Collectible Vapes and Devices

As a former pipe smoker and Moderator on a large Pipe Forum who collected Dunhills, and silver and gold mounted Petersons but used Falcons as my daily drivers for some 50 years ( hence my Avatar ) the question is of interest to me.

I haven't yet seen any signs of such a market developing so far, and I do remember that Kenley Bugg invented the excellent Falcon System pipe and there never was a big market for used Falcons.

 

I think it still may be a bit early but agree completely, especially with all the recent and sure-to-come legislation.

Making some popcorn, grabbing a drink, and keeping eyes open.

 

Depends on what you are referring to as "early vaping devices".

As I understand it there was more than one "vaping" device invented decades before Ruyan ever mass produced an e-cigarette, the most famous one being the one in the patent pic below from Herbert Gilbert. But to the best of my knowledge, these first patented vaping device were only invented on paper with maybe a prototype made (maybe), but never actually produced or sold on the market.



There was also this one from the 1930s, but it was patented as a "vaporizer" and not necessarily as an alternative to smoking tobacco or a "cigarette".



There was a thread last year where someone posted a picture of a device they found when hiking which had a tip similar to what you see in the pic above. It was found (if I remember correctly) to be a device used to pump medicine (or something) into the nose. I can't remember if it was actually a vaporizer of any kind.

The Ruyan ecigarette seems to be what really started it all, commercially speaking. I believe it was first released in 2003 to the European market. Would it be worth anything? Maybe, to a very niche market (I'd buy one for the right price, brand new). Maybe as time goes on it will be worth a fortune, but not for it's functionality as none of the Ruyan ecig versions were known to work well (from what I've read about them), which is understandable as even all the pen style and cigalikes that proceeded the Ruyan had dismal functionality.

This is supposedly the very first Ruyan ecig model sold...


If you want to find out if any early vaping devices being sold as collectibles, your best bet is to probably search non-US auction sites because they wouldn't be technically allowed to be listed on US sites. Also, it's hard to search for such things on google because you get inundated with link to negative ecigarette propaganda. It's like as if you are searching for a knife to buy and google shows you a bunch of "hey, knives are dangerous...THEY KILL" links lol

 

Are you saying that I won't poke my eye out?!?!?

 

At least 3 decades ago, I remember seeing these cigarettes on a pharmacy counter-top display that came 2 in a pack, blister packaged. All I remember is that they looked like a cigarette, except they were plastic and/or metal, but I can't remember what exactly they were or how they worked. However I don't believe they were electronic in nature. But I just can't remember and I can't find anything about it in Google.

All I remember is what they looked like in their green package and that they were marketed as an alternative to cigarettes, and I remember being compelled to buy them for my dad to try, who was a heavy smoker, but I never did.

 

They were definitely a metal and/or plastic, they were hard material not made to be burned or consumed. Looked just like a cigalike ecig made to look like a full flavor filtered cigarette with white top and orange/brown at the bottom to look like the filter. However I don't believe it had an LED at the tip as I don't believe it was electronic in any way (but I can't remember).

Did they contain nicotine? I can't remember.

 

That could very well be what I saw.

Good luck with that, it's a huge challenge. Even if you do convert one, it's an even bigger challenge to get them to stick with it. It's just too different from smoking in so many ways. Top that off with the fact that switching to vaping still means you have to quit smoking, and that means a person has to really want to do it of their own volition or else it will never last.

 

Back in the 70s too, a product called NSM (New Smoking Material - it was based on cellulose) was launched as an alternative to tobacco in the UK and briefely all the major brands offered it as an alternative - but it didn't catch on as the Government taxed NSM cigarettes the same as tobacco so there was no incentive for folk to use it.

Apologies for taking the thread off topic.

 

I just googled 'are old computers worth money' and wow, some are but not many.

There is no collectable market in ecigs the way I think you mean where they have really high values. Yes, there are some mods and atties that are selling for a bit over their new value, but not many and they are not all that old. The vast majority of outdated ecig hardware is pretty much not worth selling. OTOH, vaping hit Europe around 2005 and NA around 2007, so maybe if we keep our 'old' stuff for another 10 years things might change. There may be some 'pre-modern (before 2005)' vaping hardware that could be worth more, but there isn't much of it and there is no market out there for it that I know of.

 

While I agree most of the gear (especially the later years when so many new ones came out daily that were/are hit or miss gear) I still disagree up to a point. I have known many vapers who were collectors of vape gear that sought out rare gear no longer available, prototypes, extremely low runs, etc while they could still be found, and paid a premium price for some of them. I'm one of those people. I bought long discontinued gear to have a piece of vape history from before my tenure in vaping started in early 2013. I bought still new and unused or as good as new pristine examples of them. Most of them were never used by me because that's not why I bought them. And I didn't buy them as an investment either... none of my gear is for sale even though I stopped vaping in 2019.

So I also have to disagree about some outdated gear from companies no longer in business not having value. Gear that had a large following because they were among the best of the best in their era... some that are still the best of their kind and still do have a large following. There are lots of folks that still use them daily and would jump at the chance to pick up more of them. As for their monetary value, it's like anything else that is put up for sale. There are giveaways and over-priced, there are folks that will pay a reasonable asking price and the trolls that won't, offer far less. But if somebody wants something bad enough they will pay the asking price no matter what it is. Lucky for buyers most seller of vape gear are honest, ask what they deem is fair prices. But I have also seen rare gear bring many times what they originally cost new too. IE, one of my items that is still brand new I saw where another one of them sold for $500, almost 13 times what mine cost new in early 2017. Was that one an exception? Maybe, but I have had folks offer me a lot more for some of my discontinued gear than what I paid for them. FWIW, I have been a collector of many different fine things since the early 50's, and the majority of what I bought and have/had over the years is/was worth far more than what I paid for them. With the future of vaping here still not settled, quality gear from private owners may become a handy source for some folks.

 

Everyone else is safe. You on the other hand are still in danger of poking your eye out. Be careful and use a spoon.