With the Vaping Products Duty now in force from 1 October 2026, the price gap between legitimate and illicit vapes is expected to widen. Legitimate products now carry a duty of £2.20 per 10ml of vaping liquid plus VAT, while illegal products carry none of the costs of compliance. Enforcement teams, retailers and public health bodies are urging adult vapers to stay alert to illegal products being sold on the high street, through social media and on unfamiliar websites.
The scale of the problem
Illicit vapes have been a growing concern across the UK for several years. According to Freedom of Information data gathered for Vape Club’s 2026 illegal vapes report, around 1.26 million illicit products were seized in the UK in the previous year, which works out at more than two every minute (Vaping Post).
Individual seizures show how large some operations have become. In March 2026, Bolton Council’s Trading Standards team seized 211,606 illegal single-use vapes from a single warehouse, with an estimated street value of £1.7 million (Bolton Council). Ports and airports remain key entry points. Hillingdon Trading Standards, which covers Heathrow Airport, has previously reported seizing more than two million vapes in a single reporting period (Journal of Trading Standards).
What makes a vape illegal?
A vape can be illegal for several reasons. The most common include:
- Single-use vapes. The sale of single-use vapes has been illegal across the UK since 1 June 2025 (Gov.uk).
- Oversized capacity. Under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR), tanks and prefilled pods can hold no more than 2ml of nicotine containing liquid, and nicotine refill bottles can be no larger than 10ml.
- Excess nicotine. Nicotine strength must not exceed 20mg/ml.
- No MHRA notification. Nicotine vaping products must be notified to the MHRA before they can be sold in the UK (Gov.uk).
- Counterfeits. Some illegal products are designed to look like well known brands.
- Unpaid duty. From 1 April 2027, duty liable products sold without a valid duty stamp will also be illegal.
Why the duty could make the problem worse
Legitimate retailers now carry the cost of the duty, duty stamps, MHRA notification, age verification and compliance checks. Illegal sellers carry none of these costs. As prices for legitimate products rise, the gap between a compliant product and an illegal one grows wider, and that gap is exactly what criminal networks exploit.
National Trading Standards has previously warned that illicit nicotine products are largely powered by organised crime, and that profits can help fund other serious criminal activity. Research reported in early 2026 also found that around a quarter of adults said they could easily obtain illegal vapes in their local area.
“When customers see a vape being sold far below the going rate, they need to ask why. Illegal products are not tested to UK standards and are often sold with no age checks at all, which harms customers and every business trying to do things properly,” said Harjot Singh, the owner of the OrderVape website
The risks of illegal vapes
Illegal vapes are not just a tax issue. Because they have not been notified to the MHRA, there is no assurance about what they contain. Products may contain more nicotine than the legal limit, far more liquid than UK rules allow, or ingredients that have not been assessed for safety. Batteries and charging components in unregulated devices may also fall short of UK standards.
Illegal sellers are also less likely to carry out age checks, which means these products are more likely to reach under 18s. This undermines efforts to protect young people and damages public trust in the wider vape category.
Enforcement is stepping up
Enforcement agencies are increasing their activity. HMRC has said it will carry out more than 30,000 interventions during 2026 to 2027 aimed at tackling tax fraud and the sale of illicit tobacco and vapes. The new duty also brings additional civil and criminal powers for Trading Standards, including powers to seize products.
Local authorities continue to run operations across the country, with shops receiving fines, closure orders and prosecutions for repeated sales of illegal products. Initiatives such as Operation Joseph, a government funded project focused on vape enforcement, support local Trading Standards teams with testing, data collection and port seizures.
How the duty stamp helps
The new Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme is designed partly to make illicit products easier to identify. Only businesses approved by HMRC can buy stamps. Once the transition period ends on 31 March 2027, a duty liable e-liquid or prefilled pod without a valid stamp should be treated as a red flag.