They seduce with sweet aromas of watermelon, blueberry and peach and catch the eye with bright color accents.
Videos of so-called puff bars are currently spreading on social media Tik Tok, where users test or advertise illegal disposable e-cigarettes.
And in various places around the world, researchers are describing how the use of colorful electronic cigarettes increases in children and adolescents from 12 years of age. But the trend could cause permanent damage to young minds, tobacco pundits warn.
A few weeks of experimentation are enough
Charlotta Holm Pisinger is a professor of tobacco prevention at the Danish University of Copenhagen and a leading expert.
She closely monitors tobacco use among young people and is concerned about the trend.
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What young people themselves may see as a fad, he says, can have serious long-term consequences.
Smoking is known to mean that as a young man you only have to experiment with nicotine for a few weeks or you are so addicted that it is very difficult to break the habit.
More than two packs of cigarettes
And disposable e-cigarettes are far more dangerous than their colorful appearance suggests, explains Charlotta Pisinger.
Each puff bar holds around 400 puffs and is available in two strengths: a 2% nicotine version and a 5% version.
One version contains approximately the nicotine content of one pack of cigarettes, and the nicotine content of the other version is equivalent to more than two packs of cigarettes.
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At the same time, the products use so-called nicotine salts, making them easier to inhale.
For example, young people absorb more nicotine into their lungs faster, which further increases the risk of addiction.
Scary traces in the brain
Another important consequence of nicotine use in children can be long-term damage to brain development.
“Adolescent brains are naturally heavily remodeled during development, which makes them extremely vulnerable to these types of drugs,” says Charlotta Pisinger.
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He explains that numerous animal studies and CT scans of young brains show that nicotine leaves lasting traces. And that nicotine can also open the door to addiction to other drugs, such as hashish, alcohol, and cocaine, as the brain gets used to being under the influence.
“Nicotine can damage the connections that form in the brain, making learning and concentration more difficult, for example. We also know that the toxin increases the risk of anxiety and depression,” he says.
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