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BBC News asked a doctor and the owner of an e-cigarette shop in Paris for their views on the new law
Euro MPs have voted to tighten tobacco regulations aimed at putting young people off smoking, but some measures do not go as far as originally planned.
They rejected a European Commission proposal to treat electronic cigarettes as medicinal products - a move that would have restricted sales.
They backed a ban on menthol cigarettes - but with a five-year delay. The same goes for other cigarette flavourings.
Slim cigarettes will not be banned. EU ministers must now consider the plans.
Among other measures, MEPs voted on Tuesday to put health warnings on 65% of each cigarette pack, as opposed to the proposed 75%.
The current requirement for health warnings is for 30% minimum coverage on one side and 40% on the other.
Public health campaigners describe packets of 10 as "kiddy packs" because they argue they can be bought with pocket money.
Official figures estimate that 4% of children in England between the ages of 11 and 15 years old are smoking at least once a week.
The tobacco industry-funded campaign, Forest, says around two million people in the UK buy their cigarettes in packs of 10, because that is what they can afford, or because they want to cut down. It argues that forcing people to buy bigger packets of 20 will not help reduce smoking.
It was the European Parliament's first reading of a draft tobacco directive which could become law in 2014. There has been intense lobbying of MEPs by the tobacco industry and health campaigners.
Conservative and Liberal MEPs welcomed the amendments made to the original proposal from UK Labour MEP Linda McAvan.
There will now be further negotiations with the Council - the grouping of relevant EU ministers. MEPs may manage to avoid a second vote and fast-track the legislation so that it is adopted before the May 2014 European elections.
The proposals also include a ban on words like "light", "mild" and "low tar", deemed to be misleading, and a ban on chewing tobacco - called snus - although Sweden would retain its exemption.
EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg called the vote "positive". "I am confident that the revised Directive on Tobacco Products can still be adopted within the mandate of the current Parliament," he said.
But Carl Schlyter, health spokesman for the Greens, called it "a shameful day for the European Parliament, as a centre-right majority, led by the EPP group, has done the bidding of the tobacco industry and voted for weaker rules".
Once agreed, all 28 EU countries will have to make the measures law.
E-cigarette controversyThe UK has already said e-cigarettes will be licensed as medicine from 2016.
Sales of the tobacco-free devices have boomed worldwide since bans on smoking in public places were introduced.
But campaigners say their growing popularity is dangerous.
They argue that e-cigarettes undermine years of anti-smoking efforts and could be especially damaging to children and non-smokers.
The devices are designed to replicate smoking behaviour without the use of tobacco. They turn nicotine and other chemicals into a vapour that is inhaled.
Manufacturers of e-cigarettes say the products have the potential to save millions of lives and should not be restricted because they could dramatically reduce smoking-related diseases.
Anti-smoking campaigners say young people especially are being tricked into taking up smoking.
"Tobacco products should look and taste like tobacco products," said Commissioner Borg, presenting the proposals.
The new packaging requirements would also apply to roll-your-own tobacco.
The legislation would allow member states the option of plain, non-branded packaging "in duly justified cases".
Healthcare costsThe Commission says packets must be big enough to ensure full visibility for the health warnings, so the recommendation is at least 20 cigarettes per pack.
Fourteen EU states already have 20 as the minimum, four stipulate a minimum of 19, and in the UK and Italy the minimum is 10.
The Commission says almost 700,000 Europeans die from smoking-related illnesses each year - equal to the population of Frankfurt or Palermo. The costs for healthcare in the EU are estimated to be at least 25.3bn euros (£20.6bn; $33.4bn) annually.
In 2009‐10, sales of tobacco products generated nearly £9bn ($14.6bn; 11bn euros) in taxes for the UK government, about 2% of all receipts from taxation, a government report said.
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