In a bill hailed as a major step toward stopping teenagers from vaping, the Massachusetts House on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including mint and menthol, and impose a 75% excise tax on electronic cigarettes.

The bill passed 127-31. It will now go to the Senate, which is expected to take it up next week.

Rep. John Mahoney, D-Worcester, chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Health, said tobacco flavors, whether mint or cotton candy, “were created and designed for one reason only — for young people to become addicted to nicotine and to become lifelong users.”

As smoking rates have declined over the decades, vaping has become popular among Massachusetts teenagers. Many view vaping — where oil or water with nicotine or THC is heated and vaporized, then inhaled — as a safer alternative to smoking.

Vape cartridges have been available in myriad flavors, from strawberry to cotton candy, although Juul, a popular vaping product manufacturer, facing public criticism, recently pulled its flavored products from the market.

According to the state’s 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 41% of high school students reported using an e-cigarette at least once, and 20% reported vaping currently. Only 11% reported smoking cigarettes currently. Nearly 10% of middle schoolers had tried an e-cigarette at least once.

According to bill supporters, more than 80% of teens who have used a tobacco product started with a flavored product.

A national outbreak of vaping-related lung diseases has sickened more than 2,000 people and killed 39, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three deaths have been reported in Massachusetts.

Gov. Charlie has temporarily banned the sale of all vaping products, but that ban is set to expire Dec. 24.

The Legislature, which leaves on its break Nov. 20 and does not plan to return until January, is now attempting to pass regulations governing vaping on a permanent basis.

The House bill would ban the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including cigarettes, vape products, chewing tobacco and cigars.

The ban on the sale of flavored vaping products could go into effect as soon as the bill is signed. The ban on menthol cigarettes would not go into effect until June 1, 2020.

It would not affect marijuana products.

Rep. Danielle Gregoire, D-Marlborough, who introduced an earlier version of the bill banning flavored tobacco said vape companies today “turned to the same playbook used by big tobacco decades ago to hook an entire generation of youth on nicotine.”

She said one Juul pod contains as much nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes. While some adults say they use vaping to wean themselves off traditional cigarettes, Gregoire said the products are designed to keep smokers addicted to nicotine.

Vaping products today are not actively regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, other than the government’s ban on selling them to minors — a law that is poorly enforced.

Rep. Marjorie Decker, D-Cambridge, said during the debate, “Today we are clearly communicating to big tobacco companies that while you stole the health and well-being of our parents and grandparents, you cannot have the health of our children.”

Some debate on the House floor centered on the economic impact of the bill.

Rep. Brad Hill, R-Ipswich, proposed waiting a week to debate it until lawmakers can get a fiscal analysis showing how much money the state will gain or lose, and how the policy will affect convenience store owners. His motion to hold the bill failed, mostly along party lines.

Rep. Denise Garlick, D-Needham, estimated that the new 75% excise tax on e-cigarettes will raise $10 million to $15 million. She said estimates of the loss of cigarette taxes are larger.

The New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association has estimated that the ban would cost the state $250 million from the loss of sales and excise tax revenue associated with menthol and mint cigarettes, vaping products and other flavored tobacco products. Convenience store owners have been at the forefront of opposition to the bill, saying the ban on menthol cigarettes will put many stores out of business.

But Garlick said the bill is not about cost but about “value.” “Think about the value of not allowing an addiction to begin,” Garlick said.

Gregoire said the state will save money in health care costs.

Rep. Susannah Whipps, an independent from Athol, introduced an amendment to allow flavored tobacco products to be sold in adult-only retail tobacco stores.

Whipps said otherwise, people will buy their menthol cigarettes in New Hampshire and other neighboring states, and may stop to buy gas, groceries or alcohol. “That hurts all businesses in border towns,” Whipps said.

Her amendment failed on a voice vote.

The inclusion of mint and menthol cigarettes in the ban has been its most controversial feature. Menthol is particularly popular among African Americans.

An amendment filed by Rep. Christopher Hendricks, D-New Bedford, would have removed menthol from the list of banned flavors.

Hendricks said in an interview that there is no data tying menthol cigarettes to youth vaping, and a large fraction of the adult population is already addicted to the product. “I think you live in a free, democratic society you should have the option of smoking a menthol cigarette if you want,” he said.

Hendricks said Tuesday that he introduced the amendment to “begin a discussion” about menthol cigarettes. But he withdrew the amendment without any public debate.

Hendricks ultimately voted against the bill.

Supporters of the ban said if menthol is allowed, young people who currently vape flavored products will turn to smoking mint or menthol cigarettes.

Lawmakers also defeated an amendment introduced by Rep. Jay Barrows, R-Mansfield, that would penalize someone under 21 caught in possession of tobacco products with a $100 fine. While it is illegal to sell tobacco to minors, the penalty today is levied on the seller not the minor.

The bill also requires commercial health insurers and MassHealth to cover tobacco cessation counseling and nicotine replacement therapies, like gum and patches, without copays. It restricts the sale of higher nicotine level products to age-restricted tobacco shops and smoking bars.

The final vote in the House was largely along party lines. Five Democrats – including Westfield Rep. John Velis, who is running for Senate – voted against the bill. Seven Republicans voted for the bill, including Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading.

Marc Hymovitz, Massachusetts director of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the bill, if it becomes law, “would be truly life saving for kids across Massachusetts.”

Allyson Perron Drag, government relations director for the American Heart Association in Massachusetts, said in a statement, “With their colorful packaging and sweet, candy flavors, today’s flavored tobacco products are often hard to distinguish from the candy displays near which they are frequently placed in retail outlets. The removal of all flavors from all tobacco products is essential for reducing their appeal to our children.”