A new report has tracked the rates of smoking and vaping in each Victorian local council area.

According to the report, 4550 adults, or 13.6 per cent of the Bass Coast population smoke tobacco daily, while 15.5 per cent of the population are currently smoking.

The level of vaping in the shire is much lower, with an estimated 1514 adults, or 4.5 per cent of the population.

Within Gippsland, Latrobe tops the chart of smokers (current and daily) and vaping, with an estimated 18.2 per cent of residents currently smoking tobacco and 5.7 per cent vaping.

Cancer Council Victoria said it was concerned by the data which showed regional and rural areas had higher levels of smoking.

Head of CBRC, Professor Sarah Durkin commented on the trends in the population-representative study.

"Higher smoking in Victoria's urban fringe, regional and rural areas is a concern.

"We know people from these areas are equally likely to try to quit, so the higher smoking prevalence is probably due to socioeconomic and cultural factors which make starting smoking easier and staying quit more difficult.

"In contrast, the metropolitan areas with lower smoking rates seem to have higher vaping rates. The greater presence of a younger demographic in these metro areas - the target of vaping influencers and a lot of other promotions for vapes - combined with easy accessibility at the time of the survey, likely explains the higher vaping prevalence in metropolitan Melbourne," Professor Durkin said.

When this research was conducted, researchers said vape shops were still popping up all over the city, despite it being illegal to sell nicotine vapes to someone without a prescription.

Quit Director, Rachael Andersen spoke about her hopes for the future taking into consideration the new vaping laws.

"We know nicotine is such a powerfully addictive drug, and that addiction is hard to break. And we also know that the industry will continue trying to create products to addict young customers to nicotine.

"Getting vapes out of conventional retail settings, coupled with the right enforcement, ensuring they are only sold to people for therapeutic purposes, is the right thing to do."
Ms Andersen concluded by flagging the need for public health efforts and campaigns which address both smoking and vaping, considering the gateway effect between the two behaviours.

"A recent study of Australian teens showed people who vape but have never smoked are at least five times as likely to take up smoking. So, while much of the media narrative of the past years has focused on vaping, if we stop educating the community on the harms of smoking and if we reduce support for quit smoking attempts, we risk seeing the areas with high vaping rate areas becoming high smoking rate areas in the future.

"And if we don't address the stubbornly high smoking rates in outer Melbourne and regional areas, we risk seeing health inequities continue to widen," Ms Andersen concluded.

The comments echo concerns raised by Silverleaves resident Kylie Lindorff, the Senior Advisor for National and International Tobacco Policy for the NSW Cancer Council, who earlier this year told the Advertiser it was important to restrict access to tobacco and stop vaping.

She said vaping was "creating a new generation of nicotine addicts" and described the tobacco industry's use of vapes as "predatory".

"They need to addict another generation of young people to continue to generate profits."

For support to stop smoking or vaping, connect with Quitline. Message them on WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger @QuitVic, live chat through quit.org.au or request a call back at a time that suits you.

From Monday - Friday, 8am to 8pm qualified Quitline counsellors are ready to support you on your quitting journey.