Bans in my country typically have a huge black market element swoop in, but tbf you’re right the UK’s might not be as big as ours. Bans are never very effective though, doesn’t work well for other addictive substances, like drugs, for instance.
It’s true that full bans rarely work, but bans are effective with comparable alternatives. Flavored cigarettes (except menthol) were banned in my country years ago and while people were mad I haven’t seen them since I was a kid and I’ve smoked my fair share of illegal pot with cigarette smokers.
That ban happened in my country too, but cigars were allowed, so all the flavored cigarettes literally just increased in thickness by about 45% and instead of paper used a composite leaf wrapping, Djarums are still around, Cheyennes are too, but vaping really dealt the death blow to their popularity because let’s be real it’s just so much better if we’re considering flavors.
There was still a black market for the old Djarums for a good while, and after that afaik I still know a website that will illegally ship the old ones to me I found years later, but shipping is like $20 so you have to get a couple cartons and I vape instead of smoking now, so I’d like one, maybe a pack at best, and it’s just not worth it.
Bans in my country typically have a huge black market element swoop in, but tbf you’re right the UK’s might not be as big as ours. Bans are never very effective though, doesn’t work well for other addictive substances, like drugs, for instance.
It’s true that full bans rarely work, but bans are effective with comparable alternatives. Flavored cigarettes (except menthol) were banned in my country years ago and while people were mad I haven’t seen them since I was a kid and I’ve smoked my fair share of illegal pot with cigarette smokers.
That ban happened in my country too, but cigars were allowed, so all the flavored cigarettes literally just increased in thickness by about 45% and instead of paper used a composite leaf wrapping, Djarums are still around, Cheyennes are too, but vaping really dealt the death blow to their popularity because let’s be real it’s just so much better if we’re considering flavors.
There was still a black market for the old Djarums for a good while, and after that afaik I still know a website that will illegally ship the old ones to me I found years later, but shipping is like $20 so you have to get a couple cartons and I vape instead of smoking now, so I’d like one, maybe a pack at best, and it’s just not worth it.