EVENTS
BY DAVE TURNER
ECC CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 9 - 11
Traditionally, the observant amongst you will know as part of my role at Vapouround I
tend to visit expos across Europe – last year eastern Europe became a speciality.
It was therefore somewhat of a surprise when handed my list
for the first six months of this year to find I’d be starting off with
a visit to the Electronic Cigarette Convention (ECC) in Ontario,
California.
It’s an event I’ve visited once before in December 2016 and I was
interested to see how it had evolved. It was also a bonus to be
able to head off to Heathrow for a transatlantic flight and a brief
escape from the freezing British winter.
The ECC is a show that I’d previously not been known to entirely
make my mind up about. I’m not sure if it was reports of the
show before I’d visited, but in December 2016 I’d been expecting
something almost mythically vast. Because of this hype I had left
myself open to being underwhelmed and sure enough, this is how
I felt even though it was a decent show.
This time around I’d decided to lower my expectations to a more
reasonable level to see where that led and my overall impressions
were positive.
Cannabidiol (CBD) and salt-based nicotine certainly had a strong
presence at the expo. It was nice to see a mix of industry stalwarts
such as Buckshot Vapours and Cosmic Fog exhibiting alongside
newer up and coming and exciting brands such as IVG. As
we are all aware, the vaping industry in the USA has faced many
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challenges over the years.
It was inspiring to meet people like
Scott and Kevin from Puff Labs
who seem to be not only facing
the challenges with a great deal of
enthusiasm but are producing some amazing
juice at the same time.
It’s also fair to say that I came across something I’d never seen
before – whether through my own naivety or lack of attention –
and that was CBD for pets. I’m not entirely sure how that works.
My own dog seems to labour under the impression that he’s
a purebred wolf and has an uncanny ability to sense anything
added to his food. I’m sure any attempt to modify it with CBD
would leave that wolf gagging. Personally, I’m a great advocate of
CBD for humans but the jury is out on pets.
My overall impressions of ECC, as I said before, were positive.
Whether it was through my differing levels of expectations or
simply because of the differences in the two shows, I felt that this
was an improvement on my previous visit.
It’s back to Europe for a little while for me now but I’m sure I’ll
be back at the ECC at some point – and I will certainly
look forward to it.