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Launch Time: 2016-06-18 Views: 1346 Rely: 0 Started by:
Frankie Garcea, owner of Cloud City Vapour Products pushes an 'O' of vapour in his shop in the city's West End. Braeden Jones/ Metro
By: Braeden Jones Metro Published on Fri Jun 17 2016
A year after Manitoba’s then-NDP government brought vaping legislation into law, vaping culture has evolved beyond simply quitting smoking.
Frankie Garcea, owner of Cloud City Vapour Products, said that in the past year the cross section of clientele he sees at his store on Ness is split nearly down the middle, made up of both people quitting smoking, and new vaping enthusiasts.
“It did start off kind of to get you off of cigarettes, as an alternative… but there is another side of vaping that’s the hobbyist side, and it’s getting more popular,” he said.
The trendier hobby side of the vape world has grown as the product offerings—both flavours and actual devices—have increased as well.
“People who start off quitting cigarettes get more into it (the hobby side) and want better flavour, and more vapour production, things like that,” Garcea said. “At the moment it’s probably slightly more people getting off cigarettes, but slowly the hobby side is growing.”
David Lofchick, owner of Cold Turkey Vape Shop downtown, said the same.
“There’s essentially two categories of vapers… those that vape as a smoking alternative, and there’s the hobbyists who start out in the first category, and then they get into the latest and greatest devices,” he said.
Some of them even compete, “to see who can blowthe biggest vapour clouds.”
Both shops are set up with comfortable seating for people to try out and enjoy their vapour products, which will come in handy once the proposed legislation comes into force.
The “Non-Smokers Health Protection Amendment (E-Cigarettes) was introduced for first reading in the legislature back in June, 2015.
It amends the existing non-smokers act by extending its scope to include e-cigarettes and vaping products.
No vaping is allowed where smoking is disallowed, with the exception of the actual vape shops where products are sold—something Garcea and Lofchick are both set up for.
In a response sent to the Electronic Cigarette Trade Association of Canada, government officials informed the group that while the bill was passed and received royal assent on November 5, 2015, the “in force date” has yet to be set, meaning it’s not yet enforceable.
Additionally, regulations including signage rules have yet to be developed.
Garcea said he’s been told legislation will come fully into effect by this fall, which he believes will only strengthen the burgeoning vape community and help its shops, which already follow the rules.
“They’re saying you can’t vape in public, which is great, because it looks bad on certain people vaping in places you couldn’t smoke…. We already have a bad name so we’re trying to avoid that,” he said. “With no vaping under 18, that’s great, we’ve already been enforcing that.
“This is good because we’ll have the government on our side.”
For both hobbyists and people trying to quit smoking, Garcea added being able to vape in the shops is critical, “because we have to have our customers try different flavours.”
“We have close to 100 different flavours, there’s no one flavour for everyone, and we want to make sure it works for you to keep you off cigarettes,” he said.
(The Post Was Reprinted From metronews.ca, Read The Original Post Here >> http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2016/06/16/winnipeg-vape-shops-say-its-a-growing-hobby.html )
