VAPERS have been scrambling to stockpile their favourite products as shopkeepers unload disposable devices with big discounts ahead of a ban.

The sale and supply of all single-use disposable vapes in shops and online will be illegal in the UK from Monday.

Instead of throw-away devices, the nicotine-delivery devices can only be legally sold if they are able to be refilled and recharged.

The legislation was enacted following a public outcry over the dramatic rise in young people becoming addicted to nicotine, and to curb throwaway battery operated products that are routinely causing fires in homes, street bins and rubbish trucks.

But is any of it going to make any real difference?

Mark Oates, from the campaign group We Vape, said there was “no point having new rules if there is no one there to enforce it”.

He said: “Clearly some companies are going to change their product slightly to get round the law. And then there is the issue is enforcement – there is no point having new rules if no one is checking up on it.

Mark Oates, from the campaign group We Vape

“But the government can’t just be playing ‘whackamole’ with shopkeepers. They are not dealing with the underlying issues.”

Mr Oates, whose campaign group has highlighted the widespread sale of illegal vapes in shops all across the capital, suggested a licensing scheme for vape sellers, similar to pubs with alcohol, that could raise funds to boost trading standards resources.

But he said his biggest fear was that large numbers of people would return to smoking tobacco, adding: “The older vapes you had to recharge, change the coil, refill them. Then they brought in these newer ones that are as easy as buying a pack of fags. Now that option is taken away from people – and many will return to smoking due to the convenience – even one person going back is terrible.

“Large numbers would die early because the government wasn’t smart enough to bring in rules that work.”

Celebrated as an effective way to stop smoking tobacco, vapes’ popularity has also led to a massive surge in nicotine addiction among young people.

Despite the ban on disposable vapes, the new-style devices are still being produced in brightly coloured packaging with sugary and fruity flavours popular with teenagers.

And vape sellers told the Tribune how companies are creating new product lines that meet new criteria laid down by the government but appear almost identical – and just as attractive – to ones soon to be judged illegal.

The cost of buying new-style vape refill pods is also almost the same as buying a brand new device – meaning most people will simply buy a new one instead of bothering to refill.

One seller – known to his customers as JJ – at Angel Food & News, said the transition was unlikely to affect trade.

He said: “For the business it is nothing, because there is a replacement, people are just buying the replacement”.

At nearby Angel Food & Wine, shop manager Vicky said he had been handing out free vapes to long-time customers to clear stock.

“We will not throw away any vapes,” he said. “We will sell or gift them until they are all gone.” He was sceptical of the new alternatives.

“I don’t think the customers will buy the new vapes. [They] are complaining about the liquid leaking out of them.” Some, he said, had vowed to give up vaping altogether: “If [single-use vapes] will be banned, they will quit vaping.”

Meanwhile, Sunny Briyani, who works at All Good Food + Wine near Angel station, said he believed the incoming vape ban was a positive step.

“The ban is good [since], some people are addicted,” he said. “Some people are more addicted [to vapes] than to booze.”

He added that he did not expect it to seriously impact business. “It is not a full ban,” he said.

As he cleared the last of the disposable vapes from his shelves, Mr Briyani explained: “If somebody from the council comes, we might get fined.”

The government’s environment secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Single-use vapes get kids hooked on nicotine and blight our high streets, and we won’t stand for this any longer.”