How old do you have to be to buy a vape?

How old do you have to be to buy a vape?

With vaping's popularity as an alternative for adult smokers, a more problematic group of users has emerged: curious teenagers. Accordingly, adolescents need to be prevented from using products for adults. Lawmakers must find the right line between child and adult - the age at which teenagers can decide what they should or shouldn't do. In most countries, vaping is either equated with tobacco products, is a separate category of goods, or is not classified at all. In about 40 countries, vaping products are prohibited. In those countries that allow vaping, the legal age to buy e-cigarettes, disposable vapes to vape mod kits are usually equal to the period at which citizens are considered adults. In most countries, this age is 18, but as we know, it varies.

Let's discover how old you have to be to buy a vape in the USA and how old you have to be to vape? Implementing the rule from the FDA in 2016 led to a federal ban on selling vape devices to people under 18. Equating vape devices and liquids for them with tobacco products, they fell under the existing age restrictions on selling them to minors.

The age restriction was a large part of the FDA's guidelines for limiting vaping. Years before the new rules were introduced, tobacco fighters characterized the vaping market as a "wild west" that was to be restricted by authorities. But at that point, 48 states already had their age limits; in some states, the minimum age exceeded the legal age of 18.

Alabama, Alaska, and Nebraska set 19 as the minimum age to buy products to vape. Buyers must be 21 in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania [the law takes effect July 1, 2020], Texas, Utah [effective July 2021; minimum age 19], Vermont, Virginia, and Washington [effective January 1, 2020].

The legal age is also 21 in the District of Columbia and the United States territory of Guam. In any other state and territory in the United States, the period is 18. So, the answer to how old you have to be to buy a vape and how old you have to be to is "you need to be 21 years old!

What is Tobacco 21: How it works

Tobacco 21 is an organization that aims to increase the minimum legal age for purchasing tobacco and nicotine products to 21. Supporters of the organization believe that if potential young smokers [or vapers] do not communicate with people who can legally purchase tobacco products [or vape devices], fewer teenagers will show curiosity and become users of vape devices. According to CASAA, "Tobacco 21 supporters are guided by the principle of the possibility of eliminating tobacco and nicotine products from the market."

Tobacco 21 is the brainchild of a professor of medicine and tobacco control activist at Ohio State University and is a huge success. About a third of states [and the District of Columbia] and more than 470 cities and counties have set 21 as the age of majority to buy cigarettes, including vapor products. Each tobacco control group supports the Tobacco 21 movement. Big tobacco companies and JUUL Labs are doing the same.

"Including e-cigarettes [ also dry herb vaporizers like XMAX PRO V2 and other nicotine products in draft laws to raise the sale age could serve as an important deterrent if e-cigarettes are viewed as a conduit to tobacco smoking." "The Tobacco 21 website says. "Based on this, the campaign for the protection of children from tobacco, as well as the organization for the prevention of tobacco dependence, support laws to raise the age to 21 only if, in addition to tobacco, they concern e-cigarettes, as well as other alternative sources of nicotine delivery without any exceptions.

From what age can you buy liquids without nicotine?

There will be fewer restrictions on liquids without nicotine than on liquids with nicotine. However, in the United States, this does not matter regarding the law. Any e-liquids can only be sold to adults. While the law giving the Food and Drag Administration jurisdiction over e-cigarettes defines "tobacco products" as anything "created or derived from tobacco," it also includes products whose components come from tobacco in tobacco products. As long as the zero nicotine liquid can be used in a "tobacco product" [such as a vape device], which can also be used with a nicotine-containing e-liquid, the nicotine-free e-liquid is also equated to a tobacco product. That sounds silly, but that's how the FDA reports that the definition of a tobacco product includes things like vaporizers, batteries... and zero nicotine liquid.

How old to buy a vape in other countries?

Aside from countries that have banned the sale of e-cigarettes altogether and a surprising number of countries that don't have laws for vaping, most countries simply follow the legal age of majority in setting a minimum age for buying vape devices.

As in the United States, in some other countries, state or provincial laws replace the state minimum age for vape purchases. So, how old to buy a vape you must be? For example, in Canada, the minimum age for the population is 18 years, but in many provinces and territories, the established age for buying vapes is 19. In Australia, selling nicotine-containing goods [other than cigarettes] is illegal, but nicotine-free liquids are legal, and the legal age to buy varies from state to state.

How about Honduras and Palau? How old to buy a vape you must be? Despite Tobacco 21 raging in the US, only these two countries in the world [Honduras and Palau] have decided that citizens must be at least 21 to buy vape devices. Also, you can check our previous post about how to make vape juice at home.