Old Goat
Administrator
The latest “big news” in vaping, according to the internet, is that India banned vaping and you can get into real trouble for it.
Very dramatic.
Also, not new.
India banned e-cigarettes back in 2019. That is not breaking news. That is not fresh off the press. That is old news pulled out of the drawer, slapped into an Instagram reel, and fired into the algorithm like it just landed this morning.
But here is the annoying part.
The law is real.
India did not just say, “Please do not vape, dear citizen.” They banned the production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertising of e-cigarettes. There are fines. There is possible jail time. Storage can even land you in trouble.
So yes, the post you saw might not be fake.
But it is also not “latest news.”
It is old policy being recycled as fresh outrage because the algorithm has discovered that nothing gets people clicking quite like panic with a travel warning attached.
Now, Thailand?
Thailand is where the Old Goat starts chewing through the fence.
Thailand has had its vape ban for years. The Thai Embassy says the ban has been in place since 2014. Travellers are warned not to bring vapes, e-liquids, devices, or related gear into the country. If you get caught, you can face arrest, fines, jail time, or confiscation.
So let me be very clear before someone misses the point:
If you are travelling to Thailand, leave your vape at home.
That is not me agreeing with the law. That is me saying do not turn your holiday into a legal disaster because you wanted one puff outside the hotel.
But the hypocrisy of it?
That is where the grumble lives.
Thailand is famous for many things. Beautiful beaches. Incredible food. Temples. Night markets. Tourism. And yes, let us not pretend otherwise, sex tourism.
This is not some secret whispered in a dark alley. It is part of the global image Thailand has been fighting, tolerating, marketing around, policing, ignoring and profiting from for decades, depending on who is talking and which street you are standing on.
You can smoke cigarettes.
You can drink.
You can walk through entire nightlife districts built around adult entertainment.
But take a puff on a vape?
Now suddenly the state has found its moral backbone.
Now suddenly public health is sacred.
Now suddenly your little bottle of liquid and battery-powered nicotine device is treated like contraband from a spy movie.
That is the part that makes my beard itch.
Because if this was really about health, cigarettes would be first on the chopping block.
Not second.
Not later.
First.
Combustible tobacco is the product that kills people on an industrial scale. It is not a theory. It is not a “maybe.” It is not “we need more long-term studies.” It is settled, ugly, boring, well-documented reality.
But cigarettes get to stay.
Alcohol gets to stay.
Adult nightlife gets to stay.
The vape gets the jail warning.
And somehow everyone is supposed to nod along and pretend this makes sense.
Here is the question nobody seems keen to answer:
What message does that send?
That it is better for an adult smoker to keep buying cigarettes than to carry a vape with liquid they know and trust?
That a regulated harm-reduction product is more dangerous to society than a black-market one bought from a stranger on the street?
That public health is protected by forcing people away from known liquids and known devices, then acting shocked when illegal sellers fill the gap?
Because that is the part that really gets me.
You cannot take your own trusted vape and your own trusted liquid into Thailand because that can land you in trouble.
But once you are there, black-market vapes are apparently not hard to find.
So what has the ban achieved?
Has it removed vaping?
No.
It has removed accountability.
It has removed proper supply chains.
It has removed product knowledge.
It has removed the adult smoker’s ability to travel with something they trust.
And it has handed the market to whoever is willing to sell illegal stock out of sight, with no warranty, no testing, no age control, no label you can trust, and no idea what is actually inside.
Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
That is not public health.
That is policy tripping over its own shoelaces.
And this is not just a Thailand problem.
I have travelled across Africa enough to see the same thinking in different clothes. In many places, vaping was never given a fair hearing. It was not studied properly. It was not understood properly. It was not separated from smoking, disposables, youth panic, Big Tobacco, DIY, harm reduction, or proper adult use.
It was just this new strange thing.
And when lawmakers do not understand a new thing, too many of them do the same dance:
Fear it.
Mislabel it.
Quote a scary headline.
Let Facebook do the science.
Then ban it.
That is how bad policy is born.
Not from careful understanding.
From panic.
From imported talking points.
From health departments treating every nicotine product as the same beast wearing a different hat.
From campaigners who cannot tell the difference between an adult smoker using a refillable device and a school kid hiding a disposable in a backpack.
From governments that would rather ban first and think later.
And then, when the black market appears, everyone acts surprised.
Of course it appears.
You banned the legal door and left the demand standing outside.
What did you think would happen?
People do not magically stop wanting nicotine because a minister signs a document. Smokers do not suddenly become free because customs seized a few boxes. Addiction does not vanish because a poster says “danger.” Adult smokers who were using vaping to stay away from cigarettes do not become healthier because you took away the safer option and left the deadly one on the shelf.
That is the madness.
A legal cigarette.
An illegal vape.
Read that again.
A legal cigarette.
An illegal vape.
The burning tobacco product stays. The harm-reduction product gets treated like a criminal offence.
And we are supposed to call that health policy?
No.
That is not health policy.
That is fear with a stamp on it.
Now, before someone starts clutching their pearls so hard they turn into jewellery, let us be clear.
Kids should not vape.
Non-smokers should not vape.
Disposable rubbish marketed like sweets is a problem.
Big Tobacco should not be trusted.
Dodgy liquids should be called out.
Bad actors in the vape industry should be kicked in the pants.
Nobody at The Vape Workshop is pretending vaping is fresh mountain air blessed by angels.
But we are also not going to pretend that banning adult access while leaving cigarettes legal is clever.
We are not going to pretend black markets are safer than regulated markets.
We are not going to pretend Facebook propaganda is science.
We are not going to pretend governments understand vaping just because they managed to ban it.
And we are definitely not going to pretend the world makes sense when a smoker can buy a pack of cigarettes legally, but a traveller with a vape and trusted liquid can be treated like a criminal.
The Vape Workshop is not the place to visit if you are scared of hearing the hard truth.
We do not pull our punches here.
If the industry is wrong, we say so.
If Big Tobacco is dirty, we say so.
If disposables are causing damage, we say so.
If kids are being targeted, we say so.
But if governments are making lazy, fear-driven, scientifically sloppy laws that protect cigarettes by accident while pushing vaping into the black market?
Then we say that too.
Loudly.
Because some of these bans were not built on understanding.
They were built on panic.
And panic is a terrible lawmaker.
The Old Goat’s verdict?
If you travel, obey the law. Do not be stupid. Do not take your vape into a country where it can get you arrested.
But if we are talking about whether those laws make sense, then let us stop whispering.
A country that tolerates cigarettes but criminalises vaping is not leading public health.
It is protecting the old killer while handcuffing the escape route.
And that, my friends, is not science.
That is madness with paperwork.
Very dramatic.
Also, not new.
India banned e-cigarettes back in 2019. That is not breaking news. That is not fresh off the press. That is old news pulled out of the drawer, slapped into an Instagram reel, and fired into the algorithm like it just landed this morning.
But here is the annoying part.
The law is real.
India did not just say, “Please do not vape, dear citizen.” They banned the production, manufacture, import, export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertising of e-cigarettes. There are fines. There is possible jail time. Storage can even land you in trouble.
So yes, the post you saw might not be fake.
But it is also not “latest news.”
It is old policy being recycled as fresh outrage because the algorithm has discovered that nothing gets people clicking quite like panic with a travel warning attached.
Now, Thailand?
Thailand is where the Old Goat starts chewing through the fence.
Thailand has had its vape ban for years. The Thai Embassy says the ban has been in place since 2014. Travellers are warned not to bring vapes, e-liquids, devices, or related gear into the country. If you get caught, you can face arrest, fines, jail time, or confiscation.
So let me be very clear before someone misses the point:
If you are travelling to Thailand, leave your vape at home.
That is not me agreeing with the law. That is me saying do not turn your holiday into a legal disaster because you wanted one puff outside the hotel.
But the hypocrisy of it?
That is where the grumble lives.
Thailand is famous for many things. Beautiful beaches. Incredible food. Temples. Night markets. Tourism. And yes, let us not pretend otherwise, sex tourism.
This is not some secret whispered in a dark alley. It is part of the global image Thailand has been fighting, tolerating, marketing around, policing, ignoring and profiting from for decades, depending on who is talking and which street you are standing on.
You can smoke cigarettes.
You can drink.
You can walk through entire nightlife districts built around adult entertainment.
But take a puff on a vape?
Now suddenly the state has found its moral backbone.
Now suddenly public health is sacred.
Now suddenly your little bottle of liquid and battery-powered nicotine device is treated like contraband from a spy movie.
That is the part that makes my beard itch.
Because if this was really about health, cigarettes would be first on the chopping block.
Not second.
Not later.
First.
Combustible tobacco is the product that kills people on an industrial scale. It is not a theory. It is not a “maybe.” It is not “we need more long-term studies.” It is settled, ugly, boring, well-documented reality.
But cigarettes get to stay.
Alcohol gets to stay.
Adult nightlife gets to stay.
The vape gets the jail warning.
And somehow everyone is supposed to nod along and pretend this makes sense.
Here is the question nobody seems keen to answer:
What message does that send?
That it is better for an adult smoker to keep buying cigarettes than to carry a vape with liquid they know and trust?
That a regulated harm-reduction product is more dangerous to society than a black-market one bought from a stranger on the street?
That public health is protected by forcing people away from known liquids and known devices, then acting shocked when illegal sellers fill the gap?
Because that is the part that really gets me.
You cannot take your own trusted vape and your own trusted liquid into Thailand because that can land you in trouble.
But once you are there, black-market vapes are apparently not hard to find.
So what has the ban achieved?
Has it removed vaping?
No.
It has removed accountability.
It has removed proper supply chains.
It has removed product knowledge.
It has removed the adult smoker’s ability to travel with something they trust.
And it has handed the market to whoever is willing to sell illegal stock out of sight, with no warranty, no testing, no age control, no label you can trust, and no idea what is actually inside.
Brilliant.
Absolutely brilliant.
That is not public health.
That is policy tripping over its own shoelaces.
And this is not just a Thailand problem.
I have travelled across Africa enough to see the same thinking in different clothes. In many places, vaping was never given a fair hearing. It was not studied properly. It was not understood properly. It was not separated from smoking, disposables, youth panic, Big Tobacco, DIY, harm reduction, or proper adult use.
It was just this new strange thing.
And when lawmakers do not understand a new thing, too many of them do the same dance:
Fear it.
Mislabel it.
Quote a scary headline.
Let Facebook do the science.
Then ban it.
That is how bad policy is born.
Not from careful understanding.
From panic.
From imported talking points.
From health departments treating every nicotine product as the same beast wearing a different hat.
From campaigners who cannot tell the difference between an adult smoker using a refillable device and a school kid hiding a disposable in a backpack.
From governments that would rather ban first and think later.
And then, when the black market appears, everyone acts surprised.
Of course it appears.
You banned the legal door and left the demand standing outside.
What did you think would happen?
People do not magically stop wanting nicotine because a minister signs a document. Smokers do not suddenly become free because customs seized a few boxes. Addiction does not vanish because a poster says “danger.” Adult smokers who were using vaping to stay away from cigarettes do not become healthier because you took away the safer option and left the deadly one on the shelf.
That is the madness.
A legal cigarette.
An illegal vape.
Read that again.
A legal cigarette.
An illegal vape.
The burning tobacco product stays. The harm-reduction product gets treated like a criminal offence.
And we are supposed to call that health policy?
No.
That is not health policy.
That is fear with a stamp on it.
Now, before someone starts clutching their pearls so hard they turn into jewellery, let us be clear.
Kids should not vape.
Non-smokers should not vape.
Disposable rubbish marketed like sweets is a problem.
Big Tobacco should not be trusted.
Dodgy liquids should be called out.
Bad actors in the vape industry should be kicked in the pants.
Nobody at The Vape Workshop is pretending vaping is fresh mountain air blessed by angels.
But we are also not going to pretend that banning adult access while leaving cigarettes legal is clever.
We are not going to pretend black markets are safer than regulated markets.
We are not going to pretend Facebook propaganda is science.
We are not going to pretend governments understand vaping just because they managed to ban it.
And we are definitely not going to pretend the world makes sense when a smoker can buy a pack of cigarettes legally, but a traveller with a vape and trusted liquid can be treated like a criminal.
The Vape Workshop is not the place to visit if you are scared of hearing the hard truth.
We do not pull our punches here.
If the industry is wrong, we say so.
If Big Tobacco is dirty, we say so.
If disposables are causing damage, we say so.
If kids are being targeted, we say so.
But if governments are making lazy, fear-driven, scientifically sloppy laws that protect cigarettes by accident while pushing vaping into the black market?
Then we say that too.
Loudly.
Because some of these bans were not built on understanding.
They were built on panic.
And panic is a terrible lawmaker.
The Old Goat’s verdict?
If you travel, obey the law. Do not be stupid. Do not take your vape into a country where it can get you arrested.
But if we are talking about whether those laws make sense, then let us stop whispering.
A country that tolerates cigarettes but criminalises vaping is not leading public health.
It is protecting the old killer while handcuffing the escape route.
And that, my friends, is not science.
That is madness with paperwork.