Highlights
- Imperial urges Defra to tighten guidance promoting refill pods over single-use vape behaviour.
- Refill pods offer better value and reduce waste, says blu maker.
- Retailers can boost loyalty by encouraging repeat pod purchases.
Imperial Brands has called for Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) Guidance to be strengthened to encourage consumers to purchase replaceable pods or refills instead of treating reusable vape devices in the same way as disposable vapes.
“The ban on disposable vapes is meaningless unless consumers also purchase vape pods separately and use multiple pods with the one reusable vape device. Otherwise, consumers are treating reusable devices as a one-use only device,” said Imperial’s Head of Corporate & Legal Affairs, UK & Ireland, Deirdre Healy.
“It is also better value for consumers to buy pods separately and pop them on the reusable device rather than buy multiple reusable devices”.
Imperial, makers of the vape brand blu, has called for the Defra Guidance to be amended to strictly specify that Refills (pods or e-liquid refill bottles) must be separately and readily available for sale to consumers to buy in-store.
These refills must be compatible with the reusable vaping devices being sold in the physical retail premises.
Healy has rejected accusations that suppliers are not providing vape pods for sale with reusable devices.
“We have 15 flavours in blu vape pods available for sale throughout 35,000 retail outlets in the UK. We want the disposable vape ban to work. We want less electronic waste in the UK. We want consumers to use replaceable pods in their reusable vape devices.
“With the ban on disposable vapes still in its early stage, it remains important to continue to promote best practice use for consumers. This includes educating them to purchase prefilled vape pods separately and use multiple pods with one reusable vape device.
“Opting for a prefilled, replaceable vape pods to purchase is better value for consumers as they can simply pop them into their reusable device rather than buy multiple new devices," Healy said.
To further highlight the cost effectiveness of pod purchase, the RRP on Imperial’s blu bar kit and blu box kit – which include 1 x device and 1 x blu pod each – is the same as a refill blu pod pack which contains 2 x blu pods, also at an RRP of £5.99*.
“Retailers can benefit by delivering this value to shoppers. Proactively encouraging consumers to return to store and repurchase the prefilled pods will help generate store loyalty and free up basket spend to purchase more.
"Ensuring consumers are also aware of the available vape pod flavour options will underpin sales activity. For example, the blu vape range offers 15 flavours of blu pods which are available for sale throughout 35,000 retail outlets in the UK and compatible with blu bar kit and blu box kit.”
*Based on ITUK RRP as at July 2025. For the avoidance of doubt, retailers are free at all times to determine the selling price of their products.