The Daily Mail continues to take Elf Bars to task

On February 10, the Daily Mail, a British newspaper, continued its ongoing diatribe against Elf Bars, the UK's best-selling disposable e-cigarette brand, drawing an analogy between Elf Bars and cigarettes.

A few days ago, a former British minister called for their ban to prevent an epidemic of teenage nicotine addicts.

But the popularity of e-cigarettes, especially Elf Bars, continues to soar.

Despite uncertainty about the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes, one in ten secondary school students is now an e-cigarette user.

And some products containing illegal nicotine levels have been found to be sold in UK stores.

So what's in the colorful elf bar e-cigarettes? Are they safe? The Daily Mail answers all your questions...

What's in Elf Bars?

Elf Bars is a brand of e-cigarettes that are often sold in funky colors and flavors, such as blue lemonade and green gummy bears.

They are e-cigarettes that use nicotine salts instead of free base nicotine - which is used in regular cigarettes, other e-cigarette products, and nicotine gum or patches.

Nicotine salts are the naturally occurring form of nicotine found in tobacco.

Elf Bar 600 is advertised as having a nicotine strength of 0 mg, 10 mg and 20 mg.

This represents the concentration of nicotine salts in an e-cigarette.

According to Vape UK, free base nicotine is a purer form of nicotine where the salt has been chemically altered to increase its potency.

Free base has a stronger hit than nicotine salts.

How many cigarettes are Elf Bars equivalent to?

Many people are turning to e-cigarettes to quit regular cigarettes.

Analysts say that one Elf Bar 600 contains the equivalent of 48 cigarettes.

It can take 600 puffs before it needs to be thrown away, which means that, in theory, every 12.5 puffs is equivalent to one cigarette.

In the UK, the legal amount of nicotine in an e-liquid volume is 2 ml, which is equivalent to 600 to 800 puffs.

However, an investigation found that Elf Bars containing 3,500 puffs were being sold illegally in the UK.

A 3,500-puff e-cigarette is equivalent to 280 cigarettes.

Are Elf Bars better for your health than cigarettes?

According to the NHS, e-cigarette products are considered better than cigarettes because users are exposed to fewer and lower levels of toxins.

The health service adds that replacing cigarettes with e-cigarettes reduces exposure to toxins that can cause cancer, lung disease, and heart and circulatory disease, such as strokes and heart attacks.

The now-defunct Public Health England published an expert independent review in 2015 that concluded that e-cigarettes are about 95 percent less harmful than cigarettes.

However, according to a study by researchers at the Medical University of Silesia in Poland, e-cigarettes are not without risk, because while the levels in tobacco products are much higher, e-cigarettes still contain harmful toxins.

Dr. Onkar Mudhar, a London dentist who posted the video on TikTok, said the pixie sticks can cause inflammation, swelling and bleeding of the gums.

He says this is because nicotine dries out your mouth and reduces saliva production, leading to irritation caused by bacteria and a buildup of food that can't be flushed away.

In 2022, the U.K. recorded nearly 350 hospitalizations due to e-cigarette use, which is thought to be caused primarily by respiratory problems such as shortness of breath, chest pain, inflammation of the lungs and, in severe cases, respiratory failure.