Guest : Asanda Gcoyi | CEO at The Vapour Products Association of South Africa (VPASA)

Recent news reports have been full of stories highlighting the flourishing black market in illegal cigarettes but as supplies dwindle and prices for contraband ciggies skyrocket, just how long will smokers in South Africa be prepared to bear the risk and, more importantly, the financial pain as lockdown lingers?

Increasingly desperate smokers are looking for ways to quit, but withdrawal is notoriously painful and even harder when the smoker is stressed anyway.

The Vapour Products Association of South Africa (VPASA) say their members have been inundated with queries from those seeking an alternative to cigarettes, but vape products are also, unfortunately - and unfairly - part of the lockdown ban.

VPASA argues that the level of demand they’re seeing from the public is evidence that smokers don't want to break the law but are in
desperate need of help to wean themselves off cigarettes.