Fancy ciggie packs hit the shelves

Daniel Piotrowski
January 23, 2013
news.com.au

· Flashing lights, elaborate artwork on ciggie packs
· How plain packaging is helping one cigarette business

HI-TECH cigarette packets with elaborate artwork are on display in Australian stores.

But there’s a catch – they’re for battery-powered smokes, not your regular cigarettes.

Entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the Government’s plain packaging laws – which have dressed up traditional packets in drab brown – to sell boutique packets of electronic cigarettes in stores.

“It’s been of massive benefit to us,” said company owner of Social-Lites e-smokes, Lee O’Hare, whose product is sold in more than 50 tobacconists, convenience stores and chemists on the Gold Coast.

E-cigarettes can be prominently displayed on counters despite plain packaging laws because “they are not governed by tobacco laws,” Mr O’Hare said. “They do not contain tobacco.”

Mr O’Hare’s packs light up when opened and feature an intricately drawn eagle on the front, while other companies sell packets with e-cigarettes that resemble traditional cigarettes on their covers.

The cigarettes can produce several flavoured vapours but they are not allowed to be sold in Australia if they contain nicotine – although nicotine “cartridges” can be easily purchased from overseas on the internet.

A large community of Australian “vapers” claim the products have helped them kick their addiction, with an anti-smoking hotline telling news.com.au it had seen a rise in calls about the devices.

E-cigarette packets for this company have a flashing light for batteries and elaborate artwork.

But health experts are anxious the products could actually stop people from quitting.

Simon Chapman, public health professor and father of plain packaging, has warned smoking addicts may use them as a crutch.

Potential quitters could take advantage of the fact they can smoke e-cigarettes in places traditional smoking is prohibited, like cinemas and shopping centres, he said.

“It’s likely a considerable number of smokers who would otherwise quit would keep smoking because they’re finding they can use them both,” Prof Chapman said.

He added the devices, which are shaped like a cigarette and some have a flashing light on the end, could perpetuate the idea “smoking is a ‘cool’ and ‘glamorous’ thing”.

The US company Blu has developed ‘social networking’ e-cigarette packets that vibrate and flash when people are near other users and retail outlets that sell the products.

But Prof Chapman said the devices were nowhere near as dangerous as real cigarettes and advocates say they just help people kick a deadly habit.

“They’re not getting addicted,” Mr O’Hare said. “They’re still doing the habit of smoking – but at least it’s a healthier habit.”

E-cigarettes have not been tested by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and medical authorities have issued warnings over the products.

The Department of Health commissioned an impact statement into regulation of e-cigarettes last year.

Mr O’Hare said the Government would eventually have to formulate laws around e-cigarettes as the current set up was confusing. “One day they’re going to have to deal with it,” he said.

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