For many smokers, it is an alternative to traditional cigarettes: the e-cigarette. Its popularity is also reflected in the increasing spending on the product in Germany.
The e-cigarette business in Germany is picking up. Retailers and manufacturers generated an estimated turnover of just over one billion euros with the electronic devices and associated liquids in Germany last year, around 25 percent more than in 2022, according to the Alliance for Tobacco-Free Enjoyment (BfTG).
With electronic cigarettes – also called vapes or e-shishas – liquids are heated and the vapor is inhaled. Compared to traditional tobacco cigarettes, fewer harmful substances are released. However, “vapes” also pose health risks. Doctors advise smokers to quit completely instead of seeing e-cigarettes as the lesser evil and thus continuing to inhale harmful substances.
Half a million additional users
E-cigarettes were a niche market for a long time, but they are now a mass business. According to the BfTG, sales increased by 40 percent in 2022 and 2023. The industry mouthpiece got its figures from member companies and from its own analyses. Now the growth has slowed somewhat to 25 percent, but it remains at a high level.
BfTG boss Dustin Dahlmann attributes the growth to the fact that the number of sales points has increased. “More and more points of sale outside of specialist retailers, such as petrol stations, supermarkets and kiosks, are now offering e-cigarettes and liquids,” he says. “That’s why there is more attention to the products and many smokers are switching from cigarettes to e-cigarettes.” According to the BfTG, around three million people in Germany use e-cigarettes, about half a million more than a year ago.
Disposable products particularly controversial
Particularly controversial are disposable e-cigarettes, which are thrown away when their battery is empty. They should actually be disposed of as electrical devices, but in reality they often end up in the residual waste or in the yellow bin, as representatives of the waste industry complain. This then poses a risk of fires in garbage trucks and disposal facilities if a short circuit occurs in the electrical devices and other waste lying next to them ignites. Environmentalists are also critical of the disposable products, as they ultimately waste raw materials.
According to the BfTG, the share of these disposable products in the overall e-cigarette market has fallen in recent years. While it was 40 percent in 2022, it was 30 percent in 2023. This year it is estimated to be only 20 percent. Industry representative Dahlmann expects the share of disposable products to continue to fall in the coming year. An EU ban on such products will come into force in 2027.
In addition to disposable products, there are also reusable vapes, where the liquid cartridges (pods) are exchanged, and classic e-cigarettes, where users buy the liquids in small bottles or mix them themselves – the battery in these two products is rechargeable.
Black market is also growing
Industry representatives are worried about the upcoming tax increase, which will mean a tobacco tax of 26 cents per milliliter of liquid, six cents more than before. According to the association, many companies fear that the tax-related price increase will lead to an increase in the black market.
This is already strong: According to estimates by the companies, German citizens spend around 300 million euros on liquids and illegal e-cigarettes on the black market in Germany every year. “These products come from dubious sources, the quality is extremely questionable,” says Dahlmann. “For our legal dealers and manufacturers, this leads to a loss of sales that is painful.” Despite the efforts of the authorities, the black market has hardly been contained because there is a lack of sufficient personnel and structural resources, complains Dahlmann. “Politicians are failing to take effective countermeasures here.”
