Life isn’t easy for those who vape in Australia. While vaping itself is legal there, e-liquid with nicotine is not. Domestic vape shops in Australia are able to offer nicotine-free e-liquid legally, and many people do avail themselves of that option and eventually stop using both tobacco and nicotine. Most smokers, though, want to switch to vaping while continuing to use nicotine. Through a loophole in Australia’s laws regarding controlled substances, Australians can import limited supplies of certain prohibited items – such as nicotine – for personal use with a doctor’s prescription.
New Zealand vape shops have become favorite shopping destinations for Australian vapers. Nicotine e-liquid is legal there, and shipping from New Zealand to Australia for small items like e-liquid bottles is nearly as fast as ordering from domestic vendors.
The ability to ship a wide variety of inexpensive e-liquid from New Zealand to Australia, however, may not last forever. In New Zealand, the vaping industry currently exists in an essentially unregulated state. New Zealand Associate Minister of Health Jenny Salesa has said that she expects to introduce a proposed set of vaping regulations to New Zealand’s Parliament within the next few months. Those regulations aren’t just likely to curtail the growth of the vaping industry in New Zealand; they could also have a profound effect on how Australians get their e-liquid.
Salesa has indicated that her proposed regulations will limit the ways in which New Zealand’s vaping brands can market their products. More importantly for consumers, though, is the possibility that the regulations may include a ban on e-liquid flavors other than tobacco, menthol and mint.
Many words have been written about the likely outcomes for vaping consumers and business owners in New Zealand if a ban on most e-liquid flavors takes effect. Little attention has been paid, however, to the impact that a New Zealand flavor ban would have on the nearly 250,000 people in Australia who vape.
Australia is one of the world’s biggest vaping markets, and given the country’s restrictions on nicotine e-liquid, many of those people depend on New Zealand vape shops to supply their e-liquid. Here’s what an e-liquid flavor ban in New Zealand would mean to Australian vapers.
New Zealand-Made E-Liquids Would Become Unavailable
E-liquid is made around the world, but Australia and New Zealand are special cases because the two markets are symbiotic in a way. There are about twice as many vapers in Australia as there are in New Zealand. Australian companies can’t make e-liquid with nicotine because it’s illegal. New Zealand e-liquid companies receive a significant portion of their business from Australia, so they work hard to provide nicotine vape juice that’s tailored to the Australian palate. If most e-liquid flavors become illegal in New Zealand, the majority of the companies making vape juice there will go out of business because it’s virtually impossible to sustain an e-liquid company on sales of tobacco, mint and menthol vape juice alone. In the event of a flavor ban, Australian vapers would lose access to their favorite New Zealand-made e-liquids unless the makers of those e-liquids relocate to other countries.
Australian JUUL Users Will Have Trouble Finding Pods
The Australian vapers who will suffer most in the event of an e-liquid flavor ban in New Zealand are those who use closed pod vaping systems such as the JUUL. The JUUL vaping system isn’t available at all from domestic sellers in Australia because JUUL makes no nicotine-free pods. New Zealand vape shops have become particularly special to Australian JUUL owners because companies like Premium Vape have taken the time to source all available JUUL pod flavors and nicotine strengths from distributors around the world.
Australian vapers who buy JUUL pods in New Zealand don’t just enjoy fast shipping; they also benefit from an enormous selection of pods. A flavored e-liquid ban in New Zealand will force Australian JUUL users to buy their pods elsewhere – but other regions have their own problems.
- In the United States, JUUL discontinued all flavors except Virginia Tobacco, Classic Tobacco and Menthol in 2019. Other JUUL flavors are not available in the U.S. at the time of writing. Any U.S.-based vendor offering other JUUL flavors is highly likely to be selling fake pods, though perhaps unintentionally.
- In the United Kingdom and Europe, local laws limit the maximum nicotine strength of e-liquid. While JUUL pods in New Zealand are available with nicotine concentrations of up to 59 mg/ml, the maximum strength available for JUUL pods in Europe is 18 mg/ml. That’s an enormous decrease for those already using the higher strength.
Australian Vapers Would Experience Longer Shipping Times for E-Liquid
As mentioned above, one of the greatest benefits for Australians who buy e-liquid from New Zealand is the fact that the shipping is extremely quick – about as fast as ordering from domestic vendors. That’s great for Australians who can’t afford to buy e-liquid in bulk and would rather buy their vape juice as they need it. If you know that you’re going to receive your order in around two days, you can wait until you’re beginning to run out of e-liquid before you order more. Many New Zealand vape shops don’t even charge postage fees for orders shipped to Australia.
For Australians accustomed to ordering their e-liquids and pods from New Zealand, life will become significantly more challenging in the event of a New Zealand flavored e-liquid ban. Europe limits the nicotine strengths of e-liquids, so you won’t want to order e-liquid from a European vendor unless you’re already using a nicotine strength of 20 mg/ml or lower. The United States may soon enact a flavor ban of its own, so some Australian vapers will ultimately turn to regions such as Canada. Buying e-liquid from Canadian vendors would be a logistical nightmare for Australian vapers, who would need to order in greater bulk to compensate for the much longer shipping times. Postage fees would also be significantly higher due to the increased distance that packages would need to travel.