Ploom Vapes

What the Ploom collection is, and what it is not

The Ploom collection brings together the products we stock from Ploom, a heated-tobacco brand owned by the Japan Tobacco group. It is listed under vapes because that is how many UK adults go looking for it, but it is important to be straight about the category before you buy: Ploom devices are not e-liquid vapes. There is no tank, no pod of liquid, no coil and no mesh. A Ploom handset warms a purpose-made tobacco stick to a controlled temperature, so the nicotine and the flavour come from real tobacco leaf rather than from a bottle.

That distinction drives almost every decision on this page, from how you choose a product to which UK rules apply. If you are looking for fruit flavours, nic salts or disposable puff counts, this is the wrong aisle, and our pod kit, e-liquid and refillable vape collections will serve you better. If you currently smoke and want a defined, cigarette-style session without burning the tobacco, keep reading.

Here is what to expect from the range.

• Handsets and starter kits. Rechargeable devices such as the Ploom Aura Starter Kit, sold with the parts needed to get going. Colour or shade labels on a listing describe the kit version, not a taste.
• Compatible tobacco sticks. Sold separately from the handset, in packs, in a handful of styles that run from plain tobacco through to menthol and mint notes. Availability moves with stock, so check the live listings.
• Other handset generations. Ploom has released more than one device over the years, and you may see the Ploom X Advanced handset and EVO-branded sticks listed from time to time.

What you will not find is a puff count or an e-liquid nicotine strength in mg/ml. Heated-tobacco products are measured in sessions, with one stick per session, and the nicotine comes from the stick itself. We explain how to read that in the strength section further down.

Every Ploom product is for adults aged 18 or over who already use nicotine. None of them is intended for non-smokers, for young people or for anyone who is pregnant, and none is sold as a stop-smoking aid.

Ploom brand background and product lines

Ploom is the heated-tobacco platform of Japan Tobacco (the JT Group), whose international arm, Japan Tobacco International (JTI), looks after its markets outside Japan. The brand began in Japan and has been through several device generations, with early models using a different heating approach from the stick-based handsets sold in Europe today. That history matters for one practical reason: older and newer Ploom products are not interchangeable, so a stick made for one generation may not suit another handset.

In the products we stock, three types recur.

• Ploom Aura. A compact, rechargeable handset sold as a starter kit and offered in several colour options. This is the current entry point in the range and the product most UK shoppers will land on.
• Ploom X Advanced. An earlier-generation handset used with EVO-branded sticks. Where it appears, treat it as a separate system from the Aura and buy only sticks that are listed for it.
• Ploom sticks. Short tobacco sticks, sold in packs, which are the consumable you will keep buying. EVO sticks have been sold in a series of named colour variants, each a different tobacco-led or menthol-leaning style.

We describe the brand cautiously on purpose. Heated-tobacco makers revise models, firmware and stick designs between releases, and published specifications are thin compared with the vape world, where puff counts, coil types and battery sizes are printed on the box. Where we cannot support a figure such as battery capacity, session length or heating temperature from the maker's own material, we leave it out rather than guess. The manual in the box is the authority for your particular unit.

It is also worth knowing where Ploom sits in the UK market. IQOS has the larger UK footprint and a wider choice of stick styles, and glo from BAT has its own following among smokers. Ploom is the smaller presence. That has two consequences: stick choice can be narrower, and you are more likely to rely on specialist online retailers than on corner shops for supplies. Neither is a reason to avoid it, but both belong in your decision.

How a Ploom session compares with vaping and with smoking

A cigarette burns tobacco at a high temperature and produces smoke, tar and a long list of combustion by-products. An e-liquid vape heats a mixture of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, flavouring and usually nicotine, and turns it into an aerosol. A heated-tobacco device sits between the two. It takes real tobacco, formed into a short stick, and warms it to a controlled temperature intended to release nicotine and flavour from the leaf without setting it alight. What you inhale is an aerosol drawn from tobacco rather than from e-liquid.

You notice the difference in daily use almost at once.

• Taste. A heated stick tastes of tobacco first. If you vape fruit or menthol, expect something closer to a smoother, drier cigarette than to a sweet vapour.
• Ritual. You insert a stick, wait for the handset to reach temperature, use a fixed session, then throw the stick away. It is nearer to smoking a cigarette than to sipping on a vape all afternoon.
• Upkeep. There is no liquid to refill and no coil to prime, but the heating chamber collects tobacco residue and needs regular cleaning.
• Smell. The aerosol tends to linger less than cigarette smoke on clothes and in cars, although it is not odourless.

A typical session runs like this. You charge the handset, slide a compatible stick in until it seats fully, press the control, and wait for the indicator to show that working temperature has been reached. Then you draw slowly and evenly, as you would on a cigarette, until the handset signals that the session has ended. You remove the spent stick and put it in the bin, give the device a short rest if the manual asks for one, and repeat when you want another.

One honest caution belongs here. Heated tobacco still contains tobacco and still delivers nicotine, which is addictive. UK health bodies are clear that vaping is far less harmful than smoking, but the evidence on heated tobacco is smaller and less settled, so we do not describe it as harmless or as a route to quitting. If you want to stop using nicotine altogether, the free NHS stop smoking services have the strongest evidence behind them.

Who Ploom suits, and who should look elsewhere

A good buying guide tells you when to say no. Here is a fair view of who gets something out of the Ploom range.

It tends to suit you if:

• You smoke cigarettes and want to keep the tobacco taste, the hand-to-mouth habit and a clear beginning and end to each session.
• You have tried pod vapes and disliked the sweetness, the throat feel, or the way a vape is always within reach and easy to overuse.
• You want to cut down on smoke smell in the house or the car.
• You like predictability: one stick, one session, one known cost.
• You are happy to buy sticks separately and spend a few minutes now and then cleaning the chamber.

It is probably not for you if:

• You do not use nicotine. These are products for existing nicotine users only.
• You enjoy fruit, dessert or ice flavours. A tobacco-based aerosol will not deliver them, and a pod kit or a refillable vape will keep you happier.
• You want to puff freely for long stretches. A fixed session will feel restrictive.
• Lowest running cost is the main goal. A refillable vape is usually cheaper per day than tobacco sticks.
• You are under 18. We cannot sell to you, and neither can anyone else.

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or have a heart condition or another medical issue, speak to a doctor or pharmacist before using any nicotine product. And if your honest aim is to stop smoking for good, treat a heated-tobacco device as a lateral move rather than an exit. It may change what you inhale compared with burning tobacco, but you are still using tobacco and nicotine.

How to choose between handsets, sticks and colours

Choosing within the Ploom range is simpler than choosing among hundreds of vape kits, because there are only a few decisions to make. Work through them in this order.

• Step 1: confirm the format. Make sure a tobacco-based, session-style product is what you want. If you are still undecided, compare it with a refillable pod kit from our vape kit pages before you spend anything.
• Step 2: pick the handset. For most buyers this means the Ploom Aura Starter Kit. If a Ploom X Advanced kit is listed, remember that it belongs to a different stick family, so only choose it if you already have compatible sticks or are happy to follow that system.
• Step 3: match the sticks. A handset is designed around its own sticks. Read each stick listing for the words that say which Ploom handset it is made for. Do not assume sticks from IQOS, glo or other brands will fit or heat properly.
• Step 4: choose a style. Start with the style closest to what you smoke now, covered in the flavour section below.
• Step 5: pick a colour. The Aura has been offered in several finishes, and the choice is purely cosmetic. Darker finishes tend to hide fingerprints, while lighter ones can show pocket lint and marks more easily.
• Step 6: add a case if you carry keys. A small sleeve keeps lint out of the chamber and protects the finish in a pocket.

Our advice for first-time buyers is to buy the kit and a single pack of one or two stick styles rather than a large stock of one style. Stick taste is personal, and you will not know whether you like a style until you have used a few. Once you have settled on one, buying several packs at a time is more convenient, provided you store them sealed, cool and dry.

Nicotine strength, flavour and sessions instead of puffs

Nicotine is where heated tobacco and vaping part company most clearly, so it is worth slowing down here.

On a vape you choose a strength in milligrams per millilitre of e-liquid. In the UK, nicotine in vape liquids and pre-filled pods is capped at 20mg/ml, and pods and refill bottles have size limits as well. Ploom products fall outside that rule. A heated-tobacco stick draws its nicotine from the tobacco leaf and is regulated as a tobacco product, not as a vape liquid, so there is no mg/ml drop-down to choose from. Instead, intensity is described by the stick style.

Some practical points follow from that.

• If you smoke: pick a style with a similar intensity to your usual cigarette. Dropping too low can leave you craving and sending you back to cigarettes.
• If you vape: do not carry your usual e-liquid strength across on a one-to-one basis. Heated tobacco delivers nicotine differently, and a stick can feel stronger or weaker than you expect. Start with a milder style and adjust.
• If you do not use nicotine: do not start.
• Watch your pace. The fixed session makes it easy to count your intake. If your daily stick count creeps up for no clear reason, treat that as a signal rather than ignoring it.

Flavour works differently too. The handset has none. The taste lives in the stick, which is why the flavour tags you see on Ploom stick listings are tobacco-led and menthol-led rather than fruity. Broadly, sticks come in these families.

• Regular tobacco styles aim for a rounded, toasted tobacco taste. They are the closest match for people moving over from plain cigarettes.
• Menthol and mint styles add a cooling note over the tobacco. The cooling is usually gentler than a menthol e-liquid.
• Blended styles add a hint of something else, such as caramel, coffee or grape notes, layered under the tobacco. These vary a great deal between ranges.

Finally, forget puff counts. A vape box might promise thousands of puffs, but a Ploom session is one stick, with a start and an end decided by the handset. A full charge gives you a number of back-to-back sessions rather than a number of hours, and the exact figure is in the manual for your unit. Heavier users should expect to top up during the day.

Ploom compared with IQOS, glo and refillable vapes

No single device suits everyone, so here is a fair comparison with the options people most often weigh against Ploom. We stock several of these, so there is no reason for us to steer you anywhere that does not make sense.

• Versus IQOS ILUMA. IQOS has the larger share of the UK heated-tobacco market, a wider range of stick styles and more places selling its sticks. Its ILUMA handsets use an induction design without a heating blade, which makes cleaning simpler. IQOS can cost more to get started with. Ploom is worth considering if you prefer its handset and stick range, but if choice and availability of sticks is your priority, IQOS currently has the edge.
• Versus glo. glo, from BAT, has its own neo sticks and a loyal following among smokers who like a lighter touch. Handsets are straightforward to use and sticks are widely sold. The differences with Ploom come down to stick taste, handset layout and heat-up time, and many people decide only after trying both.
• Versus a refillable pod vape. A pod kit gives you far more flavour variety, finer control over nicotine strength within the 20mg/ml cap, no tobacco in the product and usually a lower daily cost. It does not give you the tobacco draw or the defined session, and it is easier to overuse. For many adults moving off cigarettes, refillable vaping remains the better-evidenced route in the UK. A heated-tobacco handset makes more sense as a second try for people who have given vaping a proper go and found it did not work for them.
• Versus single-use vapes. This comparison has largely gone away. Selling disposable vapes has been illegal in the UK since June 2025, so rechargeable and refillable formats are now the norm for vapers, and heated tobacco competes with those.
• Versus staying with cigarettes. Heated tobacco is not a free pass, but if the realistic alternative is carrying on with combustible cigarettes, many adults see a device that does not burn the leaf as the lesser evil. Stopping nicotine entirely is better still.

A rough rule of thumb: choose Ploom if you want the tobacco ritual, are comfortable with a smaller stick range and like the handset. Choose a pod kit if you want flavour choice and lower running costs. Choose IQOS if you want the widest choice of sticks and are prepared to pay more up front.

UK rules: age limits, tobacco regulation and the 20mg cap

Because Ploom products contain tobacco, the legal picture differs from the rules for vape liquids, and it helps to keep the two apart.

• Minimum age. You must be 18 or over to buy any Ploom handset or stick. Retailers must verify age, and we check at order and delivery stage.
• Tobacco, not vape rules. Heated tobacco sold in the UK is treated as a tobacco product. That affects packaging, health warnings, advertising limits and duty. It is the reason prices and descriptions on these pages look different from those on our vape and e-liquid pages.
• The 20mg/ml cap. The maximum strength of 20mg/ml applies to nicotine vaping liquids and pre-filled pods, along with limits on tank size and bottle size. It does not apply to tobacco sticks. If you see a vape product above 20mg/ml on sale in the UK, it is not legitimate.
• Disposable vapes. The sale of single-use vapes has been banned across the UK since June 2025. Where older guides talk about disposables with a certain puff limit, they describe a market that no longer exists in shops. Ploom handsets are rechargeable and sticks are consumed in a single session, so they are separate from that ban.
• Health warnings. Tobacco packs carry mandatory text health warnings in English. A pack with no warning, or with warnings in another language only, is a red flag.

Rules around tobacco and vaping in the UK have been moving, with further legislation on the way, so it is sensible to check the latest guidance on GOV.UK before you rely on any summary, including ours. We keep our pages updated, but a government source is the final word.

One further point: the law treats the buyer and the seller differently. It is an offence to sell tobacco to anyone under 18, and it is also an offence to buy tobacco on behalf of someone under 18. If you are buying a Ploom device as a gift, it must go to an adult.

Value for money and caring for your Ploom device

The kit price is only part of the cost of heated tobacco. A handset is a one-off purchase, and the ongoing spend is on sticks. The honest way to judge value is to work out your cost per day, not your cost per kit. Do this sum with the live prices on the site: take the price of a pack of compatible sticks, divide it by the number of sticks in the pack, then multiply by the number you would use in a normal day. Compare that figure with what you spend now on cigarettes or on vape liquid and pods.

Where Ploom tends to land on cost:

• Against cigarettes. Heated sticks are often priced close to a pack of cigarettes, and because tobacco duty applies to both, the gap is rarely large.
• Against refillable vaping. A pod kit with a bottle of e-liquid is usually cheaper per day, because the consumables last longer and vape liquid does not currently carry tobacco duty.
• Against other heated-tobacco devices. Ploom kits sit at the more affordable end of the heated-tobacco handset market, while the long-term cost is driven by stick prices, which are comparable across brands.

There is no recurring hardware cost such as coils, but heating elements and batteries wear like any consumer electronic. A well-kept handset should last a long time under normal use, and good habits help it get there.

Care and maintenance basics:

• Clean the chamber regularly. Tobacco leaves fine debris and residue. Use the brush or cleaning tool supplied with the kit, or a dry cotton bud for the opening, with the device switched off and cool. Never pour water or cleaning liquid into the chamber.
• Keep sticks fresh. Store packs sealed, cool and dry. Damp or dried-out sticks heat badly and taste flat or harsh.
• Insert gently. If a stick does not seat, remove it and try a fresh one rather than forcing it, because a bent stick can leave residue that grips the next one.
• Charge sensibly. Use the supplied cable and a suitable charger, avoid charging on a soft surface such as a bed or sofa, and do not leave it in a hot car.
• Stop if something looks wrong. If the handset swells, gets unusually hot or has a damaged port, stop using it and contact us.

Common faults almost always come back to charge, cleanliness or the wrong stick. If a session tastes scorched or flat, clean the chamber, check the stick, and make sure you waited for the ready signal before drawing.

Buying tips: genuine stock, warranty, delivery and recycling

A few habits will protect you from poor-quality or counterfeit stock and make life easier if something goes wrong.

Spotting genuine stock:

• Buy from a UK retailer that states its company details, age-verifies orders and shows clear returns terms. Be wary of unusually low prices, which can signal grey-market or counterfeit goods.
• Check that the packaging is sealed and undamaged, that the printing is crisp with no spelling mistakes, and that English-language health warnings and batch information are present on tobacco packs.
• Look for consistent branding between the box, the handset and the manual. Mismatched logos, cheap-feeling plastics or a charging cable that wobbles in the port are warning signs.
• Be cautious of products carrying packaging written only in another language, which can indicate stock intended for a different market and not meant for UK sale.

Warranty and returns: A new handset should work as described in the manual. If it arrives faulty or stops working, contact us with your order number and a short description or photo. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 you have a short-term right to reject faulty goods, and any manufacturer warranty is in addition to your statutory rights. Damage from misuse, dropping the device or liquid ingress is not usually covered. Tobacco sticks are consumables, so once a pack has been opened it normally cannot be returned unless it is faulty.

Delivery: We deliver to UK addresses only, and orders are for adults. Age is checked at order and delivery stage, and delivery options and costs are shown at checkout. Someone aged 18 or over may need to be available to receive the parcel, so choose a delivery address where that is possible.

Recycling and disposal: The handset contains a lithium battery and must not go in household bins or general recycling. Take it to your local household recycling centre or to a retailer electrical take-back point, which accepts small electricals including vapes and heated-tobacco devices. Used sticks go in the general waste, not on the street, and spent sticks should never be left in the handset. Many UK supermarkets and electrical shops now have drop-off bins for small electricals, so a trip to the shop can double as a recycling stop.