Vape Shops Suing To Lift Bans. Why?

Here in Oregon we have several bills that, if passed, would more or less make vaping illegal in its current form, and I know this isn't just happening here. I have to wonder how far they will be able to go with the bans and regulations, how "effective" they will be and how best to prepare for them. I think it's likely they will make high concentration nicotine solutions impossible to obtain for consumers, so at the least, it's probably a good call to stock up on unflavored nicotine, especially considering that whatever ejuice they do allow will no doubt be taxed to the point of being unaffordable.

The rest of their proposed bans would, in my mind (hopefully) be ineffectual in the long term. They want to ban flavored ejuice, but if the juice is zero nicotine, I don't see how they could get away with that since of course they can't ban PG, VG, or flavors, they just couldn't get away with that, yet, and the same goes for things like kanthal and cotton/rayon, too many uses outside of vaping.

They want to ban online sales from vape companies to our state which we all know would be a devastating blow to vapers. As for mechanical/regulated mods and other gear, what's to stop companies from selling them with a disclaimer that they are intended only for ornamental purposes, or for zero nic juice. What's to stop a vape shop from renaming itself "Functional Mechanical and Electronic Galleries" who operate on the assumption that people only use their products to vape zero nic juice.

It's insane to me that in a country that glorifies alcohol abuse, and has finally started to see the light on decriminalizing ........., that all this hysteria comes up about vaping, which is possibly the most benign chemical someone could enjoy (probably better for you than caffeine) and has given millions a way of breaking free from a habit that is far worse... you think the world is getting somewhere, but then something new comes out and the same old ignorance and fear rears its ugly head all over again, which is in turn milked by our politicians and backed by big tobacco, it all seems to be coming together for a perfect storm and it's not looking good in Oregon.

Your thoughts, what are you doing to prepare? What do you think is necessary?  

I was sort of counting on them for odds and ends once the FDA rules kick in in May, or if there are laws passed between now and then.... but it looks like they will be shut down:
China Effectively Bans Online Sales of E-Cigarettes

China Bans Online Sales of E-Cigarettes

I have several fasttech and several vaporl orders that have not shipped yet too.

EDIT: Although the article does say "“There is no law and regulation in China that forbids the online sale of e-cigarette yet,” said Ou Junbiao, head of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of China. "

EDIT #2: vaporl does have a US warehouse too though, although oddly enough the shipping is cheaper from Hong Kong.  

I've been out of vaping since about 2011. I'm looking to get a good setup to start up again, I might be starting a job which requires a nicotine hit now and again to keep me alert. What is going on these days? It looks like the laws have all gone stupid and I hear about people saying they only have tobacco flavors now and other lame stuff I'm hearing. I thought technology would have improved, not regressed. So back before I quit I was considering a custom titanium or otherwise setup with aftermarket batteries.

I'm very familiar with this type of stuff having been a flashlight collector and electronics hobbyist for over twenty years, but I don't understand what is going on out there these days with the laws and all the proprietary systems I see out there nowadays with the proprietary batteries. I have a lot of spare lithium ion batteries setting around, so I'd be happy to use them in custom setups. For reference the last vape setup I had was an Ego-T with the refillable tanks and that had an internal proprietary rechargeable battery. And I used to purchase my vape juice separate from custom online shops like Mom and Pop's Vape Shop. Could someone point me in the right direction so I can get a decent new setup? I'm taking it they don't have flavors like cotton candy or /pineapple-watermelon anymore? I guess that's only reserved for marijuana these days.  

China Effectively Bans Online Sales of E-Cigarettes

if true then it’s a good thing for those who have been hoarding errr I mean stashing vape gear.

unfortunately it’s a terrible thing for those wanting to quit smoking.  

I've noticed a lot of online vape shops are closing. Brick and mortar shops are still open in my area, so it doesn't seem like they're being affected. I've been getting emails from online shops announcing their closing dates. Do you think it is from all the vaping hysteria going on and flavor bans? Are brick and mortar shops closing in your areas?  

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.  

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.  

After seeing devastating news all over the world (India, USA), Lithuania's government is stubborn enough to kill everything I loved about e-cigarettes with a click of a button. Boom.
From 2020 onwards (ban is still pending though, but read below, you'll get your answer, knowing how my government blindly accepts ridiculous bans and such), shops won't carry e-liquids with anything other than bare bones tobacco flavored ones. It would be a miracle if one of the guys who came up with this stupid idea would make his mind.
It's devastating... Even our biggest vape shops couldn't do anything at the meeting, their remarks and talks were all ignored.
Funny enough, CEO of Philip Morris Lithuania actually said something about competition and started laughing afterwards. Soon after he was asked to leave the meeting. That's saying everything I wanted to know. BIG TOBACCO IS PAYING.
I'm like sitting at vape shop, reading these news. My hands are shaking.

EDIT: I'm adding one of the articles on this exact matter. Just translate it to English and you should understand 95% of the article without issue.

E.cigarečių pardavėjai kilo į mūšį dėl išgyvenimo – protestuoja prieš M.Majausko pataisą  

Don't really know why im sharing this, guess im just wondering if anyone else has had this experience or not. The other day I was at the local B&M and a minivan pulls into the parking lot, im friends with the shop owner so I hangout with him regularly and noticed the minivan as soon as it pulls up, the guy sits there for about 10 minutes just sitting there and writing things down, our conversation goes "Are you expecting a delivery or something?" "no why" "This dudes been sitting here for about 10 minutes just writing away" "Maybe its my first audit or something" the dude finally gets out of the van and comes in "How long have you guys been operating here?" Jon the owner says "about 7 months now, what can i help you with?" "My name is Chris with the National Tobacco (i forget exactly what he said) and I cover everywhere from statesville to asheville, im from asheville but was across the street getting some food and seen your shop, i'd never noticed it before." We live about 2 hours from asheville, I dont actually think he just stumbled upon the shop but who knows. Then he says "We're trying to get into the electronic cigarette market and have started making a brand called V2, ever heard of them?" I said, "I've seen them in gas stations a couple times, but other then that I've had no experience with them" He then says "what about the zig zag kits? Ever tried them?" "never tried one, but i've seen them once or twice" "Well that was one of our lines, the v2 is our next level model to kind of keep up with the new stuff thats coming out, I have a box of them out in my van that i can bring in to give you an idea" the dude then walks out to his van, we just kind of wait on him until he gets back then he returns with this big v2 display box "We're selling these retail for 450.00 but we can sell you three for 150 each, thats around 900 dollars of profit if you buy today" Jon says" Well i've never heard of the brand so i'd have to look into it more first" "Alright thats fine but..." then he gave this super long sales pitch about how it will be better then anything else on the market and ahead of its time with the magnetic tanks and blah blah blah, then Jon went behind the counter and pulled out this huge box and says "This takes three batteries and goes up to 240 watts, starter kits are great and all, but they will never really be ahead of the times unless you can build a sub ohm starter kit and thats not cheap" the sales rep dude then says "Alright, well im just going to leave my card, just give me a call if you decide you need any of our products" And he left, I guess the best thing that comes out of this is i can ask, has anyone ever dealt with any v2 products? How are they with reliability, battery life ect. I'd like to get back to Jon with some reviews, maybe they could be better then the regular egos and this is a good deal for the local shop.  

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.