EVENTS
BY GEORGE WAINWRIGHT
THE HALL OF VAPE, STUTTGART - MAY 5-6
Very often you can wait months for the right vape expo to come
around and then, before you know it, two come along at once.
This was exactly the position I found myself in during the May
bank holiday weekend.
May 4 saw me enjoying the sights and sounds of the Vaper Expo
UK business-to-business day in Birmingham right up until the
time that I had run from the NEC to the adjoining airport to catch
an early evening flight to Germany.
Fast forward a couple of hours and I had checked into my hotel,
hopelessly failed to find an open restaurant nearby but did find a
bar which was packed full of fellow vapers and a group of lads
from Leeds on a stag weekend.
I set myself a challenge of eating nothing but German sausage
during my trip and I had my first Bratwurst of the weekend before
heading back to the hotel.
The Hall of Vape took place at Messe Stuttgart – an exhibition and
trade fair centre next to Stuttgart Airport - rather like a German
NEC.
It was great to see large queues of people waiting for the doors to
open. Huge plumes of vape could be seen as the people engaged
in impromptu synchronised vaping to pass the time. It all looked
very impressive indeed.
There must have been thousands of people waiting to get in and
I knew that this was going to be a great show. This is billed as
Germany’s biggest vape event and I can well believe it. The show
was huge.
After passing though security there was a large food area with hot
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dogs, pulled pork, traditional German cuisine and Chinese food
so I made a mental note to return later for more sausage.
The event itself was very well organised and well laid out. It
didn’t have the huge swathes of red carpet and lavishly designed
stands that I saw at the Vaper Expo but that did not detract from
the event at all.
Each stand I saw during the two days looked busy and the
exhibitors I spoke to were all very happy with the event. It was also
great to see so many different areas of the industry represented
so it was not simply an e-liquid event.
Some companies told me that this was their first vape event
outside of the UK and they were so impressed with the Hall
of Vape experience that they are now looking to exhibit at
more international shows. As with many other vape expos, the
giveaways from the main stage proved very popular with the
public and companies including IVG and Vape Dinner Lady had
lots of goodies up for grabs. I don’t speak German but most
people seemed happy to forgive my lack of linguistic talent and
were very understanding and hospitable as I tried to make myself
understood. I had a delicious Currywurst before leaving the show
for the evening and I was already looking forward to the second
day. There were more queues on day two and once inside I set
to work meeting as many people as possible. I met Billy from
Prohibition Vapes at the Mr Frost stand and he told me it was a
very successful