N
F
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FEATURES
GLOBAL
FORUM ON
NICOTINE 2020
What they said about vaping
Words: Caroline Barry
The Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) 2020 had an array of
interesting discussions for vapers and vape store owners. We
examine a selection of the vape-related talks at the virtual event.
Tim Philips, Spain, Managing Director of Tamarind Intelligence,
publisher of business intelligence services ECigIntelligence -
‘How the 2019 US developments will impact the global vape
market for many years to come.’
The discussion started with an overview of the EVALI crisis with
an emphasis on the long-term repercussions for the US and
global markets. Philips stressed that he has been hearing from
industry professionals that the market has been affected more by
EVALI than COVID-19 however they are reevaluating their market
predictions for the year ahead.
His company, ECigIntelligence has reduced its expected figures
by 15 percent but will have to reduce these further, pending the
outcome of lockdown.
He compared this to the cannabis vape market which appeared
to be barely hit by the EVALI scare and he predicts that there will
be an increase in teens switching to vaping cannabis rather than
nicotine.
The outcomes of the EVALI crisis have been clear to vapers for
some time as flavour bans and restrictions increase across the
globe. While the hope, according to Philips, is that the delays to
the bans may cause them to die out, the likelihood is that this will
not be the case and it will get worse. He is not confident about
this. ‘In terms of regulations, I think, the vape industry is really
going backwards compared to this time last year.” He also expects
the re-negotiation of the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) to
start later this year if not 2021.
He said the future of the industry was bright with the introduction
of new products and consumers showing no signs of wanting to
move away from the vaping industry which allows the industry
space for growth.
Spike Babaian, USA, Founder of 1st consumer group for Vapers
and owner of the VapeNY stores - ‘Untapped potential: vape
shops as a health resource.’
Babaian describes the average vape shop experience in her
discussion on vape stores as a health resource. She stresses that
bar or lounge-style shops are more effective at getting smokers
to quit because they encourage the user to stay longer therefore
increasing the likelihood of their finding the right product. The
better the match of product to the new user, the more likely they
are to be successful with stopping. However, we do not know how
this will work post lockdown.
She touched on COVID-19 lockdown restrictions for vapers in the
US stating that users had returned to cigarettes as stores failed
to be considered essential and were closed but smokers could
access cigarettes.
She also used her access as a vape store owner to bring in a vaper
to share their personal experience of how they used vaping to quit.
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