Awesome Experience At Vape Shop.

I just felt the need to share a short version of my journey to date:

I had been vaping part time you about 2.5 years before my new (now ex-) girlfriend got me to walk into what was pretty much the only vape shop in town. After trying the V3 eGo setup, I bought a tank to replace my older eGo-T crap tanks and some juice. the next weekend, I bought an entire new eGo kit and gave her my old batteries so she too could start vaping. We both cut down on smoking by 50% in a couple of days. It took me a total of 12 days to decide I was done with cigarettes and by the 4th week, I was the owner of a Provari. This all started a year ago now. The Russian 91% followed quickly after that. Next wednesday will be my TRUE one year vapaversary. I since acquired a second Provari for a ridiculous price and 2 more Kayfun clones.

I will not hide that there have been temptations, even lately, to try an actual cigarette, but I have been keeping strong. I did smoke a small cigarillo at the company Christmas party last December and resisted the urge to ask for one or two more from my coworker.

I have not felt the need to stop and take a 5-10 minute "breather" for about a year now whenever I do just about anything physically demanding and I have to thank vaping for this. I also now have a great vape shop minutes away from where I live and have been into various vape shops halfway around the world (work related travels... I'm not that rich and I can get great juices 5 minutes from here) I still get one or two juices form that first vape shop I visited, which now has 4 locations, all of them at least a 30 minute drive from home.

Remembering last year, I do miss my ex (we left each other on good terms) and I really wonder how she's doing on her side with vaping. I know she's got a great shop near where she now lives and hope they have been able to help her. I have been to that shop, but was on a business trip and it was hard enough to know she had to go back to her hometown, so I didn't call her to let her know I was going to be in the area. It's probably better that way, although I still think about her.

It's been a great journey and I now can't wait to get on my old hybrid bicycle to see if I can now keep those racer owners behind me for good; during one of my last rides last summer, 2 of them took the better part of a mile before they finally passed me, and that was on the slope uphill on my way back from my 1 hour ride. I still weight over 250 pounds, BTW and will train hard to make those snobs eat my dust with a definitely inferior bike like I used to 10 years ago

Thank you ECF for helping to keep me on track and enjoying vaping so much!  

Let me start off, I've seen numerous threads about vaping in public, mainly where smoking isn't allowed. This isn't really the topic about this thread, but a topic about the input of store management and their opinions on it!

So let's start off. To begin, I'll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag: the store managers input will be mine, the store I manage (a big box retailer, which I WON'T release the name of), and 2 others from my two good friends who also are on management teams.

So let's begin, shall we?

I'm very lenient on vaping in my store, obviously! I do it myself. I can understand why you would do it. I'll reveal one part of my job, and that's a pharmacy (doesn't really narrow anything down, most stores do!). We have a ton of older folks coming through and getting medicines and prescriptions, and other various groceries and items. Believe it or not, older folks are the majority of the vapers I see coming through!

But they are also ones more likely to complain, since a lot of them aren't aware of what it is.

So lets say you are walking around, shopping and checking items out. You're more than likely gonna be confronted by me for 2 reasons.

1. You are blowing decent sized clouds, not trying to be stealthy. A customer has seen this, and has complained.

Or

2. I happen to notice you doing it.

Now, both of these scenarios are gonna play out the same. I'll walk up to you, make sure your shopping experience is top notch, and then I'll ask you about your vape. I love seeing vapers in the wild! I'll ask about juice, your mod, ect. I may even mention this site but after we exchange friendlies, I'll let you know that you need to be stealthy to avoid bad attention. I'll pull out my gear, and show you I'm not your enemy, but in case you get enough complaints, I'll unfortunately have to ask you to stop completely. I've had some bad experiences with this, I'll tell later on.

So that person will be completely (hopefully) comfortable using their vape more discreetly. This is 99% of my encounters. However, there are some bad ones.

But as you can see, I'm not out to get anyone. And I've talked to a lot of other managers at my meetings from other stores, and they are the same way. They'd much more like if you asked a member of management before you start, but more than likely it won't be a problem. There are a few uptight managers, so watch out for those.

Now I mentioned my friends who are also managers. They work the same way as me! We are all different ages (22-38) and as long as you are nice, and respectable, they won't have a problem either.

So let's talk about my bad experience. This guy was definitely a rotten apple. He was chucking huge clouds straight up, and you can definitely see them over the isles. I had (I counted) 4 different complaints from different people. So I went over to him and gave him the usual talk, but he was negative about it completely. He told me he wasn't smoking, he was vaping, before I could even reveal I was one of him! He shrugged me off and walked away. I told him if I get enough complaints I'll have to ask him to leave. What did he do?

He walked back to be about 2 feet away, took a toot on his rda, (it looked like a doge, can't be sure!) and blew it straight into my face. It tasted like gummy bears.

This particularly irritated me, so I told him one last time to be more discreet, but before I could finish he cussed me out, and threw up some gestures that left a taste in my mouth worse than his gummy bears.

I told him if he doesn't leave, I'll call the police to escort him out. He basically shrugged it off, and continued shopping. So I called the police. Within a few minutes they were there, taking him out to write up an official banning from the property. I went out there to sign papers and he told the officer I kept telling him he was "smoking" and he had to stop.

Wwwwweeellll I pulled out my gear and basically started vaping quietly as I signed papers. I asked him if that's sure what I said, and help up my mod.

I'm hoping to share my experiences and my opinions with you guys and gals from a vaper, and retail manager. As well from some of my friends opinions, and they don't even vape! Most store workers (through these store chains) don't even mind as long as you aren't getting a ton of attention from other customers.  

So, I was traveling for work today, and I had to stop at a gas station to grab a drink and use the restroom. As I was checking out, I overheard one of the other customers asking the clerk if he had any vapes. The clerk told the customer they only had the Vuze e-cigs. The customer was bummed out because he had forgotten his setup on the counter of a vape shop in Sacramento, which he was sure was gone by now, saying "Those things aren't cheap," and I told them I know all about it, lol. He was waiting for some food he ordered to be ready, so I went ahead and made my purchases and went outside to take a vape break. When he came out, he lit up a cigarette, having succumb to the urge and the not having a vape. We got to talking, and he told me that he was a veteran, having been discharged after his Humvee was blown up by an IED, leaving him with a TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury. He has a hard time remembering things, and that was part of the reason he left his vape behind. He told me he was using a mechanical (I deduced that after he told me it was a metal tube with a button on the bottom) with a cheap clearo that had a very tight draw. He didn't really know much about vaping, he just knew that it had help him go a month without smoking. I showed him my setup - a Smok Xpro M80 Plus with an Artic tank using the .2 ohm coil, filled with Vape Wild's King Cake at 65/35 VG/PG 3mg nic - and he was pretty impressed. I let him try it out, and he was just blown away by it. He really enjoyed how well it hit, how much he could taste it, and how much vapor it produced, saying he could really feel the nicotine, even at 3mg. He told me a guy at the vape shop he goes to gave him a box mod, and he showed it to me, a simple unregulated box mod - an 18650 Hammond box with a missing back, no MOSFET, no nothing. I told him he should get a couple batteries and find a back to go on his box, even told him I would be on the lookout for one. I also gave him one of my drippers, a TOBH Atty clone, and told him about coil building, and how drippers work. I also gave him a couple bottles of Vape Wild's Dragon Juice 3mg, 65/35. The last nice thing I did was to tell him about this place, telling him that everyone here is more than happy to help answer any questions he might have, and to give him some advice. Anyway, just wanted to tell you guys a little about my moment of Vape It Forward tonight. Hopefully he ends up showing up here someday. Support the troops, guys and girls, they need it.  

I live on the East Coast USA.

Walking down the street, it's hard to notice that vaping is taking off in any meaningful way, because most people that I see still smoke analogs, that includes both young people and older people too. I'm not going to judge them, because it wasn't that long ago that I was still puffing on an analog, and I had failed to see the awesomeness of vaping.

Besides myself, I don't really see too many people vaping outside on sidewalks. I vape outside in the same way that I'd smoke analogs before, so that means practically all of the time, and especially when I'm walking outside. I'm using a thin e-cig, so I don't usually get too many strange looks. I can imagine what kind of looks somebody walking down the sidewalk must get if they're using one of those big, fancy and shiny looking mods to vape with.

Just 6 months ago, there were no vape shops at all in the immediate local area where I live, and now there are 4 that have opened up, all within a very short walking distance of me (10 minutes or less). I'm pretty sure that a lot of non vapers who live here are walking past those stores every day and wondering, what the hell kind of store is that and why are so many of them opening up in this neighborhood?

One of those four stores will probably fail though, because their sign says tobacco/vape store, while the other 3 are dedicated to vaping only. A store can't be both in my opinion. That's a bit of a contradiction and a stupid combination to put it bluntly.

I've been to a couple of the vape stores so far, and in the short time that I was in those stores there were always new customers there who were smokers who were looking to start vaping.

So while I might not notice how popular vaping is by walking on the sidewalks, I think that it's safe to say that vaping is taking off big time with so many small vape shops opening up, and the amount of people vaping will only increase, because there's still a lot of smelly smokers out there who haven't yet given up on their cancer sticks.

And if this is happening where I live, then I bet that similar things are happening all across the country. Every small town should have at least one dedicated vape shop! I like the quick and easy access to all sorts of liquids and brands.

Just today, I was reading online about some premium liquids, and instead of ordering it online (I didn't want to wait), I had acquired a bottle of that exact liquid five minutes later, after sampling it quickly, and I was already at home and vaping it 10 minutes later.  

There are so many vape shops in my immediate area now that I can't even keep track of them all.

Even though I still qualify as a newbie vaper, since I've only been vaping for a few months, I now know enough about vaping to know a terrible vape store when I see one.

I was in a vape shop some weeks ago, and what I witnessed shocked me.

This vape store sold the typical premium juices and brands that you'll find everywhere and they also sold some hardware, like clones and mods.

They also had their own brand of cheap, in house juice which they sold and which they would also give out to customers as part of their rewards system, where customers who earn enough points will get a small, free bottle of juice.

While I was in the store looking around, another customer was there and they were getting a free bottle of that in house juice, and they were sampling different flavors, to see which one they wanted.

The sales person asked the customer what nicotine level they wanted, and after the customer told them, I saw the sales person walk towards the middle-back of the shop, and in less than 30 seconds, the juice was mixed and ready to go. The sales person was just eye balling the nicotine content! And it was being mixed right there in the open, in the middle of the shop!

I don't need to be an advanced vaper to know that this is not good at all, and I am shocked that somebody with such bad knowledge would even dare to open their own vape store. Needless to say, a vape store like that probably won't stay in business for long, when there are so many other better options around, with more knowledgeable people working in them.  

Not sure where in the forum to put this but thought I would update on my vaping experience so far. I ordered my Aspire Nautilus Mini kit from World of Vape and it got here just as promised. Since no one was familiar with that company I thought I would let you know my experience. Beside at the time they were the only ones who had the kit!! LOL So at least it was a good experience so far with them.

I live in the Medford area of Oregon so I went into ECBlends and was pleasantly surprised on the willingness to help a newbie. I didn't buy the kit from them but they told me to bring it in and they would show me how to use it. Wow they really didn't have to do that. But I was very grateful to be able to talk with someone and have questions answered as the instruction book isn't all that and a bag of chips. I got some e=liquid from them in the 6ml of nicotine. Also they were very impressed with the new kit as they hadn't seen one yet so they had to show it to everyone in the store and they told me I got a very sweet deal. So far it is working great.

I tried out some flavors of theirs and wound up getting carmel cappicino and Dragons Café to start me out at
6 ml nicotine. I couldn't smoke it once I got home!! It was very strong. So I went back to the store and they determined that it wasn't the PG because some people are sensitive to it and I had to go down to a lower nicotine level!! So I bought a bottle of 0 nic and am working into my tank. Also until the end of the month (May) the website has 30% discount on all e-liquids!! The store has 20% discount. The code is
NOTOBACCO-30 on checkout. I know some of you are EC Blend users so thought I would pass that along. You are probably already aware of that though. Anyway the code is all caps and no spaces and make sure to put the dash in there. I saved 13.05 on my order of almost 50.00 and I am getting free shipping because I live near the store so I had it shipped to their store and I will pick it up from them. So I saved another $4.25 in shipping.

Thanks again for all the people who helped me on this forum. I haven't given up analogs yet but I am hopeful. I hope you all don't mind me posting an update. Trying to kind of give back info as I learn it maybe it will help someone else.  

We are having a very small Thanksgiving at home. Myself, my mother, my two nephews and the lady next door (the same lady that saw me vaping on the back porch and yelled "OMG you have to stop vaping... it's going to kill you!") I rolled my eyes and thought "oh no... here we go again". My nephew is an ER doctor. Both the lady and my nephew saw that I was going out back to vape and asked about "the lung disease thing" I would have never brought it up but they asked so I explained. Both were very interested in what I said and totally trusted in what I said. It was so cool. Maybe not an actual "miracle" but such a good experience for me Happy Thanksgiving everyone... Peace out, vape on!  

I'm new to vaping, I started vaping because I'm getting tired of people complaining about the smoking odor after I smoke. And I don't even smoke that much, maybe 6-8 cigs a day.
I started trying out the Stlth about 3 weeks ago and got used to it, so I went to a store to get the refillable stuff. I bought a Caliburn device and the guy in the store recommended a juice from his own store brand.
After I got home I put the juice in the device and tried it but I couldn't feel the throat hit at all, the juice was 3mg, the Stlth I used was 3.5mg which had the perfect hit for me.
I went back to the store and asked if I can exchange for one with a higher Nic. He told me he can't take it back because I opened it, strange that if it's his own brand, couldn't he just refill it and reseal it in another bottle? I only used about 2ml so far.
But anyway, he told me the ejuice has smoother draw that's why there's no throat hit as NIC salt, I did some more research and found that it's the opposite of what I've read, everything I read are saying that ejuice has more throat hit than Nic salt.
Sorry for the long store, the bottle he sold me was 60ml ($30) which is a big waste to throw away. Is there anyway I can salvage this bottle by mixing it with something else to give me that little bit of a throat hit when I draw?  

Tonight I took my Mom grocery shopping, and as we were walking down the cereal aisle of Meijer (large chain supermarket in michigan, a little more upscale that walmart) this guy, probably late 20's early 30's comes around the corner with his girlfriend/wife, holding a box mod of some sort in one hand and a bottle of juice in the other, then proceeds to take a huge hit and blow a huge cloud, fogging out part of the aisle for a few seconds. There were a couple other shoppers in the area and I didn't see their reaction, but I was a little disgusted- not at the vapor, which smelled like vanilla or something as we walked through it, but that he didn't even try to hide it. I mentioned to my Mom a few minutes later that "those" kind of people are going to ruin it for everybody. Not an appropriate place for blowing clouds- not that there are any rules against it, but still, have some courtesy for others. Not everyone likes walking through clouds while shopping. I didn't object, however I had left mine at home after taking a few hits, and was fine until we got back- about an hour and a half. If I had gone by myself, I would have vaped in the car, but left it above the sun visor in the locked car while I shopped. No need to take it inside, even though mine isn't capable of producing thick clouds. The whole time we were in the store he carried it around in plain sight, even when he wasn't hitting it. Just an observation. No, there is no secondhand smoke, no horrid smell, and no messy ash, but it looks like smoke. That's all it takes for some people to complain.  

I haven't had a cigar for a year and a half, but due to not being diligent in watching an auto re-enroll in my favorite cigar club I was still paying 250.00 a year for the club. Since I still had fond memories of the place, and a lot of business acquaintances still there I thought I would stop by and maybe indulge in a nice stick (they have a lovely walk-in humidor there). It had been so long I didn't really know what to expect, except I had a lot of really good times there and was looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and having a really good cigar.

I got there about 5:30 and there was the typical blue haze and the aroma of premium cigars, leather chairs, and premium liquors, just like I remembered. Trouble is, I really didn't appreciate the smell of cigars like I did in years past. In fact, it was a bit nauseous. But a few of the old crew (business associates and friends) were there and it was great to see them again. I took a look inside the humidor to pick out a nice stogie but TBH just wasn't enthused with the smell of the sticks the way I used to be. I decided I really didn't want one and returned to the lounge and pulled out my iStick 50 and Atlantis and sat down with some friends. In the middle of a conversation about local business trends I was interrupted by the hostess and told vaping wasn't allowed there. Seriously?? I paid a lot of money for the privilege of sitting in a nice leather seat and smoking whatever I felt like. I told her that I intended, as a member, to smoke (I didn't use the word vape because I figured that would have confused the poor girl) what I liked in a club I had paid my yearly dues for. So she quickly left and I got back to my friends that had lots of questions about my iStick.

About 10 minutes later the young lady had returned and handed me a check for 250.00 saying the owner had refunded my membership fees and suggested I find a suitable club for vaping. WoW! So ok, I left and set a meet with my friends there at a local restaurant and we had a nice dinner and talked vaping stuff, after which I took them to a local shop so they could buy similar rigs to my vaping rig.

This happened about a month ago and of the 5 friends I met with for dinner and took to the vape shop afterwards, 4 have stopped smoking cigars and now vape only and love it. But none of them got a refund check for their yearly dues to the cigar club like I did. So at this point, I'm feeling like the lucky one.

Strange times to be a vaper I guess... even the smokers hate us.