I'm in a fairly rural area, and the vape shops around me are either in a town ~1 hour away, or serve dual-purpose as a vape and head shop.
I know what you're thinking, but they're actually not that bad. I travel for work and have visited vape shops all over the world and in at least 30 states. The head/hookah/vape shops CAN be good- it all depends on who is running them.
My preferred one, at home, is in a crappy strip mall 1/2 hr away, and run by a 20-something Iraqi former USMC 'terp refugee with a stoner/surfer accent.
He's ....ing awesome.
Anyway, I digress. One side of the intelligently-stocked shop has vape gear. The other side has glass tobacco pipes.
He called me today to tell me he got his first batch of Wismec Theorem attys in, and had the one he held for me waiting. The Theorem and the Haze drip-
tank were some of the advancements I mentioned in my earlier post: while I was "away" the industry invented the IDEAL attys for me, a flavor-chasing, single-coil building Paradigm Magma devotee.
But, again, I digress. It's siete de mayo, and I still gotto mas tequila- so, shoot me!
Anyway, when I went to get my new RDA (the Theorem is PERFECT, BTW) bro ham, the former combat 'terp, was setting up a rack for the line of essential oils he was going to start carrying.
Shooting the shiz while I looked around, we also talked about using my lathe to build a 510 attachment on which we could build kanthal elements to use as a flame-free lighter for the tobacco pipes on the other side of his shop.
We (here) are going to be alright.
The ones we need to worry about, and put our constituency-horsepower to bear for, are the folks that haven't got their toes in the water yet. The vendors will be able to carry all the same things they do now, they just won't be able to educate their customers about it.
We all started on cig-alikes, and stick batteries with crap C5
tanks, but we also had shops to go to, to talk to experienced hobbyist/shop-owners and enthusiast/customers, find out what the next step was, experiment with different parts and pieces to dial our rig in closer to our personal smoking experience, and make the whole thing that much more of an effective quitting aid.
The next "generation" is not going to have that. I may be able to go into my local shop and talk to my refugee-patriot friend about what is new in variable-wattage aroma dispenser technology, but the new folks are going to be there blind, because he's not going to be able to actually talk about the real end-use and prac app.
The ones that I really feel for are the 60-somethings I see come in and buy their first stick battery and C5 tank, while I'm there buying kanthal and build tools. I know, when I see them leave, that they haven't left with their actual solution, but I figure they've at least cracked the door, at a price point they can justify, and will be back for the next, closer step to quitting cigarettes.
They're going to have a hell of time, with no one to help them, sorting out exactly why they need a higher power "flashlight" and a properly chambered "aroma diffuser" to help them finally quit smoking and buy back a few more years with their grandchildren.
