VAPE Magazine December 2015 by Matt Schramel

DEC 2015

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NEWS, BUSINESS & CULTURE VAPE Magazine is the only international vaping industry focused magazine with more than 35,000 readership in the United States, Europe and Asia, where vaping professionals find the latest news, products and trends. EDITORIAL Editor in Chief Alyssa Stahr content@vapemz.com 800-958-6427 x2 Executive Editor Laura Batty Social Media Manager Eric Vonheim Art Director Van Avanzado Graphic Designers Joe Buehner, Laura Camp, Matt Ritzenthaler

letter from the editor: One of my first questions when I interview people is, “What’s your origin story?” Now that VAPE is in its third year, and we have announced distribution in Barnes & Noble bookshelves across the country, I thought it was time to share our origin story. Matt and I met in 2002 at a family-owned organization called Drag Racing Online. I answered an ad for a clerical worker, just trying to get my foot in the door somewhere. Matt was their art director, and over time I became the managing editor. As time went on, I went elsewhere in my career and geographically, but we never lost touch in helping each other out with projects along the way. Fast-forward to 2014. I was living in China teaching English, and Matt embarked on a wonderful idea to start a vaping magazine. He asked me to edit a few stories for him so he could take that first issue to a show in New York. Our first international issue of VAPE centered around the Chinese market, and from there I moved stateside to continue this journey all the way to Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest retail bookseller. As of Oct. 1, VAPE can be found on B&N’s shelves in 387 stories across the country. And, as for Drag Racing Online? They are still in the same suite housed in O’Fallon, Mo. and have achieved success and grace that I aspire to on a daily basis. The Burks have mentored us throughout our careers, and we have them and our faithful readers, partners and the entire VAPE Magazine team to thank for the success we’ve achieved thus far. Thank you.

Director of Photography Ezra Zuniga Webmaster Axel Gillespie Contributors Steffanie Atkins, Nick Bessette, Paul Blair, Norm Bour, Cynthia Cabrera, Kal Dorji, Maggie Follett, Bryan Gateb, Nick Green, Jan Halili, Erin Hedrick, Shawn McCarthy, Chris Mellides, Susan Oser, Tony Ottomanelli, Tyler Price, Matt Rowland, Julie Selesnick, Ian Silver, Arvid Sollom ADMINISTRATIVE Chief Executive Officer Matt Schramel Co-Owner/Vice President Jon Laverde Executive Assistant Erin Hedrick ADVERTISING Mike Schramel, mike@vapemz.com 800-958-6427 x1 Jon Laverde, jon@vapemz.com 800-958-6427 x4 Jacob Barger, jacob@vapemz.com Tim Artz, tim@vapemz.com China-based advertisers contact Wingle Group Electronics LTD +852 51759256 dev@winglegroup.com CONTACT Advertising sales@vapemz.com

Happy reading,

News news@vapemz.com New Products newproducts@vapemz.com Employment jobs@vapemz.com

@VAPEMAGAZINE 12

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VAPE Magazine is wholly owned by Starpixel Marketing LLC 2230 Highland Hill Dr., St. Peters, MO 63376 info@vapemz.com 800-958-6427

table of contents Columns 28 Let’s Ask GrimmGreen 33 Tech Reflect 42 Safety First

103 VAPE Talks Shop: Valor Vapor

160 Vaping Brings Relief (and much more)

107

VAPE Visionary

113 Scenic Vapers 149

VAPE Talks Shop: Exclusive Vapes

Features

Techin’ Geek

to Brave South African with Rare Disease

167 Vapers Cupid Adds Spice to Dating Life

Events 39 San Antonio Events Center Hosts

17 A Look Back at 2015 and Toward 2016

21 CNN Reports on Vaping,

55 VAPE’s Readers’ Choice Favorite

Trade Show/Convention

Continues Success

Claims Abuse: Sociologically Reflecting

27 Top 4 Vape-Friendly Cities in the USA

Vape Blast 2015

30 VapeRunners Goes the Extra Mile

68 Miami VapeFest Chooses Advocacy,

with Delivery Service

Research in Busy Events Season

111 Mastering the Vape Space

36 Velvet Vapors Chats About Activism,

90 Vapercon East 2015: An East Coast

118 Vaping From the Outside

Liquid Regs

Vaper-Centric Event

Departments 19 Letter to the Editor 23 VAPE Magazine 2015 Holiday Gift Guide 34 Vaping 101: Addys vs. Tanks

—Battle of the Tech

44 Juice Judge 46 The VAPE Meet Scene 65 Mods on Mods 73 Just In Juices

125

Vaping Scene

Another Successful Year

NOTBlowingSmoke.org Blasts Onto

VAPEXPO Paris Celebrates

116 The Vape Industry From

130 ECig Europe Industry Conference

London Features Debates, New Themed

120 SFATA Speaks About Change

Drink Reception

122

E-Liquid Fever: Premium Pricing

142 Central PA Vape Expo Hosts

for Premium Products

135

‘Extraordinary’ Effort by

154 Vapor Dynasty: Lessons Learned

California Lawmakers to Snuff Out

Vaping Comes Up Empty

162 Mid Con Vape Con 2015 Improving

a Healthcare Perspective

Successful First Event

From the Sequel

VAPE Fashion Pictorial

139 The Presidential Candidates and

95 VAPE Talks Shop: Mister-E-Liquid

170 Hurricane Patricia Brings Heavy Rain

99 VAPE Vixen

MAGAZINE

Their Positions on Vaping: A Satire

146 Lady Baby Boomers in the Vape Space

the Midwest Vaping Culture

to the American Vapor Convention

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MAGAZINE

he holidays bring with them an opportunity to reflect on how fortunate most of the vapor industry and its consumers have been in avoiding unnecessary taxation, onerous regulations and the aggressively relentless prohibitionist movement. This also is a good time of year to look back at the rise in popularity of vapor products over a very short period of time. These innovative technology products have helped many achieve the American Dream. For others, vapor products have helped end a life-long addiction to tobacco. One might think that as vaping converts smokers to technology over tobacco, lawmakers and bureaucrats would celebrate. Unfortunately, that would neglect the perverse incentives many politicians have in their quest to halt the growth of this industry. Both government actors and private sector competitors have justifiable, albeit misguided, reasons for wanting to preserve the status quo and their bottom lines. The federal, state, and local governments who collect cigarette tax revenue make more money off of the sale of cigarettes than retailers, wholesalers, farmers and manufacturers combined. And a lot of that revenue, tens of billions of dollars, is spent on non-public health priorities like transportation and education initiatives.

There are some in the industry who have brushed off the threat of new taxes as a mere cost of doing business. This approach to legislative threats is wrong. Consumers looking to make the switch from high-taxed tobacco to vapor products are currently presented with an economic incentive to do so. For every nickel more that e-liquid costs, a consumer has less of a reason to make the switch to a healthy tobacco-free alternative. The state regulatory networks, from licensing to distribution controls, necessary to actually collect new taxes on vapor products will also present an issue to all types of businesses. Costs will rise, the type and number of products available will decline, and the market’s growth will stagnate. For many, this won’t simply be the cost of doing business; it will be the end of doing business. While the industry certainly has some maturing to do of its own, on whole—this is an industry selling products to consumers which are accomplishing what high taxes and stiff regulations on cigarettes never could: ending smoking as we know it. With growing evidence that vapor products are at least 95 percent less harmful than combustible tobacco products, it will become more and more clear that this isn’t a debate about science; it is a debate about money. So-called public health groups who push for massive new health care programs in the states would rather people keep smoking, because smokers fund their public policy priorities and vapers do not.

look bAck AT

And

By Paul Blair

In January, I predicted that 25-30 states would face threats over the imposition of new excise or “sin” taxes in 2015. Twenty-six and the District of Columbia considered proposals to do just that, up from 15 in 2014. This past year, three additional states successfully raised taxes on electronic cigarettes and vapor products. Minnesota (95 percent wholesale), North Carolina (5 cents per ml), Kansas (20 cents per ml), Louisiana (5 cents per ml) and the District of Columbia (70 percent wholesale) now subject the products to higher-thansales taxes, with the last three being signed into law in 2015. Looking to 2016, it would be naïve to expect the number of tax or regulatory threats to shrink. One of the unfortunate consequences of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) delay in implementing new finalized regulations on the marketing, sale and availability of vapor products on the market is that more states will create regulatory structures themselves. With those discussions, will come increased pressure to consider tax hikes as well.

TowArd

2015 2016

E-cigarettes don’t only stand to save lives though; they stand to save tax dollars. With 36 million smokers enrolled in Medicaid and 11 percent of Medicaid expenditures being attributed to smoking, e-cigarette use can save the average state far more tax dollars than it generates from cigarette taxes and Master Settlement payments. The average state would have realized a savings of 87 percent in 2012, according to a State Budget Solutions study. That fact scares big spenders and proclaimed public-health advocates who don’t want the state to collect less tax dollars. The American Lung Association, American Heart Association, Americans or Nonsmokers Rights (ironically), are among the worst offenders of spreading lies about vapor products because they want more money from consumers and businesses, not less smoking. They prefer the status quo. Americans for Tax Reform opposes tax hikes and unnecessary regulations and it is my hope that in 2016, more companies, consumers and advocates will get smart on saying no to moneyhungry legislators whose crocodile tears might make for great television, but stand to genuinely harm the lives of millions. Paul Blair is the state affairs manager for Americans for Tax Reform. He can be reached at pblair@atr.org.

Letter to the Editor Hello Alyssa, My name is Antoine, and first off I would like to thank you for such a great magazine; it is very informative and when I can get one I will read it from cover to cover, put it away for a day or two and then pick it up again and read it all over. I got started a year ago; my son brought home one of those gas station packs and he wanted me and his mom to try it. We did and I took to it so fast, I could not believe it. I went out and got my own cigalike, and now I am using APVs and just got my first box mod (Provari P3, Smok BEC Pro, E-Vic Supreme and The Kanger K-Box Mini starter kit). In the beginning I went online to try and find out as much about vaping as I could; I learned all about cigalikes, APVs, box mods and mech mods. I also spoke with retail sales clerks (they were the most helpful). The clerks were the most knowledgeable around, and they care. I was in this vape shop in Lake Forest Calif., and there was a customer who was just starting. He never smoked analogs before, and he told the clerk that he was using 12 mg juice; the clerk told him to stop and go down to 0 or 3 mg cause she said with that high of nicotine he would maybe become addicted. To me that showed care for the customer. I am on this forum called Tapatalk, which hosts a lot of vape related forums. Every time when I go on it I read a lot of the new members stories about how they gave up analogs. (Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a digital world out there lol). For some they quit the day they started, others it took a while. Bottom line is they all quit, living healthier lives and loving every second of it. What someone should do is go around and collect all of these stories and send them to the know nothings who want to put an end to vaping. It took them over 40 years to do something about analogs, why are they jumping now to do away with vaping? Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s let the people who do this speak. We need to hear from the people who do this and let them tell their stories; maybe just maybe it would change some of the know nothings into know somethings. -Antoine Victor, Costa Mesa California

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CNN Reports on Vaping, Claims Abuse: Sociologically Reflecting on the Real Issues By Anthony J. Ottomanelli II As the summer ended, CNN released a report that I thought was a bit misguided. The article reported that “South Florida emergency rooms are filling up with patients suffering from synthetic narcotics overdose.” That is alarming; perhaps the production and distribution of synthetic narcotics are the primary issues to investigate. But another plan outlined in the article was ultimately an excuse for the writers to highlight, or more accurately, attack. The article also said that “vaporizer pens are becoming the new way to get high, but discreetly—at times, right under the noses of police, parents and teachers.” So, vape pens are behind these overdoses? I think the reason for the overdoses is the fact that people are abusing synthetic narcotics. Just because vape pens are linked as the “delivery device” for these synthetic drugs does not necessarily mean that we should automatically single out vaping. It’s important to dissect and analyze the issues in this article from a sociological standpoint. The title is not only inaccurate, but perhaps outlandish and insulting to the vape community. A more appropriate title would be, “Vaping: the latest miracle in harm reduction,” as stated previously. I respect these CNN reporters. However, journalists, researchers, writers and many others of the same crowd should be much more responsible when serving as reliable communicators to the public. If you write professionally, you should be aware that words are meaningful and powerful. Why discourage people from vaping? Vaping has potential, and should be recognized as one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in regard to public health reform and as an effective harm reduction strategy. A U.K. study conducted by Public Health England, an agency sponsored by the U.K.’s Department for Health, found that e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than regular cigarettes. “Public Health England, an agency sponsored by the UK’s Department for Health, has concluded that e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful than traditional smokes.” This is an excerpt from just one of many articles about this UK study. It’s no secret that smoking kills nearly half a million Americans annually.

As a social scientist, I admit that there are few facts that are accurately communicated about vaping. Of one thing I am certain, however. I smoked for 15 long years, and I gave vaping a chance. Now, I’ll never smoke again as long as vaping is around. The difference in my overall health and well-being is more positive since I quit smoking and started vaping. I’m no longer a slave to tobacco—just a fool for nicotine. There are some truths in this CNN article, though. For instance, it reports that “vape pens have been around for more than a decade, but have boomed in popularity recently because of marketing to nicotine users looking for a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes.” Vaping is becoming a new, contemporary culture, and some people just don’t understand it. When you think about it, anything that ever gains in popularity usually receives a decent amount of pushback from its opposition. The article’s writers even suggest that vaping is “trending,” and that this is the scariest part. Do they claim that the fact that vaping is finally gaining in popularity is the spookiest factor in this whole equation? Once again, I think they’re mistaken and misguided. As a researcher and vaper, I urge you to aggressively, yet tactfully, question such accusations and interact with people who hold different opinions. It’s important for people to fully understand and relate to the emotions of others. Thus, the decrease of socializing among one another can simultaneously diminish our capacity to empathize. To simplify, a human being is a social animal. Meaning, human beings feel naturally compelled to relate to another individual or group of people. Vaping brings people together, and has become its own subculture. We do ourselves a disservice by focusing our energy on criticizing and analyzing the wrong kinds of progressive advancements, and transforming them into issues. Stephen Hawking once was quoted as saying, “Above all, we must never stop talking.” Communication is vital, and as a fellow vaper, I urge the interchangeable vaping community to keep talking. Unite, ask questions and inform.

Tony Ottomanelli graduated with a Master of Arts in sociology from DePaul University. Ottomanelli also taught sociology at Owens Community College. He lives in Denver, Colo., where he pursues opportunities in sociology, writing and, of course, vaping, testing new vaping devices and e-liquids. Because the staff focuses on educating customers, Vaporleaf off Colfax in Denver is his favorite go-to shop.

Compiled by Alyssa Stahr

C4 Precision Engraving Photo by Charlie Colson Want to personalize a mod or accessory for your loved one this holiday season? Located in North San Diego County, California, Charlie Colson’s C4 Precision offers high-end precision laser engraving, as well as anodizing and Cerakote coating services. To order, visit http://www.c4precision.com/.

Lone Tree Box Mods Photo by Mike Schramel Lone Tree wood box mods are handmade near St. Louis, Mo. Made from rare hardwoods, they are chock full of solid copper contacts and wire. There is a flush switch to avoid pocket firing with a volt meter readout and a spring loaded 510 connection. Copper set screws to ensure maximum battery contact finish off this unique product. To order, visit http://www.umelixir.com/product-p/lonetreeume.htm.

Rugged Vape Cloud Case Photos courtesy of Rugged Vape Made of high-quality U.S.-made material, this cloud case is backed by a five-year warranty against defects. This case is designed specifically for the vape enthusiast, with a soft plush padded interior keeping all your high-end mods safe and scratch free. Coupled with a strong rugged exterior with rip resistant military grade nylon and tons of storage, you have everything you need while you’re out and about secured all in one place. 8” x 6.5” x 3” dimensions To order, visit www.ruggedvape.com.

Vape Storm Apparel Photo courtesy of Vape Storm Find trendy apparel with Vape Storm’s collection of tanks, crew neck T-shirts and hats. Not sure what your loved one likes to wear? Vape Storm also has gift cards available for purchase. To order, visit http://www. vape-storm.com/collections/apparel.

Wick & Wire Vape Cases Holiday Collection Photo courtesy of Wick & Wire Included in the new 2015 holiday collection of vape cases by Wick & Wire are new colorways of the Stash case 3.0, El Cajon box mod case and the introduction of the Primo case—a larger accessory that can hold either a mechanical mod, box mod and other daily essentials. To order, visit http://www.wickandwirebrand.com/.

EZ Cloud Company Dripper Photo courtesy of EZ Cloud Company Downey, Calif.-based EZ Cloud Company is a company focused on bringing innovative and creative ideas to the vaping industry. The company’s first product is the EZ Dripper self-standing e-liquid bottle for EZ dripping. EZ Dripper was the “Winner of Best New Product” at Vape Summit IV. To order, visit http://ezcloudcompany.com/.

ProVari Radius Photo courtesy of SSPR Constructed of stainless steel and high-strength polycarbonate, the ProVari Radius continues ProVape’s tradition of creating sturdy and long-lasting personal vaporizers that offer years of consistent performance. The sophisticated electronics of the ProVari Radius including the company’s patented AccuSet and HotShot Boost technologies that work in tandem to ensure optimal vapor quality and flavor. AccuSet manages the device’s vapor and flavor production to ensure the user gets the perfect vape with every puff. HotShot Boost gives users a customizable increase in vapor, eliminating the need for pre-puffs. Safety features of the Radius include battery monitoring, reverse battery protection, thermal monitoring, and a number of other safety backups to ensure it’s the safest device on the market. To order, visit http://www.provape.com/provari-radiuss/100.htm#MainForm.

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Totally Wicked Five Pack Expedition Optimized VG Liquid Gift Box

Photos courtesy of Vape Escape With names like “Golden Vintage,” “Icy Pink” and “Golden Heiress,” your vape pens or box mods truly can reach a new, dazzling level. To order, visit ZirconiaVapes.com.

Photo courtesy of Totally Wicked Totally Wicked always has been a pioneer within the vaping community, being one of the original companies in the United States. Every vaper once took that first step into the unknown as they began his or her vaping journey. The TW Expedition range brings you amazing flavors, all of which take their inspiration from Intrepid Adventurers and their quest to be the best; to be the first; to be the Pioneer. To order, visit http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/.

JMK Tips Photo courtesy of VAPE312 JMK Tips, owned by Jason Kiang, are made in Chicago, Ill. You won’t regret wrapping your lips around these highquality, USA-made drip tips. They will excite your senses and class up any set. To order, visit Vape312.com.

Sub Ohm Innovations Shorty Subzero Competition Mod Photo by James d’Shone for Sub Ohm Innovations Coming with a short switch and silver-plated contacts preinstalled, this mod is available in copper or black cerakoted copper. Specifications include: thick C145 copper construction for hefty feel and conductivity; eight-point clutch contact for maximum consistency and efficiency; Sub Ohm Innovations signature short switch; excellent venting for safety in the event of catastrophic battery failure; all copper, adjustable contacts for compatibility with all 510 atomizers including a 12 mm reverse threaded contact for positive battery pressure; efficiency of >99% at 0.1 Ohms for extremely low voltage drop even on the lowest resistance builds. To order, visit http://subohminnovations.com/products/ shorty-subzero-competition-mod?variant=7082382913.

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5 Vape-Friendly Cities in the USA

By Matt Rowland There are certain cities in the United States that seem to welcome vaping enthusiasts with open arms. Others are not so friendly, passing countless city ordinances and state legislation nearly banning the practice of public vaping completely. For vapers who travel throughout the country for work or pleasure, finding the local hot spots for vaping can be a challenge. Here are the Top 5 Vape Friendliest Cities in America, along with an entire state that vaping fans should probably avoid at all costs.

Denver, Colorado

While vaping on government property is banned, Denver currently has no laws on the books that restrict public vaping in other venues. In fact, business owners can make the decision themselves to allow public vaping or not. As a result, this city boasts a wide variety of nightclubs, restaurants and other privately owned establishments that market their businesses specifically toward the vaping community. Check out places like the Funky Buddha Lounge, the Meadowlark Nightclub or Gold Creek Casinos to mingle with the local vaping culture. Denver and its surrounding neighborhoods also have more than 150 vape shops filled with the latest box mods, mechanical mods and e-liquid blends on the market. For manufacturers of vaping technology, Denver is a primary market, which means that visiting vapers will likely see some of the most intriguing vaping paraphernalia imaginable. For these reasons, the Mile High City quickly is becoming the center of the vaping universe in America.

Seattle, Washington

Seattle always seems to march to the beat of a different drummer. From grunge rock to designer coffee, this metropolitan area never is afraid to be the first to combine alternative cultures with mainstream lifestyles. It also rates as one of the Top 10 Greenest Cities in America in 2015, according to The Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost. com/2015/04/22/greenest-cities-america_n_7112500.html). With more than 150 vape shops and several bars and nightclubs that welcome the vaping community, visitors to Seattle will have no trouble finding places to congregate. Vaping is allowed while walking down the street and in many of the city’s beautiful parks. Vapers can roam freely without fear of getting a fine from the local police. However, Washington is facing some of the most prohibitive anti-vaping legislation in the country. If these laws pass, Seattle may quickly become less vaper-friendly. Thankfully, this Pacific Northwest city also is home to many vaping advocacy groups, like the Pink Lung Brigade, that work day and night to prevent this legislation from passing.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

The state of Virginia has no bans on public vaping, and the quaint town of Virginia Beach offers the perfect seaside destination for vaping enthusiasts. With a population fewer than 500,000, Virginia Beach offers a surprisingly large number of vape-friendly restaurants and nightclubs. Some of the more popular places that vapers gather include Buckethead’s Restaurant, the Seaside Raw Bar and the Young Veterans Brewery Company.

There is even a concert arena that allows public vaping. Farm Bureau Live is a 20,000-seat outdoor auditorium that allows unrestricted vaping to live bands right on the beach. Mango’s is another live music venue that also welcomes the vaping community, while the charming downtown area provides different vape shops staffed with friendly locals who are always willing to help out-of-town vacationers.

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is located right on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, but it is also just a short drive across a bridge to the neighboring beach towns of St. Petersburg and Clearwater. With no laws or policies in place restricting public vaping, visitors have a wide selection of vape-friendly restaurants, nightclubs and beaches at their disposal. In fact, nearly every beach bar, seaside restaurant and local gift shop in St. Pete and Clearwater are vaper-friendly. Even the Tampa shopping malls and airports welcome the vaping community. Both the International and WestShore Plaza shopping centers allow public vaping. And when landing at the Tampa International Airport, visitors arriving to the Sunshine State will likely see fellow travelers vaping while waiting to board their flights. Tampa is also home to one of the nation’s largest vaping conventions, the Vaping Convention Circuit (VCC), which attracts thousands of new vendors and political activists every year.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the city that distributes free alcoholic beverages at blackjack tables and allows public smoking of tobacco cigarettes at slot machines. Anything goes in Sin City, including public vaping. Visitors can even vape in many of the hotel rooms, too. Las Vegas has almost 50 local vape shops and is also home to the increasingly popular Vape Summit, a yearly event held at the city’s convention center. Like Tampa, Las Vegas is another major metropolitan area with a vape-friendly airport. Count your casino earnings and hit your vape pen while waiting for your flight home at the McCarran International Airport.

And the state to avoid completely… Hawaii!

Although the Aloha State is a popular vacation destination for travelers around the world, it is perhaps for this very reason that Hawaii is not very hospitable toward vaping advocates. Its white sandy beaches and crisp ocean breezes lend to an almost magical atmosphere that is unlike any other on the planet. And, Hawaii seemingly wants to keep it that way. It is the very first state to raise the legal age for buying any type of tobacco-related product to 21 years of age. Public vaping is strictly prohibited in Hawaii, both outdoors and inside public venues. Unlike Denver, local business owners cannot decide whether or not to allow public vaping. And beware of pulling out a vape pen while sunbathing on one of Hawaii’s many pristine beaches. If you do, you can expect a firm reprimand and a hefty fine from one of the beach patrol. For vapers in search of a tropical getaway, avoid Hawaii and head to Virginia Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg or Clearwater instead. Find more of Matt Rowland’s work at RastaVapors.com.

By Nick Green

Photo by Metal Jeff

Trying to find the best flavors of e-juice. Right now favorites are Cuttwood Sugar Bear and Space Rocks. Any suggestions from anyone that likes these two flavors that are a must have/try? Thanks! - Wayne Downs Hey Wayne! The funny thing about vaping is the juices one person LOVES are the juices that another person HATES. Taste is so incredibly subjective that I have a difficult time recommending juice for people. What I would suggest doing is finding a local vape shop and trying out some of the juices they have. I wander into some of my local shops from time to time just to taste, and chances are I’ll end up walking out with something I’m very happy with. Additionally, I always challenge my pallet. I’m usually a sweet/bakery kind of guy. I love to try juices that I would generally stay away from. You never know what you may fall in love with. Thanks! - Grimm

I’m trying so hard to vape—50/50. Lowest power I can have, 2 w, still makes me cough like smoke going down the wrong way. Will keep at it as want to quit, but I so need advice. - Richard Muzza Aitken Hey Richard. There could be a lot of reasons why you are coughing. Without knowing exactly what setup (atomizer, juice, mod) combo you are using. I’ll tell you about the things that make me cough when I’m vaping. No. 1 is higher nicotine levels. Nicotine, when inhaled, gives you a tight clenching feeling in your throat and chest. The higher the nicotine level of your juice, the more intense that tightening feeling will be. No. 2 would be airflow. Sometimes if the airflow is too tight, or on an RDA (rebuildable atomizer) not aligned properly with the coils, it can cause an intense tickle sensation in your throat as well. Oftentimes when the airflow is tight or not aligned properly it causes a thin, but warm stream of vapor, which will always cause me to cough. Lastly is flavoring. There are some flavors out there that I just don’t get along with. Some citrus flavors will cause me to cough, as well as some stronger berry flavors. It could be one of these, or a combination of a few of these. One last thing is PG. PG is great in juice and carries the flavor well, but can also cause a strong throat sensation. Trying a higher VG juice might help out quite a bit. Hope that helps out. - Grimm

Goes the Extra Mile with Delivery Service By Alyssa Stahr Photos by Miranda Besaw

Employee, Josh Phillips, behind the bar helping customers.

During an impending storm, it’s human nature to rush to the store for the staples of life, typically bread, milk and eggs. Vapers in the Baltimore area may have similar demands not only during the winter season, but for those who run out of their favorite e-liquid or coils, there is a delivery service that is here to save the day. Mr. Cookie Running Through My Mind Mark Merritt had found vaping. It was May of 2014, and he picked up a bottle of G2 Vapor’s Mr. Cookie. With a job in corporate business development in the wireless industry, Merritt drove through a particular area in Baltimore that house that delightful e-liquid. The store, the only one in the area to sell Mr. Cookie, was 30 miles from Merritt’s house. Then, the unthinkable happened— Merritt forgot to stop one night and he ran out of Mr. Cookie. “The only store that I could buy Mr. Cookie from and get it the same day instead of ordering it online was this one,” Merritt said. “It was almost a two-hour round trip with traffic to get a bottle. My wife was not happy. It was like 6:30 at night, and it was either that or I go buy a pack of cigarettes. But I had to have that flavor.” What started out as a personal necessity spawned an idea. Around that time Merritt was discussing opening some stores with his partner. But, the partner wasn’t going to be ready until winter of this year. There wasn’t a delivery service for vaping at the time, and Merritt said there was a lack of consistency in the market. There weren’t many shops offering a huge variety of premium e-liquids. So, Merritt came up with the name VapeRunners. As soon as he got home that night he

didn’t know whether it was going to turn into a business idea, but he registered several domain names anyway. Burned out from the corporate sales environment, he decided to launch a “mediocre” website with about eight to 10 lines of e-liquids and got involved in social media. “I figured I’m going to launch this and see what happens. I started building a buzz toward the end of June, and I finally launched the ordering platform for VapeRunners in early August of last year. By early September I had to leave my job,” he said. VapeRunners Sprints Out of the Gate Merritt was the only person delivering at that time, and he played hooky from his job for two weeks in late August and early September. He was either that, he admitted, or not serve the customers and basically ruin his business before it got started. He was delivering 12 to 14 hours a day. “I never could have expected something like that to happen. It was insane,” he said. “For an idea like that, that was just kind of spur of the moment and taking a chance, we had a pretty phenomenal fourth quarter last year.” With a booming delivery service and nowhere to house product, a need for a brick and mortar shop became a necessity. The new shop in Bel Air, Md. faced some local opposition at first from other brick and mortars, but Merritt said that after four to six months they realized that VapeRunners wasn’t a threat.

Damon and Josh help out behind the bar while customers enjoy the bar lounge and test e-liquids.

MAGAZINE

Employee, Damon Puskarich, and a regular, Jonathan Zakrzeski, relax in the VapeRunners lounge area.

“It’s more of a niche service, filling a convenience need. If you want to get an authentic pizza from the favorite pizza shop of the town you live in, you’re going to go there and get a pizza. But if you’re in a hurry, you’re going to order Domino’s,” he said.

“From a business perspective we have to concentrate on the products that have enough margin in them so we can be profitable. Coils are probably 30 percent of our revenue right now. It’s crazy,” he said.

There is no limit on what VapeRunners can deliver, but there is a minimum $25 product order. Delivery ranges to the entire Baltimore metropolitan area. To guarantee same-day delivery, same-day deliveries must be ordered by noon. Driver routes begin at noon, with customers receiving by 5 to 6 p.m. Merritt said that hours and driver routes will be expanded, especially with the onset of a website system conversion and an additional brick and mortar location coming in about 60 days (as of press time).

The largest order Merritt has ever delivered was to a group of people at a bar. It included handful of mods, batteries and e-liquid that totally to about $600. While it was in the town that Merritt lives in, he is looking forward to expanding closer to the Washington, D.C. area.

The brick and mortar is 1,500-square-foot, complete with a lounge, TV and chairs, and a 20-foot marble granite bar for people to sit at. Merritt said that he doesn’t want to call the shop upscale as in an elitist type of perspective, but it’s a modern shop where everybody is treated like family. “We try to make it a comfortable atmosphere that people want to hang out in. I’d say 70 percent of our business is walk-in, walk-out type of traffic. We have a good chunk of people that come in and hang out; you can sample every juice that we carry in the store,” Merritt said. Hitting the Ground Running Every item that VapeRunners carries in the store soon will be available for delivery ordering online, with the exception of certain e-liquid lines that have online exclusivity agreements

“The store that we have here, I think it’s doing as well as it is right now because we built a name before we opened it,” Merritt said. “We hit the ground running, and from day one we’ve been, knock on wood, doing really well. What VapeRunners hopes to accomplish by opening a second store is expanding the delivery radius further. They plan on spacing future stores out enough from each other to do that. The new store will be closer to D.C., south of Baltimore. “Primarily we really want to get into the D.C. area for delivery. We kind of limit how far we go right now because of where the shop is located. Before, the drivers didn’t have to fill the orders in one central location, but theft was a natural temptation that some people couldn’t resist. So we had to change that part of the business model,” Merritt said. Now by having the store as the home base for the drivers to start their routes, they fill the orders and take them from the store.

Employee, Josh Phillips, behind the bar helping customers.

with other sites. Merritt also is excited about a new proprietary line of premium quality e-liquids. The first four to five flavors will be released as of press time. “Right now we have what are called VapeRunners Premium but we’re doing away with that brand and launching an entirely new brand,” he said. “The VapeRunners name will not be included in that juice, but it’s still juice that we’re developing and having produced for us.” Best sellers in the delivery service include vaping staples: e-liquid and coils. Starter kits and equipment isn’t where the delivery service’s focus is, according to Merritt.

With more drivers (currently there are nine employees and two drivers on staff), the service will hopefully be more convenient than ever. Additionally, drivers will be equipped with companyprovided all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive vehicles this winter. “We’ve got a lot of people out that can’t get out or don’t have the time to make the stops on their way home. You’ve got a lot of people that are vaping that have families that find the service really useful,” Merritt said. “The winter was crazy for us. It was nuts. People run out of juice when it snows out. If we can make that happen all the better.” For more information, visit https://www.vaperunners.com/.

TECH REFLECT PAX Labs, Inc. By Chris Mellides Photo courtesy of PAX Labs, Inc.

JUUL

Founded by two Stanford Design Program graduates in 2007, PAX Labs, formerly known as Ploom Inc., entered the e-cigarette market in June with what it claims to be the truest product alternative to combustible tobacco in the arenas of user satisfaction and general ease of use. The device is called JUUL, and when I first heard the product claims, I quickly erred on the side of skepticism. After all, the size, weight and nicotine cartridge delivery system is something we’ve all seen before. Whether it be an off brand gas station cigalike or a bigger name like Blu eCigs, most intermediate to advanced vapers can agree that this type of device is easily dwarfed by the plethora of products flooding the industry that can not only do the job of a cigalike, but out perform it across the board. Having said that, the JUUL e-cig is definitely a product that surprised me. For one, this rechargeable device lasts longer on average then any other cigalike I’ve ever used. In my experience, it’s held its charge for about four or five hours of moderate usage, and when the high discharge battery runs low, charge time is twice as fast as other devices in its class. Combine that with a sleek and minimalistic design offering an unobtrusive indicator light that goes from green, to yellow to red to communicate battery life percentage, and you’ve got a product that can easily appeal to beginners. Performance is nice and the device’s automatic switch is very responsive. You just take a drag without the need for pushing buttons, and JUUL does the rest. Obviously, you won’t be getting tons of vapor as this little mod clearly is not meant for cloud chasing. However, the vape is satisfying, allowing you to do those mouth-to-lung hits that all smokers are familiar with. Also, despite its boxy shape, the device is incredibly comfortable to hold and has the feel of a traditional cigarette with a more refined look. As far as flavors are concerned, users are limited to four at the moment. They are: tabaac, miint, bruulé and fruut. They all have a high nicotine content, which I would guess is around 18 mg, that you cannot customize, and the cartridges are non-refillable, which is a bummer. My favorite of the bunch is the miint, which gives a cooling sensation with every drag and leaves a refreshing aftertaste, akin to a light menthol. The fruut was also a nice flavor with a flavor profile that can closely be compared to a mixed berry vape.

However, I did not care for the tabaac or the bruulé. They both tasted very similar, and I simply did not find their flavor agreeable. Of course, if you’re fresh off of combustible tobacco, you may find these flavor pods to be more to your liking. The cartridges are easy enough to install. You just remove the protective sheath and press the cartridge into the top end of the device until you hear an audible click. Follow that up by taking a soft pull for three to five seconds on the newly installed cartridge to enhance wicking, and you’re good to go and free to vape normally from that point onward. The JUUL pod nicotine cartridges have yet to leak on me, but I have found that if you take a hard enough pull on the inhale, you do get a bit of juice in your mouth. Harder, prolonged drags may also lead to flooding, though I have not confirmed this. A feature I wish worked better is the option to double tap the device near its LED to read your battery life via the colored lights. A lot of times, this process simply does not work and it can be very frustrating. Overall, you could do much worse for an entry level device. While perfect for beginners, I’ve found that stowing it in my pocket as a backup, or simply using it when I’m on the road, are qualities that can make JUUL appealing to more advanced vapers like myself who are looking for something compact, discreet and highly portable. The JUUL starter kit, which includes a device, four JUUL pods— each containing a different e-liquid flavor—and a USB charger will run you $49.99. Additionally, each JUUL pod four-pack retails for $15.99. This could get pricey depending on your e-liquid consumption, but JUUL is a closed-ended system, so you will need to buy these cartridges from JUUL or an authorized reseller when you’re running out. The JUUL is currently available at select stores nationwide and can be purchased online at JUULvapor.com. Chris Mellides began vaping in 2012 and witnessed the rise and fall of the cartomizer tank firsthand. A multimedia journalist, he has contributed to various local and national publications and has worked for WSHU Public Radio. Mellides takes an honest approach to reviewing the latest vaping hardware, separating the diamonds from the rough and suggesting where your money might be better spent. He works weekends at one of the first vape shops to launch on Long Island and lives in a fortified compound near Queens, N.Y.

VAPING 101 Addys vs. Tanks—Battle of the Tech Words and photos by Erin Hedrick

Welcome back, guys and gals! So far, in this column, we’ve gone over the essential basics: your first setup and nicotine in e-liquid. Now, let’s tackle a question that stumps me every morning: atty or tank?

What do I feel like using that day? Ultimately, it depends on what sort of day I’m having. Will I be staying in and working on stuff for the magazine, or will I be out and about, running errands? Now, don’t get me wrong; there’s a lot more to it than that, and the purpose of this isn’t to sway you one way or another. The purpose of this month’s Vaping 101 is to present information about RDAs and tanks—pros and cons of each, what each has to offer, etc., and to help you make a more informed decision. If you’re like me, you’ll wind up with one of each at your disposal.

Tanks

Busy day planned? Breathe easier knowing that at least you won’t have to worry about topping off. In short, they’re much more convenient.

Though it is the nature of RDAs, and though there are now tanks with a rebuildable element to them (RTAs), building can be a hassle. It’s one more element that can go wrong when handling any vaping device, and if you’re like me, you prefer to be safe rather than sorry. There is an overabundance of stories about mods blowing up, batteries going haywire, etc. for my comfort. But, let me be perfectly clear: these are primarily due to improper device use and a lack of knowledge about vape safety. As I said, though, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Some people don’t want to risk a bad build. Some RDA users will argue that you can only get good clouds from a dripper, and at one time, that may have held true. However, that was before the sub-Ohm clearomizer (like Kanger’s) launched. Now, with it, cloud chasers that don’t want to switch to Team Drip can still contend.

Attys

El Cabrón RDA by Compvape, LLC

Nautilus Mini tank by Aspire Also known as clearotanks or clearomizers, tanks have sort of taken over the vaping scene, especially with the release of the sub-Ohm tank. Some say it means the beginning of the end of drippers. A few big names right now are Kanger and Aspire, both of which implement coil heads, which screw into the bottom of the device. The biggest advantage of using a tank over an RDA—in my opinion—is the tank itself, to put it simply. Tanks allow for e-liquid storage, preventing the constant need to drip more liquid onto your coil. This means that you can fill your tank with your vape of the day at the start of your day, and go about your business.

Newbie A-Z

Also known as RDAs or drippers, attys have a lot to offer, especially if you like to be more hands-on or enjoy working with your hands. Attys also let you get more invested in your mod; you can get up close and personal while building. Rebuildables give people an in to the hobbyist side of the vaping community—something tank users can miss out on (not saying that there’s only one facet to the hobby of vaping, mind you).

A major perk of RDAs is that they are known to deliver nicotine more effectively; it’s a more direct feed. That perk comes with a downside, though; with drippers, you want to vape at a significantly lower nic level than with a tank. That being said, you won’t necessarily need a higher level of nic with a dripper. An atty allows you to absorb more nicotine, so even if you’re still working your way down the nic ladder, you can still comfortably drip at a lower level. So, this may be a good route to take if you’re having trouble dropping down. Probably the biggest disadvantage of RDAs is the constant need to drip e-liquid onto the cotton. You’re good for a handful of hits, but then you’ll need to top off. It’s definitely not an ideal situation if you’re out and about. There’s a certain routine calming effect to loading up an atty while sitting on your couch, watching a movie on Netflix. Drippers also have another leg up on tanks: flavor. Most vapers will tell you that you get the best, strongest flavor from an RDA. That’s not to say that clearos don’t provide great taste—it’s just that drippers do it better. I’m inclined to agree here. While I love my Atlantis, and it’s what I use eight times out of 10, if I want to experience a great taste, I go for my RDA. It’s able to deliver the strong flavor of my thicker, more robust e-liquids, where my tank falls a little flat. Speaking of flavor, with an atty, you can change what you vape as frequently as you wish. Not really feeling your strawberry cream anymore? That’s fine; go ahead and drip your chocolate cake next time. When you fill a tank, you’re more or less stuck with that flavor until it’s time to refill, unless you want to waste the e-liquid. Erin is VAPE Magazine’s executive assistant. New to the vaping scene, she loves long walks on the beach, comic book conventions, cats and her Doge RDA.

Bridge: A small, metal wire, U-shaped covering on the inside of an atomizer that is designed to wick the e-liquid from the cartridge. It is coated in steel mesh.

BVC:

Abbreviation for bottom vertical coils. A very popular design for atomizer coils.

Coil Jig: A device that makes rebuilding your own coils so much simpler. Connection: The threaded piece that allows you to screw into an atomizer/cartomizer/clearomizer.

Flooding:

This occurs when too much e-liquid is put into the well of an atty. The indicator of flooding is a gurgling sound, and the performance of the atomizer is sometimes negatively affected.

Ohm (Ω): The standard unit of electrical resistance. A lower

number indicates lower resistance and therefore faster heating.

RBA: Rebuildable atomizer (user serviceable parts). It’s generally referred to as an RBA when it has a tank or large juice well that does not require liquid to be dripped directly onto the coil. Rebuildables: RBA/RDA units. Sub-Ohming: The practice by experienced vapers to increase the current from your specific battery and by using the principles of Ohm’s Law, reduce the Ohms of the coils below one to achieve massive vaping clouds. Tail-Piping:

Specific to atomizers, this is when a user takes a hit directly off of an atomizer without a drip tip.

Santa’s Wish List

We asked the “nice list” vapers. What’s on your gift list for the holidays?

David Brandon Patricia Wms-McDonald Brian Swagger Fahey James Natalie Norris Miles

A IPV D2 and a SMOK TFV4; a year supply of juice, lol.

SnowWolf and SmokTFV4 with proper supply coils.

An order of muffin man since they only sell by 6 oz. :)

Mech boxmod

A how to book. Lmao. No, really.

Chats About Activism, Liquid Regs, Females in Vaping Industry By Susan Oser Photo courtesy of Katherine Love The connection between me and Velvet Vapors is an interesting one. The owner, Katherine Love, is an avid reader of VAPE Magazine and read my column She-Vaper (found in the April edition). She contacted me, and the rest, as they say, is history. We have been in constant contact ever since, and at one point, she was even a guest on my show “The Creative Vapor with Angelwriterspeaks.” After reading this interview, you might just want to support her business as well.

vendors that still offer tobacco flavors at all, I have noticed. There are extremes in what customers want … some love tobaccos, and some hate them. We try to offer a lot of variety. For the fruit lovers, Fantasy, Berry Dream and Strawberry Kiwi are some of the best sellers, though. There are also some fruit flavors like Island Fantasy, Skittles and a few others.

Susan: How did Velvet Vapors get started?

Kat:

I smoked cigarettes from 16 years old. I had attempted to quit smoking many times, using many techniques: gum, patches, medications, cold turkey. Nothing worked. So, I decided to quit in August 2009 and first started with Blu. I then got into vaping a bit more by going into forums and learning about making my own juice. In six to seven months, I got it all together and soon opened in May 2010. I opened up in a small town in Mississippi where no one knew what vaping was. Susan: How did Velvet Vapors get its name?

Kat:

I sat around with other people and was trying to find a name that sounded smooth. At the time, I was the only vendor that did PG-free juice that I knew were in existence at the time. Most of the other juices had a very high PG/VG ratio, with the typical blends at 80 percent PG. I also noticed many people online were complaining of allergies and symptoms that they believed were caused by PG sensitivity. The name kind of became alliteration to the type of juice I wanted to promote and make. Susan: Why did you get into the juice aspect?

Kat: I just got into the juice because nothing much was around at the time I started. There was Blu and also Green e-cigarettes. Some of the first actual e-juice vendors I purchased from were Totally Wicked, NHaler, Ms. T’s Bakery and Good Prophets. After trying their products, and comparing them to my own D.I.Y. creations, and doing a lot of research, I determined that this was something I could do. I took a lot of science and math in college, so some of the particulars came pretty easily to me. At the time, I also didn’t have any partners, loans or money. I just invested on my own. Later on, I took on small business credit cards and such, but still no investing partners. Susan: What is your most popular flavor?

Kat: VCT—Vanilla Caramel Tobacco—an all-natural Ry4 blend; a lot of beginners like tobacco flavors. It is a complex, rich, sweet flavor with an undertone of natural tobacco. Even people that hate tobacco flavors try it and really like it. By far, we sell that flavor more than any other. Bear Claw is another super popular one; it is in the top five sellers nearly every month. Turkish Blend is also extremely popular. We are one of the few

Susan: Is your e-liquid tested for diacetyl? I have some help and support through SFATA and AEMSA. I do wish to stress however that I am not a certified AEMSA member yet. To be a certified member, you have to meet a lot of stringent guidelines and agree to monitored site visits from AEMSA leaders. The difference with SFATA is that they are more about keeping the right to vape. AEMSA is more an industry self-regulatory agency. I also recently talked to a lab where I got a quote for $750 to test 220 flavors. That’s really not in my budget right now, and I’m looking for a better price for lab testing. I think I found one at a cheaper price that I might go with. Just to give you an idea of lab costs, the original quotes I got for lab testing last year were astronomical: nearly $800 per flavor. This would have come out to nearly $200,000 for me. So, it was not in the cards at the time. I have recently gotten a much lower quote for testing, and we hope to have all the flavors tested for diacetyl, acetoin and acetyl propanol within the next six months and post our findings on our website. I am sending the flavors in batches of 10 to the lab every few weeks, and I hope to have the entire line complete within the next six months. The first batch just got shipped out for testing this week. After testing is complete, we will pursue AEMSA certification. We already meet or exceed the vast majority of their requirements. Susan: What has been the best thing and the biggest disappointment about creating Velvet Vapors?

Kat:

I like the idea of creating my own business. However, I never took a business class, and at the time, I made a lot of small business mistakes. For example, I had the original website for the company created by a friend that was written in an old computer language that no one could understand, and at the time, I was not very savvy enough. So I felt like I lost a lot of money that way. I also discovered the good things and bad things about hiring people and finding out what works, such as managers that are experienced vapers. I think now I got a good team going, and I’m looking to open a new store on other side of Tucson, Arizona, where I am now. So, I will probably have to go through all this all over again. Susan: In general, what has been your biggest surprise and disappointment with the vaping community?

Kat:

There have been a lot of advancements in technology. It

seems like every week, month or even a year, there is always something new coming out. Just like any business, you have to figure out what works well, what items have high return rates for defects, what the customers really want and what you can afford to stock. When I first started, there really wasn’t a large selection of products. The Joyetech 510 was a staple for a very long time. I’m also surprised at how fast the industry has grown, not only around me, but on the Internet, and even within the trade show industry. What I’m disappointed in are those vape shops run by guys who seem to be condescending towards customers—especially toward women—who they feel that she does not know what he or she is talking about. Some of them only care about RDAs and big clouds. A few of them have gotten disgusting, where it seems like they intentionally try to alienate female vapers, have vape models at shows who are only there to make money on the circuit or even use sleazy gimmicks to attract more of a male audience. It also kind of peeves me that some organizations want to vape where smoking is allowed, and yet that’s exactly what we are fighting for. If you don’t have a right to vape everywhere, you should not be infringing on another’s space. In regards to female vapers in general, I do think the industry has come a long way. In my business, it is a fairly even ratio of female to male customers, both online and in-store. It is unnerving to see how many vendors still are marketing primarily to the male gender. You often see juice lines that have extremely provocative models or risqué labeling that is offensive to women. As a business person, that makes no sense to me. Why alienate half of your potential customer base? For the most part, though, I feel like what sort of became a male-dominated industry is starting to shift to more neutral ground. I do laugh at some of the gimmicks you see every day in new juice lines; some are pretty out there. Susan: How do you feel about activism?

Kat: I am a member of CASAA, Vaping Militia, SFATA, and will be applying for AEMSA membership once full testing is completed for our juice line. However, I have not done much in this area and kind of do my own thing with vaping issues. I support all of these organizations, but I believe that it is best to fight the most critical battles rather than some of the smaller ones. For instance, I do not feel like we need to fight every ban on indoor vaping in public. While we want to be able to do that, you need to respect other people’s breathing room. I do feel positive about FDA regulations in the future. They are not seeking the outright ban of vaping, and that is a very positive thing. I believe with enough education and coalition, we can talk them down from some of their proposals, which would give a huge amount of power in the industry to Big Tobacco and really hurt small businesses.

Tucson Vape Expo May 14

One of the most important things we do as small business owners in the industry is to promote education. In our store, the advent of better and safer batteries and the sweep of the sub-Ohm tanks with easy to replace coils has really helped that. We still get beginners

that want to jump right into mods and RDAs, but we are usually able to steer them towards regulated mods, at least until they can do more research and really understand battery safety and Ohm’s law. Every time there is an accident from misuse, it makes the whole industry look bad from an outsider’s perspective. In addition, if I had more staff at my shop, I probably would do more. However, at my shop I make sure that all my clients are treated with respect and that they are given the proper information. There are so many young people who want big clouds and really don’t know what they are doing. That also includes battery safety and homemade box mods without the proper education. Susan: What are some of the improvements that you would like to see with Velvet Vapors?

Kat:

Right now, we are currently developing a new website on a larger platform with more features. As of the time of this writing, we are expecting to go live in about mid to late October. That will make our online customers really happy. Our current website has some bugs that drive us all crazy. With the new website, we will also have access to lower shipping costs, and finally be able to get reasonable prices on international shipping. While we currently only ship to Canada, the U.K. and Australia, we will be able to add countries all over the world. I’m in talks with some website developers who can help me develop a new website that is user friendly. I’m looking to get more connections out there and have the ability to ship all over the world and not just to the U.K., Australia and Canada. In addition, I’m looking to re-label juice bottles and create ones that will look more professional. We have recently updated our labels into a newer, fresher, more polished look. The old ones that have been created were actually pre-printed for a marketing agency that needed a project to do. I’m also looking to have a clean lab built for making juice separated from everyone in the shop as well as to start having my juices test. Susan: Why should people care about the vaping community?

Kat:

To me, the biggest thing is that vaping is an alternative to smoking. We know that smoking kills. We know the studies with the patch, Chantix, Lobutrin, Wellbutrin, etc. I tried them all and just couldn’t quit. Who knows? Maybe we don’t know everything there is about quitting smoking. However, 99 percent of the people who vape used to smoke. In addition, vaping helps social smokers go out to bars. It’s really changed the way that people have quit smoking and converts at least 37 percent of smokers while those who used the patch that converted was 9 percent. While we can’t go out and state that on our websites, we all know that it works. Additionally, there has been an extreme downward trend in the levels of nicotine on average. It seems like more and more vapers are stepping down their nicotine levels to 3 mg or 0 mg all the time. Susan: What do you see with the future of vaping?

Kat:

I don’t see any heavy regulations by the FDA. In fact, I think it’s too big of an industry to do that now. I think that regulations on where to vape will be more common. Unfortunately, I also see more shops selling things that they know nothing about. For more information, visit http://www.velvetvapors.com.

O I N O T N A N A S

R E T N E C S T N E V E HOSTS

5 1 0 2 T S A L B VAPE tahr By Alyssa S

Walking across the parking lot under the hot Texas sun toward the San Antonio Events Center, I wasn’t sure I was in the right place. The building has an unassuming look about it, but I knew I had found my home for the weekend once I saw vape business people unloading product and blowing clouds. Upon entering the building, I found that the exterior was deceiving. The center was larger than I imagined, and I happily found the VAPE booth nestled to the right of the main stage, in the middle of the action that was to be. Sarah Brattain, founder of Vape Blast, said that this go-around went well. She said the biggest concerns in choosing a venue for a vape show are finding one that will allow vaping indoors, and a venue that will be big enough to allow 5,000-6,000 vapers in at a time for three days in a row. Thankfully, there were no major hiccups or surprises from the 6,500 attendees and 173 vendors. “It’s definitely not fancy or pretty, and there’s certainly nicer venues, but your options are pretty limited,” she said. “We try to find out where the demand is.” A highlight of the event was the abundance of giveaways coming from the main stage. Attendees got a lot of bang for their buck with T-shirts, liquids, hats and more from Revol, Hold Fast, Social Lizard, Zombie, Captain Obvious, Longhorn Vapor and many more, flying throughout the crowd.

hr d Alyssa Sta Schramel an e ik M by Photos

Austin Hopper, co-founder of Revol and one of the stage emcees, got the crowd going when he called all SFATA members to the stage for a special giveaway. It was a smart move, because everyone who flocked to the stage paid close attention to the advocacy experts took the opportunity to speak. Hopper first asked if people were members of CASAA, and only a few people in the crowd raised their hands. He addressed the fact that it was free to join, and that all of the giveaways at Vape Blast are free. Hopper perhaps said it best: “We’re fighting a lot of Hopper perhaps said it best: “We’re fighting a lot of things to keep our right to vape. There’s a lot of processes that go into e-liquids; you need to find out where your juices are being made. Hands down, you need to be supporting brands that support the industry. In California, they are trying to classify this as a tobacco product. You know what happens then to all this stuff we’re giving you? It’s gone.” This Vape Blast was fairly similar to the last one in terms of keeping the mission and fundamentals the same, according to Brattain. That included not having a cloud competition, which she said disappointed some people. “We’re trying to promote responsible vaping. I think that’s hard to do that when you’re centered around a game,” she said. “I think it’s counter-productive from what our true mission is. It tends to be a very dramatic, time-intensive thing, and I get that people are into that and want to watch and participate. There’s even some sponsorships and prizes that go along with it. That’s just not what our event is about.”

V The show wasn’t without some fun along the way, however. An impromptu twerk-off contest for a giveaway happened on the main stage, while karaoke was on hand at Hobo Joe’s booth. Karaoke sign-ups began at 11 a.m., and if you performed a song, you received a free bottle of e-liquid. Never one to shy away from the microphone, Hopper got the party started right on time at 11:11 a.m. with a country tune fitting for the Texas event. Vendors in attendance, like 20 from BMoreVapes.com, seemed happy. “I like the whole thing. It’s not too big; nice, friendly and small scale. They are, the people that come, it’s different the whole feel of it,” he said.

Mike Adams from Formulated for Dripping Atomizers (FFDA) said that, while he would’ve liked a little more B2B time, because people were focusing a lot on wholesale, it was a great show.

Michael Condon, owner of Drippin Drops, said that he came to Vape Blast mostly to get his name out. “I’d rather it be small and really good, than huge and not so much. I came here because I like the feeling of community. Some places are really cutthroat, and it didn’t used to be that way. There was a lot more camaraderie.” Dalton Rossetter from Austin, Texas, was a first-time Vape Blast attendee. “It’s a pretty cool experience. It’s something all vapers should experience; you aren’t pressured to buy, and you get a lot of free stuff.”

Joanne Heston, who opened her first shop on Sept. 24 in Lytle, Texas, was a first-time attendee at Vape Blast. She said that it was amazingly overwhelming and that all the vendors were helpful. “They’re just full of great ideas,” she said.

Brattain’s personal highlight came outside of the event center walls. She stopped at a gas station on the way home and bumped into an exhibitor who had been at Vape Blast. He told Brattain that Vape Blast changed his life—he made $80,000 that weekend, and planned to return home to give his ex-wife a house that she can raise their daughter in. “How nice, for someone to come and say this little threeday event that you put together changed his world. How do you top that? That’s what it’s about. He wasn’t the biggest exhibitor there or in the biggest booth. He wasn’t doing the biggest giveaways. He was just a guy trying to make ends meet for his family, and his world changed,” Brattain said. Another way Vape Blast hopes to change lives is through its advocacy efforts. Brattain said that the show has two missions: education and awareness.

“If we don’t have advocacy groups fighting for us, there’s not going to be any events; there’s not going to be any jobs; there’s not going to be any retailers. We need to support those guys who are lobbying for us. I feel really strongly about that,” she said. “We had one exhibitor at Vape Blast that was clearly clueless about marketing style and … completely clueless or completely insensitive, I don’t know which.”

Brattain said that the exhibitor was campaigning with cereal bowls, candy wrappers and sweets. He called Brattain the Tuesday after Vape Blast and said that he wanted to sign up for the next event. She told him that he has to change his labeling and marketing campaign, and he has to join SFATA before he could come to another show. The exhibitor didn’t know what SFATA was and asked how to spell it. “He was getting a lot of flack at the event, and he didn’t understand why. I told him, ‘You just walked into a hotbed of advocacy, is what you did,’” Brattain said. “This isn’t just some vape show. He broke every single rule or command that we’re trying to avoid.” The exhibitor explained that the show did take his ID at the door, and that he presumed there weren’t minors in the building. However, Brattain explained that his bottles were going to walk out of the building, and if media came in and got the wrong intention, that will blow up in our faces.

Even though parts of the event were serious, vendors were clearly excited before the doors opened on Day 2. Camaraderie was felt throughout the building, as “woo hoos” were heard echoing from one booth to the next. Brattain hopes to carry that excitement into the next show in April at the WinStar World Resort and Casino in Oklahoma, Vape Blast’s next location. The WinStar will have a more relaxed, fun environment, with gaming, golfing and an on-site hotel. The show itself will stay mainly the same, however, according to Brattain.

“Our show isn’t meant to be a spectacle; our show is about the exhibitors, the attendees, the people. Vape Blast isn’t

B about being the biggest or the fanciest show. There’s certainly bigger, and there’s probably better. When you come to our show, I want people to feel welcome, and I don’t want them to be overwhelmed by a lot of external car shows or showgirls,” she said. Vape Blast, according to Brattain, is about exhibitors talking to consumers and their buyers. It’s about attendees getting educated while finding the newest and the greatest of what they’re looking for. “People say it’s kind of like a vape meet on steroids. We want people to come in and feel like they know each other and really connect and build a social relationship with each other,” she said. “And, if you leave with good education and good products, exhibitors have made some money, then it’s a successful show. We always say all we do is just open the doors. We just have the keys to the building and the people come in. It’s their event.” For more information, visit http://www.vapeblast.com/.

and offered to swap the mod he had for a safer alternative. He agreed, thanked me for the help and continues to be a faithful customer to this day. Why do lithium-ion batteries fail in the case of e-cigs? FEMA says e-cigarettes are different from other electronic consumer devices, because the battery is installed in a cylindrical device that has its weakest structural point at the ends. When the battery seal ruptures, the pressure within the e-cigarette cylinder builds quickly and instantly ruptures, usually at the end. As a result of the battery and container failure, one or the other, or both, can be propelled across the room like a bullet or small rocket. What does this mean for our industry? We need to educate ourselves and others to prevent these types of accidents from happening in the future.

Using a Hybrid Mod with a Sub-Ohm Tank By Nick Bessette

Many of you already know the dangers of using a sub-Ohm tank with a hybrid-style mechanical mod, but on a nearly monthly basis, I hear horror stories about mods blowing up in people’s hands. Some of these stories may be made up, and some may be true; however, I do know there are serious risks of using the combination of any tank or atomizer that has a positive connection that sits flush with the 510 threads. Hopefully, the following article will shed some light on these issues, and possibly prevent any uninformed readers of risking their battery, mod or even hands while vaping. First, let’s go over one of the most recent cases and why we have to try to avoid these situations in the future. On March 10, Chris Bookins from Santa Ana, Calif., was vaping normally when he noticed the battery in his mod began to heat up. According to photos, it appears as though his hybrid-style device with a sub-Ohm tank exploded in his face; the tank section even shot into his ceiling, lodging it there. He suffered minor injuries and, luckily, put out the accompanying fire with relative ease. According to FEMA, there have been 25 cases of e-cigarettes exploding between 2009 and October 2014. Of those cases, two reportedly happened while using the device. Another tale of misfortune is the case of Travis Nummerdor in May. He was using a hybrid mod and tank setup when it exploded in his face, causing burns on his chest, face and tongue. Some skeptics say the injuries he received weren’t consistent with other, similar, cases, but rather a suicide attempt using blank ammunition. However, other members of his squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base back up his story. In any case, these stories are becoming more commonplace in today’s market as hybrid mods become the staple in mechanical mod technology. I saw this happen first hand, when a customer purchased a brand-new, high-drain battery and walked out of the shop, only to return moments later complaining that his battery was getting hot and wouldn’t work. It turned out that he was using a hybrid mech with a sub-Ohm tank. I informed him that he was shorting out his battery, and he was lucky it didn’t vent or explode. He proceeded to take it out as slowly and carefully as possible. I explained to him why it happened,

MAGAZINE

Now that you know what can happen, look at the mod in your hand. Is it a hybrid style mechanical? If you don’t know what that is, it’s a mechanical mod without a pin at the 510 that connects the battery’s positive terminal to the positive terminal of your atomizer. If it is, then look at your atomizer. Does the positive pin protrude further than the threads? If not, you may be taking a serious risk! The reason this is so dangerous is that the energy from the battery, which is intended to flow through the positive connection on the atomizer, to the coil and back out via the 510 threads, may end up causing a short at the connection due to the threads (the negative connection of your atomizer) coming in contact with your battery’s positive terminal. That may sound like a lot of technical terms but, to put it simply, imagine a race track with cars speeding down it. The track represents the circuit and the cars are the flow of electricity. Now, picture a shortcut, where the cars could drive even faster; that’s the short in the flow of electricity. Since the cars are moving faster, their engines heat up more and the corners of the track are sharp, which can lead to a catastrophe. The reason I write these articles is to educate and inform the masses so that we can prevent accidents like these from happening again. Safety is crucial, and I hope to make these types of accidents a thing of the past. I usually tell people that about 90 percent of things that can go wrong with vaping are user errors. From using the wrong type of battery to ignoring a torn battery wrapper, these issues that are preventable. Hopefully, I can inspire some of you to be more mindful of the safety of the device that’s in your hand. It’s also imperative that shop owners and employees know this type of information so they can recommend to their customers the right types of products for their specific needs. So, remember, using a regulated mod with a floating positive pin with your tank will always be safer than risking your battery, mod or even your hand. Nick Bessette works at Voltage Vape shop in Springfield, Mass., and he does video reviews for his own YouTube channel, Daily Vape TV, among others. He has been building for two years and conducting battery safety courses at VCC events over the past year. Teaching the safety aspect of vaping is his passion, and he believes that it’s an extremely important topic for every vaper to know about.

THE

JUICE JUDGE Words and photos by Steffanie Atkins

Luna Rover ‘GRN’ 3 mg TASTE - 2 VAPE - 1 THROAT HIT - 1 I was a menthol smoker, so anytime I have the opportunity to try a tobacco menthol e-liquid, I do. One of the biggest complaints I’ve heard from smokers is that they cannot find a flavor that ‘tastes like their cigarette.’ So, I tried this one out. Not even close. If they were looking for a Bengay or toothpaste flavor, they nailed it. But, tobacco is non-existent and the menthol is so overwhelming. There was next to no vape production, and the throat hit was non-existent. The only benefit is your fresh breath after vaping this for a while. My advice, not so hard on the menthol and add some tobacco flavor.

Cash Money Vapor ‘Fogg Juice’

The Juice Judge Judges are picked from respected members of the vaping community to give unbiased reviews of e-juice. The VAPE Verdict is reached by an initial blind taste test, and the review is written afterward. Want to have your juice judged? Email jj@vapemz.com. Reviews do not reflect the overall opinion of VAPE Magazine Steffanie Atkins is the self-proclaimed most pickiest vaper she knows. She has to be head over heels in love with a juice before she vapes it regularly. A baker and a foodie, Atkins is particular when it comes to taste and flavor. She loves long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners, tattoos, art and rocking her face off at concerts. She is forever on the search for the perfect Oreo flavor.

MAGAZINE

(No indication of nic level) TASTE - 1 VAPE - 3 THROAT HIT - 4 Off the bat I had some concerns with this eliquid, mainly on the labeling side. There is no warning other than ‘May Contain Nicotine,’ no nicotine level indication and they used a copywritten Superman logo. While I love some super heroes, we as an industry must check ourselves and make sure we’re abiding by the laws. So there’s that. Additionally, this flavor is supposed to be a caramel apple with maple syrup. I get the kind of sweet maple undertones, but quite honestly, I tasted bananas and not apples. The vapor production was about average and there was a solid throat hit. But, the flavor was lacking or the wrong flavoring or something was off. I will say that they sent an extra bottle of a specialty flavor made just for me. I haven’t tried it yet, but I appreciate the gesture.

‘Incredible Hawk’

(No indication of company or nicotine level) TASTE - 4 VAPE - 3 THROAT HIT - 4 I really enjoyed this flavor. It’s a peach flavor, but not your typical peaches and cream. It has some slightly sour undertones, maybe apple or pear. I’m not 100 percent sure. But, the flavor was subtle, and it was well done. The vapor production was about average, maybe a little higher, and the throat hit was super solid and hearty. The one issue that I did have is that it took me forever to find any information on this e-liquid online. I

typically taste the liquid and then look up the flavor profile to see if their description is what I taste. I have no idea even after research if this is supposed to be a peach flavor or not. It appears to be a house liquid for City Vapes, but I could be wrong. After about 20 minutes of research I found a website but still no flavor profile. And, I still don’t know what nicotine level I vaped. But it was good, whatever it was.

V8P Juice ‘Prince Charming’ 3 mg TASTE - 4 VAPE - 4 THROAT HIT - 2 Man oh man, was I impressed with Prince Charming. Cereal flavors are a dime a dozen, but this one really hit the nail on the head. It’s a marshmallow cereal with sweet milk, and the blend between the marshmallows and the sweetness was close to perfect. It wasn’t super or overly creamy but just right. Kudos. They also sent me their whole line, so I’ll definitely be trying some of the other flavors as well. Vapor production was pretty amazing too. I got some pretty gnarly clouds without much effort. The throat hit was a bit lacking, but everything else made up for it.

Walking Vaped ‘Sour Apple Apocalypse’ 6 mg TASTE - 3 VAPE - 4 THROAT HIT - 4 This is the second review I’ve done for Walking Vaped. They sent me an extra package of samples, so I decided to give them another shot. I was impressed with this sour apple flavor. It’s like sour apple bubble gum. It’s sweet like candy, but the sourness of the apple so it’s got a really good blend. Maybe not the best sour apple flavor I’ve ever had, but it’s pretty good and definitely something I could vape for fall. The vapor production was great, pretty effortless clouds and the throat hit was solid and hearty.

The VAPE Meet Scene

Central Ohio Vapors Helps Those in Need This Holiday Season

By Alyssa Stahr Photos by Jamie Duffy

Two-and-a-half years ago, the vape scene was much different than it is now. There were roughly about 20 shops in Columbus, Ohio, and a few shop owners, including James Jarvis, got together and decided that they wanted to have a vape meet. Jarvis was elected the lucky soul to set everything up. Most of his stores were close to places that would host an event, and he was friends with local restaurants and bar owners that would host. “I do a lot of advocating in my spare time while running the shop, talking with our local politicians and going around drumming up support for vaping. That parlayed into the very first vape meet that we did that was four stores: Vapor Station, Evolved Vapor, Cyborg and a local e-liquid company, Simply E-Juice,” Jarvis said. “We had about 50 people come, and we were really excited that we got that kind of organization so quick—you’re talking two-and-a-half years ago. Vaping was still in its infancy, and people were

still learning about it.” Fast-forward six months later, and the team held another meet. About 10 vendors came, with about 200 people in attendance. Each meet benefits a local charity or organization, and each event is always free to get in. “I don’t think anyone should have to pay to save their life,” Jarvis said. The meet buzz kept building, and last April’s was the first one held outdoors. Jarvis hooked up with a local restaurant/bar, which let the organization use its outdoor parking lot. They rented a huge circus-style tent and enlisted a group called the Eyes of Freedom, a traveling military tribute. The club sold raffle tickets, with proceeds going to that organization. Twenty vendors and roughly 400 people came to the outdoor event. At that point, Jarvis started thinking about something even bigger.

“We had been traveling a lot out of state, and Matt Bradley from the Deadliest Catch and Sky Vapor came to that event. Him coming out to help me for that event was huge, and everybody was happy to see him,” Jarvis said.

and he is confident that will happen. Many vendors have kicked in money for toys for this year, in addition to donating money per bottle sale for donation. There also will be voter registration.

Jarvis asked Bradley for advice. Should he make this thing bigger? And, Bradley told Jarvis to go for it, to use his abilities to the fullest, talk to people and to put a teaser on Facebook. Once Jarvis started getting responses, he had to find a new venue. He found a performing arts center that used to be a JCPenney store inside of a mall. When the mall closed they tore it all down but the store, and it ended up being the perfect place for a concert or a trade show.

“It’s a really awesome event that we’re trying to put together for the right reasons. It’s to help raise awareness for vaping, and there’s a camaraderie here in Columbus between all of the stores and liquid companies,” Jarvis said. “We all love to go out and patronize each other’s stores. We want to see the entire industry grow, and we want to help those less fortunate who can’t afford to go out and provide anything for their families.”

“I went there and talked to those folks, and they were 100 percent behind it. A lot of the folks that perform (they have a dance troupe and a small acting troupe) actually vape, so they were very familiar with what we were looking at doing,” Jarvis said. Once the venue was secured, Jarvis had to find an organization to help. He reached out to Franklin County Children’s Services Holiday Wish program. Every e-liquid company that comes to the next event will donate a prize for the raffle, while donation bowls and hats will be placed throughout. The cloud competition’s entry “fee” is a new, unwrapped toy. Jarvis said that he had a couple of goals in mind for the toy drive event. A: How could he make a big event in Ohio, because there’s not one. B: Keep it cost effective so people don’t have to pay $3,000 to $5,000 for booth space. “That’s just crazy to me. We’re all in it to stop people from smoking to hopefully prevent people from getting cancer. Why are we making folks pay out the nose for this kinda thing? Let’s keep it affordable,” he said. “I don’t need to make any money as a promoter. That’s not what I’m about. I’d rather give that money to charity to put it in my pocket. It’s the right thing to do.” Even though cloud comps aren’t Jarvis’ thing, he said that the hobbyists love it, and if he can take something that they love and help further the goal of providing a better Christmas for folks and do it in a safe manner, he’s all for it. For this competition, attys and batteries are checked, making sure that everybody’s safe. While he doesn’t hold cloud comps in his stores, for the vape meet he thinks they are perfect. “It’s an opportunity in a big room that’s going to be well ventilated. Plus, that draws more hobbyists in my opinion than it draws newbies. If the newbies are there there’s going to be an opportunity to show them all about battery safety,” he said. Last Christmas, 15 vendors came, and the event brought in about 2,000 toys. Jarvis’ goal for the 2015 event is 6,000 toys,

Central Ohio Vapers’ page on Facebook, according to Jarvis, was born as a way for the four companies to advertise the events that were happening. Political issues, battery safety issues and awareness issues have grown the page what it is today, and Jarvis said that he has met with about 20 local state representatives to educate them about vaping. “There are so many good folks down in the state representative’s office that I’ve met with. There is a lot of support for vaping down there,” he said. “A lot of it was based around education. When we first went in they didn’t know a tank from a battery from a liquid—they thought it was just one thing, so it became an education session.” Together, Jarvis said that at least three different attempts by the state government to either ban or place a separate tax on vaping have been successfully thwarted.

“We’re a community of people that love vaping and try to put our best foot forward. Because we know that if we don’t, we’ve seen what happened in some other areas and we have no interest in going that route. We want to be there together, educate together, and have fun together, and that’s what we’ve been able to accomplish,” he said. Jarvis said that through doing homework, educating, having fun and paying it forward, that the group of people in Ohio, especially Columbus, are unlike any other in the United States. Moving forward, the Christmas event will be the major event that the meet does each year. “It’s always going to be around Christmas. That’s the way that I want this to be. It’s obviously a vaping get together where we can show off the latest liquids and the devices that are out there, but there’s also an educational piece,” he said. “If we’re doing it for monetary reasons, we’re doing it for the wrong reasons.” Jarvis, who got into this industry because he lost his grandmother to lung cancer at the age of 16, wonders what would have happened if vaping was around at that time. “My thought is that she would still be here. She at least would’ve had an opportunity. Even though vaping has been around since the 1960s, it wasn’t accepted and it wasn’t a part of the culture like it is now. It’s become bigger and better and the technology is becoming better and safer, which is fantastic,” he said. And, he hopes to provide more people with that opportunity at this year’s event, which he started planning almost a year ago. It’s really awesome to see how it’s grown … to see how one person can affect an entire community, let alone 20, let alone 50. If it wasn’t for the other three that started doing this with me, we wouldn’t be to this point,” he said. “I’ve invited a couple of state representatives because I want them to see first-hand. The last one we did we had two state representatives show up and sit down and have one-on-ones with a couple of the folks that came. It was really neat to see them interacting with everyday vapers. It’s pretty amazing when you sit back and look at it.”

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/centralohiovapers/. To donate to Franklin County Children Services, visit http://childrenservices.franklincountyohio.gov/.

(from left to right) Danielle Bloss, Stefan Didak and Jason Downing Photo by Alyssa Stahr

Blasts Onto Vaping Scene, Fights Propaganda

VAPE: You are fairly new to the scene, and you’ve made quite an impression already. Why do you think you’ve become popular so fast? Downing: I think that one of the keys to the success of NOTBlowingSmoke is the fact that we’ve taken very complicated concepts and distilled them down into sound bytes, for lack of a better term. It makes these difficult concepts easier to understand and much more accessible to the average vaper. When we look at all the regulatory

By Alyssa Stahr

stuff going on out there, there’s a lot of complicated business going on. And being able to translate that, and even the

Since making its first appearance at Vapercon West this summer, NOTBlowingSmoke.org has furthered its reputation as a premier organization fighting for vapers’ rights. The chief goal of NOTBlowingSmoke, according to its website, is a sustainable, professional and, most importantly, transparent approach to advocacy efforts. The original NOTBlowingSmoke website was built during a 38hour session in an attempt to provide some counterbalance to a misleading anti-vapor campaign and website (“Still Blowing Smoke”) that was to be launched by the California Department of Public Health. Both websites launched within the same hour on Sunday, March 22, 2015. Within 48 hours, NOTBlowingSmoke gained 100,000 unique visitors. The same could not be said for the Still Blowing Smoke campaign. VAPE rounded up Stefan Didak, Jason Downing and Danielle Bloss to talk about the group’s quick burst onto the circuit, goals for 2016 and more ways vapers can get involved.

science, into an easily consumable form, is absolutely key. Didak: I also think it might be that a lot of vapers were getting really tired with all of the misleading propaganda and all the stories out there in the papers. Then, to add insult to injury, they’re hit with TV commercials, and there was a response instantly. It certainly galvanized the different vaper groups, and I could tell pretty much within the first week that a lot of people who were really tired and no longer interested were suddenly sparked again, and their fighting spirit came back. Bloss: I think the way, too, that Stefan initially launched NOTBlowingSmoke—it was a head-to-head, no questions about it, punch back to California about what they were doing. The graphics were very similar, the name was very similar; it was obvious that that was our return punch, essentially. I think it’s probably the strongest way it’s ever been done in the industry to say, “We’re not going to take this.” It was a very obvious counter-campaign, and I think people really gravitated to that.

Didak: It also really helped that it launched within two hours of the original Still Blowing site launching, which made it all the more fun. Apparently, their $7 million did not cover setting up the social media accounts and proper SEO, so in a way, it was almost like taking candy from a baby. VAPE: You anticipated that fairly well. Was this something you knew you were going to do? Didak: Yes. Doing something like this is not the first time I’ve done it. It’s certainly the first time I’ve done it in vaping. I got the heads up from someone, who notified me that this campaign was going to launch, and I found the name and the website, and it was only a landing page. But, landing pages don’t generally stop me from seeing other pages, if you know what you’re doing, so at that point, I decided, “I’m going to do something about this, because this is an opportunity.” So, I spent the $12 for a domain name and hooked it up to one of my servers that I use for my business, and pretty much spent 38 hours just building the site. I didn’t even feel it was complete when I launched it, but it certainly got the job done. VAPE: Jason and Danielle, can you tell us about your backgrounds and how you ventured over to NOTBlowingSmoke? Downing: The last time I had a cigarette was Oct. 31, 2013. I got involved in advocacy almost immediately— probably four months in—right as the Minnesota legislative session was getting started. I had a peripheral view of here’s what advocacy is in the industry. It sort of took off from there. I got more involved; I started helping people to write emails or to understand some of the concepts that are happening in Minnesota. Just a little bit more than a year ago, Stefan and I hooked up on Reddit and then Twitter and then eventually in PMs. We had been talking off and on for probably six months by the point that Still Blowing Smoke was being launched. Stefan talked with me shortly after he found out that the site was going live in a couple of days. We started working together, bouncing ideas off of each other. How can we counteract this? Borrow their design or their model? What ended up happening was that, in the initial launch phase, we so completely dominated all social media channels with just a small group of people starting it out that California, I assume their PR firm, put some money into Google AdWords to get a higher search result, because we were in the number-one spot with searching for Still Blowing Smoke for 72 hours. Bloss: I made my first Truth About Vaping video in April. Within 24 hours of that going viral, a friend of mine hooked me up with Stefan, and he and I met at the California SB24 hearing in Sacramento. He had been shown my video by our mutual friend, and we started talking. That’s when we started discussing turning NOTBlowingSmoke into a nonprofit. I kinda just fell in line with what they were doing with the videos.

VAPE: Can you delve a little more into your origin story and the first couple of weeks after NOTBlowingSmoke launched? Didak: In the first 48 hours, we had 100,000 unique visitors, which, knowing a bit or two about web traffic, that was just off-the-charts amazing. About four days in, I got an Instagram message from Camille Winans, saying, “You need to take this to Instagram.” She started the Instagram channel for us, which now is closing in on 17,000 followers, and she did that pretty much singlehandedly. The very first week, everybody who knew how to reach me started PMing me on Facebook, sending me emails and ringing my phone. I pretty much spent no time sleeping, and there was no time to literally talk to everybody. It was like, “Holy crap, what have I done?” Then, the questions started in the weeks thereafter. There’s a campaign here in such and such state, could you do something here? Could you address this topic? This was just a one-shop website built for one purpose only. Where are we going to get the time to do that, and how to do this properly? Then, we started thinking about taking this opportunity, and maybe we can turn this a proper nonprofit and build something that nobody has yet managed, and that is to start the first actual advocacy jobs. See if we can get advocates actually employed and paid to do this full time. Because, at this point, it’s no longer a volunteer effort, where a few hours a day goes a long way. It needs a lot more people and a lot more time. And, unfortunately, nobody’s going to spend 20 hours a day unpaid. The worst that could happen is that we fail, and even if we fail, we accomplish a lot along the way. VAPE: What are some of the biggest issues you’re working on right now? Didak: The first of the states we helped was Minnesota, because they were facing a 25 cent-per-milliliter tax. We did a mini NOTBlowingSmoke campaign there. We helped the folks from Breathe Easier down in Alabama with a bit of narrative, because they were facing a special session. Right now, we’re sort of scrambling in between being at events, because now, everybody wants us to be everywhere. In between events, we’re structuring NOTBlowingSmoke, working on the new website, working on the bylaws, because we’ve only passed the first stage. The next step is making sure the finances are in order for the non-profit status. It’s a lot more work than any of us anticipated. I’ve noticed with all of these events [is that] it’s really great meeting people, explaining stuff, getting great questions, seeing how excited people are getting, but at the same time, you’re not getting anything else done. Downing: The challenge for me is my daytime job is not in the industry. So, I have to work around my full-time day job in addition to having to request time off in addition to doing all this stuff on the side. Didak: Which is exactly why the goal of NOTBlowingSmoke

is to provide advocacy jobs, because we need people like

but the gateway theory. We see all this business around

Jason to be able to do this full time. If you look at our opponents, all the so-called public health organizations, they

that e-cigarettes are a gateway to smoking. We know from population level data that’s not the case. We clearly see

have paid staff and all they do all day is attack us. Bloss: It’s not sustainable working 10- to 12-hour days at

that, despite significant increases in use of e-cigarettes, the smoking rate continues to decline. That is now at historic

your regular job and then having to go home and try to do a ton of stuff for advocacy and NOTBlowingSmoke. It gets

lows in most states. That extends to both to youth smoking and adult smoking. A lot of the studies that purport to

insane with travel and with everything else.

demonstrate a gateway effect are the result of poor study design. They are designed in such a way as to basically

VAPE: You can’t do it forever; something has to give eventually.

predict the outcome. In some ways, that’s not an invalid study design. There are other instances in where that could

Didak: My hope has always been that if we can get enough

be very valid, but when it comes to gateway, the reliance

people involved and build a really good team, we can sort of scale back our hours and be a much better, well-oiled machine.

seems to be on misuse of data or misinterpretation of data. We have CDC surveys; even CDC comes out with these press releases saying this is clearly happening. You have

Downing: I think I can safely speak for nearly everybody involved in advocacy that we’re not doing this because of a paycheck. We’re not doing it for anything other than our sincere belief that vaping is a much less harmful alternative to smoking. It’s something that should be promoted. That’s why we are so much more effective, even on shoestring budgets. Every dollar we spend is worth at least 10 of anybody else’s. We all have that passion going into it. If you attend legislative hearings and you listen to testimony from

to understand: the questions they are asking are not the right ones. We see uptake among non vapers very minimal. Best estimate is about 1 percent of non-vapers have tried an e-cigarette. Even there, the uptake in terms of continued usage is very minimal.

these groups like ALA or ACS or any of the anti-vaping folks, very few of them do you get the impression that they have a sincere belief in what they’re saying.

‘Oh, that’s nothing but a conspiracy theory.‛ If you just look at the surface level, you could interpret it that way. Once you actually get to meet with legislators, especially the hostile ones, and you know that they know better and they keep repeating the lies, and you look at how they are funded and where their campaign contributions come from, it is really difficult not to see that it’s all about the money for a lot of people. For the public health organizations, it might not be considered the money, but it’s still people’s jobs, and a lot of people at the lower levels are just doing their jobs, and they want to keep their jobs. It’s an entire economic system that is profiting from tobacco sales, and negative effects of tobacco use really drives what’s happening. Downing: At the same time, we do, in this industry, face the stigma of the fact the tobacco companies did lie about everything for five decades. We have this new technology that is one of the most promising developments in people quitting smoking combustible tobacco. But we have to overcome the ingrained public opinion that has been built up over decades of misinformation from the tobacco industry.

VAPE: There are a lot of myths out there. Can you talk about the top myths about e-cigarettes swirling around? Didak: The biggest myth of all is that they are just as harmful, if not more harmful, than regular cigarettes. We’ve seen billboards popping up that pretty much say that in Missouri and in Pierce County in Washington. It seems that this is a narrative that is spreading across multiple states, so that must be the narrative that we go after. Taxation and all of the other issues are big enough, but once you start scaring smokers into not trying an alternative or, worse, sending vapers back to smoking because they start getting concerned about the product they’re using, you’re doing actual harm. We’re looking into doing something similar that NOTBlowingSmoke did, and that’s to launch a billboard right next to one of theirs. The billboard itself is not going to be massively effective; it’s not going to change people’s minds. But, the pictures of the billboard floating around in social media will amplify it. The concept is taking viral content online and taking it into the offline world and reaching all the people that you normally can’t reach. If you do that with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, but a very serious message, placing a billboard next to an attack billboard, that might actually be funny enough that other people start paying attention. Downing: The other main myth that we end up having to deal with is the … I hesitate to even call it a theory, because at this point, I don’t feel like it meets the scientific definition,

VAPE: Is it really all about money? Bloss: I, for one, do think it’s all about the money. Didak: It’s one of those things where a lot of people will go,

VAPE: What are the best ways to get involved with NOTBlowingSmoke? Didak: We need to get funding to get the paperwork started and do what we needed to do. What we’re actually hoping for is not to have to rely on donations in the future. We’re looking at different industry stakeholders and working with several of them do to a type of co-branding. For example, NOTBlowingSmoke is very prominent on packaging on some e-liquid, it has our short narratives, it helps reach out to vapers who are unaware of what’s going on and we get a

small portion of the profits from their sales. So, we help them a little with drafting their marketing message and basically using our intellectual real estate to help them in the market. Advocacy groups always need to go out and raise funds and ask for donations, and this tires everybody out. If you want to have advocacy properly funded, it has to be integrated within the industry. And the only way you can do that is if everybody is happy and everybody does it for the right reasons. But, at the same time, they’re getting something back, because this industry also is about making money. Let the retailers make money, let the wholesalers make money, let the manufacturers make money. Just figure out a way to get some of that funneled to where it actually needs to go. We have three e-liquids out there that we have a strategic partnership with, and there’s probably going to be seven or more in the next few months. Bloss: Donating and supporting the liquid lines that support us are ways to get involved. Also, things such as reposting or re-branding our social media messages. We have a document that talks about what you can do in 15 minutes or less to help [advocate] that doesn’t cost you any money. Sharing the correct, accurate information about how vaping has helped you to help with the public opinion battle. There’s a variety of things that people can do without opening your wallets. For lack of a better term, spread the good news about vaping. Didak: Every vaper should register to vote. In the next year, this is going to be hugely important. Downing: For anybody who is not heavily involved in advocacy, don’t get discouraged. Everybody gets that way sometimes, even us. It’s important to remember that all of the calls we make to legislators, all of the emails, every time we talk to someone about vaping, those things all are impactful. When we round up 1,400 emails and send them to the Minnesota legislature, we get people saying in committee who are against us that they got more emails about vaping than any other item in that legislative session. Try to stay positive about this stuff. The main goal is for us all to work together as a cohesive unit. When we spend time working against each other, we lose time to fight for each other. For more information, visit http://notblowingsmoke.org/.

CHANGING THE NARRATIVE IN 15 MINUTES OR FEWER One of the most powerful tools we command as vapers is our word of mouth. Many vapers are very comfortable with social media, extremely vocal about how vaping has helped improve their lives, and most importantly, just as passionate as any of the “industry leaders.” In order to create real change, we need your help. NOTBlowingSmoke is challenging you to become a champion for vaping. The goal—spend just 15 minutes each day working to change public perception and bring the message to the people who need to hear it the most: non-vapers and current smokers. to explain to a friend, family member or co-worker * Offer why vaping is important to you and to current smokers. Remind them that we are fighting for a future without smoking, that we are fighting for children, so they do not have to suffer losing loved ones to combustible tobacco. own Bruce Nye has * NOTBlowingSmoke’s about this at: http://bit.ly/1dilu0c.

a great piece

an “elevator speech” - a short (30 seconds or so) * Write piece about what vaping is, what it isn’t, and why you’d like to see it continue. There are many resources online, but http://bit.ly/1faQBqX is a good starting point. live in an area with pending proposals to restrict * Ifor you tax vapor products, send an e-mail to your elected official(s) expressing why you would like them to vote for tobacco harm reduction. a smoker to vaping—explain how the devices * Introduce work, what your experience has been, even let him or her try your device. HERE ARE SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO IN FEWER THAN FIVE MINUTES TO BE A CATALYST FOR CHANGING OPINIONS:

* Join or check your state organization’s Facebook group. a short thank-you note to a government official who * Send voted for tobacco harm reduction policies or spoke out in favor of vaping. to organizations campaigning for vaping. With * Donate enough people involved, even small amounts go a long way. your favorite shop(s) * Ask sustain the industry.

what they’re doing to help

a respectful comment on posts from anti-vaping * Leave groups or poorly-researched articles. well-written news articles to your social media * Share feeds and offer to discuss with non-vaping friends. calls to action from CASAA and local organizations; * Share encourage others to participate. or lnstagram user? Retweet/repost content from * Twitter NOTBlowingSmoke, CASAA, SFATA, AVA and other tobacco harm reduction organizations.

VAPE’s Readers’ Choice Favorite Trade Show/Convention Continues Success

By Alyssa Stahr Photos by Mike Schramel

Chris Freeze Winfrey and Tommy Mooch Jones were told just weeks before VapeMania 15 that their shows, VapeMania and VaperSlam, were named the VAPE Readers’ Choice Favorite Trade Show/ Convention. In an industry of a saturation of events, VapeMania 15, held Sept. 4-6, aimed to stand out even more. I asked the TVA Show hosts and event founders how the show compared this time around. VAPE: What were some highlights of this year’s show for you personally? Mooch: Without question the highlight of VapeMania, beyond the great vendors and amazing attendance, was the success of our workshops. Freeze: and Picklestock Mooch: who could forget Picklestock? VAPE: Picklestock? Freeze: Next door to our convention was a reserved space for Picklestock. Advertisements were everywhere. When we found out that it was actually a reunion for art school students, including a ballroom masquerade, it became the talk of the con. Mooch: Because, ya know, what do you mean by pickle? Freeze: Oh, you know what they mean ... Mooch: Listen, the workshops were amazing. Everyone told us not to do it. ‘Advocacy doesn’t work at cons’ they said. ‘No one will show up to a closed door discussion’ they said. They were wrong. Each organization, The Vaping Militia, Not Blowing Smoke, etc., they raised good money. People care.

Freeze: GrimmGreen did a workshop on YouTube success. Vapor Joe did a workshop on marketing. We wanted to have tools for the consumer and the business alike, and we accomplished that. VAPE: How many vendors did you have and how many attendees? Freeze: We had 105 unique vendors filling up 136 booth spots. For VaperSlam 2 we will have over 300 booth spots—so, far more vendors! Attendees? Well we bought 4,000 badges and ran out at about 3 to 4 p.m. on Saturday.. Mooch: The total was 6,000. VAPE: You had a B2B session all three days. I personally really like this plan. Freeze: Most cons dedicate a day to B2B and of course, some cons are specifically geared toward it. We do b2b three consecutive days, 9 to 12, and we do this for three reasons: 1) Vendors won’t lose money on consumer sales. It’s important that vendors are given the three days they paid to vend to maximize their profits. 2) If you take the number of hours three days gives businesses to talk business it’s actually more time than a full day. 3) It allows both B2B ticket holders and vendors to evaluate the connections they made that day and plan for the next day without getting overloaded with too much information all in one day, and forgetting about the first vendor they saw in that morning. when they are laying down that night. At VaperSlam 2 in Charlotte this will be the same formula.

VAPE: Any challenges or unexpected things that happened? Mooch: Not really. We’ve developed a system for hosting conventions. A system for advertisement, for fluid customer access, for communication. Learning to host conventions is about growth. When you see major controversies regarding conventions it’s usually synonymous with under developed learning curves. The correct formula is starting small and slightly elevating. You’re always gonna have minor instances of uncertainty, but big issues should be scenario tested in advance, which we spend countless hours doing.

MAGAZINE

VAPE: Let’s talk about advocacy. How does your show approach this? Freeze: VaperSlam and VapeMania are brought to you by advocacy. It’s the center of the convention. In the initial design plan we start with booths that we give donations to. These are organizations that focus exclusively on local and national advocacy. Then we plan the theme to the convention and assign its affiliation to advocacy. Mooch: Furthermore we establish an amount in donations and work with the industry leaders to create information sheets and tutorials; then we hand them out to every person coming through the door. Freeze: Then we donate the proceeds of VIP passes and the workshops to those advocacy organizations.

VAPE: Anything you want to change for the next show coming up in March? Are there any differences between VapeMania and VaperSlam? Freeze: VaperSlam, coming in March, will be our biggest con, and we say that every time, but it’s true. Your readers have voted it best show. We are taking the themes that made it successful and expanding them. The building is double the already massive space. The vendors will be far greater in numbers. But the attitude remains the same—give local vendors an opportunity to stand beside the most well known companies and present products to consumers.

Mooch: And of course the conventions are free to attend. You can get a VIP pass and ensure that you have first chance at all the coolest stuff but otherwise the convention is free to attend. In terms of differences? The name separates the con seasonally. We always have a theme. It’s crucial to differentiate our conventions from the others. Our theme was workshops, the most wide array of workshops covering the industry. Before that it was comedy. Incorporating live podcasts, roasts and stage shows you could watch. Prior to that it was a live competition. Freeze: An arm wrestling challenge.

Mooch: And then these things catch on. We try to stay ahead. We’re interested by what we haven’t seen yet. It’s a simple method; we ask, ‘What would I like to see or be taught at a convention?’ VAPE: There are so many shows being put on in our industry. What sets yours apart as the must-see show of the year? Freeze: Our shows created the idea of “vapers as entertainers” being the evening’s entertainment. Then, vapers as business instructors holding courses to businesses. We’ll continue to explore those avenues that

allowed for your readers to vote our convention the best. If it is the best, it’s because the people there make it amazing. The minute they hit the door they treat each other with respect and enthusiasm. We truly want you to come and be a part of it. Visit us at www.vaperslam.com and make plans to be there. Entry will always be free; and the atmosphere will always be welcoming. Come #GetSlammed at VaperSlam 2: Charlotte. Follow VapeMania and VaperSlam on Instagram @thetvashow and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vapemaniavaperslam.

Techin’ Geek Deep Dive with the DNA 200: To Geek, or Not to Geek

Words and photos by Arvid Sollom The train has started, and everyone is on board. Few new regulated devices premiered this fall and winter without a core temperature control feature, and the idea of releasing a regulated device without temperature control will soon be parallel to releasing a car without airbags or automatic transmission options. Sub-Ohm tanks are following the same trend by offering temperature control coils from their inception, though they have improvements to be made through modifications to connection points and changes to titanium or other specialty metals that would be superior and safer than nickel. Sub-Ohm tanks are following the same trend by offering temperature control coils from their inception, though they have improvements to be made through modifications to connection points as well as adoption of titanium or other specialty metals that would be superior to and safer than nickel.

In the midst of the maelstrom of progress stands the paragon of vape tech advancement, Evolv and the DNA 200. This time, Evolv released a product that stood counter to their early concepts of simple being best. The DNA 200 took vaping to a new, ultimate extreme of pure geekability, leaving user customization to be one of the driving motives for early adoption. Many initial devices come with very few preset profiles for the user. Bare minimums that allow standard wattage modes and nickel as a temperature control option are common. As the manufacturers using the chipset mature their products and the user base starts determining what profiles are useful to them, more and more should offer robust profile options from the get go. Initially, though, these devices expect the user to hook up the mod to a computer and begin to learn a whole new world of customization with Escribe.

The Software Escribe is the computer-based interface software, released by Evolv, that gives the user access to the “brain” of the device. The meat of the application is the eight customizable profiles that reside in the DNA 200’s memory. A profile consists of several core components, a customizable label in words or a picture, an opening wattage setting, and an option for temperature control or wattage control. When set to temperature control, there are numerous additional settings past merely a temperature, starting with a metal-type profile for the coil. Each different material for the coil requires a separate “profile” itself, which provides multiple graph points to correlate temperature and resistance change. These different “.csv” files are available from online resources, such as Steam Engine’s Wire Wizard. Once the proper file is

loaded into Escribe, it has the information necessary to measure temperature for the given type of metal used in the coil, and the user has some additional options to set. One option that must be set is a preheat power. This value allows the user to give the device an extra initial power range to use in order to achieve the set temperature—a boost so to speak—above the main wattage setting. Beyond the extra wattage allowed, the user can fine tune how the DNA 200 uses that power, with both a maximum time of burst, as well as a scale from soft to hard, which controls how close to the set temperature the coil will come before scaling back to the normal power level or below, in order to prevent overheating.

The Geezample As an example, my titanium hard profile used with RDAs containing 6-10 wrap dual coil, 24 gauge Ti wire spaced wrapped around a 3 mm bit, has the following setup. It allows a standard 150 maximum normal wattage to maintain the 480 degree temperature setting. Next, the Ti grade one profile tells the device how to accurately measure the temperature change for this type of wire. Though rarely necessary, the profile is also set to allow the maximum of 200 watts to be used for up to two seconds to achieve the temperature nearly immediately. In addition, the preheat punch is set to 11 to make sure that the heat comes on fast and strong. Yes … they set the scale to max at 11; rock on, Spinal Tap! This profile is an aggressive, hot and cloudy experience, yet I can still vape out nearly every last drop of liquid without any damage to the fluffy, virtually dry wick, and experience absolutely no dry hit. Escribe also provides a theme section, where virtually every screen message can be customized, from the opening splash screen to a warning for an out-of-balance battery pack. In the

screen tab, one can organize what data is shown while being used and while being charged; how long the screen takes to dim or go inactive; how bright it is during firing, while active, while idle and while charging; and how fast fades occur. Talk about some nitty-gritty customization! In the mod section, the extreme geeks can analyze their battery behavior and the mod case’s thermal properties to help maintain a positive atmosphere for the batteries to be in, and set values that help keep the system from charge time heat damage. In a final section, Evolv added a series of controls for researchers to allow the DNA device to serve as a study aid under controlled circumstances and settings, including a seal to guarantee that no data has been tampered with.

Should You Vape It? So, does this mean that you need to be wearing thick, blackrimmed glasses with tape around the bridge to enjoy a DNA 200? Absolutely not, but you might want one of those types in a local store or social group to be nearby to help with some initial setup with the early models. Once profiles are created, this is one of the most foolproof devices when it comes to temperature controlled vaping, which we are likely to see until mid-2016. Hopefully, more mod makers will include a well-tested set of preprogrammed profiles, as well. And for those with pocket protectors filled with electronic nicotine delivery systems, this is a dream come true. Arvid Sollom is a long-time vaper, old school modder and builder, resident tech, safety and temperature control guru living in the southwestern desert. He is a founding member of Tucson Vapers and Clouds of Tucson, as well as assistant manager at Old Pueblo Vapor, the city of Tucson’s original vape shop.

Drop Box

Modders: Amber Mods Country of origin: United States Battery: 18650 Chip: DNA30

Amber Mods was born from the passion to vape and the possibility to create something unique (in our opinion) for vapers. In fact, it was also due to a small lack of unique design in high-end mods, but now it is getting better. The company used the name “Amber Mods” because of jewelry and the famous Baltic Sea gem, amber. The drop in the logo was inspired by the most unique of ambers—those with a mosquito inside. Where there is a mosquito, there is the blood, so it resembles a blood drop. And the Drop Box itself was shaped as a drop. In addition to the Drop Box, there is also the company’s first production, Victorian, which comes straight from its jewelry background, inspired by old silver patterns used in the mod’s design. Within the construction, Amber Mods tries to have unique designs and creates new solutions for making vaping easier and more stylish—like making the firing button part of the Drop Box decoration ring, or its unique bottom battery cap.

December Buyer’s Guide By Jan Halili & Bryan Gateb of CaliVapers Photos by Bryan Gateb

With an active Instagram following of more than 88,000 and an active online forum with more than 18,400 members, CaliVapers has become a strong, recognizable brand within the vape community. Located at the epicenter of the vaping industry, CaliVapers has always had its finger on the pulse of vaping. As the vape community continues to grow, more and more modders enter the fray, and finding a source for reliable information on high-end, affordable mods is becoming more difficult. We’re here to cover the mods. From the rarest and hottest to the most reliable and affordable, CaliVapers has your back.

“No matter what, we always use amber as our signature.” – Amber Mods Team

Dunamis

Modders: Jonald Roxas, Pyke Aldana and Mark Makko (JPM Mods) Country of origin: United States Battery: 26650 Chip: DNA40

“Dunamis” is a Greek word that means strength, power or ability. It is the root word of our English words dynamite, dynamo and dynamic. It also refers to miraculous power or marvelous works, and has the same meaning as “inherent power—power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature.” The Dunamis mod is a product of combined expertise from three contributing partners. (continues on page 66)

(continued from page 65) “I did the design and handled fabrication of parts and finishing of the mod. Mark Makko is the brains and talent behind the flawless, and yet very efficient, chip and wiring setup. Pyke Aldana takes care of material procurement, paperwork and marketing. Together, we offer the vaping industry a product that is cost effective, yet could be considered highend, that can be very enjoyable for vapers while meeting customer satisfaction. We started producing the mods first quarter of this year, and as of now now, we’ve gotten overwhelming support and a huge following on both Facebook and Instagram. We are striving hard to meet the growing demand for high-end regulated box mods, and will continue to improve our products and customer service. We thank all those who believe in us and put their trust and support [in us]. We are committed to serving the whole vaping industry in any way we can. Stay safe, and vape on!” – Jonald Roxas, JPM Mods

Goliath

Modders: Gianluca Rossi and Giorgio Conforto (G Reverso) Country of origin: Italy Battery: 18500 Chip: DNA40

“The Italian Jewel,” G Reverso is the result of the hard work of Giorgio and Gianluca. Both hail from Vicenza, a city hear Venice, and Gianluca worked in the jewelry industry for 20 years, while and Giorgio is an expert in electronics. “The constant research of the design and small details, the use of new metals and new technologies—that’s G Reverso. The Goliath is the first model, realized in 2014. G Reverso is now coming out with the new Titan and a new amazing Squonker!” – G Reverso Team

Rialu

Modder: Lee Ash (Lash Creative) Country of origin: United Kingdom Battery: 18650 Chip: DNA40

The Rialu was designed with the 1930s in mind, drawing influence from the range-finder cameras of that era, especially the Leica. “I am also a great fan of H.G.Wells, and I don’t think the Rialu would look at all out of place in the movie The Time Machine.” – Lee Ash

Metamorphosis

Modder: Michele Cuni (Vertigo Mods) Country of origin: Italy Battery: 18650 Chip: DNA30

“Metamorphosis is not just a one-of-a-kind mod; the precious materials like walnut and silver and the particular handicraft make this box an amazing experience for all senses. You can see the harmony of shapes and etchings, touch the smooth surface and feel the passion behind it.” – Michele Cuni

Dio

Modder: SPQR Vapor Country of origin: United States Battery: 18650 Chip: SX350j

“Through our creative process, SPQR Vapor set out to create an elegant and clean box mod, with simplistic and superb functionality. As a result, the Dio box mod was created. It utilizes the SX350j chip, top-of-the-line material and is designed and manufactured in the United States. Customized switch button and 510 connection, along with the ergonomic shape, enables the end user an unbelievable experience.” – SPQR Vapor For more information, visit calivapers.com and follow on Instagram at @calivapers @bgateb and @janhalili.

MAGAZINE

Miami VapeFest Chooses Research in Busy Events Season By Alyssa Stahr

Photo by Phillip Roseman

Photo by Christopher Mikovitz Photo by Christopher Mikovitz

It’s happening everywhere. Event after trade show after meet after convention, with many on competing weekends. So, how does one choose? Cheryl Richter of the National Vapers Club, the organization that puts on Vapefest, said that the two things that separate Vapefest Miami, and all of the Vapefests, are advocacy and community. Richter said that even though there are a lot of shops, there aren’t that many manufacturers to support all of the traveling that the vaping events circuit entails. “I wish that people would put their trade show or convention money against good causes as opposed to some of these places that have come along,” she said. “There are industry shows going on by companies that have nothing to do with the vapor space whatsoever that are jumping on the bandwagon. They don’t put any money back into advocacy; they don’t put any money back into research. It’s a shame.” Vapefest Miami, held in September, not only supported various advocacy “names” in the industry such as Stefan Didak from NotBlowingSmoke and Gregory Conley from the American Vaping Association during the recent fest, but the show also raised money for the Bystander Exposure Assessment Research Study (BEARS), the first study of its kind that will assess the migration path of the vapor to various areas in a multi-dwelling building. Some companies kicked in directly to the study; Vegas will

be earmarked toward the BEARS study as well. In a still young industry, Richter, who used to work in business to business marketing and in the publishing and trade show field, stressed that research is key. “Well-known, established industries have like maybe three event companies doing maybe six shows a year. We’re trying to keep our heads above water at this time in the industry. I do think it’s a low point in advocacy. I think all of these shows—they may invite one person out or a couple of people out to speak and they feel like they’ve done their part and that’s not the way it’s going to work,” she said. Vapefest’s highlights included the advocacy panel that came to Miami with high-level information for the masses. Richter said that the people in the room, including vape shop owners and e-liquid company owners, sat down and really listened to the panel. “People who come and support Vapefest are really sincerely companies that are doing the right thing and that are supporting research and advocacy and not just giving it lip service. These are the people who walk the walk,” she said. “They stayed there much longer than we expected them to and asked really good questions. That was a real highlight of Miami. We’ll be doing something similar to that in Vegas.”

Photo by Christopher Mikovitz

Fun highlights of Vapefest included the infamous Vapefest karaoke and a vaping auction, auctioneered by Zen. Zen’s auction was able to raise more money than expected, with companies stepping up to donate items. Zen even created a bidding war by auctioning off his own belt, complete with his logo stamped in metal. Cool mods, e-liquids and more than $400 worth of drip tips provided by Cherry Vape were auctioned off, including a hat signed by vaping advocates. “You’ve got Joe from Vaping Militia, Stefan, Greg … I kept saying you guys want to bid on that; it’s going to be worth something someday when everybody writes the book and the movie,” Richter said. Beki Powell also DJ’d the Friday night after party. “She was terrific. We figured we’d bring the nightlife into the room as opposed to people going out,” Richter said.

Since Vapefest was the first event to hold advocacy and battery safety workshops, what Richter has found is that as the hobbyist lifestyle has grown people are less apt to take time out of their day to listen. So, Vapefest brought the panel directly into the room. “These are our friends, and we all support each other. The National Vapers Association works behind the scenes with all of the organizations, The Vaping Militia, AVA, Not Blowing Smoke, SFATA. They’re very supportive of us and we support them,” she said. “Years ago we were actually criticized for charging at the door, and that was a donation straight to the research. Now everybody’s charging at the door and they’re not donating the money anywhere.”

Photo by Phillip Roseman

Another positive was the group of people who volunteered for Vapefest, an enthusiastic bunch who also are helping to coordinate Vegas, which Richter thinks will be much bigger just from the buzz that she’s getting back from people. Now that the dust has settled, Richter said that what she absolutely loved about Miami was the hotel. The hotel treated the vapers spectacularly, letting them vape anywhere they wanted to. The hotel was situated right on the Riverwalk, offering great views. It’s a place that Richter said they would think about returning to for a future show. But for now, Richter wants to focus on how generous and supportive the people were who attended. The “old-fashioned” meet is designed for community where people can sit down and have a conversation.

Photo by Phillip Roseman

“Whether it’s two business to business people talking for an hour instead of trying to yell over music, it’s the kind of event that you could take your parents to. I remember in D.C. Will from Vape a Vet brought his dad. It’s that kind of a show where you cringe and look into a corner and see somebody pole dancing,” Richter said. “It’s something that you as a vaper, I don’t want to put down other shows, but it’s one of those events that you would feel proud to bring your girlfriend or your mom to. Not that we don’t curse or anything like that. It’s for the people who care about the community. It’s run by volunteers; none of us gets a penny out of this. A lot of people forget that.” For more information, visit http://www.vapefest.com/.

Photos by Phillip Roseman

Compiled by Alyssa Stahr

FWB from Revol Vapor

Look no further than FWB. That sweet and sugary flavored powdered perfection has been bottled to bring you endless joy all day. FWB is available at https://goo.gl/TqzUnH

Daywalker from Ginger Vapes

Grandmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fresh out of the oven gingerbread that takes your soul with every vape. This is a max VG 20/80 blend that works great in the tank but amazing in the dripper. Daywalker is available at http://www.gingervapes.com/.

grape soda flavoring that really leaves a vaper hooked on this all-day vape. Gruesome Grape is available at https:// walkingvaped.com/gruesome-grape/.

Redhill O.G. from Dockside Vapors

Redhill O.G. is a berry infused yogurt that could only be inspired by the beauty of Red Hill, Ala. Redhill O.G. is available at http://docksidevapors.com/.

Thorad from Mod Fuel E-Liquid

Thorad is a smooth, creamy blend of sweet cinnamon sugar. Thorad is available at http://modfueleliquid.com/.

Gruesome Grape from Walking Vaped

A gruesomely intoxicating grape aroma! This VG/PG 70/30 flavor takes you back to the days of summer when you sip on a grape slushy or snow cone. It has a subtle hint of

Sheriff from Longhorn Vapor Co.

The sheriff an enticing combination of butterscotch and custard. It is available in 15 ml and 35 ml bottle sizes, and the nicotine amount you can choose from ranges between 0 mg to 16 mg. Sheriff is available at https://goo.gl/ ijThxv.

Bermuda Triangle from Treasure Island Elixir

Everyone who has made it to the triangle to tell the tale of this flavor has been amazed with its light and sweet mellow flavor. This is a sweet vanilla dessert elixir that will have you guessing what the secret inside the triangle is. Bermuda Triangle is available at http://goo.gl/ V4dc7r.

Cherry Bomb from Menace Juice

Cherry Bomb is a 90VG/10PG mix that is aged three weeks before bottled. The moment you vape it you get hit with sweet black cherry with hints of guava; while on the exhale the lime bubblegum flavor pop reminds you of your childhood when you would chew Big League Chew. Cherry Bomb is available at http://goo.gl/D7BUps.

Pearl from Lazarus Vintage

Pearl is a favorite and a traditional Chinese lotus candy flavor wrapped in a winter melon. Pearl is available at http://lazarusvintage.com/.

Code Blue from Myrical Made E-Liquid

Code Blue is a warm blueberry cinnamon roll flavor that is guaranteed to make your mouth water with every vape. Provided in 30 ml glass dropper bottles, this e-liquid comes with a 80/20 VG/PG mix and in 0, 3, 6 and 12 mg nicotine strengths. One dollar from every bottle sold goes to organ donation awareness. Code Blue is available at http://goo.gl/cdQjbU.

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Direwolf from International Vaperz

Direwolf is a variety of complementary fruits with a sweet melon final note. Direwolf is available at http://vaperztx.com/eliquid/.

Abide from Vape Dudes

The question is always asked … do you have a great custard flavor?! Vape Dudes believes this flavor transcends a simple custard flavor. The taste is not overly complicated, yet tough to describe. Grab a bottle and experience the flavor that has become one of the most requested at Vape Dudes’ retail shop. Abide is available at http://goo. gl/upF66W.

Bear Claw from DRPN Donuts

Bear Claw is a glazed cinnamon apple pastry flavor that comes in 0, 3 or 6 mg and 30 ml bottles. It’s a 60VG/40 PG mix. Bear Claw is available at http://goo.gl/0kpO5Y.

Yo Yogi from Perino London

Yo Yogi begins simply with the taste of a freshly baked apple pie, developing alongside a delicious combination of ripe honeydew melon, and juicy green apple for a fruity, warming inhale. The exhale is then complemented by a hint of sweet marshmallow. For a smooth vape, delivering remarkable depth. Prominent notes include green apples, baked pastry, honeydew melon and marshmallow. Yo Yogi is available at http://www.perinolondon.com/.

Indigo from Smoque Vapours

Indigo represents a color spectrum that is believed to expand consciousness and connect the spirit and earth planes. Prana Indigo is a mouth-watering combination of blackberry and the smell and taste of bakery fresh doughnuts. Indigo is the perfect way to begin your day open-minded and centered. Indigo is available at https:// goo.gl/JRhffP.

Big Bang from Vapor Beast

Big Bang from Modzilla’s line already is being dubbed as one of Vapor Beast’s next great flavors. It is a mellow combination of utterly satisfying fresh blueberry and lemonade. Big Bang is strong enough to give you a pleasant burst of flavor, but mellow enough to savor all day long. If you are a fan of Atomic, you’ve got to add this to your shopping cart. Upon arrival, you will smell the freshness and aroma escaping from the bottle. Big Bang is available at http://www.vaporbeast.com/e-liquid.html.

Riverboat Gambler from Hippie Holler Vapors

Sit on the bank with the Riverboat Gambler and enjoy the rich and savory notes of this oak steeped liquid. Double down with the company’s most elaborate blend of robust flavors dripping with ancient spices and a light, refreshing underlying note. Presented in a collectible wooden barrel, this oak steeped 85VG/15PG e-liquid comes in a 40 ml glass bottle with dropper. Riverboat Gambler is available at http://goo.gl/iBE04A.

Timeless from Millennial Vape

A classic concoction of time tested favorites— tangy lemon meringue and toasted coconut cream along with sumptuous servings of Boston cream pie and banana cream cheesecake all lavished with rich heavy whipped cream. Who cares what time it is anyway? Timeless is available at www.millennialvape.com.

Mirtillo Rotto ‘Broken Blueberries’ from Drip Origin

This blueberry scone flavored e-liquid is a classic take on an English pastry with a blast of blueberries. Broken Blueberries is available at http://goo.gl/PVRT1C.

GRN from Lunar Rover

GRN gets its verdigris patina from enhancing Lunar Rover’s signature GLD flavor with its in-house menthol blend for a minty kick. The blend of the pepper from the GLD base and the mint from the menthol won’t make peppermint, but adventurous types will appreciate this juxtaposition of flavors that dance across your tongue and through your nostrils doing steps only you can conceive. GRN is available at http://lunarrover.com/.

Silk from Ascent Vapor

Silk is a mysterious flavor that leaves you thinking of something familiar—what is it? Possibly the most delicious, sweet and smooth blend you have ever tasted! Silk is a complex and sweet blend of hazelnut, chocolate and marshmallow, while drizzling your taste buds in slight notes of hidden sweetness. Silk is a 80VG/20PG flavor available in 0, 3 and 6 mg nicotine. Silk is available at http://goo.gl/D2WSMH.

Mayflower from Totally Wicked

Totally Wicked was a founding father of the vaping world. This fruity rainbow of delights with lemon, lime, orange, strawberry and blueberry is like discovering vaping anew. Mayflower is available at http://goo.gl/FdgeSE.

Babyclouds from Transistor

Photo by Rudy Puente Transistor is owned and created by Shukri Yanni, a Chicago local juice manufacturer. Abduct your roommates and wake them up with false hopes, thinking you’re baking a warm nutty vanilla strawberry custard. Babyclouds is available at Vape312.com.

Officer Oinker from Five-O ELiquid

Photo courtesy of Five-O ELiquid Five-0’s Officer Oinker is an apple fritter flavor that is a true classic. Produced in an ISO certified laboratory, Officer Oinker is a perfect mix of cinnamon, apple and thick glaze. Step up to a brand that you can trust. Five-0—we’re the law of e-liquid. Officer Oinker is available at http:// five0eliquid.com/.

This is a paid advertorial brought to you by RULE 42.

RULE 42–A NEW E-LIQUID WITH A CAUSE HELPING THOSE AFFECTED BY ADDICTION FIND SOLUTIONS While vaping is known for appealing to people of all backgrounds, the owners of Mojo Vapor noticed a common theme among its clientele not long after opening: A large segment of the vaping community are people who are clean and sober.

to organizations across the country that help those affected by addiction. Each e-partner in the brand will have the option to select a recovery-based cause or charity in their own community to receive funds.

“Whether they had 30 days or three years, we found that many of them had incredible stories of how they overcame addiction and transformed their lives in a positive way to successfully get back into the stream of life,” said Brett Weiss, owner of Mojo in downtown Encinitas, Calif. “It was pretty amazing, so we wanted to do something to give back to our clients and the recovery community.”

Intrigued by the name, our first question was: “What is RULE 42? “Rule 42 is a term used in the recovery community and means ‘Don’t take yourself so seriously,’” Weiss said.“We liked that a lot. In recovery or not, at times, we all can get a little too wrapped tight in seemingly important matters. But put in perspective to what really matters in life—it’s usually not that big of a deal. It’s a reminder to live and enjoy life.”

And so RULE 42 was born:

RULE 42 represents an exciting new evolution for the vaping industry. By uniting quality with a cause and partnering with top notch companies, they are creating a new vision for the future of vape—and we’re excited to see it unfold.

E-liquid with a cause, helping those affected by addiction find solutions. The new brand is generating lots of excitement in the industry and will feature many of today’s prominent players including Mojo, Sicboy, Giant Vapes, Beantown and Cotto’s Revenge and Fuzion Vapor. Each company will create a unique flavor under the RULE 42 brand, and a portion of proceeds will be donated

For more information, visit www.RULE42eLiquid.com.

RULE

eLI Q

UI D w ith a CAU S

Live life. What Rule Do You Live By? eLIQUID with a CAUSE – Announcing a new Vape brand with a mission – to help those affected by addiction find a solution. To learn more visit www. RULE42eLiquid. com

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AN E-PARTNERSHIP WITH

FASHION PICTORIAL

Mod: Prax1s Mod Bronze / Derringer V1.2 Decimus Mod / Spitfire Sub-Ohm Atomizer Tank

Mod: Decimus Mod Atomizer: Spitfire Sub-Ohm Tank

Mod: Prax1s Mod Stainless Steel / Derringer V1.2 Decimus Mod / Spitfire Sub-Ohm Atomizer Tank E-Liquid: Gallery Vape Delirium

Mod: Prax1s Mod Copper Atomizer: Derringer V1.2

Mod: Prax1s Mod Stainless Steel Atomizer: Thumper

Mod: Prax1s Mod Copper / Derringer V1.2 Decimus Mod / Spitfire Sub-Ohm Atomizer Tank E-Liquid: Gallery Vape Fresh Prince

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

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MODS PROVIDED BY

JON LAVERDE

PRAXIS VAPORS

@Jon_Laverde

• LA MAISON DE FASHION • LENOV TEAM

MODELS

MAKEUP ARTIST

MODELS ELINA FEDOROVA @elinafedorova HOPE ECKHOFF @HOPEHARMONICS

CLAIRE PIAO @clairepiao

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EZRA ZUNIGA & JEN ZUNIGA @135fotografiks www.135fotografiks.com

ALAN MONTES A&D Styling @Amontes4659

E-LIQUID PROVIDED BY

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HAIR STYLIST

@gallery.vape www.galleryvape.com

CARINA TAFULU USING JBEVELYHILLS

SPECIAL THANKS TO

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@praxisvapors www.praxispotions.com

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Christian Nazareno E Cig City Riverside @EcigCity4 @Ecigcityonline www.ecigc ity.com

VaperCon 2015

An East Coast Vaper-centric 90

East

Event

Words and photos by Nick Bessette A few days prior to this event I was primed on what to expect at VaperCon. I was under the impression that this was the place for the “crotchety veteran vaper,” meaning the folks who have been around since the early days of vaping who stay true to their roots. I wasn’t sure if I would fit in seeing as how I mainly use mechanical mods nowadays, however I was excited for a new experience. After driving down roughly 10 hours from my home in Massachusetts, the atmosphere on the night before the event was extremely positive with many attendees staying at the hotel coming from across the country including places like Texas, Illinois and New Jersey. People were enjoying libations and mingling outside the bar area in an almost ritualistic fashion, and the sense of community was in the air. As the night went on several more people gathered as they got in from the airport or weary from the road. I could already tell this event would be like no other I’ve ever attended.

For the fifth year running, Luciano Manente and the Vape TV crew have put on VaperCon East at the Clarion hotel in Richmond, Va. It seemed like the entire hotel was occupied by vapers, and the hotel catered to vapers’ needs even putting out free breakfast and an all-you-can-eat taco bar! As attendee Kathy McCarty said, “The hotel pretty much lets us run the place for the weekend … no hassles at all.” The local eatery and VaperCon hotspot was Kitchen 64 across the street from the Clarion, which offered a vape-friendly outdoor “patio” section, which was frequented by convention attendees. One thing that stood out to me as different was the lack of fire alarms being set off, granted it did happen, but only once as far as this reporter knows. It seemed like everyone that attends this event has a mutual respect for the hotel and its staff as they have welcomed the event back year after year without issue.

Josh Fritter and Mariah Stevens (iVape.net)

Bryan Lewis (Azure Vaping)

The doors opened on the first day; I walked around and glanced at the vendors’ wares. Within about half an hour I had seen the entirety of the selection they had to offer. A few of the standout vendors were The 52 Juice, a new project from Flavors United in glass bottles with premium flavors like Cooler, which is a kiwi, strawberry and mango punch flavor, and Bottom Deal, which tastes like banana pancakes with whipped cream and cinnamon, as well as Reverb, which is Mister-E-Liquids’ drip line. Their booth was bumping the entire show, especially because they were the only ones playing music, however it wasn’t cranked to the max like other vendors at the bigger events. My voice was spared, as there was merely a dull roar within the room itself. Alex from The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA) was at the main table outside the entrance, and right next to him was The Vaping Militia’s booth where Robin, Fred and Joe were selling raffle tickets, merch and signing people up for the cause. As far as conventions go, this one was on the smaller size but to some that can be a good thing. When asked what drew him to VaperCon compared to other conventions Ahmed Lakhaney (Plumes of Hazard) said, “The people, the size. The ones that draw the large crowds are more trade showish. Many of the people I met in the local scene in New York helped pioneer the industry from the east coast. They all go to VaperCon. I pick my cons based on the company most times, and after hours at a Vape TV event is always a good time.”

Melissa Goodwin and Jerry Goodwin (Jus Tha Tip)

With people traveling across the country just to be at this event, it’s no surprise you find many attendees that have been to more than one VaperCon like Lisa Adams from North Carolina: “This was my fifth VaperCon. It has always been my favorite vaping event.” Kathy McCarty from Texas said, “I come up every year. The first year I rode the Greyhound bus 26 hours each way just to be here, and I would do it again in a heartbeat if I wasn’t able to fly.” So if you couldn’t tell, people are very dedicated to this event but my question was, why? “The vaping community has somewhat splintered in recent years, VaperCon has become more of a magnet for those that we refer to as ‘veteran vapers.’ This has resulted in more of a concentrated, community-oriented event,” Jay DeLuco of Massachusetts said.

Jamal Means (Brimless) and Nick Bessette

MAGAZINE

After the convention was over, all of the vendors and anyone else who wanted to stick around was invited to a costume contest with about a dozen contestants. The audience was encouraged to applaud their favorite competitor to win fabulous prizes. Following the contest was a scavenger hunt where teams had to find random objects all around the hotel. The party kept going into the night, and one by one people departed back to their rooms to rest up for the journey home. Overall I’d have to say VaperCon was a small, albeit fun event even for a young gun like myself, and I do plan on attending next year.

A Billion Lives

Among the other vendors in the hall was a unique booth; it didn’t have any e-liquid samples or new hardware, only a few banners and a TV playing the trailer to an upcoming film called A Billion Lives. The film is about the injustice of the United States government and Big Business impacting the vaping industry. They have been filming for this documentary since Vape Bash in April, traveling the world to discover the roots of the tobacco plant and follow it all the way up through history up until the present day. The production company behind this film, Attention Era Media based out of Milwaukee, Wis., has created commercials for major companies like Applebee’s and covered sports events and much more. When asked about the budget of the project, producer Jesse Hieb said, “In the five digits. We are entirely self-funded on this project; we didn’t take any money from outside sources for this film. We decided to make this film as a business decision because we felt lied to.” With the application already sent in to the Sundance Film Festival, expect a late January launch if it gets picked up but if not, it will be out on Netflix and all major streaming sites in March of 2016.

Drishana Ellis and Lee Wilson (Wisconsin Vapor Co)

Nolan Patterson, Keith Churchfield, Krystal Bowen and Duane Lassiter (Moon Mountain)

VaperCon East Quotables

Jeannie Kerswill (The Jeannie K Show) - “It was an amazing event as it

always is. I love that it is about the people first. Free stuff is not the driving force that gets people to attend. There are no cloud comps, body paint and the rest of the nonsense you see at the huge trade show type events. All of that is why I have never missed a VaperCon East and never will.”

Kathy McCarty - “It’s always been a place to just hang out and

not about trying to buy the latest and greatest toy. I’ve met most of the people at VaperCon and have known a lot of them almost six years. So yeah, for sure a veteran vaper meet.”

Matt Moss, Matt Walent, Sondra Kennedy, Laura and Ryan Ellsworth (Good Life Vapor)

Jay DeLuco - “As other conventions focus on the sales and mar-

keting aspects of vaping, VaperCon has stayed true to its roots. As a result, it has become a relatively smaller event than it has been in the past. At the same time, it enables those of us who feel left out of the current wave of vape marketing to have a place to reunite with old friends and make new connections with like-minded vapers.”

Lisa Adams - “Attendance was down this year, which gave the

vendors more time to spend with attendees, and that was great! VaperCon has always been more of a social event and not a trade show, which is what I prefer. I got to spend quality time with great friends and met new friends as well.”

Ahmed Lakhaney (Plumes of Hazard) - “It’s a meet more than a convention, and they’ve done with great job upholding that.”

Kathy McCarty and Stanley the Viking

p o h S s k l a T Mister-E-Liquid E P VA Entrepreneur Discusses AEMSA Beginnings, Company History

By Alyssa Stahr Whether it’s bicycling through the neighborhood on a childhood paper route or running a fledgling business, entrepreneurs have one thing in common: they love creating something from nothing. Dan Lawitzke has come a long way from his paper route. Mister-E-Liquid started in 2010 as an e-commerce website. Handcrafting custom e-liquid per customers’ requests, the company grew steadily with a customer base all over the country. Lawitzke starting smoking socially in college; however, the habit grew to a pack a day. Lawitzke worked as a musician to help pay his way through college, and his parents helped with tuition and books. But with that help came expectations. “I was singing four hours a night, and the smoking was affecting the way I was able to drink beer for the rest of the week,” Lawitzke mused. “A buddy of mine was using an e-cigarette. Actually, the eGos had literally just hit the market. I tried it and jumped right in to the whole thing.”

Photo by Aaron Tanis

(from left to right) Dan Lawitzke (CEO), Robert Knoblauch (store manager), Matthew McCollum (former store manager), Dave Doud (inventory control manager), John Waldmiller (sales manager), Russ Swanson (social media admin) Photo by J Ervin Bates

Lawitzke wasn’t happy with the e-liquid side of things, and at the time, there were about four online stores that weren’t Chinese. He started making e-liquids just for himself, blending different varieties together. Without a lot of disposable income, he stuck with the eGo. A smoke shop that he frequented sold starter kits with a stick battery. It was “garbage,” he said. At that point, he was still smoking cigarettes infrequently, but as he got into the community and making his own liquids, he didn’t want to be a “poser.” Graduation time came, and with that came the expectation that Lawitzke would enter Corporate America. With a dual degree in international business and finance and an internship under his belt, he knew he didn’t like working for other people. “I was always a self starter. I had a paper route from when my parents said that it was OK. I played in bands and managed those bands, and it didn’t really hit me until I worked for someone else that I didn’t really want to do that,” Lawitzke said. Every job had been a means to an end, to pay for books or to buy the newest guitar. His parents were pushing for the corporate life, but Lawitzke decided to take a leap of faith. “It may have been just a chapter in my life that I’ll remember. But, it’s really blossomed into something special. I said, ‘I’m going to find someone with a thousand bucks to front me, and I’m going to start a website.’ That’s how Mister-E-Liquid was born.”

By the end of 2012, the company had grown to eight employees, and to the point where it was bursting at the seams. Mister-E-Liquid was wholesaling liquid internationally, leading to a need for more space. In 2013 they opened a 17,000 sq. ft. manufacturing/distribution plant, as well as another local retail store. By the end of 2013, the company had 29 employees, and Lawitzke began to focus on professional e-liquid manufacturing. His passion for liquids and inspiration for new flavors stems from several different places.

“Ten to 20 people every single day would come to pick up orders. My neighbors must have thought I was selling drugs or something,”

The new company operated out of his home, allowing customers to pick up orders from his front door. Twelve flavors and eGo-type kits (the Joyetech kind) that sold for $80 to $90 were on the Mister-E-Liquid menu. Lawitzke searched on the Internet and sourced an eGo-type kit called a Riva. It was basically an eGo without the Joyetech name on it.

“Joyetech had so much cash into their branding, but there was so much room for competitors,” Lawitzke said. “I got an eGo kit that I could price at $50, and that blew up.” Word of mouth grew, and a year and a half later, the company had grown to the point where there were so many people showing up to Lawitzke’s house every day, that he was forced to look into a retail store. “Ten to 20 people every single day would come to pick up orders. My neighbors must have thought I was selling drugs or something,” he said. At that point, one of his best friends from high school tried the e-cigarette and said that it wasn’t really for him. Lawitzke

asked him for help selling online orders because the website was starting to grow. Days were spent marketing, working on customer service, making liquids, shipping products and more. Lawitzke’s business partner Dave bought in, and they opened the first retail store in 2012, Mister E’s Vape Shop. There was a third guy who was really into vaping, so Lawitzke started to teach him to make e-liquids, and he became the third employee. That third employee is now the head flavorist for the company. Then there was the fan girl. She was really into what the company was doing, so she became the fourth employee, running customer service. A couple of years later, Lawitzke married her.

“Sometimes it’s me going, ‘Hey, I want to vape something that tastes like this,’” he said. “The majority of the time, the real winners just come out of Josh’s brain. He does a lot of research into what notes pair really well, complementary flavors, depending on what he’s going for. That’s a process all on its own.”

Head flavorist Josh started from an artisan perspective, trying to make the flavors as interesting and complex as he can. He sometimes does 20 revisions or more on a single flavor before it’s ready for release. Everything the company does is tested and documented, then retested for diacetyl, and results are published on the Mister-E-Liquid website. Around 2012 to 2013, the company helped to start The American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association (AEMSA). Early advocates of the industry sat down at a vape event and discussed e-liquid regulations. “AEMSA started with a couple of people who said that there should be some sort of group that’s looking out for the consumer. They got nine vendors on board, and we were one of them,” Lawitzke said. The new team wrote its bylaws and goals on the regulation front. Then, Mister-E-Liquid had to make changes following

the guidelines that AEMSA said, and it wasn’t cheap. “I had to replace a lot of stuff from our lab. It was a lot of time and commitment, but we needed to do it to feel like we were doing right by our consumers,” Lawitzke said. “The marketing side of the business definitely needs some attention. Renaming a product ‘Fruit Loops’ or ‘Sour Patch’— shame on those people.” Lawitzke said that he isn’t going to say that the industry is marketing to children. He believes that it isn’t. However, from a marketing and manufacturing perspective, not producing in a clean environment, or just a clean room in general, is detrimental. “The sterilization process is important. There’s still a fair amount of people making e-liquids in their basements. There’s as much of a manufacturing problem as a marketing problem. I wholly believe from the bottom of my heart that this can be a self-regulated industry. People have to start thinking with their heads instead of thinking with their wallets,” he said.

Josh Bennett (master flavorist), John Waldmiller (sales manager) Photo by J Ervin Bates

As for future FDA regulation predictions, Lawitzke said that it’s going to be very expensive from a manufacturing side. He predicts that ISO 9001 will be required, along with GMP requirements—whether food grade or pharmaceutical, he’s not sure. He thinks that flavors will be kept; however, labeling will change. It will require a “ton” of cash, probably in the $5-$10 million range to have sellable products. In 2014, the company added its third retail store outside of Lawitzke’s home town. They also started a hardware subsidiary under the brand name Carbon Method, where they released its first mod called the Radix and a line of wide mouth drip tips. However, Lawitzke said that since Chinese manufactures are destroying everyone’s pricing, they have shifted focus away from the manufacturing side.

Sam Stamper (website admin), Matthew Kraker (store manager), Dan Lawitzke (CEO) Photo by Aaron Tanis

Today, Mister-E-Liquid distributes to 60 countries, hundreds of vape shops across the United States and employs 72 people. The company is opening two more retail stores by the end of the year, which makes the retail count at seven, and is in the process of launching two lines of e-liquid by the end of the year. “We launched Reverb, which is a high-dripping, high-VG line in quarter four of last year; that’s really taken off. We have something really special for the end of this year. We’re taking our time on it. It’ll be something that I don’t think has been done before, and it’s pretty cool,” Lawitzke said. While the Mister-E-Liquid team is hoping for a fantastic 2016, Lawitzke looks back at the last five years with fond memories of his entrepreneurial spirit.

Julie Haynes (former lab technician) Photo by Aaron Tanis

“Going from school and thinking my only job going forward was to contribute to someone else’s bottom line, I never thought that I would be good at being an entrepreneur,” he said. “I never thought that our products would be in hundreds of vape shops across the United States. It’s definitely an interesting experience. My wife and I are happily married. The couple that vapes together stays together.” For more information, visit http://www.mister-e-liquid.com/.

Trisha Burke (lab technician), Jamie Glisson (former lab technician) Photo by Aaron Tanis

V A P E V i x Danielle e Schrudder n: Photos by Nick Percell @nickpercell Danielle Schrudder @danielleschrudder

Ravens Moon Vapor box mod and Arctic tank

Danielle Schrudder is a 28 year old vaper/model/ musician from Las Vegas, Nev. Born and raised in the city of sin, Danielle quickly discovered her musical talents and eventually joined up with the touring band Eyes Like Diamonds, where she played keys and vocals for many years. Danielle was named in the “Top 25 Hottest Girls in Metal” by Revolver Magazine and continued to further her modeling and musical career until eventually launching her own electronic/pop solo project where she is simply known as Vyla Vice. She continually is working on music in her spare time from Puff Vapors, where she has quickly become an imperative part of the distribution and wholesale department. Growing up in Las Vegas and touring the country in a band, Danielle had found cigarettes from a young age and like most, struggled with the habit for many years. With the seemingly impossible task of quitting smoking after nearly 10 years with the habit, A friend had recommended she try vaping. Only two shops were open locally at the time, yet she decided to make the decision to quit smoking and begin living a healthier lifestyle. After the first vape on her new eGo setup, she was convinced that vaping was the one thing that was finally going to allow her to quit smoking after so many failed attempts. Danielle now has been vaping for more than years, and she never looked back to cigarettes. Seeing first hand the importance and satisfaction that vaping had brought her, she became an advocate for the vaping industry and turning everyone she knew onto it. In 2013 Danielle became an official part of the vaping community after being hired at Puff Vapors in Las Vegas. Puff Vapors was her home away from home, quickly becoming friends with the employees and establishing Puff Vapors as “her vape shop” it was only a matter of time before they offered her a full-time position with the company. After two years with Puff and working her way up the ranks, she now is involved in all manufacturing, distribution and wholesale of the Puff Vapors line of e-liquid. As she frequents cloud comps, various shops, vape modeling and practicing her vape tricks, she couldn’t be more happy and proud with what the vape community has become and what it is doing for people around the world struggling with quitting smoking. She not only has vaping to thank for getting her off the analogs, but for allowing her to build a career and help others the way vaping helped her.

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Ravens Moon Vapor box mod and Arctic tank

With a growing collection of vapes, mods, tanks and RDAs, she currently is using a Herakles tank sitting atop her abalone inlayed box mod by Ravens Moon Vapor. Whether she is using her favorite RDA or her tanks, you can guarantee that she has a large bottle of Cinnamon Toast Crunch by Puff Vapors within armâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reach. A few of her other all-day vapes include Baja Blast, Bombsicle and Yabba Dabba Doo from Puff Vapors. Danielle continues to grow and advance herself within the vaping community every day. Becoming involved in events like Vape Summit and ECC, Danielle feels she has found a real passion, friends and career from the vaping community and would like to say thank you to everyone involved, everyone at Puff Vapors and everyone who continues in the fight to help others quit smoking and start vaping.

Limitless mod with BSC atomizer

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Talks Shop By Alyssa Stahr Photos by Carson Pasto

Owners

PRACTICE ADVOCACY,

Vape Valor Vapor

PLromote ocal Artists

Natalie Higgins owns Valor Vapor in Tempe, Ariz. with her brother Keith and their childhood friend Carl. The unique shop and the people within have cultivated a vape family, and it all began with Higgins’ three-pack-a-day smoking habit.

Growing up in Virginia, she was considered a late bloomer because she reached double digits before she started smoking. When she was 27, her dad went into the hospital. Being the eldest child, Higgins took on the responsibility with decision

making. She could not, however, be in the ICU and afford to go for long jaunts outside of the property to smoke. Higgins was under a lot of stress working 60 hours a week, going to school full-time and caring for her dad. She was living in Las Vegas at the time and working as a bartender. At that time you could still smoke on the job inside any bar, and it was commonplace. Her friend turned her on to an eGo setup, and it wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough. “I was able to quit just using the most basic C4 with a little battery, and that’s what saved my life. After my dad passed, my brother and I decided to honor him by opening up a vape shop,” she said. Higgins started working for Sin City Vapor in Las Vegas. She was with them from the time they were single swap meet booth until they grew into four stand alone brick and mortar locations. Her brother graduated business school, and he was ready to start a business. “After essentially being second in command under my owner at Sin City, he mentored me

(from left to right) Keith Higgins, Alan Johnson, Carl Dewberry, Natalie Higgins, Tyler Eastman, Robert Davies

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They also wanted something that worked with the pneumatic tube system. “We have to send orders to the lab so there’s no cross contamination by opening the door. Working around a pneumatic system is a little bit cumbersome to say the least when you’re trying to paint,” Higgins said.

and truly helped me to understand the finer points of the vaping business,” Higgins said. “He was the original shop in Las Vegas; he was very kind and loving and supportive in me transitioning out and opening my own venture.” Higgins wanted to be closer to her mom and brother, so she decided to open up shop in the Phoenix market. At the time there were only about three shops in the area, and Valor Vapor’s first location opened in December of 2013, with the online shop opening about three months prior. “Humbly” opening the shop with about $10,000, the Higgins’ and Carl displayed artwork on the walls created by local artists. Carl has an academic business background, making the “perfect” partner so there’s no family rivalry. “We wanted to make sure we had a neutral voice to assist with all that. He has such an incredible eye and attention to detail. As far as looks go, he, my brother and I, all sat down and we decided that we wanted to go with something that’s going to be clean—black, white and lime green sounded like a great color scheme,” Higgins said.

Valor Vapor prides itself on customizing every customer’s vape experience, particularly when it comes to e-liquid. Both locations have an ISO-ready clean lab onsite, and customers can customize any flavor with any PG/VG ratio or run the gamut with signature blends. Valor Vapor boasts more than 500 base flavors and concentrates from about eight or nine different companies. Any nicotine level between zero and 24 goes. The company also is preparing to open an off-site lab that Higgins said will be the “crown gem of my business.” She comes from a scientific background in studying neuroscience with a minor in cellular biology and genetics. “I understand clean labs, and I’m looking forward to having my own off-site clean lab to take care of all of the wholesalers. We’re hoping to have it ready by the end of the year. To build something from the ground up, we’re pushing for a location that is going to be huge and able to accommodate ... at least the scale of production hopefully will be about 100,000 bottles a day,” she said. Higgins said that in working in a vape shop from 2011 to 2013, she saw the beginning of a burgeoning market grow from a cigalike and eGo style niche market to mech mods. In her shop, however, she said she doesn’t go after the trends. She tailors things to fit the needs of her clientele, listening and asking questions about what they like.

Additionally, all of the furniture in Valor Vapor have been made from some of the customers and childhood friends. The bar inside store one was made entirely by Carl and his stepdad over Thanksgiving weekend. Higgins’ best friend also donated four paintings to the shop that were themed with Valor as a congratulatory gift. “It was kind of a hodgepodge store one because we were working with almost a non-existent shoestring budget to open. So, we kind of built out that store a little bit differently,” Higgins said. “Store two, however, we wanted everything to look very crisp, very clean, very elegant, but also obviously things that have an edge that are unique and really fit in with the idea that we’re going for.” The team decided to go with graffiti art on the walls, supporting one of their friends who had a few local installations. “These are all people that we’ve built relationships with, that is the one thing we do. I want to support these incredibly talented artists and show their work off,” Higgins said.

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“I have no problem going on forums and figuring out what people like. You also have to have a good profit margin in order to employ 10 people and keep them fed and not having to go out and get a second job,” she said. “If you kind find an authentic that doesn’t have like a $40 profit margin and cost an arm and a leg and only really appeals to like .5 percent of the market, then go for it.” She also goes through trusted wholesalers, in addition to being part of the National Association of Vaping Businesses, an advocacy and trade organization in the Phoenix area. She said that she has developed some of her closest friendships with members of the organization, and she asks them for opinions on hardware. “Also I am exceptionally lucky to have employees who are fanatical about vaping, and they understand we can’t go ahead and buy something that’s going to cost us $200 at wholesale. I’m very upfront, and I talk to my employees,” she said. “I think with respect to hardware I only go through verified trusted distributors. In dealing with China directly it’s very hard as a female especially. I’ve decided after my first Skype call that I was no longer going to be doing faceto-face video calling. You always want to make sure you’re getting quality product.” Valor Vapor employs a diverse staff, including veterans, people who identify their gender as non-binary or as trans, multiethnic individuals, people with physical handicaps and the elderly. It is their founding philosophy to give back to community in any way that they can, and that includes giving opportunities to those who may face more difficulties in getting employed. “We have also worked with individuals who have had prior nonviolent felony convictions and have had trouble finding work. That isn’t to say that we aren’t extremely selective about who we hire, but we also believe that people from different walks of life enhance our enterprise, bringing a variety of perspectives and skills,” Higgins said. Valor Vapor also has seen its share of customers, ranging from 18 to 108. Someone brought their great grandmother in because she was going into a long-term care facility. She was unable to smoke on the property. Higgins sat down with her, went through every process, typed up instructions in big font and printed them out. “It took her a long time to figure out a flavor that was just palatable enough to keep her off cigarettes. This woman has been smoking for legitimately like 75 years,” Higgins said. “It’s extremely psychologically difficult. This is a woman who lost her husband to lung cancer. She still keeps his snuff pouch and his pipe; it’s a very comforting thing.” The woman ultimately decided on a pipe tobacco flavor that was very reminiscent to what her husband’s pipe smelled like, just one example of the bonds of family that Valor Vapor keeps with their customers. “Not only do you always go that extra mile, because any store can do that, but you have to genuinely care about the

people that you are taking care of. This is a very hard decision for people who have been smoking,” Higgins said. “Obviously the younger people who come into our shop who just want something in place of hookah all the way up to people who have been smoking the entirety of their lives are very obstinate about not going ahead and converting over to electronic cigarettes. And, I understand the psychological process that goes into that, having smoked three packs a day prior to vaping. It has to be a decision that people come to on their own. I’m just here to hold their hand and guide them along that journey.” Valor Vapor not only is active with its customers, but is politically active at the Arizona State Capitol, going so far as to having the speaker of the house for the state of Arizona on speed dial. Higgins said that there are some “bad players” in every market across the United States who are “trying to collect a quick buck,” liquidate their business and move on. Higgins advises to check IDs and to use common sense. “There hasn’t been a lot of research done in the United States, and there was a letter recently presented to President Obama that like 50 different organizations and pharmaceutical companies and pseudo medical professionals sent urging him to do everything he could to prevent the expansion of e-cigarettes and getting them into the hands of children,” she said. “There is a not a single person who I have come across who vapes who wants to see their child vaping. This is not something aimed at children. I would never encourage someone who does not vape to start vaping.” Higgins also said that with regulations coming down the tubes, be active. She lets customers know what’s going on, and she is a member of SFATA. She urges people to learn how to properly conduct themselves when addressing any political members. “You’ve got to be pragmatic and really have panache if you want to get anything done in politics, especially when there is so much money. We are job creators. This isn’t trickle down economics at work. It’s small business that I think employs 80 percent of the workforce,” she said. “You spread awareness among people who do not vape, especially in talking and truly listening to the concerns of a lot of these people instead of just writing them off as people who are trying to take away your rights.” Valor Vapor also runs food drives, are supporting members of the local NPR station, donates to the AZ ASPCA and does clothing drives for the local hospital. “Anyone can be in this business to make a quick buck but if you’re not supporting/helping lift up the community that has supported you, there’s literally a thousand other places people can go. People sense when you care about them, and that has been the key to our success,” Higgins said. And, her last word of advice to shops? “A little bottle of juice goes a long way. That’s your highest profit margin item. Keep your customers happy; go the extra mile and do not let them leave upset about anything.” For more information, visit http://valorvapor.com/.

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VA P E VISIONARY

Jay Fontanez 107

Like a lot of photographers, I get the most powerful information from visual cues. More than any other system of information, for me, is to see something is the beginning of understanding it. I live in suburban Philadelphia and have spent a lot of time in the city photographing what I guess you could call its cultural ‘pulse.’ Wandering through that world, I found my way to vaping. About a year and a half ago, a vape shop opened near to my home called Blue Dream Vapor Lounge in Voorhees, N.J. The name of the establishment is worth mentioning. It’s owned and operated by two incredibly knowledgeable guys, Will Merget and Armando Schiano. From my perspective, the atmosphere they’ve created for vaping is a goldmine of beautiful imagery. Will is an artist himself and has original art hanging everywhere. The colors, the lighting and the way the space flows makes everything a photographic opportunity. It wasn’t long before I was asked to be the house photographer for their special events, aspects of social media and general advertising. It’s time well spent, and I’ve abandoned my Black & Milds for a temperature controlled box mod, a Vapeston Maganus, and an e-liquid called Blue Smash by BlueDream Vapor. I’ve become passionate about vaping, its correlation with a healthier lifestyle and the growing awareness of that benefit. To my way of thinking, documenting it photographically is the best method of communication I’ve found to contribute to a revolutionary cause. Photographs tell stories and, if successful, can explain and help people understand what something is. The vaping culture is tied in closely with new technologies, a steep learning curve and a proactive changing society. Some people write about these things to explain them, some weigh and measure, but I’d rather show them to you. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s a painstaking process to set up a shot or if I’m stopping an instant in time spontaneously. What matters are the things the image will do ultimately. I ask myself, ‘What will this idea say about vaping?’ As a vaper, I’m conscientious about whether the device, as a whole, is sound and if the subject appears to be using it correctly. I don’t want my images associated with risky behavior. So, if all technicalities are in order, is the photograph relatable? Is it relevant? I want my photographs to talk to everyone about today, the present.

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The majority of the ‘visible’ vaping population are people in their 20’s and 30’s, so that limits who I can photograph. I wish it were otherwise because this is not simply a trend for young people. It’s a rational option for all people in all age groups. In spite of who I have access to photograph, it’s my job to make honest, dynamic images of real people. No matter how ordinary or how much glamour or grit in the frame, there’s always something curiously beautiful in the ‘elegance of the cloud.’

Snow Wolf 200 watt with the Vapeston Maganus tank

Instagram: @JFontPhoton Email: JFontPhotography@yahoo.com

A shot Fontanez had taken featuring Drip Society’s new e-liquid line

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says that “as many as 80-90 percent of them may be put out of business after the FDA decision.”

By Norm Bour

A “How To” Guide to Develop Your Own E-liquids

It’s where the money is: e-liquids.

Take Control of Your Market

The loyalty factor in the vape space is fleeting. Most consumers do not stay committed to any product for very long, which makes it challenging for manufacturers to command and maintain that edge. The number of consumer choices may be curtailed severely after an FDA decision.

Welcome to a New Option: Your E-liquids

VapeMentors has been working with some of the top companies in the e-liquid space and developed a turn-key, 60-day program to launch your own house brand. And, it all starts at the beginning: developing your strategy. What will make you different and distinctive? What will set your brand apart from the rest? After that is worked out, the following sample schedule would be rolled out:

If you’re new to the industry and haven’t realized that yet, you soon will. And if you are a manufacturer, you know the profit potential. For any brick and mortar shops, this is a market that you must pursue to increase your profits.

Week 1: A sampling of up to 15 flavors from a nationally recognized and ISO-certified lab will be sent to your shop.

A retail vape shop can improve revenue as much as 50 percent with its own house line. It’s also one of the easiest things to do wrong—and be put in a liability position.

Weeks 2-3: The top flavors in desired formulations and nicotine levels will be chosen by the shop owners based on surveys and feedback from staff and customers. The names, logos and branding will be developed based on years of experience working with brick and mortar shops and e-liquid companies.

According to research and statistics reported by vape directories and academics, about 60-65 percent of vape shops in the United States currently have their own lines. Using the estimated numbers of 6,000-8,000 shops, that means that 3,600-5,200 currently have their own line. And when the FDA rules are released, a large percentage of them will need to totally redo their business models.

Why?

Many house liquids are produced on-site or in a lab that does not conform to FDA standards. Labeling, ingredients, warnings or chains of custody are not within regulatory guidelines. Many of the contract manufacturers that are used today will also not pass FDA scrutiny. For the minority of shops that do not have their own house lines, there’s an easy process to develop that model.

Contract Manufacturing Versus Do-It-Yourself

Not that long ago, there were few options to develop your own e-liquids. You typically had to create or buy your own “clean room” to whatever degree your budget, expertise and commitment would allow. In the last two years, the “contract manufacturer” industry has increased and we have a plethora of options. Well-known names like Molecule Labs, Johnson Creek, JSPR and Purilum have made it easy to develop private lines. A large percentage of inhouse manufacturers actually generate more revenue from other companies’ lines than with their own brands. In 2013, there were an estimated 300-500 e-liquid manufacturers in the United States, and virtually all of them created products in-house. Today, the number of e-liquid companies has exploded ten-fold, and just a few of them make their own products. Most contract them out. Options include creating your own “proprietary” formula or using an “off-the-shelf” formulation, which can be private or white labeled. Michael Guasch, CEO of Molecule Labs, sees a huge shakeout of the e-liquid industry and

Weeks 4-5: After final flavor selections are determined, products will be ordered and pre-launch of marketing campaigns will be initiated. Weeks 6-7: Inventory will be delivered to a shop, ready for launch. Week 8: Launch new line.

What Now?

There are certain caveats to avoid when developing a house line, and, according to David Collins, VAPE U instructor and CEO of California Vaping Company, “You should never name your liquid after the name of your shop. For internal sales purposes, it’s OK, but if you want to develop a wholesale line, you will be limited by outside shops that don’t want to sell another competitor’s line.” For information on this new program, please send a note to sales@VapeMentors.com. The first 10 shops that participate in the new “Your E-liquid” program will have the normal setup fees waived. As the founder and president of VapeMentors, I constantly seek out new services and products to bring to the vape space. VAPE U training programs offer online courses for both brick and mortar shops as well as e-liquid companies. Our goal is to help create and grow Vapreneurs that will survive and thrive in this dynamic industry. If there is anything you need or ideas you want to launch, please contact us. Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors, which offers online educational programs, services and resources for anyone in the vape space, including vape shops, online stores and e-liquid brands. He’s also host of Vape Radio, a podcast series that interviews the masters of vape and thought leaders in the vape space. Contact him at norm@VapeMentors.com.

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Scenic Vapers #CloudCheck Promotes Vaping in Nature Compiled by Tyler Price, Ian Silver and Alyssa Stahr

Photo by Jon Paxin @paxinphoto McDowell Creek outside Lebanon, Ore. Holding: Epic Design Studios SMPL with Velocity RDA

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Social media sometimes brings people together in ways that we least expect. Friends, followers and likes originate from all over the world, and many people become acquaintances and even close friends without meeting face-to-face. In July 2014, Ian Silver (@ Yogi_Wan_Kenobi_Sov) and Tyler Price (@Drippin_Balls) first met on Instagram when running into each othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; similar photography styles and love for nature. These passions are what led them to create Scenic Vapers, and almost a year later, the pairâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original goals are staying true to form. From the beginning the main goal was to inspire other to get outside and enjoy the beauty that this world has to offer and the exercise that comes with it. They knew that they loved what they were doing and there had to be others out there who shared the same loves. Ian Silver, or Yogi, lives in Sedona, Ariz. A self-proclaimed nerd and Star Wars junkie, he also is an avid hiker, yoga practitioner and healthy lifestyle promoter. He started his journey in the vape game about a year and a half ago when he and his girlfriend Aimee (@natty_vapes) wanted to find a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes. They went to a local shop and picked up the Smok Magneto and IGO-W. Since then, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a whole new world. He started building immediately and fell in love with all aspects of vaping, including the community. He found himself promoting online and doing reviews for companies, and he now works at a local shop called Magic Mist as a sales rep and promoter for Fogg Society (@FoggSociety) and is captain of Team Royal Wires Arizona (@ teamroyalwires_az). He and @natty_vapes have a juice line called Chakra Joose (@chakra_joose) and he is proud to be a part of the Society of Vape competition team (@TeamSOV).

Both Silver and Price have consciously chosen a healthier lifestyle, and they feel that Scenic Vapers gives people the motivation to want to get out and explore all of the beautiful places around them while being active and enjoying life. They aim to promote a healthier lifestyle and living life to the fullest. What they really enjoy the most is being able to get a glimpse at what others from so many different parts of the world get to see on a daily basis. While they feel they are on the right track due to community response so far, neither will quit setting goals for the Scenic Vapers movement. The biggest unexpected challenge, after all, is the wind.

Tyler Price has been cigarette free for almost two years. He started off with a Volcano e-cig and a cartomizer, and from there with the help of forums and friends and a lot of curiosity and practice he gradually made it into mechanical mods and atomizers. This whole journey has been more than he could have ever hoped for, and he feels blessed to have gotten to meet and get to know so many members of the vaping community. Photo by Jay Fontanez @JFontPhoton Sand Quarry in Voorhees, N.J. Male Model: Koji Sese @Kojisese Holding: Snow Wolf 200 watt with a Vapeston Maganus tank Female Model: Jerrica Lau @Jerrica_Lau

To submit your photo to Scenic Vapers #CloudCheck for VAPE submission consideration, follow @VapeMagazine @ScenicVapers @Drippin_Balls and @Yogi_Wan_Kenobi_Sov and #VapeMagazine #CloudCheck & #ScenicVapers on Instagram. For VAPE pictorial column, photos must be in high resolution, but for the IG page everyone has the chance for a feature.

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The Vape Industry from a

Healthcare Perspective By Kal Dorji

The general consensus in the vape industry is that electronic cigarettes are safer than combustible cigarettes, and they provide users the opportunity to quit smoking and protect their long-term health. This is likely true, but the United States healthcare community is not jumping on board for numerous reasons. At the crux of the argument are healthcare trade organizations, which stand in vehement opposition of the vape industry at each legislative hearing and have the ear of influential legislators. These organizations serve as extremely powerful vehicles of persuasion and represent the opinions of large amounts of healthcare providers. However, these opinions are generally developed during a single annual meeting, and often voted on by individuals with minimal experience or understanding of research on e-cigarette products. Further, the organizations must take a yes or no stance on vaping, and without sufficient information, most members take an opposing stance. After establishing a position, the organizations attend legislative hearings regarding e-cigarette products and continue to represent their established position, despite any testimony or information they learn to the contrary. This leaves the healthcare community constantly in support of anti-vape legislation, despite the long-term consequences, and leaves the legislators with the power to determine the industry’s fate. Ironically, according to a study called “Cigarette Users’ Interest in Using or Switching to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems for Smokeless Tobacco for Harm Reduction, Cessation, or Novelty: A Cross-Sectional Survey of US Adults” published in June’s issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 66 percent of doctors and nurses recommended patients to utilize e-cigarettes in lieu of combustible cigarettes, yet while doing so, they would rarely be promoting this in a public forum. In an attempt to address the healthcare community’s concerns about e-cigarettes, this article will focus on the key influencing factors that deter the healthcare community from taking a supportive stance on e-cigarette legislation, and explore the opportunities to impact changing their opinions.

Youth Usage and the Risk of Developing Combustible Cigarette Users The argument that e-cigarettes are equally as harmful as combustible cigarettes appears lost for organizations like Still Blowing Smoke, so they are turning to the youth e-cigarette usage topic to rock the boat. Inherently, there are flaws to both sides of the debate on whether e-cigarettes cause youth

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to use combustible cigarettes. If someone smokes a combustible cigarette, their behavior naturally lends them to be more likely to use an e-cigarette, and vice-versa. No matter how well intentioned the study design, it cannot fully appreciate the behavioral tendencies of the user. A recent study, “Association with Electronic Cigarette Use With Initiation of Combustible Tobacco Product Smoking in Early Adolescence, published in JAMA, tracked never-smokers over a 12-month period and evaluated those who had tried e-cigarettes at the start of the study versus those who had not. Those who had tried e-cigarettes had a 15.9 percent greater likelihood of using combustible tobacco products for the first time over the following 12 month period. This study further fuels the debate that e-cigarettes may lead to increased combustible tobacco product use. However, the research group did well to evaluate intrapersonal factors, which shed some light on the results. Of the individuals who had used e-cigarettes, 49.1 percent had also used either alcohol or some illicit substance at the start of the survey, while only 15 percent of the individuals who never used ecigarettes had done so. The e-cigarette users carried higher tendencies to try illicit substances, which makes their increased combustible tobacco product use seem more predictable than enlightening. Nevertheless, studies such as these are being manipulated and create major damage to the healthcare community’s perception of e-cigarette products.

Unregulated Manufacturing Processes The perception of shoddy and inconsistent e-cigarette and e-liquid production processes still remains prevalent across the healthcare community. The most commonly referenced study, “Nicotine Concentrations in Electronic Cigarette Refill and Do-It-Yourself Fluids,” published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research in May of 2014, indicated that 35 of 54 e-liquid refill products tested had a greater than 10 percent deviation from the labeled nicotine concentration, with some products containing greater than 89.7 percent more nicotine than the labeled strength. With this information, it is difficult for healthcare providers to confidently recommend e-cigarette products, even if they believe in their merit for harm reduction. The industry has a desperate need for standardization of e-liquid manufacturing processes to improve the perception from the healthcare community. The American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association (AEMSA) stands as the first organization attempting to develop acceptable self-regulating standards and certification. According to their website, they currently certify 20 members, which

represents only a small portion of the e-liquid manufacturing community. A new accrediting organization, the E-Liquid Accreditation Board for Manufacturers (ELAB), is developing standards generated from a combination of current e-liquid production processes, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and other pertinent manufacturing standards. Principally, the standards focus on utilizing appropriately trained personnel, proper facilities, product validation via analytical testing and an ongoing quality system for manufacturing.

(FDA) is posing the Deeming Regulation in the United States to ensure the public is aware that e-cigarette products may be harmful, contrarily, the PHE provides an interpretation that focuses on e-cigarette products’ potential for harm reduction. As the overall debate of e-cigarettes continues, the FDA appears determined to move forward with industryaltering regulations. It is critical that the vape industry, specifically e-liquid manufacturers, moves forward with a united platform and voice when communicating with the FDA.

In the midst of the FDA Deeming Regulation and cases of rampant state legislation, the time for accreditation and self-regulation is now. These accrediting organizations have the opportunity to be powerful and positive voices that impact and alter the perception of the vape industry to outside communities.

As increased clinical studies are done on e-cigarette products, the focus will remain on youth usage rates and whether e-cigarettes are creating more combustible cigarette smokers. Because manufacturing processes remaining largely unregulated, there is a need for the vape industry to rally around a production standard to generate more confidence for consumers and the healthcare community regarding e-cigarette products. Amidst pending laws and regulations, the PHE evidence document provides the industry with a powerful tool to communicate to the healthcare community and legislators. The development of a platform for communication to the healthcare community is critical to ensuring that the vape industry’s voice is heard.

Public Health England (PHE) PHE released its 113-page evidence document in August 2015, which came to overwhelmingly positive conclusions about e-cigarette products. It notes that “e-cigarettes are 95 percent less harmful to your health than normal cigarettes, and when supported by a smoking cessation service, help most smokers to quit tobacco altogether.” This publication indicates a potential change in the guard of public perception regarding e-cigarettes. While the Food and Drug Administration

Kal Dorji is a consultant pharmacist for Elixa Health Associates. Find out more at ElixaHealth.com.

Vaping From the Outside

15 Kinds of Vapers You May Meet

I decided that, since it is the holiday season, I’d do something a bit on the lighter side. Based on my own observations and experiences, I created the following list of vaping By Susan Oser personalities that make up our community. If you merely just chuckle a little, then more than likely you totally understand and get it. If you get offended, well, there’s not much I can do for you there … but perhaps maybe I ended up saying what your friends and colleagues might be thinking but may not have the heart to say. 1. The ADOS Buyer – This is the person who, every time he or she sees a new shiny, can’t help but stop and stare at the equipment in shops or spend hours online trying to find the best deals. These usually are the shop owners or reviewers who have to BETA test everything and want to keep at least one of the new pieces for themselves. Yet, when that next new Aspire comes along, you see ... 2. The vaper with buyer’s remorse – I can’t count the number of times I’ve come across this one. A vaper buys something at a shop and doesn’t feel happy with it. He or she got the right information and paid good money for it, but there is something about that mod or tank that just doesn’t feel right. It’s as if these were the people that went out on a great dinner date, had great food, but felt like the food they had while good, was just not good enough. Or the service was just not up to standard. These people might do one of two things: PIF to a fellow vaper, or put it somewhere in the corner and let it collect dust. 3. The vaper who complains about having no money, when they spend too much of it on vaping products and not on essentials – Being on a budget is understandable, but if you’re on a budget, that is COMPLETELY understood, but aren’t you forgetting your priorities a bit when you decide to buy that nifty new shiny thing on the market? I think this is one of those cases where it’s a matter of changing your priorities a bit. Pay for what you need, and save the rest for the vape gear you always wanted. 4. The “Vape Famous” – I don’t want to name names to create controversy, but we all know who these people are. They’re the ones that have one million people in their shows or subscribed to their YouTube channel. Granted, I hate the term “vape famous” and wish it were called a “vaping personality” instead.

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5. The vaper who doesn’t care about advocacy – For advocates, this is the most frustrating person to deal with. They’re the ones that choose to tune it out because they just don’t want to hear it—until it’s too late. A lot of people want to make the money, dream the dream and live their lives; as long as an issue doesn’t affect them, they don’t care. 6. The juice connoisseur – I would definitely put myself in this category. I don’t like to stick to one kind of juice unless it really grabs me. I’ve also noticed that the longer I vape, the more picky I become. I find D.I.Y. shows and juice vendor shows interesting and fascinating, and that’s why I like to interview e-liquid vendors, because not only do I like to share their stories, I also like their products. 7. The mod collector – To me, anyone who becomes some kind of “collector” is a hobbyist. Granted, there’s nothing wrong with a collection. I just wish I had the money to buy these beautiful mods. 8. The charity vaper – This is the dying animal of the community. This person will go out of his or her way to help a vaper in need. The charity vaper is not afraid to raise money for causes he or she feels passionate about. 9. The teacher/mentor – I love these kinds of vapers because they’re the veterans in the group. Unfortunately, they don’t get the respect they deserve. These people are not afraid to answer your questions and give an honest opinion on what’s good and bad in the market. Though chatting with them online is one thing, it’s even more rewarding to meet them in person. 10. The world meet traveler – I wish I were able to travel to all the vape meets and conventions I want to attend, like this kind of vaper does. I wonder how some people are able to attend multiple meets (if not all of them). 11. The tinkerer – If you’re an engineer or techie type, you belong in this category. You’re the one who plays with your tanks and mods to create better cloud and vapor production. Unfortunately, I’m not this type of person, because I just want a good tank and mod that work; I want the basics. 12. The vaper who likes drama because it gives them attention, money, fame — you get the idea – This one is kind of frowned upon, but they exist. We get it that you want to stand out from the crowd, but you don’t have to do it by bashing someone else for what they did or did not do. For those of you who don’t believe me, check out some of the Facebook groups that go crazy when news pops up of a juice

company not being totally honest, misunderstanding of hosts’ personalities, etc. It’s one of the reasons why I’m super picky about the groups I belong to and the vaping shows I watch. 13. The dirty vaper – This is the one who gets the pitchforks and torches out in the community these days, especially with several companies who have been outed for their dirty practices and how they mix their juices. We all have to use common sense when it comes to e-liquid making and being responsible. We also need to own up to it. 14. The drunken vaper – This is the fun one you see at the vape meets. Let’s face it, that’s the best part of the vape meet themselves: party time. Trust me, vapers definitely play hard. 15. The vaper you’re friends with because you formed a bond! – It’s better to have friends in this community than enemies, because these friends become your support and your lifeline, and will have your back when you need it most. I’m grateful

for the connections I’ve created in this community as an online vaping host and as a writer for this magazine. To me, when someone says that I’ve done a good show, wants some advice, or just needs a good laugh and says thank you, I know that all of this has been worth it. I’d like to hear from you. Did I miss any standout vaping personalities? Do you agree with any of my insights? Let me know at angelwritercreations@gmail.com. Susan E. Oser aka Angelwriterspeaks is a host on Monday nights on Vapenet (http://vapenet.com/). She is an online tutor, a part-time freelance writer and a passionate activist for vaping rights. Find her at http://angelwritercreations. weebly.com/, http://twitter.com/angelwriter78 and https://www.facebook.com/Angelwriterspeaks?ref=hl. You can buy her knitted accessories (esp for you the vaper) at https://www.facebook.com/knitzyknitz. Contact her directly at angelwritercreations@gmail.com.

By Cynthia Cabrera There is a line in a Dwight Yoakam song that says, “baby, things change,” and the vaping industry can appreciate that more than most. Change is everywhere, and it is constant. It is unfortunate that so many with ties or influence in the vape space are averse to change, because the vape space demands continuous change. Learning to adapt and respond to change in a positive manner is what will separate the successful industry participants from the unsuccessful ones. At more meetings, conferences and conversations than I can even recall, I have been told in no uncertain terms that vaping isn’t going anywhere—that it is an open door that now is impossible to close. Sadly, even if that is true, there are still big changes on the way. They may be positive or negative, but just because millions have experienced the wonders of vaping, doesn’t mean that opponents to vaping are going to suddenly ensure that the status quo remains intact. Change is coming. In uncertain or frustrating times, it is comforting to envision a world where situations have played out in another manner altogether. I think about the vape space and the changes that could benefit it, and it gives me hope to consider an alternate universe where just a little change could save millions of lives. So, I am going to indulge in a bit of idealism and contemplate what the vaping industry would be like under the right circumstances. (I hope that whoever is writing the book on the vape space is taking good notes so that he or she can keep up.)

Public Health A life-saving change is that the public health community actually could start endorsing vaping products as useful and viable alternatives, prompting millions of current combusted product consumers to switch to vaping. This change potentially could save smokers’ lives and improve the quality of life for many of the children on cigarette smokers. This change would require dogmatic thinkers to question why they cling to opinions at the expense of smokers’ lives; they’d have to consider the idea that total abstinence is a pipe dream that fully formed adult smokers may and do reject and that curtailing their options is literally risking their lives. They could start engaging industry participants in search of a positive outcome rather than seeking to catch them out “doing wrong.” Public health could seize the day and make harm reduction (not the pipedream of elimination) the priority by working with those most able to influence current adult smokers to take a step away from death and disease.

Legislators Legislators could start providing reasonable and thoughtful approaches to handling vaping issues in their states, cities and towns. Rather than make decisions to curry favor with a

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specific sectors, or because they do not understand a new consumer product or because they don’t like the “look” of something, they could shift their focus to making decisions in their best interests of their smoking and nonsmoking constituents. They could put their citizens’ health first and take steps to reduce the health-related costs due to tobacco death and disease and promote products that encourage them on a path to eventually move away from cigarettes forever, ensuring increased quality of life for everyone.

Media The media has contributed substantially to the scaremongering that has plagued the vape space. Imagine the change in public perception the media could influence if, instead of constantly asking questions in the negative, “What do you say about the lack of science and no long term studies to support vaping products as a good alternative?” they asked questions in the positive, like, “Do you think more people will switch over from combusted cigarettes to vaping since they do not contain the thousands of carcinogenic chemicals that are created when a smoker puffs on a combusted cigarette?” A simple change in the way questions are framed could allow the public to immediately understand that vaping and combusted cigarettes are fundamentally different and reduce the alarmist thrust of so many news stories.

Vaping Industry The segment of the vaping industry interested in vape fame, notoriety and drama could change their way of thinking to the long view, which entails recognizing that every negative and self-serving thing it does today will be held against the entire industry tomorrow. Owning a business and making money isn’t self serving; those things provide jobs and stimulate the economy, and should be encouraged and supported. Understanding that acting like responsible business owners—for their benefit, as well as for the benefit of their colleagues and their customers, is the goal they should be attempting to achieve. Remembering that they got into the business because they had finally found something to help them quit smoking and wanted to provide it to other adult smokers is the key. By choosing to appeal to more cigarette smokers than already existing vapers, vaping businesses could promote radical change by dramatically increasing the number of people who switch to vaping. Many things can change, and we should change along with them. I hope and pray that the changes that are made are made in service to saving lives.

Cynthia Cabrera is the newly-appointed president and CEO of the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Association; the leading and largest trade association dedicated to the education, promotion and continued innovation of vapor products.

R O P M A O F F O H Y M JIM

WWW.MOBLIQUID.COM @MOBLIQUID

Wholesale & distribution inquiries sign-up at www.flavoreliquid.com

PREMIUM For Premium PRICING PRODUCTS Words and photos by Chris Mellides

Offered in an endless variety of flavors from the simple to the complex, e-liquid is an essential component of vaping, driving sales in an industry where premium juice often comes at a premium price. Beyond the popular RY4 and other tried tobacco blends, no brick and mortar or online store seems to suffer from an absence of fruits, desserts, cereals and custards in its inventory, as the preferences and palates of its clientele demand liquids that differ from what they’ve sampled before. The array of unique juices with robust flavorings are not in short supply, as popular brands continue expanding to meet customer demands, while newer companies blink into existence, bringing new product to market and helping to raise the industry’s high-water mark for the remainder of 2015. Alabama-based Cyclops Vapor is one of these companies. Founding member Zack Carpenter smoked anywhere from one to two packs of cigarettes per day for 15 years before discovering e-cigarettes as a smoking alternative in 2010. While hugely beneficial to an ex-smoker, Carpenter said something was lacking in the e-liquid equation. “I did my research, looking around and had ordered all of the juice online, and I just wasn’t happy with what I was getting,” Carpenter said. “You would sit there and you’d wait and you never knew what you were going to get in the mail.”

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North Babylon resident Eddie Sampson, 29, practices his cloud-blowing technique at Liquid Lyfe vapor shop in Commack, N.Y.

He added, “And even if you found one, the consistency of it wasn’t consistent. That’s kind of where Cyclops Vapor was born.” Partnering with Gary Lambert Jr., Carpenter found a friend in his fellow entrepreneur, and the two decided to combine their strengths and resources to deliver a quality product that was to both their liking and one that the vaping community would also enjoy. “Once we start creating something we spend time on that flavor, and we don’t release it until we feel that it’s at its full potential,” Carpenter said. “We do tons of testing on what ingredients mix well with others so that we can get the right consistency for a healthier product.” There currently are six flavors in the Cyclops Vapor lineup, with e-liquid names and label art that draw heavily from Greek mythology. A conscious decision that played on Lambert’s tall stature and heavy build, and Carpenter’s one functioning eye. When the duo released their original premium line at the time of the company’s founding two-and-a-half years ago, the introductory price was $22 for a 30 ml bottle. Now, just a short time later, Cyclops Vapor offers its juice starting at $13.99 for a 30 ml bottle and $25.99 and $49.99 for 60 ml and 120 ml bottles, respectively. A move Carpenter said was in the making, but that introducing his juice at the original $22 price point was what his

company needed when it started, adding that at the time “that’s where the market was at” and that his product had to conform to that industry standard in pricing. “I think we were just the first ones to do it,” Carpenter said, explaining the Cyclops Vapor price drop. “I think the market is going in that direction, and we’ve taken a lot of notes from our consumers and from the industry out there and that’s where people want it at. It’s a good spot for it to be.” Joseph Cassidy, an employee at Liquid Lyfe, a vape shop that opened its doors six months ago on the North Shore of Long Island, said that he believes e-liquid companies are attempting to find a “stable rate of price” and that he doesn’t think the price has gone “that far up,” but that price-dropping doesn’t seem unreasonable. “We were seeing 36 mg and 24 mg strength e-liquids five years ago, so to see it come down that much and knowing that nicotine is the most expensive e-liquid component, I would say that it would be reasonable to ask them to lower the price slightly,” Cassidy said. Cassidy said that he believes some e-liquid companies do reinvest their extra profits and would hope that after recovering start up and initial production expenses, e-liquid manufacturers would lower the cost of their product. “I noticed that most good companies that we’re seeing and we’re labeling as premium companies are the companies that are reinvesting in their facilities, doubling their size, and making sure that they can keep up with the growing market,” Cassidy said. “So as much as you can say on the short term that we see a price increase, it may be for our own health, and that would be the best outlook.”

Several premium e-liquids line the back wall and are available for sampling at Liquid Lyfe vapor shop located in Commack, N.Y.

34-year-old Liquid Lyfe vapor shop employee, Joseph Cassidy, chats with one of his customers at the Commack, N.Y.-based vape shop.

Eddie Sampson, a North Babylon, New York resident and a customer at Liquid Lyfe, seems to agree. A vaper of three years, Sampson said that in the end, consumer health is the most critical component of the vaping industry’s success moving forward. Sampson said that thanks to vaping, he’s now able to play football with his 5-year-old son without succumbing to shortness of breath and fatigue and is enjoying improvements to his overall health since he stopped using combustible tobacco. “Cost versus health risk, I’ll take that any day of the week,” Sampson said. Like Cassidy and Sampson, the Cyclops Vapor founder has his doubts about what industry pricing on e-liquid will look like in the long term, but that vapers, just like any other consumer base, ultimately will purchase what they want and what their budgets will allow.

A variety of e-liquid is grouped in a storage area and waits to be sold at the Long Island Vaporium located in Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

“Our price change didn’t take and bring everybody over from paying 22 bucks a bottle down to our $13.99 a bottle,” Carpenter said. “You have people that don’t mind spending that because they’re getting what they want, and that’s what we do. We provide the consumer with what they want.”

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PARIS CELEBRATES ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR

During three days in September, more than 7,100 visitors and more than 210 exhibitors walked through the doors of the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris for VAPEXPO 2016. Exhibitor growth increased by 50 percent compared to last year, and 53 percent of the exhibitors were from other countries. VAPEXPO coordinators said that the growth illustrated dynamics of the vaping market, despite a climate of legislative uncertainty. “Under ongoing difficult conditions, VAPEXPO was also the way to discuss through its conferences on topics such as standardization, European directive, potential business markets, etc.,” the VAPEXPO team said in a statement. “The presence of relevant speakers (professors, scientists, institutional actors) enhanced debates and gave explanations.”

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For a look at the array of conferences found at VAPEXPO, visit the eventâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vapexpo+2015+conferences.

A European pioneer, VAPEXPO was the first French electronic cigarette exhibition in Bordeaux in March 2014, with 49 exhibitors and 3,780 visitors. Based on the success of its second edition (123 exhibitors and 6,431 visitors) in September 2014 at the Grande Halle de la Villette, VAPEXPO has renewed, in 2015, the experience of an international event, referenced through the entire vape sector.

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2015 FIGURES: 7,105 visitors - 66 nationalities 210 exhibitors - 450 brands - 26 countries 140 journalists and reviewers - 8 nationalities 9 conferences with French and International speakers

BUSINESSES REPRESENTED 43% e-liquid manufacturers 21% equipment manufacturers 10% resellers 8% wholesalers 10% modders 8% other (institutional actors, media, accessories manufacturers) For more information, visit www.vapexpo-france.com/en.

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Ecig Industry Conference London Features Debates, New Themed Drink Reception By Alyssa Stahr Photos courtesy of Ecig Europe Industry Conference

Competing on a global scale in a year of regulatory battles, subcultures within industry niches and more can be quite a feat, but the Ecig Europe Industry Conference, held Oct. 6-8 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel London, was up for the challenge. Speaker panels, debates by leading e-cigarette industry experts and a brand-new themed drink reception were just some of the highlights of the event. Samuel Lehmann, producer of the event, said that his personal highlight of this year’s summit came from the focus the event had centering around the changing regulation of the e-cigarette market. The event explored both the proposed TPD3 regulations on the European market and the FDA deeming regulations currently expected in America. Day one of this year’s event was a hotbed of regulation discussions and debates. Katherine Devlin, president of ECITA, presented on her concerns around TPD3, which proved to be a somewhat controversial session, “in the best way possible,” according to Lehmann. This was followed by fantastic presentations lead by Julian Shellard, EU regional regulatory affairs director; Ian Jones, corporate, scientific and regulatory affairs vice president of JTI; and Paul Hunt, managing director of V2 Cigs.

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“The debates surrounding this new regulatory framework came to an explosive conclusion during our end of day roundtable discussions, as the audience broke off into groups to explore and examine the changes they would bring to the industry,” Lehmann said. “Seeing the industry come to life and explore these regulations with such vigor, intensity and innovative ideas was a fantastic thing to be a part of, and really proved the extent to which the e-cigarette industry wants to move this market forward for the right reasons, and that they have the ideas and the talent to make this happen—even in the face of such potentially damaging regulation worldwide.” Joining the speakers mentioned, the event was chaired by Tim Phillips, managing director of eCigIntelligence, whose “professionalism, expertise and general likability elevated the whole summit,” Lehmann said. This year’s summit brought the e-cigarette community back together, led by some of the leading experts in the space, including presentations from Moira Gilchrist, director of scientific engagement at PMI, presenting on the key scientific questions relevant to the e-cig market; Aaron Pederson, 23 year old

wunderkind and chief experience officer of Space Jam Juice, exploring how you can achieve an emotional connection with your customers; and Chris Russell, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Drug Misuse Research, who not only presented during the main days of the event on behavioral science in ecigarette usage, but also lead the pre-conference workshop on the potential health benefits that e-cigs can bring. “These speakers are just the tip of the iceberg; that is the wonderful thing about these events,” Lehmann said. On top of all of that the conference also hosted a vape testing roundtable session courtesy of Nigel Quine and the Cuts Ice team, which was a fantastic success and a chance to try out a number of the company’s premium e-liquids. Lehmann said that he’s “personal to a bit of Gin’s Addiction myself!” To finish the day, everyone enjoyed a fun-fair themed drinks reception, complete with balloon darts, hoopla and takeaway sweet bags. “These receptions have always proved to be the perfect way to end the e-cigs events, as the market and audience is so

eager to come together to discuss (and argue over) everything that has been discussed over the day—over a bottle of wine of course!” Lehmann said. This year’s sponsors were Nerudia and BGT—Nerudia has been a part of the summits in the past, and the whole team “is a delight to work with, and their offering is perfect for the current state of the e-cigs market. Having BGT on board was also fantastic and we sincerely hope to work with them again in the future,” Lehmann said. “The size of the audience was great, allowing everyone to have their say and get involved with the discussions and networking,” Lehmann said. Lehmann said that he wanted the industry to think of this event as Switzerland, as one of the few neutral spaces for the industry to come together and debate the issues. “We essentially provide a platform for all players in the industry to come together to discuss the issues that are impacting them on a day-to-day basis,” Lehmann said.

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New for this year’s event included:

• Speed Regulating Session: Get the critical regulatory insights you need to make the right business decisions in 2016 covering U.K., Canada, United States, France, Germany and the Netherlands. • Brand New 2015 Advisory Board: Get top tips for driving your business forward from the most influential leaders in the industry. • Speed Vaping: Benefit from roundtables representing six different e-liquids and mods to get the latest technological knowledge you need to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving e-cigarette market. • Health Panel: Chaired by tobacco control expert, David Sweanor. Sweanor answered your questions on harm reduction and health implications. • Fairground Themed Drinks Reception: After a jam-packed day of case studies and learning—relax, grab a drink and make the connections you need to stay ahead in 2016 and beyond. The agenda was prepared by the summit’s advisory board: Peter Beckett, public policy consultant, PolicyMatters; Julian Shellard, EU regional regulatory affairs director, Blu; Lorien Jollye, e-cigarette/vapers advocate, ECCA; and Tim Phillips, managing director, Ecig Intelligence. Lehmann said that while they’ve run regional events across the globe for a while now, 2016 is the year of consolidation where organizers will be merging the regional shows to create a big flagship European event and a flagship U.S. event—one single place for everyone to meet and discuss the key issues each year. “We’re created by industry, for industry with the major e-cig brand and leaders represented. We essentially provide a platform for all players in the industry to come together to discuss the issues that are impacting them on a day-to-day basis,” Lehmann said. “From vape stores all the way to the world’s leading brands, our goal is to drive the industry forward ,and to do this we know that all players need to have a say and be represented!” As for next year’s event, the goal is to get a wider representation from the key e-cigarette and e-liquid players globally. For more information, visit http://www.ecigeurope.com/.

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‘Extraordinary’ Effort by California Lawmakers to Snuff Out Vaping Comes Up Empty By Shawn McCarthy Over the summer, California State Senator Mark Leno pushed for a law that would have designated all electronic cigarettes as tobacco products. Leno—apparently unphased by the fact that there is no tobacco in vaping liquids—was continuing a fight he started a year prior. Fortunately for vapers, and for common sense, the bill he pushed was gutted and hung out to dry in July. Undeterred, California declared its “Second Extraordinary Session on Public Health,” which began in mid-August. The session focused on the traditional anti-analog cigarette proposals that California is well known for, but included a couple of bills that would have restricted vaping in many public places (including bars and restaurants), much like traditional cigarettes are restricted. Other proposals would have increased tax on analogs, allowed local governments to apply their own taxes and would have raised the smoking age to 21. All of the anti-tobacco bills—including the bills dealing with vaping—remained stalled as the “extraordinary” session came to an unspectacular close. According to the Los Angeles Times, the bills are not expected to be considered again until next year. When it comes to nanny-state shenanigans, the whole nation seems to take its cues from California, so this war on tobacco harm reduction impacts us all. These bills will undoubtedly rise from the dead next year and will make yet another charge at the freedoms of vapers in the Golden State, and beyond. Countless studies showing the comparative safety of vaping versus smoking and a revolutionary common-sense approach to vaping devices from our friends across the pond do not seem to have any impact on the zeal of certain folks to treat e-cigarettes as a different bullet from the tobacco gun—just as deadly as conventional cigarettes. Leno is a state senator in California’s 11th district, which is centered in the heart of San Francisco’s Bay Area. He was born in Milwaukee, Wis., but has lived in the San Francisco area since the late ‘70s. He is known as a champion for the LGBT community, medical marijuana users and introduced the first “passenger’s bill of rights,” protecting airline passengers from neglect by airlines. In spite of all his work fighting for the disenfranchised and defenseless, Leno seems to have no issue persecuting another class of citizens based on wrongheaded opinions that are as deeply rooted in ignorance as the general opposition to the LGBT community that he fights so strongly for and is openly a part of. Leno is immune to inconvenient facts. He told the Reuters News Service, “Whether you get people hooked on e-cigarettes or regular cigarettes, it’s nicotine addiction and it kills. We’re going to see hundreds of thousands of family members and friends die from e-cigarette use, just like we did from traditional tobacco use.” We know that nicotine is not a killer, and that it holds recently discovered pharmaceutical applications. We know that nicotine is not as addictive when divorced from the hundreds of carcinogens in combusted tobacco. We know that studies have shown vaping to be much safer than traditional cigarettes. We know these things because we inform ourselves. Apparently, the only study Leno has taken the time to read is the infamous “formaldehyde” study, where they found significant levels of toxins in e-cigarette emissions—only after they went

nuclear on the vaporizer and ran it at temperatures not even the most committed masochist would consider. Maybe Leno is such a committed zealot that he cannot even see the facts before him. Maybe he is convinced that the plethora of evidence to the contrary of his stance is the result of some welloiled propaganda machine. Or, maybe he simply does not care. Among the bills considered during that special session was a $2 per pack increase on cigarette taxes. That is a lot of extra revenue. Supporters estimated that it would generate $1.5 billion in additional revenue, which was expected to be funneled to Medi-Cal, the California healthcare system that provides services to low-income families. Putting vaping in the same stinky pot as cigarettes might protect that revenue. Also of note is that Leno receives donations from several big pharmaceutical companies that peddle various “approved” smoking cessation products, all with pathetically low success rates. But, if Leno were truly looking out for the health and well-being of Californians, he would heed the advice given to the World Health Organization by several experts who advised embracing vaping as part of a tobacco harm reduction strategy. The increased health of those low-income Californians might save some of Medi-Cal’s money and make up for a little of that lost revenue. I point this out not only because of California’s trend-setting ways in terms of all things related to tobacco policy, but also because there are probably Mark Lenos in your state as well. Regardless of whether their motivations are misplaced good intentions or something more nefarious, they are going to do everything they can to erode your right to vape. California—a state with several local vaping bans and a state in which many residents cannot even smoke in their own apartments—will eventually fall. When it does, it will give all the other Mark Lenos the United States a stepping stone toward their own bans. That is why you need to know who Mark Leno is and what he is about. And, you need to find out who your state’s Mark Lenos are and research them. Then reach out to them. Establish a dialogue. Avoid preprinted letters (aides will often “file” such letters in the recycle bin) if you can, and put something together yourself. Tell your story. Force them to be informed by peppering them with actual facts and reputable studies. They can ignore a few letters, but it gets harder to ignore hundreds; eventually, they will have an aide look into it, and if they are genuine, it may sway them. Talk to your local vape shop owners. Find out who the friendly politicians are in your area, and reach out to them, too. Arm them with your personal testimony. Looking outside California, on the more immediate horizon, the FDA is proposing new restrictions that would put most vape shops out of business by requiring costly approval for all liquids and devices currently on the market. Their website lists “Adverse Event Reports for e-Cigarettes,” including pneumonia and congestive heart failure. Local politicians are not going to be able to fight that, so reach out to your congressmen and senators as well. You know that they are going to hear the other side eventually. Make sure they hear our side, too. We can’t win if we don’t fight. Get involved. Stay informed. Shawn McCarthy is a political junkie and grassroots activist turned Vaping Freedom Fighter. He has been a smoke-free vaper for more than a year and a half.

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The Presidential Candidates and their Positions on Vaping By Julie Selesnick *Editor’s note: This is a satirical article and is not meant to reflect the overall views of VAPE Magazine, nor does it reflect candidates’ actual feelings. As election season heats up, I have decided to find out where the candidates stand on an issue near and dear to us all: vaping! Here are some quotes from the main contenders:

Donald Trump Only losers and quitters vape. Of course, by losers and quitters, I mean people smart enough to lose a bad habit and quit smoking those nasty cancer sticks. I am very rich and I have a lot of money; part of the reason why is that I never wasted my money on cigarettes. That’s stupid. Only haters and idiots smoke. I bet all my opponents smoke (except Marco Rubio; he is too young to smoke). If I win the election, I will reveal a plan so big you won’t believe it. Here it is: I will build a wall around all the smokers, and it will be better than the Great Wall of China. China will beg for a Trump smoking wall. Nobody escapes. Walling off all the smokers is the most specific part of my plan to Make America Great Again!

Ben Carson

Smoking is like slavery and Obamacare. It also is a choice, like being gay. Just as heterosexuals come out of prison gay, sometimes they come out as smokers. [Inaudible.] That is why when I am president and we abolish the tax system and move to a Biblical tithing system, I will also only allow women and vape pens in the prison commissary, so nonsmoking heterosexuals come out the way they went in. But I don’t think Muslims have the right to vape. Other than that, I recommend all smokers switch to vaping. I’m a doctor, I know these things.

Mike Huckabee

Smoking is part of the Planned Parenthood conspiracy to harvest organs and sell them to the highest bidder. I’m pretty sure everyone involved in Benghazi was smoking. Vaping is not in my Bible either, though, and I’m not sure if I am in favor of it or not. If it is anything like being gay or having an abortion, then it just makes America more dangerous. I have to call Kim Davis to get some guidance on this, and I will get back to you. Until then, just stick with guns; we know they are safe.

Ted Cruz

I vow to shut this government down if people threaten your right to vape. You have a divine right to vape, and I will not let the federal government take that away from you. I will filibuster from now until the election if someone tries to mess with your vaping rights, I swear. Have you ever vaped out of the end of a machine gun? It is better than bacon (and green eggs and ham); give it a try! I am convinced that smoking is a liberal conspiracy to attract Democrat voters, and I am positive that if the founding fathers were present they would vape, not smoke. I am Ted Cruz, your Strict Constructionist Hispanic Pro-Vaping Candidate for 2016, and I approve this message.

Marco Rubio

I don’t believe in gun control, smoking control, or really any control. [Light perspiration begins.] I think it is the responsibility of families to keep family members from buying too many guns and from smoking. If I had a sister that was smoking, I would surely recommend she vape instead, but if the government interferes in this and agrees with me, then I will suggest the opposite of anything the government suggests. Unless I am president, of course; then, anything the federal government suggests will be a really good idea. [Sweating profusely.] But anyway, did I mention that I’m Hispanic and yo hablo español? That’s right. Please pass the water.

Carly Fiorina

I am not a liberal. I am more conservative than all the gentlemen on this stage, as a matter of fact. And I’m a bigger businessperson than Donald Trump! Yes, he has more money than me, but I never filed for bankruptcy. I was the first woman to run Hewlett-Packard! I think it is safe to say that nobody has come close to doing the job I did on, I mean, at, HP. But they didn’t go bankrupt. Wait, what is the question? Oh, vaping. Is that something about drugs? I’m against it, if so. Does Hillary like it? Then I hate it, and it’s bad for America!

Jeb Bush

Are you sure smoking isn’t safe? My brother, who kept us all safe when he was president, never started a war against cigarettes. My larger concern is that this issue is far too exciting and divisive. And also, if Donald Trump is in favor of vaping, then I am more in favor of it. Or less. Which position takes less energy? Stuff happens, you know? Is this thing on?

Bernie Sanders

Hillary Clinton

America today is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and yet we lose almost half a million people a year to smoking. The wealth, and the vape pens, are concentrated in the hands of the elite. The grotesque levels of income inequality, wealth inequality and vaping inequality are abysmal and immoral. Feel the Bern and agree to stop burning cigarettes! Vape on!

What is my position on vaping? What is the American public’s position? Do we have poll numbers? How can I spontaneously answer this without knowing the right answer? I need to see the numbers! Do we have any campaign advice on this? Let me check my email. [One day later.] I checked my secure home email, where I do not keep anything of importance at all, even though it’s secure, I swear, and I now know that vaping is an important right. Vaping rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. I support all those who wish to vape safely and vow to provide access to all Americans. Unless public opinion changes in the future.

Julie Selesnick practiced law in Washington, D.C. for 14 years until January 2015, when she left private practice as a partner to follow her dreams and open her own online vapor store. Selesnick, an avid vaper who successfully quit smoking through vaping after almost 30 years as a smoker, is helping others who want to quit smoking transition to vaping, and providing the finest quality e-liquids and newest vaporizer hardware for all level of vapers, from beginner to Yoda. Selesnick continues to provide legal consulting services and do freelance writing, in addition to running her own business and actively blogging about all things vape. Visit her store at www.thehappyvaporcompany.com.

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Phone: 229.299.4712

www.usaliquidnicotine.com

Phone: 229.299.4712

www.usaliquidnicotine.com

Central PA Vape Expo Hosts Successful First Event By Alyssa Stahr Photos by Darryl Shurgin

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The Central PA Vape Expo celebrated its first time at the Carlisle Expo Center Oct. 16-18, with Ruthless headlining as the main sponsor. With 50 to 60 vendors and almost 2,000 come through the doors of the 30,000-square-foot building during the three-day event, founders Amy and Aaron Sharar had what many deemed a successful event in central Pennsylvania. Steven Konowe, who does promotions and marketing, also does a lot of work with Juice for Troops. Sharar found Konowe on Facebook and invited him down to the show in return for promotions, marketing and consultation assistance. Sharar lives in Pennsylvania and Konowe lives in Long Island, N.Y., and they compromised on the first show being in Sharar’s neck of the woods. “She was an absolutely terrific host, and she did a great job for her first show,” Konowe said. “She decided on the Carlisle Expo Center, and it was an absolutely perfect venue. She worked so hard on it, it was ridiculous.” On the first day, attendees enjoyed a business to business atmosphere, including VIP access. Guests had to have a business license or a VIP pass to enter. The VIP pass included Friday, Saturday and Sunday admission with entrance to the VIP lounge, a 1,045-square-foot room full of food, drinks, e-liquid and couches to relax on. With only 100 passes for sale, VIP pass holders were allowed in the show 30 minutes early on Saturday and Sunday. A special drawing also was held for VIP pass holders before the show closed on Sunday. General admission tickets were available at the door on Saturday and Sunday for $10. Konowe said that while it take a lot to put on a show of this scale, the amazing thing Sharar and her husband did was cross all of their I’s and T’s.

The show provided exposure to show people exactly what the organization does, complete with raffles to raise money for the needs program and Juice For Troops. Vendors showed up with prize donations at the show, with almost $10,000 worth of prizes to give away. Jenna Adams with Cloud Nine also gave a ton of e-liquid to help the organization. For every $5 donation, attendees received a free bottle of Cloud Nine e-liquid. It wouldn’t be a vaping event with a nod to advocacy, and Konowe spoke about everything happening with new FDA regulations coming out, especially the ones in Washington and Texas. He believes that the FDA will come out with much stricter regulations on clean rooms, pricing for ingredients and big taxes on each milliliter of e-liquid. “We’re trying to let the vapers out there know that right now 30 percent of the vapers do 100 percent of the work. That’s just not good enough, because even if one vaper signs a petition, sends an email, makes a phone call, gets involved with organizations, it would be a big help because we just can’t do it all,” he said. “Sometimes we are our own worst enemy where it can fall on deaf ears. We need to get more vapers involved, and that’s the key because numbers is the most important thing we can have in advocacy.” Konowe said that when a 15 ml e-liquid jumps up to $20, then vapers will get involved, but then it’s going to be too little too late because the law already will be enacted. So, the industry needs help now, not later. “This is happening now. This is a reality,” he said. More speakers are on the agenda for the next event, already in the works. The next show, according to Konowe, will be

“This is happening now. This is a reality.” “They made sure everything was documented; they sent all of the vendors copies of a contract so everybody knew exactly what was going on. Everything went off without a hitch,” he said. Konowe was at the infamous New Jersey show back in the summer, and he said that he thinks a lot was learned from that show. “We knew what to do and what not to do. Amy went so far into detail that the Expo Center was so elated to have her. The state of Pennsylvania was happy; everybody was very content and felt very comfortable with her because she’s so easy to work with. The vendors knew everything up front; we had the sales taxes for the juice sales; everything was absolutely in order. There were no people coming through saying you can’t vape here.” While Konowe gave a big shout out to the respectful vapers who came and didn’t blow big clouds everywhere, in the cloud competition big clouds were the name of the game. A unique spin on the Central PA Vape Expo cloud comp was a female comp and a male comp. Eight entrants blew clouds for the ladies, while about 15 men blew in a “ridiculously wild” five-second inhale, then blowout comp. Rules included a single tube 18650; no builds below .08 Ohms. It was a back-to-back single elimination. The winners received prizes from vendors, including Ruthless, The Vaping Oasis and Chug Vapor. Konowe joined up with Michael Miraglia for Juice For Troops, and to date the organization has sent more than 7,000 bottles, about 158 kits and about $1,000 in accessories to the troops.

huge and even more special. They aim to include more giveaways, more guest speakers and more general fun. “We’re going to have a couple of guest speakers; we’re going to do some more fun things. We’re going to do it a little bit differently, but the basics are going to be the same. But, there are going to be some really great surprises that have not been seen at any show yet,” he said. So, what set this year’s expo apart? Konowe said that it was the vendors that came and priced their products so that it would be very affordable for the vaper to buy items. It was the vapers in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and those who came as far as California for the show that were absolutely genuine and terrific. It was the extremely responsive vendors such as Sinking Ship Vapors that took their time with the attendees. It was a huge event, Konowe said, but it was small enough to allow each vendor to be able to spend time with the vapers. “We thank each and every vaper; we thank each and every vendor for showing up at the show,” Konowe said. “At the next one we’re going to do some things that have never been done in the industry, and we also thank everybody for their support of the Juice For Troops program, their support of our needs program and our group.” For more information, visit: http://www.centralpavap eexpo.net/ or https://www.facebook.com/CentralPAVape Expo1034906399853883/. To donate to Juice For Troops, visit http://www.juicefortroops.com/aboutme/.

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Words and photos by Norm Bour

Cyndi Peute, owner of Vaporz Vault in Hobart, Ind., is a rule breaker. She didn’t try to be, but she defies the “traditional” image of most vape shop owners. She’s a female, age 58, who left a 17-year career working for the United States Steel Corporation because she wanted to “be an entrepreneur.” And she has. On top of that, she never vaped until she decided to became a vape shop owner.

When asked if she worked more hours now or fewer than as an employee, she said, “In the beginning, I worked a lot of hours, then we had a lull, now a lot more than I ever did at U.S. Steel.” From early morning, she is on the computer, taking care of ordering and paperwork while her four employees run the shop.

“After decades as an employee, I decided I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I wanted to work for myself,” she said. A bold move, but she had the support and encouragement of her husband, Appie Peute, who has been a lifelong entrepreneur himself.

When asked about the biggest surprise since opening her shop, she said, “I was not ready for how quickly we grew! The naysayers cautioned me from getting too excited; they said the first six months would be slow. I am happy to say that they were wrong.”

Since opening her shop in January 2015, her revenue steadily has been increasing. Many of those who inspire others are humble or do not recognize the impact they make. That is just one factor in choosing her shop as my vape shop of this issue.

The Shifting Demographics of Vape Shop Owners The demographics of both vapers and those who are starting a business in the vape space are shifting toward an older population.

How Vape Shops Become Significant Before they ever started they did their research and looked for professional guidance. Another factor that helped? “Be sure you hire the right employees to help you run your shop.” “My manager, Jason, knows the products inside out and we now have three other employees helping him. They cater to every type of customer, from the green-haired, heavily pierced millennials, to the blue-haired grandmothers,” she said. Her team follows Cyndi’s lead and invites everyone in with open arms. “Every day is a new crowd, and no two days are ever the same.”

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Peute is in the shop every day, but leaves most of the selling to her capable staff, who are more familiar with the devices.

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An industry once dominated by Generation Y (those born from 1980 to about 1994), now is being intruded upon by Gen Xers (born 1965 to 1980), as well as baby boomers like Peute. They spared no expense to build their shop and made it appealing to all age groups. “We spent an insane amount of money just on ladders to climb the display racks,” Peute said. Much of her local competition only carry house brands of e-liquids, but Vaporz Vault offers 14 different brands with 68 flavor choices. They now are launching their own house line in collaboration with one of the most respected labs in the country.

What was her personal motivation to get into the vape space? “Both my parents and my brother were smokers. My father died of emphysema and my brother has the same illness,” she said. “So I think it’s awesome that I can help people stop smoking! To have an opportunity like that is a blessing.” Indiana Governor’s Office Gets Aggressive Against Vaping Peute is very optimistic about the future. “It’s an exciting industry that is not going away.” But there may be challenges on the horizon coming from an unexpected place: Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s office. That takes the form of House Bill 1432, one of the most restrictive laws instituted by any state. Among the provisions: • E-liquid manufacturers must obtain a permit from the alcohol and tobacco commission before bottling e-liquid or selling e-liquid to retailers or distributors., • Manufacturing permits require a security firm certification that the manufacturer meets security requirements. A 24hour video recording is required where e-liquid is mixed, bottled, packaged and stored. • E-liquid manufacturers must obtain permits, with an application fee of $1,000. • No one listed on the permit can have a felony or an offense involving a controlled substance on record and the State can conduct criminal background checks on people distributing e-liquid. These are some of the major provisions, which also cover any out of state businesses that sells any nicotine products in Indiana. This new law is signed but does not take effect until July 2016. It is under heavy scrutiny and attack as “being unconstitutional,” according to VAPE U instructor (and occasional VAPE Magazine columnist) Azim Chowdhury, who has filed suit with his legal firm, Keller and Heckman LLP. That fight is backed by many others. The Show Must Go On! While some things are distracting and troublesome, Peute takes each day one at a time. Once a month they do open mic night, so she’s become friends with many of her customers. “The second Friday of every month, we invite local talent in to play. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes comedy, and we’ve had good attendance from our fans. And we’ve found amazing talent, too!” Vaporz Vault carries 14 different liquid lines, along with the newest, hottest mods her customers want. Their top sellers include Charlie Noble Blue Bays Cloud Collaboration, LLC by Cloud Chasers and Muffin Man and Milk Man by One Hit Wonder. Aside from their selection, their customer service reputation has spread, and other shops send customers to them for that, as well as good builds and products. Future plans? They are currently using VapeMentors turn-key program to develop a line of house liquids with one of the most respected labs in the country. After that, they may open another shop to help those that are driving too far, but they are not in a hurry. Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors and the developer of VAPE U: Six Pillars to Vape Space Success. They offer online educational programs, services and resources for anyone in the vape space, including vape shops, online stores and e-liquid brands. He’s also host of Vape Radio, the world’s No. 1 vape business podcast series that interviews the masters of vape and thought leaders in the vape space. Contact him at norm@VapeMentors.com.

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Vapor Dynasty: Lessons Learned from the Sequel Words and photos by Norm Bour

In 2014 Vapor Dynasty launched as the first vaping event in the state of Arizona. This year, in its sophomore class, promoters fine-tuned the program and represent what may be the direction of events in the future. Conspicuously absent were many of the “big name brands,” but most noteworthy was the preponderance of “regional” companies.

Is Bigger Always Better? Arizona is a significant vape presence in the nation. The city of Phoenix has an abundance of retail shops and many e-liquid companies originate there. Of the 130 plus vendors at Dynasty, a high percentage of them are located within a few hundred miles. A handful of east coast and Midwest companies exhibited but only two were at the event from outside the United States. Many event promoters want to be the “big players” and offer grand events, but bigger is not always better. Vape Summit in Houston took place the week before this event and prior to that, the last major show was the Electronic Cigarette Convention, ECC, in Pomona, Calif., just 60 days earlier. These two giants attempt to bring in the largest crowds and the most exhibitors, but many of the vendors at both events expressed disappointment. Greedy promoters, overpriced booths and unrealized promises are pissing off many vape space businesses, and many of them have concluded that these larger events are wasteful and do not offer a return on their investment. In the future we may see a different business model: a few major shows interspersed with many regional one.

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Thoughts from the Show Floor Vapor Dynasty was a smaller show and offered B2B only on the opening day and for three hours on day number two before the floor opened up to the throng of consumers.

“There truly is no business to business vaping event, even though many are trying. Offering a day exclusive to the business community and not inviting consumers is not the only thing we need.” — Mike Schriefer

Vapor Dynasty did offer a speaking stage with a lineup of five speakers, including Lou Ritter with AEMSA, Joe Barnett with The Vaping Militia, Michael Guasch with Molecule Labs, Patricia Kovacevic, JD, with Nicopure Labs and myself with VapeMentors, who also acted as emcee. The speaking stage positioned on the show floor—while the sales floor was open—was a failed experiment, in my opinion. Trying to compete with distracted vendors is a losing proposition as is the difficulty of volume control with exhibitors all trying to out blast each other.

“We have three dozen retail shops in England, and our e-liquid lines have been very successful. U.S. liquids in the U.K. are also huge, and we wanted to get an understanding of they operate here. We’d like to find US liquids to offer to our shops as well.” — Dan Gordon

Of the big names that were there, one was Madvapes from North Carolina. They recently completed a merger with Electra Vapor and are poised to be the largest retailer in the nation, with an expected 100 locations by the end of 2015. Mike Schriefer, the company’s chief marketing officer, brought a crew and represented Madvapes e-liquid but also highlighted a new product line, Patriot Vaper, along with its distribution company, Wholesale Vaping Supply.

For an educational platform to deliver it must be offered before the show floor opens and it must not compete.

From the other side of the pond was London Vapour Company, exhibiting at its first U.S. show. They specifically wanted a “smaller show” per U.K. Retail Manager Dan Gordon, and they are planning many more. “We have three dozen retail shops in England, and our e-liquid lines have been very successful. U.S. liquids in the U.K. are also huge, and we wanted to get an understanding of they operate here. We’d like to find US liquids to offer to our shops as well.”

Schriefer shared his thoughts on the efforts of event promoters to create true B2B value and said, “There truly is no business to business vaping event, even though many are trying. Offering a day exclusive to the business community and not inviting consumers is not the only thing we need. There should be pre-arranged meetings with potential business partners or relationships. On top of that, educational programs should be a big component. These things are offered in other industries. Why not ours?”

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We shared an interesting conversation with Paula Johnson with Casa Grande Vapers (outside Phoenix), which calls themselves “a social group of vapers.” But what they are is a subversive underground grassroots movement of vape lovers who take the message of smoking alternatives to the masses. A similar group operates in Tucson, Ariz.

“We offer monthly vaping meet ups and invite smokers to learn about the benefits of vaping. We have about 250 people in our group and find that making a difference is just a little bit of effort at a time.” When asked about her smoking history, Johnson spoke with candid words that should be blasted on billboards nationwide. “I’m 66 years old and have smoked since I was 12. I have tried every method I could find over the past five decades and failed with every one. I started vaping in 2010 and have not picked up a cigarette since then. Some methods I even tried twice to be sure I was using them the right way!”

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“I’m 66 years old and have smoked since I was 12. I have tried every method I could find over the past five decades and failed with every one. I started vaping in 2010 and have not picked up a cigarette since then. Some methods I even tried twice to be sure I was using them the right way!” — Paula Johnson

One of the most exciting features of vaping events is the opportunity to see new things, meet new people and try new products. Juan Gonzalez is one of the newer Vapreneurs on the scene. He founded Vape Sling in 2014 after not finding success with any holders that he could carry without spilling or tipping his equipment. A smoker for 25 years, Gonzalez worked at a print shop that he has since left. After securing a patent on the

Sling, he went “all in” and is now a full-time entrepreneur. He is 50 years old. Norm Bour is the founder of VapeMentors, which offers online educational programs, services and resources for anyone in the vape space, including vape shops, online stores and e-liquid brands. He’s also host of Vape Radio, a podcast series that interviews the masters of vape and thought leaders in the vape space. Contact him at norm@VapeMentors.com.

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VAPING BRINGS RELIEF ( and much mor e ) T O BRA VE S O UT H A FRICAN W ITH RARE DISEA S E

Photo by Philip van Wyk, Johan’s nephew: Although wheelchair bound as a result of two strokes related to his debilitating syndrome, this brave former IT guy, who contracted the disease at 26, is at least now free of the painful ulcers that can make even swallowing water a trial.

The ongoing conflict between vaping and smoking notwithstanding, both habits often are unfairly demonized by the general public, due to a popular misconception that it is the nicotine in tobacco and eliquid that poses the greatest threat to health. This ogre status is largely due to a combination of ignorance and inaccurate, overhyped media reporting, because— while excessive use of the stimulant alkaloid may contribute to cardiovascular disease—it is neither carcinogenic, nor nearly as harmful as numerous other “hidden” contents of cigarettes.

eloquently relates his story:“In 2001 I was hospitalized. Diagnosed with meningitis, encephalitis and four strokes later the revised opinion and correct diagnosis was Behcets.

In fact, it will come as a surprise to many to discover that—apart from being a major aid in smoking cessation—nicotine is now being evaluated as an effective therapy to treat a number of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Tourette’s, sleep apnea—and even attention deficit disorder (ADD).

I spent ages scouring the Internet for more information and support. In July 2010 I attended the International Behcets Conference in London, where I met many other Behcets sufferers and the wonderful and brilliant people who spend their life treating and fighting the disease.

Another disease where the efficacy of nicotine has been proven is Behcet’s disease. Sometimes called Behcet’s syndrome, Morbus Behcet or Silk Road disease, this poorly understood and often misdiagnosed affliction, named after Turkish dermatologist Hulusi Behcet, is an incurable autoimmune disorder that affects blood vessels throughout the body. Symptoms include oral and genital ulcers, ocular inflammation and problems with the gastrointestinal tract, as well as pulmonary, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and neurological symptoms, as well as impaired hearing and vision (https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Beh%C3%A7et%27s_disease).

I returned with knowledge, advice, support and HOPE! I was no longer alone or frightened. I was on a mission...”

Most prevalent in the eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and East Asia (along the ancient Silk Road), Behcet’s is extremely rare in Western countries, affecting fewer than 20,000 individuals (one in 170,000) in the United States. In South Africa, there only are eight known cases. One of these is feisty, 40yearold computer technician Johan van Niekerk, who is wheelchair bound, with a paralyzed left side and deteriorating eyesight. Johan is supported by a disability grant and lives with his elderly mother in the small mining village of Allanridge, in the Freestate Province. Apart from being an ardent campaigner to increase knowledge about the disease and offer support for fellow sufferers, he is a committed vaper. This excerpt from Johan’s website (http://behcets.co.za/wp/)

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At the time I was the only diagnosed case of Behcets in South Africa, I had a lot of questions, no answers and no support. Six months earlier I was healthy, fit, working and carefree. All of a sudden I was out of work, in a wheelchair and very alone and very frightened. In a very short time Behcets had robbed me of the life I knew.

One of the most significant discoveries Johan made on his journey toward a better quality of life was the beneficial effect of nicotine. He said, “I’d smoked cigarettes since I was 16 because it was ‘cool,’ and when I was diagnosed at 26, I moved over to a pipe as a cheaper option. At the time, I wasn’t bothered by the chronic flareup of ulcers that plague others with Behcet’s. Then, I decided to stop smoking for health reasons, and discovered that, two days later, I could hardly eat due to the sores in my mouth and throat. It was a Catch22 kind of thing: smoke and be able to eat, or have healthy lungs and not eat. On the worst day with the ulcers, I could barely swallow water, so I started smoking again out of frustration, and they disappeared. I searched the Internet and found that nicotine, combined with saliva, keeps the ulcers at bay, so many people smoke to alleviate the symptoms of BD.” I asked Johan how he transitioned from smoking to vaping. “In 2010, during the World Behcet’s Conference, I stayed with a nonsmoking friend, so I bought my first cigalike and put up with that for my time there. But when I came back, I started smoking again, because the ulcers kept recurring, due to insufficient nicotine getting to where it was supposed to be. Then, about a yearandahalf ago, I was browsing YouTube and saw a

To the ppl that had a hand in helping me onto this road. To see the doctor smile when you go for your checkup and you tell her you stopped smoking, when you are able to enjoy a meal without the excruciating pain of the ulcers, to smell the cookies your mom is baking or the rice she is burning. I salute you, you will never know how thankful I am, and this truly is a gift that keeps on giving and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

- K IM B O

clip of this guy blowing vapor like a steam train. A quick Google search informed me that the humble ecigarette had evolved into a much more potent nicotinedelivery system, so I decided to give the new, improved product a go. I did some research, bought an eGo Twist from eBay and joined Ecigssa (http:// www.ecigssa.co.za/), the South African ecigarette forum.” It was on the forum, several months ago, that I first encountered “Kimbo” (Johan’s avatar, relating to the coffee lover’s favorite Italian espresso brand). I was immediately struck by this brave, fellow newbie’s humorous and unashamed approach to his dilemma. Here was a man, incapacitated and marooned in a tiny town, who—while clearly averse to “playing the disability card”—was desperately in need of help, as you will see from an early post: “So I killed the piggy bank and ordered an eGo Twist from eBay; now I am just saving to get a tank, but being on a disability grant the budget is very low and saving might take a while. Then the juice ... I have no idea where to start. No one is giving out samples so that a potential customer can try, get hooked and buy again and again? Again being on a grant does not allow testing and going to meets is kinda out for me, apart that I am in the middle of the Freestate I am in a wheelchair, so yea kinda screwed lol. If someone can give me some advice, or know where i can get some samples please help me. Thank you.” Little could “Kimbo” have imagined the impact of this humble request upon forum members. Shortly thereafter, a package

Photo by Johan van Niekerk: Members of the Ecigssa forum came together to make anonymous donations of a Reo, juices and other gear.

was delivered to his home. In it was a comprehensive starter kit containing various eliquids, and, best of all, six months later, a Reo Grand mod, all sponsored by anonymous Ecigssa donors, who had generously rallied to an overwhelmed Johan’s aid. After one week, Johan became a fullfledged vaper. He has now been without “stinkies” for well over a year, and remains entirely ulcerfree, thanks to his Reo Grand (with Cyclone) and Hcigar VT 40 with a subtank mini. A regular, upbeat and inspiring contributor to the Ecigssa forum, Johan has the following message for readers: “I believe life does not stand still. You can’t sit in a corner and expect what you did not work for. If you have BD and smoke to get rid of the ulcers like I used to, try vaping—it might work as well for you as it does for me. Overall, I just feel better. I was a heavy smoker for the best part of 20 years, and I could not believe how easy it was to switch over. To the people at Ecigssa, thank you for your assistance, help and trust; I could not have done this without you.” For more information on Behcet’s, visit the American Behçet’s Disease Association (ABDA) at http://behcets.info/tips_info. htm or http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Behcets_Dis ease/behcets_disease_ff.asp Cape Town, South Africabased Maggie Follet is an award winning writer and founding member of the South African Scriptwriters’ Association Cape Chapter. Her freelance career has enabled her to constantly reinvent herself, broadening her horizons as a scriptwriter, journalist, proofreader and Afrikaans translator. Follow her Facebook group, Vape Escape Mzansi.

Photo by Hanli Vermaak, Johan’s sister: Johan van Niekerk is a sufferer of a very rare, incurable syndrome called Behcet’s Disease, of which only eight cases are known in South Africa. It affects joints and mucous membranes. Symptoms include loss of vision, genital ulcers and chronic mouth and throat ulcers, which can be alleviated by nicotine combining with saliva. A smoker for 20 years, Johan now vapes.

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Improving the Midwest Vaping Culture Words and photos by Erin Hedrick Despite the cool drizzle in the air, warm faces greeted me as I entered the Joplin Convention Center. The city, nestled near the western border of Missouri, housed its first vape convention the weekend of Oct. 23. “It was just central,” Holly Crane, one of the three event coordinators for Mid Con Vape Con, said. “It was simple, and it worked. That was part of the reason we decided to keep the show in Joplin. People can drive four hours from Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas and be here, and we wanted to be able to be easy to get to for people in those areas—lesser known companies.” One of Mid Con Vape Con’s goals was to allow for new to the scene and lesser known businesses to promote themselves and make their products readily available to the show’s attendees. “We wanted to celebrate the small businesses that are successful and growing, but are still driven by the owners,” Crane said. Holly and Bradley Crane, local business owners, along with their friend, Beau Lewis, worked as well as any finely-tuned machine alongside their team of enthusiastic volunteers to ensure that the show’s premiere went off without a hitch—a feat that was more or less accomplished.

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“There’s always little things,” said Crane, “but there hasn’t been any huge hurdles to jump. A lot of our expectations have been exceeded.” From the beginning of the experience, Mid Con Vape Con sported friendly professionalism. The show’s staff wore smiles as badges were handed out and IDs were checked, and then guests entered the show floor. Immediately before them stood the main stage, where on day two of the show an advocacy panel would be hosted and the World Series of Cloud Chasing would host the finals of a qualifying event. In the meantime, though, a DJ kept the positive vibes flowing with an upbeat music selection, which was a nice change of pace from the rousing game of Dueling Banjos that usually happens at shows. The overall music provided by the show allowed for vendors to relax a little, instead of worry about being louder and sounding better than the booth next to them. The show was strictly B2C, with the goal being to take away from the idea of bigger shows, where networking is one of the main priorities. “We had to really convince these vendors to come to Missouri,” Crane said. “We kept our booth prices low because we wanted to make it worth their while to travel to the middle of the country and ‘risk’ coming to Missouri.” The companies themselves had a cheery demeanor throughout the event, and plenty of fresh faces were noted. For many of the companies, this was their first show. Civilized Vapors, who helped sponsor Mid Con Vape Con, had just launched its e-liquid brand prior to the show. Talk about grabbing the bull by the horns! “Even if they are here for business, at least they seem happy to be here,” Erik Young said, who was able to switch to vaping after decades of using analogs. “I think it’s going great,” Jackie Menke of Vaporized said. “I’m having a great time; it’s a great exhibit.” Attitude can make or break a show, and it says a lot that all of the vendors and attendees—as well as the show’s staff— were able to remain lighthearted. “I think that everyone’s face looks happy,” Crane said, and her husband agreed, nodding his approval as we talked. “We tried to make it so that it wasn’t too overwhelming because a large portion of the vaping demographic is older.” “It’s been a good time. People have been really upbeat,” Sandra Mayer, who attended the event Friday, said. That seemed to be the overall opinion of the event. Show-goers had nothing but positive things to say about Mid Con Vape Con. Vaping advocacy also had a strong presence at this firstyear show.

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“The show was born as an idea … how do we have more of a conference than a convention? And it’s turned into all of this because why not make it more—since we can?” Crane said.

One thing Mid Con Vape Con lacked, however, was something— or someone(s), rather—that a lot of people in the community think we could do without, and that’s booth babes.

CASAA, SFATA and The Vaping Militia all had booths in the center aisle. Mid Con Vape Con implemented a token system to encourage attendees to visit every booth and hear what was to be said.

“You will not find any vape models at our show,” Bradley Crane said, though his wife was quick to correct him. There was, in fact, one model on the scene. “They’re wearing clothes though, right?” Mr. Crane commented. “We asked them to keep it tasteful,” Mrs. Crane said. “We do not want to insult the intelligence of the consumer. I understand sex sells, but I think it’s an insult.”

“Even if it just means reading over a piece of paper,” Crane said. Attendees received—along with plenty of other awesome goodies—three red poker chips, which were to be “spent” as they saw fit at the booths. The idea was that if you visited the booth, gave them your chip and possibly listened to a short spiel, that you’d receive a higher-end promotional item (one vendor was giving away T-shirts as its token item). Attendees were encouraged to check out all of the booths, including those of the advocacy groups, thus helping to spread the word.

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As for the next show? Crane is hopeful that Mid Con Vape Con will return for round two.

For more information, visit http://www.midconvapecon.com/who-are-we/.

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on vaping,” he said. “I wanted to keep the website clean; that was the bottom line. It might change in the future, but I don’t foresee that.”

Adds Spice to Dating Life By Alyssa Stahr

Are you and your mod all alone this holiday season? Left to chase one lonely cloud? Vapers Cupid, the newest dating website for vapers brought to you by a vaper, is here to make sure you’ll never have build a coil by yourself ever again. A few months ago, Octavian Gagorgag was watching a movie when a commercial came on—one for people over 50 looking to find love through online dating. The next morning Gagorgag did a simple Google search and found no dating sites set up specifically for vapers. Since he worked all his life in either the restaurant business or the boating industry, he sought out a company that specializes in building websites, and he bought what would become Vapers Cupid. The website’s mission statement says it all: “We created Vapers Cupid as the gathering place for the vaping community to meet, date and find love. Your Vapers Cupid dating experience will be what it should be: fun, simple, personal and private.” Criterion for being on the site is simple; it’s made for vapers, but that part isn’t written in stone. If you want to date a vaper but you’re a non-vaper, that’s OK; whoever wants to join is welcome to. “We vapers don’t discriminate,” said Gagorgag, who used to smoke two to three packs a day from the age of 15. Now a vaper of five years, Gagorgag said that, right now, there is no difference between the platinum, or VIP, membership and the regular membership. That’s because, as of press time, there was a promotion being offered for a free lifetime membership for the first 150 users to sign up on the site. Further down the road, Gagorgag plans on having both a free membership and the VIP. “Basically, the difference in them is what access you have in certain features. We call them premium features,” he said. With the premium membership, users will be able to sign in, search and send winks to people they like. But they won’t be able to send messages, chat and so on. For that, one must buy the premium VIP membership. Gagorgag hasn’t decided what the monthly fee will be, but he anticipates around $9.99 a month. Vapers Cupid has a matching algorithm, so when members sign up, they will set up a profile and answer questions: height, weight, eye color, preferences, interest, hobbies, social activity, etc. Who is somebody you’d like to date? What is your “perfect” date? The website matches members with people nearby and sends along the matches. Then, members may look up the profile of their matches and can accept a match, send a wink or a message, or reject the match, similar to other dating sites.

For those concerned about privacy, Vapers Cupid has a system in place that allows users to report users or foul language. Gagorgag personally monitors the website right now, but as more users commit, he would like to have more moderators come aboard. The Vapers Cupid team is also in the process of developing mobile apps for the site for both Android and iOS devices. Both will be location based and feature speed match, user photos, match and guest lists, profile view and bookmarks, Facebook connect, and content flagging. Not just a dating website, Vapers Cupid also has a social immersion strategy. Gagorgag would also like to concentrate on forming a community. “We’re not for dating, strictly. If you search a profile, have questions or if you want to find a friend or just want to hang out, you can go to our website for many reasons. It’s not necessarily just for dating,” he said. Forums are available for anyone to start a conversation—for example, a woman started a recent forum about mods and e-liquid. Event announcements also are fair game to share with the community and the site also has a video post feature. Further down the road, Gagorgag would like to get even more involved in activism. “We’ve noticed that, around the world, vaping is associated with smoking, or it’s a bad habit, and I hear opinions in the press here and there that vaping is dangerous. So, I want to get involved in that group to set the record straight from my perspective,” he said. “I’ve been vaping for five years, and to be honest with you, vaping saved my life. I was really in bad shape in terms of health. I was a really heavy smoker, and I was really coughing a lot. I was about 45 when I quit. I used to wake up in the wee hours, 2 to 3 a.m., and just chain smoke three or four cigarettes.” Gagorgag wants to let people know that he thinks having a social/dating website is a good idea, not just because it was his, but because there is a need. “You have a growing community of people who are vaping who are bound by the same hobby, activity, and it’s my understanding that they are very passionate about it, and I think we need a place like this where we can meet, fall in love, romance and find a significant other. I hope that people will join and we can form a community around it.” For more information, visit http:// www.vapers cupid.com/.

Vapers Cupid currently doesn’t have any ads on the site. The idea is to stay focused on the mission. “I personally don’t like [when] you go to these websites and they’re all banners and they’re all advertising. That’s why we decided to keep it this way. For the customers to concentrate

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As I flew into Irving, Texas, for the American Vapor Convention, I had no idea that Hurricane Patricia would be the biggest on record. The storm that hit Mexico was felt at the Irving Convention Center on Friday, complete with a flash flood warning, a business to business session hampered by flight delays and an editor returning to my hotel room to find a lizard seeking shelter in my bathroom. Gabriel Benson, co-founder of the convention, said that someone told him that there hadn’t been any substantial rainfall in the Dallas area in 49 days. “We certainly made up for it over the weekend, Friday especially. We had flooding issues all weekend, and one of the exits off the highway to the convention center was closed for the whole weekend. Several of our vendors were delayed in arriving, and unfortunately one of our vendors from California was unable to come at all due to travel delays,” he said. “While Friday was unfortunately a very slow start to what became an amazing weekend, our vendors really came together and absolutely knocked it out of the park on Saturday when the crowds started coming in.” Saturday’s business to consumer session definitely picked up both in attendance and in spirits. Sponsored by Villain Vapors and Artisan Vapor Company and hosted by Austin “The Face of Vape” Hopper, Saturday’s portion of the show brought in names like Schell Hammel, Gregory Conley and Dimitris Agrafiotis to talk to the crowd about advocacy.

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When Benson first talked to Hopper about being the emcee of the show, it was really important to him that advocacy be the centerpiece of the show. “So, with that in mind, Austin reached out to Dimitris Agrafiotis and once those two got involved, they weren’t going to stop until we were able to make a meaningful donation to advocacy. Again, I can’t thank our vendors enough for supporting the cause,” Benson said. Hammel took the stage and said: “We’ve been fighting really hard, guys. I want to thank every vendor who is here. I’m from Lubbock, Texas, and we were raised to work hard, and that’s what we’re going to do. Fight hard.” Benson said that without a doubt, the highlight of the show came Saturday afternoon when so many of vendors came together to donate more than $40,000 for Texas SFATA.

“It was important to me that the funds raised at the American Vapor Convention stayed in state, and Schell Hammel and Texas SFATA have absolutely done an amazing job in Texas to fight for vaper’s rights. I am so proud of all our vendors for their support,” Benson said.

Additionally, Benson noted that he was thrilled to have Texas SFATA, The Vaping Militia and Greg Conley of the American Vaping Association at the convention. “Each group really brings a special point of view to the advocacy fight, and hopefully next show we can increase our roster of advocates,” he said. A mechanical bull proved to be an excellent selling point, as Hopper told vendors that if a certain point of money was reached, several big names like Schell Hammell, Gregory Conley and himself would ride the bull. “I am willing to ride the bull as long as we’re raising money for the lobbyists in Texas,” Hopper said. His plea for donations was followed by Pip “the Bunny,” founder of Suicide Bunny, encouraging everyone to educate themselves and fight for their right to vape, along with Agrafiotis’ urge to get consumers to register to vote. The AVC ended up with 86 vendors and a completely sold out floor. More than 2,100 visitors walked through the convention center doors over the weekend. Vendors like Captain Obvious were very happy with the two consumer days the show provided. Randy Burch from Captain Obvious said what drew the company to the American Vapor Convention was all the vaping stores in the industry in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“It’s huge. All the vendors that had signed up for this show are quality people,” he said. Mandy Garcia from California-based OnPoint Liquids, said that the show was great. “We’re from California, and I’ve been in the business for three years. I’m trying to get business from other states,” Garcia said. Quinn Ferderber from Vapor Bank, said that while there were a lot of problems on day one due to flight delays, the company was at the show to “try to make ourselves big.” “We launched about a year and a half ago in 2013; we heard it [the convention] was going to be awesome. Consumer days have been great,” he said. Benson said that for the next show, there aren’t necessarily things that he wants to change, but rather wants to keep innovating. He and his team want to focus on different ways to network for the vendors and also find new ways to incorporate advocacy and education into the show’s programming.

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“We made a conscious effort to not do ‘cloud’ or ‘trick’ comps at our event—and while I believe there is a place for those events—we wanted to have a show that did more than just celebrate big clouds,” he said. “Artisan Vapor Company and The Vapor Bar both did major giveaways to new vapers, and for me it is very important that our event tries to remember that converting smokers to vaping is why we are all doing this.” Benson said that while there were “plenty of unexpected things that happened,” he can’t say enough about the vendors, event staff and his partners in this venture, Sally Louise Crystal and “The Face Of Vape” himself Austin Hopper. “Maybe it was just because it was a show that I was more involved with than usual, but I really felt there was a great camaraderie between everyone there to make it a great weekend,” he said. For more information, visit http://www.americanvaporconvention.com/.