• Posted April 20, 2026

E-Cigarette Taxes Won't Necessarily Cause An Increase In Smoking, Study Says

Regulators have long been reluctant to tax e-cigarettes, worried that higher prices might unintentionally drive vapers back to tobacco cigs.

But a new study suggests those fears might be misplaced, at least where adult vapers are concerned.

Higher prices reduced e-cigarette use among a nationwide sample of 700 adult vapers, and sometimes caused people to switch between different types of vape devices.

But there was no statistically significant evidence that raising e-cigarette prices would lead to more tobacco smoking, researchers report in the journal Health Economics.

"Our findings suggest that increasing e-cigarette prices can effectively reduce vaping without the unintended consequence of more smoking among adult vapers," said lead researcher Shaoying Ma, a research scientist at the Center for Tobacco Research at Ohio State University.

"However, because adult vapers navigate a complex marketplace of disposables, pods and tanks, a one-size-fits-all tax may not be sufficient to reduce nicotine consumption,” Ma said in a news release. “Policymakers may consider tiered tax designs to achieve specific public health goals."

Compared to lower prices, mid-range prices were linked to a 30% to 33% drop in vape sales, while the highest prices were linked to a 49% to 51% drop in sales.

When the price of one product rises, adults might switch to another product – between e-liquid tank devices to pod devices, for example.

However, these increased prices did not lead vapers back to tobacco cigarettes, researchers found.

“For the most part, cross-price elasticities between e-cigarettes and cigarettes are not statistically significant in our national sample of adults who vape ECs, suggesting that higher EC prices or taxes may not lead to the unintended consequence of increased cigarette smoking for adult EC-using populations in the U.S.,” researchers concluded.

More information

The National Institutes of Health has more on smoking and vaping.

SOURCES: Ohio State University, news release, April 15, 2026; Health Economics, April 15, 2026