With the final countdown to the 1 June disposable vape ban underway, BAT has urged stores to take extra steps to check their ranges are compliant.

British American Tobacco’s Sam Millicheap, head of corporate and regulatory affairs and Mustafa Zaidi, head of of customer deployment, held a webinar with nearly 50 shop owners on 21 May, in partnership with Women in Convenience.

Responding to confusion from store owners over what products will remain legal to sell, shops were urged to check for the three Rs of compliance – refillable, rechargeable and replaceable.

This means devices must be refillable – either with e-liquid or pods, rechargeable – with a charging port on the device and replaceable – featuring a coil that can be replaced.

Millicheap said it is the replaceable coil requirement that poses the biggest risk of tripping shop owners up. A coil is replaceable when it is built in to a replaceable pod or can be separately replaced on the device itself.

Step-by-step guide to getting your store ready for the disposable vapes ban

The head of corporate and regulatory affairs highlighted that some devices by leading brands are rechargeable and refillable but feature an unreplaceable coil built into the device, meaning they will be illegal to sell from 1 June.

He explained:  “In disposables the coil is often found in the mouthpiece, but that mouthpiece is sealed shut – that is the key part of what this definition of what a disposable is and for retailers looking around when the new products come in – where is that coil element? Is it disposable?”

Responding to retailer questions on how to check if a product is compliant, Millicheap said asking supplier reps about the devices and required replacement parts, and taking a product out of the box and examining it were the best options.

Fellow panelist RN magazine editor Jack Courtez advised stores that while some brands have released near-identical compliant and non-compliant versions of a product, they can be distinguished by their different barcodes.

Zaidi added the ban presents stores with an opportunity to consolidate their range, agreeing that without this, a full range of replacement products is likely to take up more space than their disposable equivalents.

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