The rate in which the vaping industry has grown over the last year is beyond what anyone could have predicted. With newer and bigger expos happening almost every other month, and vape shops opening up by the dozens each day, it’s no secret that everyone is trying to be part of this emerging industry. We for one, were beyond excited when the first vape shop opened just mere miles from our offices; but now, 1 year later, there are easily 10 shops all within a 5 mile radius of each other. Even legislators and state officials are cashing in on vaping by attempting to tax it the same as tobacco products—any person can see their main intention is to obtain revenue, despite them over embellishing the safety regulations.
And as always with such rapid growth, criticism and unwarranted claims follow. The news stories that are being released regarding vaping are 90% negative, and it seems whenever an issue fades, a new one tends to arise. Although, we do agree with some of these raised concerns—for example, the e-liquid labels that attempt to imitate a candy’s packaging. As we have stated in past articles, the manufacturers of these e-liquids need to grow up, and maybe, attend an intro to business course, so they can be aware of what should and should not be done. Moreover, those taking part in these uncreative and poorly thought out labels, are causing the industry as a whole to look unprofessional; and if we want to continue to grow at this staggering rate, this immaturity needs to stop immediately.
Luckily, even with all this bad press and other negativities surrounding the industry, we have still managed to progress forward; and vaping is at all-time-highs, and more importantly, smoking is at a all-time-low. So you ask, where does the industry go from here? well, the next step would be having conclusive studies done on both the short-term and long-term effects of vaping.
Even with all these stakeholders involved, there has yet to be a conclusive study on whether or not vaping is truly a life threatening activity. Sure there have been some ridiculous papers released claiming, toxic chemicals are being outputted when using cheap eGo style tanks at insane voltages—but we still haven’t hadn’t any realistic tests completed with proper equipment. Even California started airing anti-vaping ads—but yet they still won’t fund any real studies. The reason why we believe this lack of testing is occurring is because of two reasons—first, “big tobacco” is desperately trying to diminish vaping use, as their sales have been in a down trend; and secondly, those who are doing studies are only at to seek negative results.
We are not here to argue that vaping is completely safe—even water in large quantities can be dangerous, but we are still eager to know, if it is bad, how bad really is it? One with a semi-intelligent mind would think, given it’s known ingredients, that in moderation it shouldn’t be all that harmful; but without adequate testing and a background in chemistry, it is hard to give a definitive answer.
But aside from the possible health risks directly related to vaping, there is another area in which we have safety concerns—unregulated manufacturing of vaping hardware. It is no surprise that 98% of all vaping equipment is designed, tested, and manufactured in China—and we have no issue with outsourcing manufacturing, but we do have an issue with this particular country designing and testing these products. China has little regulation when it comes to the safety of the products they develop, and the end result of this nonexistent regulatory system could be fatal— things such as exploding batteries and potential metal poisoning are just a few issues that could possibly occur.
We have some of the most innovative minds located in America, but yet no one is designing a tank or mod which is intended for the masses. We need to start to see more vaping equipment designed by countries like America, because without this, we can not truly grow into a legitimate industry.
Overall, in order to progress forward in making vaping a legitimate industry, we need to take care of those three major problems, and once we do, the world of vaping will finally be something which is normal and accepted by the masses worldwide. We have gotten so far, lets not ruin it by displaying immaturity or lack of innovation.
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