Much has changed this past year for vapers and vaping industries. Right down the supply chain, everyone will feel the ramifications and local economies will notice a difference. Numerous shops will either change a great deal or shutdown in response to new legislation which treats e cigs and e juice like tobacco products.

What Do Vaping Products Have in Common with Tobacco Products?

This is an excellent question, one which the vaping industry keeps asking legislators, and they can’t answer satisfactorily. While there are some commonalities, differences distinguish them from each other significantly. Still, we will consider their similarities, namely the use of nicotine in e juice.

Nicotine is largely optional with a few brand exceptions where there are no zero-nicotine items. Nicotine is the addictive substance both e juice and cigarettes share. Science has identified nicotine as a powerful stimulant and medicos are concerned this stimulant contributes to instances of heart disease. At least you can gradually reduce nicotine levels in e juice while you can’t do that with cigarettes.

Both products are also behaviorally addictive. Consumers become used to a ritual whereby break time or a bath aren’t the same without holding one of these tubes in their hands. Wanting one becomes a powerful craving, but not a physical form of reliance the way nicotine abuse leads to addiction.

Cigalikes resemble cigarettes in that they are tube-shaped and roughly similar lengths. Several e cig brands create a cigarette-paper style too so that the image is complete, including a glowing ember (LED light) when you puff. Puffing is another shared detail; that is what you do with a mini cig just as a smoker would with a cigarette. If you would like to know more on different e cig types, here are some of the e cigarette brands.

What Are the Differences?

The biggest difference is in the heating method. Essentially, you are lighting a cigarette on fire. It produces messy, smelly ash. E cigs produce no ash because they use a battery to heat a coil which vaporizes e liquid. E liquid leaves no mess and is not made of thousands of chemicals. Artificial ingredients are involved, certainly, but not formaldehyde, tar, and countless other poisons. Still, legislators do not know exactly what long-term damage -if any – will be caused by inhaling second-hand or first-hand vapor. Their fears are legitimate, but very few e juices are even remotely associated to tobacco. Flavors emulate cigarette and pipe flavors. Only a handful of e juice manufacturers derive their flavors by extracting liquid from tobacco leaves and they state as much openly in their advertising.

E Juice Manufacturers Will Cease to Operate

A number of companies will stop making e liquid. This is particularly true of e cig shops making and selling their own. This is owing to new safety regulations. Companies will have to make e juice in compliant labs or clean rooms using approved methods, equipment, and bottling with childproof caps. These measures are necessary for consumer safety and no sensible person should argue this fact. As a result, big firms such as Space Jam and Five Pawns which already comply will be alright. Smaller firms will not be able to afford the costs involved.

But there is another problem: applying for approval from the FDA. New documentation costs thousands of dollars which is too much for small companies to pay. Little local start-ups will shut down, unable to afford these fees or the costs involved in renovating their premises for the sake of compliance. One might imagine the system is designed to penalize vape stores and e juice shops considering how onerous the price is. While safety will increase, at least in the legal trade, competition will decrease and prices could rise. An underground e juice market, completely unregulated, is bound to spring up.

Less Competition

So that’s the upshot of this system. Competition decreases. This could ultimately lead to lower standards all-round or fewer fringe benefits like free shipping and bonus gifts. The online market is sure to dominate. E-commerce possesses a distinct advantage with lower overheads. Consumers are likely to walk away from many of their local vape shops in response to newly raised prices.

Expansion within Brands

But remember that NicQuid, VaporFi, Halo, and others are making quality goods. Their creation has been presided over by chemists in sterile environs. Now that there will be less competition, perhaps these brands will expand available flavors. The only thing holding them back is a good thing: quality. NicQuid has maintained a small line of flavors in order to maintain their dedication to quality and Halo has behaved with similar caution. They only want to use extracts and methods which will result in quality products. VaporFi’s selection is already huge, but I can see Halo and NicQuid expanding their menu just a little bit.

Absorbing Brands

Also, you might see some popular names absorbed by big companies so they can still operate, but under the umbrella of a major corporation. Notice that a Cosmic Fog flavor is sold by VaporFi now which was specifically made for the brand and you can buy EVO e juices at Halo. Expect more of this kind of behavior in the future.