Can You Vape in Vietnam?

Short answer: no. Vaping is now illegal in Vietnam. Do not take your vape, and do not buy one there.

This is the guide to read if you are travelling in 2026, because the situation changed recently and most older advice is now wrong. On 1 January 2025 Vietnam brought in a full ban on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco. Guides written before then, and plenty written since, still say vaping is tolerated. It is not. Leave the vape at home.

Here is exactly what the ban covers, what actually happens to a tourist, and the one scary claim doing the rounds that does not apply to you.

Is vaping legal in Vietnam?

No. Under a National Assembly resolution passed in November 2024, Vietnam banned e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products from 1 January 2025. The ban is broad. It covers the production, sale, import, storage, transport, possession and use of vapes and vape liquids, and it applies to everyone in the country, tourists included. Heated tobacco devices such as IQOS, glo and Ploom are banned in exactly the same way.

That puts Vietnam firmly in the same bracket as Thailand and Singapore. It is not a grey area, it is not a "be discreet and you will be fine" situation. Bringing a vape into Vietnam now means bringing a banned item across the border.

What happens if you get caught with a vape in Vietnam?

For an ordinary traveller, the realistic outcome is confiscation of your device and a fine. The rules that came in at the start of 2025 set a penalty of up to around 2 million dong, about £60, for using a vape, and customs can take your device off you at the airport. Penalties have been tightened since the ban began, so treat any figure as a floor rather than a ceiling.

The simplest way to avoid all of it is the obvious one. Do not travel with your vape. There is no version of this where bringing it is worth the risk of losing it and paying a fine on your first day.

How strictly is the ban enforced?

Strictly enough that you should not gamble on it. Because the ban is recent, enforcement is still ramping up, and it varies from place to place, but Vietnamese authorities have made vapes a public priority and airport checks are a real thing rather than a rumour. The point is not that every traveller gets stopped, it is that you have no way of knowing whether you will be the one who does, and the downside is losing your device and paying a fine on arrival. A banned item you cannot use for the whole trip is not worth carrying on the off chance nobody looks.

The "15 years in jail" claim, and why it is not about you

You will see headlines saying Vietnam jails people for up to 15 years over vapes. That is true, but it is being aimed at the wrong audience. The 15-year prison term and fines of up to 3 billion dong apply to importing, trading, transporting and producing vapes, in other words to smugglers and sellers dealing in quantity. A tourist with a personal device is in the fine-and-confiscation bracket, not the prison bracket.

That distinction matters, because guides that blur it either terrify people out of an honest holiday or, worse, make the whole thing sound so exaggerated that readers ignore it. The accurate version is simpler: you will not be jailed for a personal vape, but you can lose it and be fined, so do not bring it.

Can you buy vapes in Vietnam?

No, not legally. Sale is banned, so anything you are offered on the street or in a bar is black-market stock, sold illegally. Buying it puts you on the wrong side of the same ban, with no guarantee of what is in the liquid. There is no legal vape shop to walk into. Assume the answer is no everywhere.

What to use instead

The honest reality is that Vietnam is a vape-free trip, so the sensible move is to plan your nicotine before you fly. Nicotine pouches are not part of the vape ban, which targets electronic and heated devices, so they are the likeliest legal fallback. UK pouches are tobacco-free and discreet, and a tin in your bag covers the flights and the days without a vape. Keep them low-key and do not hand them round.

Traditional nicotine replacement such as patches and gum is also a straightforward option and is sold in pharmacies. If pouches are your plan, take enough of your usual nicotine pouches for the whole trip, because you will not be topping up out there. And for the day you land back home, it is worth having your e-liquid and a charged pod kit ready so you are not scrambling after a long flight.

Are nicotine pouches allowed in Vietnam?

They sit in a grey area. Vietnam's ban is written around e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, and it does not name tobacco-free nicotine pouches, so they are not banned in the way vapes are. That makes them the safest nicotine option to travel with, but grey is not the same as guaranteed. Bring a personal amount, be discreet, and do not try to sell or share them. If in doubt, patches and gum are the uncontroversial choice.

The bottom line

Vietnam banned vaping on 1 January 2025, and the ban applies to you as a visitor. Do not take your vape, do not buy one there, and plan your nicotine around pouches or NRT instead. Get that right and Vietnam is a wonderful place to travel. Get it wrong and you lose your device and start the trip with a fine.