University College London tracked habits across England and found over one in 20 people now smoke as well as vape with ‘duel users’ increasing by half since 2016
More people are smoking as well as vaping, new research shows.
Over one in 20 people now smoke tobacco as well as using e-cigarettes, having increased by around half since 2016. Experts from University College London (UCL) conducted a series of questionnaires on 129,000 adults to track smoking and vaping habits in the population of England.
The proportion of smokers who also vaped was “relatively stable” – at around one in five – until mid-2021 when disposable vapes saw a bump in popularity. By April 2024 this had increased to 34%. The greatest rise was in young adults with 59% of smokers also vaping.
Lead author Dr Sarah Jackson said: “Dual use of vapes and cigarettes is often a transitional state as people seek to quit smoking or reduce their smoking. Therefore it is not necessarily bad for people’s health over the long term, if it helps people move away from smoking.
“In our study, we found a shift in the behaviour of dual users away from more frequent smoking to more frequent vaping. This may be good news, as dual users can reduce the harm they are exposed to by vaping more and smoking less. However, it is important that people quit smoking completely to get the full health benefits.”
The findings, published in the journal Addiction, showed 3.5% of the population both smoked and vaped in 2016 but this increased to 5.2% by 2024.
In last year’s King’s Speech ministers promised a Tobacco and Vapes Bill to progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and ban shopkeepers from selling cigarettes to anybody born in 2009 or later. It would also ban disposable vapes. However many brands have already launched reusable products.
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), said: “Action is needed to ensure all dual users fully switch. Too many believe vaping is as harmful as smoking and don’t understand that completely switching will protect their health. Government should maintain investment in swap-to-stop scheme for vapes and counter these misperceptions through targeted communications.”
Over time the proportion of smokers who smoked daily and vaped occasionally halved from 32% to 15%, while the proportion vaping daily and smoking non-daily more than doubled from 8% to 22%. This may be down to dual use among younger smokers who are more frequent vapers and less frequent smokers than older adults.
The research team raised concerns that “misconceptions” around the harms of vapes may be hampering smokers’ attempts to quit.
Alizee Froguel, prevention policy manager at Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said: “Tobacco causes around 160 cases of cancer every day in the UK. If you smoke, the best thing you can do for your health is to stop completely. Research shows that legal vapes are far less harmful than tobacco and can help people quit for good.
“While it’s important that they’re accessible to people trying to stop smoking, they shouldn’t fall into the hands of children or be used by people who have never smoked. To help end cancers caused by tobacco, the Government must provide sustained funding for stop smoking services.”
