More than 7100 e-cigarettes - including vapes - were seized in late August when the state's health authority inspected 15 businesses across the Hunter.
The raids, which took place across Jesmond, Rutherford, Cessnock, Singleton and Muswellbrook from August 28 to 30, resulted in the confiscation of products worth more than $214,000.
The details were released on Monday as NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the government would spend $6.8 million over three years to curb illegal vape sales. More than half that funding will be used to enforce state control laws.
The August inspections came after prosecutions in the Hunter New England Health region during early 2022 and 2020. The Newcastle Herald understands a Hamilton business was among those prosecuted.
A manager at a major tobacconist chain told the Herald she was concerned illegal vape sales were taking up to $10,000 annually from stores doing "legitimate" trade.
She had noticed more customers, particularly young people, requesting nicotine vapes. The store she managed was "not taking risks" because of "increased raids".
"We have had a massive jump in people asking for [nicotine] vapes and asking where you can them from," she said.
The manager said "pirate" tobacconists, which are not registered with the government as such, often used bright coloured packaging and vibrant signage to sell vapes containing nicotine in a way that appealed to young people.
A Hunter New England Health (HNEH) spokesperson said: "NSW Health requires retailers intending to sell tobacco, non-tobacco smoking products or e-cigarettes, to notify NSW Health under the Public Health (Tobacco) Act."
And if businesses were not registered as tobacconists, the manager we spoke to said they could slip under the radar during compliance crack-downs.
"A lot of the time, these stores on not on Google search, so if the police are wanting to do a raid, they may go to those places on Google," she said.
Separately, community members are also concerned about advertising of vapes in a way that appeals to children.
Tegan Betts, a mother of students at Mount Hutton Public School, recently started a petition to local and state government voicing "community concern" about a store advertising smoking products in the school's vicinity.
Ms Betts said she had taken exception to the types of promotion the business used.
"I was shocked and bewildered," Ms Betts said. "I am not against small business - this is not about that.
"It makes it hard for parents when [nicotine] is normalised and promoted in that way," she said.
Ms Betts said the petition had amassed more than 200 signatures so far.
Governing laws relating to tobacco and its packaging in NSW bans advertisements appealing to children and young people.
The store is registered with an Australian business number and a retailer identification number. The Herald is unaware of illegal products being sold in the store.
A spokesperson from Lake Macquarie City Council said a tobacconist was defined as a 'shop', which the property in question had been approved for.
"The new occupants are able to move in as an exempt change of use from a shop to a shop under the relevant section of the State Environment Planning Policy," the spokesperson said.
They also said shop signage could be changed without "consent" from council. Advertising of tobacco products, including nicotine vapes, is regulated by NSW Health.
Ms Betts believed it was difficult to obtain simple information on laws regulating vaping advertising and the proximity of stores to locations that children frequent.
"Who is checking this? Who is making sure this is OK [and] looking after our kids?" she said.
A Hunter New England Health spokesperson said NSW Health conducts enforcement against retailers who fail to comply with tobacco and e-cigarette legislation in NSW.
