YouTuber Samuel Parsons gives update on plans to quit Australia over vaping laws

An Australian YouTuber who vowed to flee the country over the federal government’s vaping ban has made good on his threat and fired a parting shot at authorities.

Known online as the Vaping Bogan, Samuel Parsons declared to his 186,000 subscribers in January that he would move abroad to save his career reviewing vape products for a living.

Mr Parsons recently briefly returned to Adelaide after spending the past five months in Britain, where his wife has dual citizenship.

The vape influencer now plans to live permanently in Britain with his young family.

The father-of-two said the government’s decision to ban vaping forced him to leave Australia, which he branded a “nanny state”.

‘Vaping is more accessible in… Russia and China than it is now in Australia and that says a lot. We are no longer a free country,” he told the Advertiser.

“Everything I do is gone if I stay in Australia.”

Mr Parsons added that he will only return if the laws are scrapped and adults are allowed to make their own choices about what they consume.

The YouTuber believes the ban will only strengthen the black market for vapes and will not make a dent in the number of Australian children vaping.

“If the black market is bigger than it was before the ban and youth vaping rates haven’t dropped, these politicians will be left with eggs on their faces,” he said.

“They will destroy the hundreds of legitimate vape companies trying to help people quit combustible tobacco and will only make the problems of youth vaping and unregulated vape products worse.”

Ms Parsons added that Britain’s plans to ban single-use vapes will not affect him as he does not review them.

Mr Parsons has spent the past five months living with his wife in Britain, where the only bans are on single-use vapes and he can continue to review the products on social media.

Laws banning the sale of vapes have been in place since 2021 before the Albanian government introduced a more aggressive policy earlier this year.

The crackdown saw a number of shops across the country raided by police, while Australians could only legally get a vape from pharmacies with a prescription from their GP.

Daily Mail Australia revealed earlier this year that vapes were as easy to buy as a can of drink or a newspaper in Sydney stores, even after the government’s new measures.

In response, Health Minister Mark Butler said the government ‘will not let this happen’, and warned shops selling vapes to find a new revenue stream.

“I’ve said to companies that make money from this business, you’re going to have to find another way to make money,” Butler told Daily Mail Australia.

“Vape shops are purposefully locating near schools – it’s an industry that targets their products at children.”

Vaping can lead to nicotine addiction, seizures and death, even with products promoted as nicotine-free.