Vapouround magazine ISSUE 11 | Page 70

F E AT U R E THE CURIOUS CASE OF ATTITUDE VAPES AND THE UNCLAIMED JUICE AWARD I suppose we are at least partly to blame that the Attitude Vapes crew were nowhere to be seen when they won Best Fruit at the Vapouround Magazine Awards Ceremony. They were there at the start of the evening and director Ed Swain certainly stands out from the crowd at a towering 6ft 8ins. We had told people that this was an event to celebrate all that was good in the industry and an opportunity for people to relax, enjoy a few drinks and let their hair down. Being there to celebrate all aspects of vaping was the main goal and winning an award would be the icing on the cake. So while the Attitude crew had entered all six of their juices into the contest, they decided to come to the event to have fun. They shared jokes with friends and colleagues as the beer and wine flowed freely and they all enjoyed the chance to unwind and relax. When someone suggested that they head off early for a night at the casino they took the party atmosphere with them to a new venue. Just a few minutes later their e-liquid, The Earl, was named Best Fruit winner…but they had already left the building by then. Friends from a nearby table sprinted after them but it was too late and they were nowhere to be seen. In fact Ed was already inside the casino and the first he knew that his juice was a Vapouround Award winner was when he was sent a picture to his phone of his e-liquid on the big screen as the winning entry. We felt bad that Ed missed out on his opportunity to collect the award so we decided to hold a special mini awards ceremony just for him the following day. With the Vapouround Bus as the backdrop, we presented Ed with the coveted trophy during The Vaper Expo - Big Weekend show. Ed said afterwards: “I knew that our jui ces were very strong contenders with great flavour profiles but I also knew that the competition was extremely strong too. “To be honest, we didn’t turn up with the ceremony just to find out if we had won something and I had no idea that we had even been shortlisted. “We came to support the industry, have a great night out and enjoy a few drinks. “We were certainly all in high spirits during the evening and we took full advantage of the great hosting so we just decided to slip out early and take the party elsewhere.” Ed went on: “When I got the phone message saying we had won there was a huge amount of whooping and hollering from out team. I’m sure people around us had thought we had won big at the casino but the win we were celebrating was bigger than that. “It is a huge honour to win a Vapouround juice award and it is testament to all the hard work of everyone at the Attitude Vapes team that our juice was recognised in this way. “We certainly plan to be at next year’s Vapouround Awards but, whatever happens, we will stay to the end next time.” 70 ISSUE 11 VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE