The ultimate example of our 'buy today, throw away tomorrow' society, disposable vapes, have been banned by the Government.

Yesterday (Saturday, May 31) shops across the Black Country were flogging off stock cheap and clearing shelves to avoid a hefty fine today (Sunday).

The fruity-flavoured alternative to smoking cigarettes have become wildly popular with millions sold a day in a multi-billion pound industry which has gone from 0-100 puffs per hour in a decade. And that is the problem: of the millions sold, a large percentage are destined to pump nicotine into the lungs of children.

Disposable vapes are being banned (PA)

Originally pushed as a healthier alternative to toxin-packed cigarettes, even the NHS has suggested vapes as a smoking cessation crutch. 

Vaping has achieved marketing nirvana - the cool kids love them and so do their parents. So vaping could not be banned outright.

Now those giant puffs of smoke will be from a re-fillable contraption, which also needs to be charged. So vapers will have to remember their machine, the charger and a little bottle of juice to pour into the machine.

Now trying do that on the beach when a banger of a tune comes on - it doesn't make for the sexiest of adverts.

Made from the cheapest, nastiest plastics, which take 1,000 years to decompose, disposable vapes are bad for the planet as well as users' lungs. 

While vape lovers may lament the Government ban, they should count themselves lucky they do not live in Australia, Iran, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Gambia, India, Iran, Mexico or one of the other countries which banned them outright years ago. 

Meanwhile the UK vape industry has grown into a multi-billion pound, unregulated, Wild West-style marketplace where fortunes have been made by shipping cheap Chinese products and repackaging them for the UK market. 

Arguments are still ongoing on whether the Government should allow its citizens to make their own minds up about exposing themselves to the risks of vaping.

However, it seems the horse has bolted when it comes to the next generation of nicotine addicts. Smoking is now unpopular and uncool, but ingesting nicotine in a vape is socially acceptable. Someone somewhere in some Government department was sleeping at the wheel concerning vaping.