Times are difficult for the vape sector.
Since people started experiencing severe respiratory illnesses in the USA after using illegal, mostly THC cartridges, we’ve seen an avalanche of negative headlines. As a result, vape businesses are reporting a fall in sales, which particularly seems to be affecting starter kits and business catering to new and casual vapers.
The impact in the.....
Ashtray Blog - Chronicling Vaping's Journey Since 2008
I’m quite proud that the teams in our vape stores are clued up on vaping myths. Thanks to their research, and regular updates from head office, they have the knowledge, information and confidence to deal with concerns generated by negative press.
When we visit other shops, though, that’s not always the case, and I’ve seen some vape sellers struggle to.....
I was recently very kindly invited to speak on behalf of the UK Vape Industry Association at SME for Labour at the Labour conference in Brighton. The brief was to talk both about how our own business got started and the benefits of the vape industry for the UK economy, although I couldn’t resist getting some points in about.....
In the days of vaping, in the UK at least, it’s difficult to imagine people smoking combustible cigarettes in 100 years time.
But the UK government is a lot more ambitious - they have announced they want to be smoke free by 2030, despite slashed funding for stop smoking services.
Is it feasible? How could it be achieved? And could the.....
Updated: August 2022
What is EVALI?
EVALI stands for E-cigarette, or Vaping, product use-Associated Lung Injury. It refers to a severe, sometimes fatal, respiratory illness. Symptoms include shortness of breath and chest pains.
EVALI was first recorded in 2019, when a sudden spate of respiratory illnesses broke out in the USA, leading to 68 deaths by February 2020.
In this post I look.....
Professor Polosa has recently completed his latest study, a review of the effect of vaping on respiratory health. We got together with Riccardo Polosa to discuss how vaping can reverse harm, the potential to reduce infections, the latest controversy over vaping and respiratory diseases in the US and more.
In a recent press release you reiterated that vaping is at.....
Over the years, we’ve done several experiments with unusual vape flavours.
Very often we’ve done this for a bit of fun, but sometimes the results have surprised us.
A good few years ago, for example, we went to a vape show with a small range of very unusual flavours.
One of them was barbecue sauce flavour.
As you’d expect, most people absolutely hated.....
Something about getting off a plane makes me wants to vape. There is a certain pleasure in taking a moment to settle after the hustle and bustle of the airport, but the more obvious reason is that I wanted some nicotine. I stood outside with a handful of smokers, vaping for ten minutes or so and becoming acutely aware.....
Recently I spoke on a panel at the UKVIA forum to discuss Stop Smoking Services’ use of electronic cigarettes.
In preparation for the panel, I spent some time talking to Stop Smoking Services (SSS), trying to understand the challenges they faced. Of course, time was limited in a 45 minute panel, and many questions went unaddressed.
So for those who are.....
“There is an epidemic of youth vaping!” They say, showing a picture of a JUUL or pod-style device in the hands of someone too young to legally buy it.
They release ominous videos telling us that vaping “reprograms your brain” and warn of the spectre of a gateway to smoking at every opportunity.
They want parents to be scared, and they.....
Update 12/08/19:
The Vaping is Not Tobacco Campaign have provided this update:
There have been slow signatures so far, but vapers should understand that if they do not take a stand, regulation will arrive. The problem could be the last WHO-report, in which no distinction is made between tobacco and e-cigarettes.
Countries are regulating vaping like tobacco (The Netherlands is.....
Electronic Cigarette Summit 6
I still can’t believe that we’ve reached the 6th E-Cig Summit - it doesn’t seem so long ago that the first one was held! This is very much a non-commercial conference, with sales pitches banned (hooray!) and proficient speakers who are good at lightening up some challenging topics with a bit of humour. Add that to.....
Surface area arms race
In recent years we’ve seen a race amongst vape manufacturers to maximise the surface area of coils. It started with dual coils (which incorporated two wires), and that’s a process which continues today with coils incorporating multiple strands of wire in multiple coil holes.
One game changer was the original Aspire Cleito tank. Thinking outside the box,.....
Vape juice is one of a number of terms used for e-liquid. E-liquid has been the most commonly used terms in recent years, along with e-juice, but more and more people are now using the words vape juice.
We've put together a great vape juice infographic which will provide you with all the essential need to knows, and you’ll also.....
So you want to set up your own vape shop. You’ve found a location, have a product wish list as long as your arm and have gone all Laurence Llewelyn Bowen with your store design.
But there’s a problem: cash. Or lack of it. And getting finance out of the bank manager these days is about as easy as convincing.....