Bridging the gap between old and young vapers?

[BigCatDaddy]

I'm old (66) and never been in a vape shop I didn't enjoy. Really like the lounge aspect and talking and vaping with the young people. Un curl your lip and leave your judgement at the door. You may find the sub 30 crowd to be good people.

I'm right there with you!! I'm 65 and have no problem jumping right in with the young'uns!! I just whip out my "Hellfire" dual MOSFET, dual 26650 mech box mod with a 28.5 mm Tobh on top and jump right in amongst them. I wrap better and more complex coils than most of them and after just a bit in a new shop, I'm the one being asked questions.
I can however, see that it is off-putting and intimidating to the new or older vapers to walk into that kind of environment. I would like to see more vape shops run like a regular business and not a teeny kid fun shop sometimes. Hard to get everyone satisfied I suppose.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

Vaping will grow if we help each other and help new people. Determining what THEY want is good. Sometimes I notice that they really don't know. I just lead them to a mainstream set-up that has some quality to it. Like all new industries, their are a lot of pitfalls. I just try to be helpful.

In going in to vape shops/lounges, I always say, "hello all". I an extra drip tip in my car so I can try other's vapes. Nice to get involved and share.

 

[GrandPapa]

Hi,
Well I am 70 years old and visit my vape shop regularly and sometimes there are weird looking dudes in it (in my personal opinion) but I strike up a
conversation with them and carry on. Sometimes looks can be deceiving so one should judge a book by it's cover.
JIm

 

[dhood]

I'm lucky in that I have about 10 vape shops within 15 miles of my house. I have to say the majority of the personnel at each one is top-notch and they are enthusiastic about helping you get off analogs. A couple of them aren't quite as friendly/helpful, but the majority are. The first one I walked into was very similar to what the OP experienced. The place was full clouds and one of the guys behind the counter saw me come in and immediately stepped out to assist me. He was very knowledgeable and listened to what I wanted to accomplish and then sold me exactly what I needed to do what I wanted to do. He didn't try to blow me away with the latest technology or terminology, just got me started exactly the way I wanted to start. As I explored the world of vaping (it's amazing how many google searches end up pointing to ECF), I had more questions and I went back to that shop. They always were able to answer my questions and point me in the direction I wanted to go. Now I stop by whenever I'm in the area and have more questions and they are always friendly with explanations and help if I need it. The customers range from your tatted 20-somethings to 60s. It's interesting to find a place where customers will jump into a conversation and help you figure out what you are looking for. I've had other customers recommend juices to taste, let me try their equipment, etc. And now I find that when I am in other vape stores, I do the same thing. I was at an opening for a store near me and a woman about my age walked in (mid 50s) and wanted to get started. I happened to have a setup like she was looking for and I volunteered to let her try my MVP2 with the house test tanks. Helped her dial up and down the wattage so she could taste the difference in flavor, answered questions about tanks, batteries, charging, etc. I probably helped the vendor sell over $100 on her purchases alone. Quite simply, I've found that for the most part, no one at my local vape shops is "cliquish" in any way. Our common bond is vaping and age seems to be no barrier. It may be kind of a shock for someone over 70 to walk in the first time, but the personnel at these shops go out of their way to make anyone feel welcome.

 

[Rossum]

I think it's more like the traditional pipe shop, where hanging out was fairly common. Not at all like getting a pack at 7-11, but where folk with similar interests could talk about different blends, the latest straight grain briar or hand carved meerschaum, or how to clean the gunk off a pipe bit. And also folk just coming in to get supplies, i.e. loose tobacco, pipe cleaners and so on.

Yep, vaping almost anything better than disposable cigalikes is more akin to smoking pipes than it is to smoking cigarettes. I tried to substitute pipe smoking for cigs a couple of decades ago and didn't take to it, but now some of my favorite mods are made of wood; maple burl and curly sapele to be exact. And I'm currently shopping for more wood. Go figure.

Although, of course, it's been years since anyone in the US could actually light up in a pipe shop...

I think that depends what state you live in. Of the roughly 30 states that have banned smoking in enclosed public places, I believe all but 6 exempt tobacconists from those bans. Washington seems to be one of those 6 that doesn't exempt tobacconists.