Cummings, Mike (and eight others from the ITC Project) Trends in Where Adults Buy Their e-Cigarette Supplies: Findings from 2016-2024 International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Smoking and Vaping Surveys. Jan 2026. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6114050 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6114050

Authors “analyzed five waves of the ITC-4CV Survey data (2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024) comprising representative samples (aged ≥18) who reported vaping ≥weekly, past-month EC purchasing, and last purchase source in ≥1 survey (n=8,904). Using GEE models, we estimated purchase locations by country, adjusting for age, sex, smoking status, vaping frequency, vaping device, and time-in-sample.

In 2024, purchasing in vapes shops was more common in Canada (61.4%) and US (55.0%) compared to England (31.6%) and Australia (21.4%), online purchasing was more common in England (30.8%) than Canada (17.6%), Australia (18.0%) and the US (11.7%), and purchasing from other retail places was more common in Australia (60.7%) than England (37.6%), US (33.3%) and Canada (21.0%). Purchasing from a pharmacy/chemist was rare.”

Note: Understanding where those who vape buy their product is important in regulating e-cigarette products. Since Thailand has banned e-cigarette sales, it will be difficult to get reliable information on purchasing behavior. Note that these are adult results, but youth results for Thailand could provide some idea of product sellers for this target population for e-cigarette sales. Stephen Hamann