Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

General Scheme of the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. John Dunne:

I would agree with that. It is important to understand the journey that smokers make from the time they make the decision to no longer smoke and to do something different. Over the first couple of weeks, they will probably start with a tobacco flavour, because that is what they are used to tasting. However, it is important to note, and vapers tell me this all this time, that they want to differentiate themselves from being a smoker. By vaping a tobacco flavour, all they are doing is reminding themselves every single time they use the device that they are a smoker. When they use flavours - and they use many different flavours at different times of the day - they are not constantly being reminded of that. It takes them away from being a smoker to being a vaper. It is a very different mindset.