How was everyone's break?

It was awesome to soak up some sun here in Victoria during Christmas and New Year.

Anyone get some sweet new vape gear for chrissy?

I wanted to kick of the year with this blog post, mainly to discuss our stance on disposable "vapes".

---------------------------

These days convenience is king, I get it, however where disposables are concerned, they're simply NOT worth the supposed ease they offer.

We are a little old school here at VAPR, but the reality is nicotine disposables are a huge step BACKWARDS.

Exploding out of the black market, nicotine disposables are horrendous for the environment, consumers are sourcing them outside of the safety and expertise of vape shops, (so at tobacconists, dodgy milk bars and servos and even rideshare drivers) - which means they're simply in it to sell you something, No care has been taken to ensure the quality, and they're  made in a highly unregulated fashion, filled with god knows what.

Disposables sold with nicotine are filled with an exorbitant amount of nicotine - which is a huge step backwards for those using them to get off cigarettes. Their intended purpose is to keep you addicted and often they do not even specify the nicotine on the packaging - an underhanded attempt to get them into the country.

They end up being nearly as expensive as cigarettes and potentially just as bad,(if you don't even know what it is filled with)

Don't get me wrong, due to the huge demand we bought in 2 types of disposables, of course they DO NOT contain nicotine and still pose the same environmental impact, but these are made by Lost Vape and Dinner Lady - Giants in the vaping industry with a long and reputable history. 

I've lost count of the number of people who tell us we're foolish for not stocking nicotine disposables, that we'd make so much more money, that this is what the people want. 

To them I say, we started VAPR nearly 7 years ago to HELP people transition away from cigarettes. To have a POSITIVE impact, not just to turn a profit.

We have fought mammoth battles with the government, the TGA, the "health minister", multiple councils.

We've complied with outrageous advertising regulations and display laws.

We position our stores well out of the way, reducing our foot traffic but also discouraging underage patrons.

We've survived the fake news surrounding "vaping lung disease", snap bans on nicotine imports, threatening government letters for the removal of the word shortfill, nicotine etc and we continue to trade within these unjustified and archaic restrictions, because we're here to HELP people transition away from cigarettes.

Make no mistake, nicotine disposable vapes, achieves the opposite of what vaping set out to achieve. Where you can mimic the cigarette experience, with a proven reduced harm and slowly reduce use, all the while having full control over what is going inside your vape.

We receive literally 100's of spam emails a week from HQD and iGet - We will never sell out to these brands and their products. These products have set back the vaping industry in Australia, creating a black market with nicotine and giving the government even more reason to come down so hard on the vape shops who continue to stand by the rules, (however unreasonable they are). We will not compromise our integrity, despite it disadvantaging us.

This should have gone live earlier as we embark on yet another submission to the TGA regarding a plethora of new outrageous proposed regulations including: plain packaging - (just to further drive home the false narrative that vaping is as problematic as smoking), banning nicotine imports entirely, limits on the type and strength of nicotine that you can get, where you can get it from, potentially no more flavours as juice manufacturers are subject to rigorous and expensive regulations.

This is due largely in part to the explosion of black market disposables, where use has increased because the governments regulations on proper vapes and reducing easy access to these products has forced people to seek out the black market alternative.

Many of you have approached us about the TGA submissions already and submitted your own. We're all tired and disappointed by the continued attack on a product we all know has changed our lives for the better, but let us rally once more, we've done it before, we can definitely do it again.

We will be trialling a disposable exchange program in the coming months, helping you guys break that same cycle, Keep an eye out for details of this coming soon.

Do let your family and friends, who are vaping these black market disposables, know just how detrimental they are, and boycott those places who insist on selling them.

Let them know, there's still some vape shops around offering old school service and high quality products :)