The federal government announced new rules for electronic cigarettes last week, but local vape shop owners say the new regulations will have little effect on their business.

The rules, for the first time, require the electronic devices and their ingredients to be reviewed, according to a story from the Associated Press.

Unlike paper-rolled cigarettes, which contain tobacco and a host of chemicals in a carcinogenic blend, e-cigarettes contain liquid nicotine heated with a battery-powered device that allows the smoker to inhale the nicotine in a vapor form.

“E-cigarettes, especially the high-powered ones with a tank, having very few carcinogens,” said Russ Ouellette from Russell’s Vape Lounge on Dawsonville Parkway. “In fact, the only carcinogen in there is nicotine. So you’re basically inhaling water vapor as the nicotine’s vehicle to enter your system. You’re not burning anything, whereas with cigarettes, you’re actually lighting something on fire and inhaling smoke from the burning fire, which contains about 4,800 carcinogens.”

The purpose of the electronic device is to remove as many harmful carcinogens as possible, according to Alex Farr, manager of Vape and More on John Morrow Parkway

“The fact is that we know on a consumer level, at least to the best of our ability, what we are putting in our bodies with the vaporizer,” Farr said. “Even if we don’t know some of the extended circumstances and effects of, say, the flavorings of it, we definitely have research on the various harmful chemicals in cigarettes, and that’s really the whole goal. It’s a game of avoidance, ultimately.”

Ouellette said his shop was the first vape shop in Gainesville, and he’s had more than 4,000 customers over the last few years. Many, he said, have successfully quit smoking cigarettes or using chewing tobacco with the use of e-cigarettes instead.

That said, national concerns about e-cigarettes remain, and studies into the health effects are limited.

The new requirement to review the cigarettes and their ingredients will not affect local stores including Vape and More or Russell’s Vape Lounge, however.

Ouellette said, for the most part, the review procedure will occur at a manufacturing level, and the manufacturers he works with are already prepared for such regulations.

Some small businesses may be affected by the change, however.

“You have a number of stores that produce a ‘house wine’ in shop,” Farr said. “They will definitely have to modify their procedure, and there’s going to be some licensing they’ll have to obtain, and I believe some inspections they’ll be subject to as well.”

The Associated Press cites federal figures which state more than 15 percent of high school students report using e-cigarettes, a 900 percent increase in the last five years.

“Millions of kids are being introduced to nicotine every year, a new generation hooked on a highly addictive chemical,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in the Associated Press story. “We cannot let the enormous progress we’ve made toward a tobacco-free generation be undermined by products that impact our health and economy in this way.”

The new rules will federally prohibit sale of the cigarettes to minors under 18 years old. But sale to minors was already illegal in most states, including Georgia.

“We have a strict store policy already that we don’t sell to anyone under 18,” Farr said. “But there’s a fairly good age spread on the industry. I see people come in here and ask as young as 16 and as old as 65.”

Farr said he understands the need for some regulation of these house blends and devices that are being produced by small businesses at home, though regulation of the manufacturing has “some potential to go overboard.”

“The health department for instance, with what we put in our bodies in terms of food, has rigorous inspections to maintain the quality of the environment,” Farr said. “That doesn’t exist right now in this regard, and I think that’s necessary.”

Regardless, he said, the reality is electronic cigarettes are not just a trend for teenagers.

“My friend described it quite well,” he said. “He walked out of Walmart one day and saw a 60-year-old woman standing outside with a higher-powered device. He said, ‘Wow, this isn’t a fad anymore. It’s a facet of our culture at this point.’”