase will shrink to zero by the end of the year. A decline of 8.3 percent was recorded in 2022. The BVTE also expects a minus for 2024.
E-cigarettes “risky to health”
The boom in e-cigarettes is also due to the fact that vaping devices are now available at many more points of sale than before – whether gas stations, supermarkets or kiosks. “Almost everywhere there are tobacco cigarettes, there are also e-cigarettes,” said BfTG boss Dustin Dahlmann. “We’re very pleased about that because we want to reach smokers where they buy their cigarettes.” E-cigarettes contain significantly fewer harmful substances, which the industry uses as a selling point – according to them, smokers can significantly reduce the health risk if they switch.
But doctors warn of the consequences. “The aerosol from e-cigarettes is most likely significantly less harmful than the smoke from tobacco cigarettes, but it is a health risk,” says the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).
Criticism of disposable e-cigarettes
Disposable e-cigarettes, which end up in the trash and cannot be charged or refilled, also attract criticism. Environmentalists see this as a waste of resources. According to the BfTG’s figures, such disposable items are still a mass business, but their share of the overall vaporizer market fell from 40 to 30 percent in one year. Dahlmann sees this as a step towards sustainability.
However, alternative products, which are still relatively new on the market and are gaining momentum, are not really sustainable either: with reusable e-cigarettes, the electronic device is kept and recharged, but the cartridge (pod) with the liquid (liquid) is thrown away – that causes plastic waste. Such products account for 15 percent of the market. The rest is classic e-cigarettes, where both the battery is recharged and the liquid container is refilled.
The boom in e-cigarettes can be clearly seen at the Dortmund trade fair, which is considered the world’s largest industry gathering: 150 of the 680 exhibitors are from the vaping industry, and the trend is rising. Other alternatives to the classic glow stick are also on the rise, such as tobacco heaters. Manufactured by tobacco giants Philip Morris, BAT and JTI, these products heat tobacco rather than burning it, releasing fewer pollutants.
Specialist retailers are also feeling the effects of the falling demand for classic tobacco products. However, Torsten Löffler from the Federal Association of Tobacco Retailers said that the losses would be overcompensated by the alternative products. “We have to advance the e-cigarette,” he said. “Today we still earn most of our money from cigarettes and the like, but if you still want to play tomorrow, you have to face the risk-reduced alternatives.”
And what do medium-sized German companies do that rely entirely on tobacco products despite this trend towards reduced-pollution products? Michael von Foerster from the Association of the German Smoking Tobacco Industry (VdR) represents eleven such companies, which together have around 5,000 employees and produce pipe tobacco, fine cuts, cigarettes and cigars – including Pöschl (Bavaria) and von Eicken (Schleswig-Holstein). “We are relatively stable and will continue to exist sustainably in the various areas,” said the managing director: “We look very positively into the future.”
Source: Stern
