A total of 27 percent of students admitted to being addicted to disposable e-cigarettes, while more than half (53 percent) said they had used an Elf Bar since school started in September.

Data show that in the e-cigarette study, the proportion of students who used Elf Bars who had never smoked was much higher than previously thought.

The study, carried out by student newspaper The Tab, is the first of its kind to measure their popularity at universities.

It surveyed more than 18,000 students at 24 universities through individual university Tab Instagram accounts.

University data are only recorded when at least 100 respondents respond to the questions asked.

The findings present an update on the prevalence of brightly colored e-cigarettes on campuses across the country.

Oxford Brookes has the highest percentage of students using the Elf Bar this year. 67% said they had used one since September. This is followed by Lincoln at 64%, Newcastle at 61%, Bristol at 61% and Manchester at 60%.

Most students have used the Elf Bar at 15 of the 24 universities surveyed.

At the other end of the scale, only 38% of people have used an Elf Bar in Oxford, and even lower at 26% in Cambridge. Durham also scored poorly for Elf Bar usage, with the same 40 per cent having used it.

Elf Bars are the joint strongest single-use e-cigarettes available in the UK, meeting the legal limit of 20mg/ml for high-strength nicotine salt e-liquids.

Each stick contains the nicotine dose of 48 cigarettes.

The Tab also surveyed how quickly students completed their nicotine doses in 48 cigarettes. To most students, they appear to be casual users.

60% said they buy new Elf Bars less than once a week. This figure shows little difference between universities, but is highest in Edinburgh at 65%, Glasgow at 64% and York at 64%.

15% of students who use Elf Bars say they buy once a week, 10% buy twice a week, and 15% buy more than twice a week. This means that one in four student users buys at least 96 cigarettes worth of nicotine per week.

In a survey of more than 8,500 students who reported using Elf Bars, The Tab also found that 51% of students said they had never smoked cigarettes before.

This is highest in Lancaster at 60%, Glasgow at 58%, Cardiff at 57%, Lincoln at 56% and Sheffield at 55%.

A previous study by ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) found that while the proportion of never-smokers now using e-cigarettes is the highest ever, the public health charity found the figure to be just 8.1%.

Dr Lion Shabbah, professor of health psychology at UCL and co-director of the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, told The Tab: "I would have thought about 80% were ex-smokers and maybe 20% were ex-smokers.

"So it popped into my head and worried me a little bit because, as you can imagine, the debate in the tobacco control community is that e-cigarettes are a harm reduction product, harm reduction for existing smokers."

41% of students said they only used the Elf Bar in social situations, while 36% admitted to using their Elf Bar daily and 23% said they used it infrequently.

The numbers also show a stark divide between social and everyday users. 45% of students said the Elf Bar would keep them going for a week or more. But an equally as many 35% said they would finish the Elf Bar within a few days. In total, 20% of people use the entire Elf Bars (10% each) on a day or night out.

While the majority of students said they had used an Elf Bar this term, far fewer admitted to being addicted, nationally at 27%.

In Coventry and Manchester, more than a third of students said they were addicted to Elf Bars, but in Durham, York, Warwick, Glasgow, Cambridge and Edinburgh the figure was less than 25 per cent.

Dr Shabbah added: "In a way, I'm not surprised that more and more students may be using Elf Bars, but I'm surprised that so many of them have apparently never smoked.

"Before launching these new single-use devices, I always thought we had struck the right balance. The use among young people is very low and mostly limited to smokers."

"However, in this case, with the spike in vaping among never-smoking students, I do think we may have to adjust a little bit in the way we approach it."

The media has contacted Elf Bars for comment but has not responded.

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