When Gov. Charlie Baker declared a public health emergency over vaping, he included a standing order for pharmacies to provide free or low-cost nicotine patches, gum and lozenges for insured customers — a move that public health advocates say is just as unprecedented as the temporary ban.

But public health officials still need to convince e-cigarette users to make the switch. Instead, the ban’s harshest critics argue that those who vape nicotine products could return to traditional cigarettes, and that all types of vape users could be tempted to turn to a black market that uses the vitamin oil tied to at least some of the severe vaping-related illnesses.

“I have no choice now but to ... go buy patches or gum that never worked for me for 30-something years,” said Jay Wolfe, 46, who smoked on and off for 30 years before switching to a vape in October. “Why’s it going to work now?”

Wolfe, who lives in the Merrimack Valley, plans to drive to New Hampshire to stock up on cartridges for his Suorin Drop, a raindrop-shaped vape that takes cartridges with nicotine e-liquid.

“I got three phone calls today from people that said, ‘if I can’t get my liquid today I’m going to start smoking,’” said David Bershad, 60, co-founder of a local chain called Vape Daddy’s.

Bershad, who says vaping helped him wean off cigarettes and cigars, spent Wednesday going through inventory at his Newton shop. The temporary ban effectively put him out of business in the short term. But he has more than enough e-liquids so he doesn’t have to switch back to tobacco products during the ban.

A study in 2018 estimated that at least 10.8 million people were vaping at the time. Vaping also became popular among Massachusetts consumers, including school-aged children.

Pharmacists said they received letters from the state on Wednesday notifying them about the standing order and general guidelines about how to implement it. Under the order, pharmacies are authorized to create prescriptions to make nicotine-replacement therapy coverable by insurance, even if the customer doesn’t have a prescription from a doctor.

Without insurance, nicotine-replacement therapy is available at pharmacies, ranging from $6 to more than $50. If covered by insurance, the products would be available at a lower price or possibly free.

Rite Aid, which has 10 stores in Massachusetts, said that pharmacists will comply with the order. The company is reviewing the clinical guidelines “to ensure our pharmacists are equipped to handle customer inquiries and execute on the standing order.”

Rich Lane, a pharmacist at Gary Drug Co. in Boston, said the store will follow pharmaceutical procedures to prescribe nicotine gum and patches.

“We’re going to give our best pharmaceutical effort that we can,” said Lane, who has worked at the store for four decades.

Winickoff said he hopes the standing order offers a cheaper alternative for e-cigarette users as well as traditional cigarette smokers.

“It makes nicotine-replacement therapy cheaper than any other nicotine product," said Jonathan Winickoff, a pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital who supports the vaping ban. “It makes it cheaper than combustions. It makes it cheaper than electronic cigarettes. Not only is it safer, it’s now cheaper, and it’s completely free — or with some insurances, there’s a minimal copay.”

There’s just one glaring issue, vape shop owners and customers say. Marlboros, Newports and other cigarette brands are still available at any convenience store or gas station in the state.

“Why are we not banning cigarettes? That is the real question,” said John Nathan, Massachusetts representative of the Vapor Technology Association and co-owner of 80V eLiquid.

For medical marijuana patients who solely use THC vape pens, the standing order has no effect.

Vape evangelists swear by e-cigarettes and similar products as less harmful alternatives to traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes have water-soluble solutions with certain levels of nicotine, without the tar and chemicals associated with the traditional products.

Wolfe, the Merrimack Valley resident, started using a JUUL in October with pods containing 50 milligrams of nicotine. Today, he’s mixes the less-concentrated nicotine cartridge and mixes it with nicotine-free vape juice.

“I’m only taking in 12 milligrams over the course of an entire day," he said. "That option is now gone for me.”

Yet e-cigarettes aren’t smoking cessation devices. At least, they haven’t undergone review under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required for companies to officially make that claim.

JUUL received a warning letter from the FDA on Sept. 9 for marketing its products as “much safer than cigarettes” and for marketing to young people.

Researchers say there isn’t enough research on products to determine the long-term effects of vaping, because the industry is so new.

One widely cited study published Feb. 14 in the New England Journal of Medicine, which compared smoking cessation between a group that used nicotine-replacement therapy and a group that used e-cigarettes, suggests that e-cigarettes were more effective for smoking cessation than nicotine-replacement therapy but that the majority of those e-cigarette users were still consuming nicotine using the device a year later.

A closer look at the study shows that 10% of participants using the nicotine-replacement therapy quit cigarettes, while 18% of e-cigarette users quit traditional cigarettes. Among those who quit, 80% of e-cigarette users were still using the electronic nicotine delivery product. Nine percent of those who used nicotine-replacement therapy were still using those products.

Bershad, the vape shop owner, said that he knows that e-cigarettes aren’t FDA-approved, but insists that they helped him get off cigarettes and cigars six years ago. With the ban in place, he said, he plans to use up his inventory while he can.

“It’s been an interesting trip, but I don’t feel very good about where we’ve ended up,” he said. “We fought a good fight.”