Esmokeclean, a vendor of ecigarettes in a Toulouse suburb, yesterday filed an appeal against the decision by the Toulouse commercial court to ban it from promoting or selling electronic cigarettes.
The court said Esmokeclean had violated the monopoly of 27,000 state-licensed tobacco vendors and represented “illegal and unfair competition”. Judges quoted the definition of the verb “to smoke” by the Académie francaise: “to burn tobacco or a comparable substance by bringing to one’s lips a cigarette or a pipe . . . and inhaling the smoke that comes from it”.
Benjamin Echalier, the lawyer for Esmokeclean, called the ruling “absurd” and denounced the “legal void” surrounding ecigarettes.
Product definition
No one seems to know whether ecigarettes are tobacco products, medicine (they help smokers to give up the habit)or consumer items. In October, the European Parliament voted down a move by the commission to restrict ecigarette sales to pharmacies.
Dr Philippe Presles, a specialist in tobacco addiction who recently launched an appeal by 100 doctors in favour of the ecigarette, said he did not understand "how they confused the ecigarette with tobacco, when it doesn't contain any . . . There's a confusion between smoke and steam."
Users of ecigarettes are known as vapoteurs (steamers). The verb vapoter is expected to enter the French dictionary next year.
There are 300 ecigarette boutiques in France, for an estimated 1.5 million users. More than 20 per cent of France's 13.5 million smokers have tried ecigarettes. Tobacco kills one in two smokers, 200 French people daily, 73,000 each year. Most experts believe ecigarettes are far less dangerous.
The French tobacconists’ syndicate is urging members to file lawsuits against other ecigarette vendors. Some 70 per cent of tobacconists already sell ecigarettes.
The French ecigarette market is expected to reach €200 million this year. That’s tiny compared to tobacco sales of €17.9 billion, but the latter declined 9 per cent in the first nine months of this year. There is no tax on ecigarettes.
The ecigarette consists of a battery, an atomiser and an “e-liquid” comprised of propylene glycol – used to make smoke at discotheques – and vegetable glycerin. One ecigarette costs €40– €250 and is the equivalent of several hundred cigarettes. They come in flavours, including tobacco, chocolate, mint and fruit.
