Vaping / E-cigs — Panama
What travelers need to know about vaping / e-cigs in Panama. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Vaping / E-cigs in Panama: restricted — there are real limits travelers must follow.
Panama's famous total vape ban is GONE - the Supreme Court struck it down in 2024 - but do not assume vaping is now free. Since 13 August 2025 a Health Ministry resolution bans USING e-cigarettes anywhere tobacco smoking is banned: all public and private offices, public transport and terminals, enclosed public places, restaurants, bars, cinemas, workplaces, schools, hospitals and the common areas of buildings. Heated tobacco (IQOS-type) and oral nicotine pouches like Zyn are expressly covered by the same rule. Sales to under-18s, and all advertising, are banned.
Articulo Segundo states that breach of the resolution is a direct infringement of the guidelines in article 171 of the Codigo Sanitario. Articulo Vigesimo Noveno provides that sanctions are applied "de conformidad a lo establecido en las normativas vigentes del Ministerio de Salud" - NO FINE FIGURE IS STATED ANYWHERE IN THE RESOLUTION and none was invented here. Articulo Vigesimo Cuarto adds that contravening customs rules attracts contraband and customs-fraud penalties, and articulo Vigesimo Octavo provides that confiscated product is destroyed at the infringer's expense. Managers of premises are made responsible for enforcing the ban on their own customers and staff and may call in the National Police (articulo Cuarto, final paragraph).
§ Ministerio de Salud de Panama (MINSA) - Resolucion No. 146 de 31 de enero de 2025, as published in Gaceta Oficial Digital No. 30218 de 13 de febrero de 2025Verified Sep 11, 2026