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With its colorful packaging and attractive price, the puff seduces teenagers, even before the first puff. However, it is not without danger.
Aesthetic, colorful and playful, the “puff” often seduce the youngest with their sweet or fruity flavors. However, these disposable electronic cigarettes are anything but harmless. Like their elders, they can be addictive in a few puffs.
A taste of a cigarette
This funny cigarette, invented in 2019 by two Californians, takes its name from the English word “puff”, that is to say a puff, as we would say “taffe” in French.
And the least we can say is that it quickly became a hit on the French market: teenagers, often minors, love these fruity vapors (frosted banana, marshmallow, chocolate hazelnut, ice candy, etc.) and its highly attractive prices: count 8 to 12 euros for 500 puffs.
“The tragedy is that we are addressing very young children, especially college students, through a fun product“, warns the president ofalliance against tobaccointerviewed by Ouest France.
The puff would therefore hide its game well… and would encourage teenagers to move slowly but surely towards cigarettes. Some brands also boast of making young people discover “the taste and the gesture of the cigarette“.
One in 10 teens have used a puff
In the playground, many have already tested it.
“L2/3 of adolescents aged 13 to 16 have heard of puff and more than 1/3 claim to know exactly what it is“, reveals a recent BVA study for the Alliance Against Tobacco.
In total, 1 in 10 teenagers say they have already tried this disposable cigarette. And for good reason: the purchase is relatively easy since 1/4 of them believe that “it is easy to get one”.
A real public health problem, which prompted the Ministry of Health to send a report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The National Committee against Smoking (CNCT) has joined the call of the Alliance Against Tobacco, to demand the “immediate ban” of disposable electronic cigarettes, “both harmful to children’s health and to the environment“.
Real health effects
Although a majority of young people consider the Puff as a simple gadget, the puff is indeed harmful: composed of nicotine salts, chemicals, e-liquid based on aromas (the effects of which are still unknown) and propylene glycol, it can cause inflammation of the respiratory tract and impact the cognitive acquisitions (memory, attention, etc.) of the youngest.
Finally, “the nicotine level (up to 20 mg/mL) is high enough to be highly addictive and a gateway to smoking“, emphasizes the Alliance against tobacco.