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.
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?
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.
I was wondering what people think of such stores. I know most of us are against the very thought of tobacco now that we are vapers and I have seen people slam such stores in a couple groups I belong to.
I personally don't mind them because the one I go to is actively trying to turn their tobacco customers into vaping customers. But I know other people who see them as nothing more then cancer merchants since they also profit from tobacco.
One thing I found really interesting is how certain vendors will not do business with them. For instance, on the B&M's Facebook page, they said they were getting Five Pawns juice. I went to the store to buy some and was told that it will only be in their couple vape only shops because Five Pawns refuses to sell their liquid where tobacco is sold. This is a bit disappointing to me because if it wasn't for the tobacco store getting me to switch, I might not be vaping.
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OK, so I am an old fart who has depended on the ECF entirely (REOVille, Saloon, several e-liquid threads), and now I am thinking of swinging by the local vape shops to talk hardware.
Obviously, Kayfun (clones) will be discussed. Probably going to bring up Vapefly and Vandy Vape for MTL attachments. Will undoubtably take several bottom feed mods as well.
What else should crusty old farts who have been vaping longer than their store has existed try to convince the vape shop owner (manager) they should at least look into ?
Like it or not, they local B&M's just became out main source for hardware.
I was in a bar / restaurant a couple of days ago and noticed another person vaping (guy looked to be in his late 60s). The guy was using what looked like a non-adjustable EGO style stick battery with what looked like an 'old-school' Kanger T3 clearomizer on top.
I struck up a conversation with him for just a moment and asked him what type of juice he was vaping ... The guy never told me the brand or flavor, but said it was 0mg Nic when I asked him.
That was basically the end of our conversation.
My question to you folks is this .... Why would anyone keep vaping if they had no nicotine in there juice? For me, the reason I vape in the first place is to keep off cigarettes. I am obviously addicted to nicotine, and have replaced the nicotine from cigarettes for the nicotine found in my juice.
If I could wean myself completely off nicotine, I think at that point I would just give up on vaping altogether. Someday I would like to be nicotine free, but for now, I just can't see it in my future.
BTW .... I have not smoked a cigarette for 15 months, but I am still vaping on my fairly strong 16mg Nic DIY juice.
I stopped to check out a new Vape shop that opened in my neighbourhood. I asked the proprietor if they sold any 100% VG ejuice as I have a sensitivity to PG. They didn’t but had some line of juices that they sold that were made with “Organic PG.” The owner claims that most commercial ejuices are made with synthetic PG and this is what causes most reactions. I decided to try a bottle mainly because with their new customer discount, a 30 ml bottle only costed $11.00 (That is a very good price in Canada). The juice is delicious and so far I haven’t had any reactions but it has only been 1 day. Usually negative symptoms show up in 5 days. Could this be true or is it Bull #### and I will have a reaction?
Alright, so I was reading over a house bill that just passed here in Hawaii "with amendments"
Not exactly sure what the amendments are, so this could be irrelevant, but the concept still holds true.
The legislature imposes an 80% tax on "Tobacco Products" which they have conveniently bundled electronic cigarettes into.
So, what would stop a vape shop from selling all 0 nic juices, and adding nicotine as a separate purchase. For example, I buy a 30mL bottle of juice with zero nic, and then I buy enough nicotine concentrate to bump it up to say 6mg/ml
They sell me the juice for $15 (Hypothetical here) and sell me the nicotine for $1.00
So all that would get taxed is the nicotine because that's the only "Tobacco Product" (by their definition). So we only pay 80 cents in taxes rather than $12.80
If I ran a vape shop, this is what I'd be doing to prevent my customers from taking their business out of state, or worse going back to stinky sticks...
As far as I know, they would be hard pressed to define any of the electronic equipment as tobacco products, or juice without nicotine.
Is selling the nicotine as a separate purchase a viable strategy for defeating these ridiculous laws that are being proposed all over the country?
Does anyone have any good or bad experience with this seller? Apparently they "partner" with other sellers to sell products. They are located in the state of Washington. Their site has a blog, guides, and a club. Here's what they say about themselves.
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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.
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.