Takeaways:
- Since Kazakhstan’s 2024 vape ban, illicit trade has surged 120%, experts say.
- More than 640,000 e-cigarettes seized since mid-2024 as sales move to Telegram and online platforms.
- Half of adult users still vape, while others shift to heated tobacco or traditional cigarettes.
A year after Kazakhstan banned the import and sale of e-cigarettes, the market has largely moved underground, with sales now thriving on encrypted messaging platforms and informal e-commerce sites, according to a new report by the Strategy Public Foundation, cited by KazTAG.
The study — which examined developments from 2023 to 2025 — concludes that the ban has done little to curb demand. Instead, it has caused a sharp increase in illegal activity, making enforcement “almost impossible” in practice.
Authorities confiscated over 200,000 e-cigarettes in the second half of 2024 and an additional 440,000 in the first half of 2025, according to the report. Independent experts estimate that the black-market volume has risen by approximately 120% since the ban’s implementation. Despite legal restrictions, about half of adult users in Kazakhstan continue to vape.
During the same period, electronic devices’ share of the country’s weekly tobacco market increased from 0.8% in 2022 to 10.1% in 2025, indicating that demand has shifted rather than vanished.
Survey data from Strategy show that after the ban, 52% of respondents kept their previous vaping habits, 28% switched to heated tobacco products (HTPs), 10% went back to regular cigarettes, and only 5% quit completely.
The organization noted that smoke-free alternatives are still most popular among higher-income consumers, while increasing compliance risks have pushed up retail prices in the underground market.
Kazakhstan’s comprehensive e-cigarette ban went into effect in June 2024, banning not only sales and imports but also advertising and online promotion. Critics argue that the absence of a regulated framework has simply shifted legitimate trade, driving consumers toward unverified and potentially unsafe products circulating through informal channels.
