The Rise and Rise of E-cig Users

If you have been a vaper for long, you must have participated in any of the vape-meets held all over the country the year round.

While you meet and share a ‘vapour rich experience’ or discuss your choice of e cigarette cartomisers with fellow vapers do you ever wonder how many e-cigarette owners are out there?

It is too early to give a definite figure for 2012, but we have some numbers from 2011 that give you a better picture. Based on the sales conducted in the year 2011 across the UK, the number of current e-cigarette owners during the first quarter is believed to be close to 200,000. Now this figure denoting the number of vapers is a plausible minimum; because predictions of user growth made in 2010 point to about 300,000 e cigarette users in 2011.

The electronic cigarette knocked on UK shores in early 2006, slowly established its market and started expanding its user base. The number of e cigarette smokers reached a humble 1000 in 2007. It was in 2008, however, when the growth rate picked up. The numbers grew from 5000 to 250,000 in four years. E cigarette usage grew rapidly – at a phenomenal rate of around 500% per year to 2011.

This is the only rate at which the present user base could have been achieved.

2006 - Humble beginning
2007 - 1,000 vapers
2008 - 5,000
2009 - 25,000
2010 - 125,000
2011 - 250,000 - 300,000

If we see the interpretations made from the Q1 2012 sales figures, it can be assumed that present rate of growth is a healthy 50% per year. Industry experts believe that the user base is expected to grow steadily with this annual rate (50%) till 2014.