By Jay Galletly
I don’t know if you have been
paying attention to the variety of vaping devices that have been hitting the
market lately. It seems that every one
of them strives to be more over-the-top than the last. I continue to see new devices with numerous
“bells and whistles” that go way beyond alternatives to traditional
smoking. I suppose at some point we’ll
see vaping devices with flashlights, laser pointers, and even GPS. Smartphones will have nothing on vapor
technologies. What I want to know is, “Are we trying to smoke, or are we trying
to devise a Swiss Army Knife for smokers?”
Below is a video that pokes fun at this concept.
All we ever wanted to do was
to create a safe and reliable eCig that offered “A New Way” to smoke. Nothing fancy, nothing too cute, but
something that truly offered a replicated smoking experience that could be sold
only to committed smokers of legal age.
We have developed our products to appeal to America’s smokers…not kids
and others who don’t smoke today. That’s
why we don’t offer exotic flavors and technical gizmos that can appeal current
non-smokers and, worse yet, our youth.
Having been in the electronic
cigarette industry since its inception I can tell you that this business has
exploded, sometimes literally (see “Batteries that Go Boom” below). From just a handful of vaping and e-cigarette
manufacturers in 2007, suddenly hundreds of vaping entrepreneurs have sprung
up. Some of these like us use high
quality control standards. Unfortunately
there are others who do not. Like it or
not, all it takes to get into the industry is contact with any of a number of foreign
manufacturers. When we were creating the
VIAe brand, we personally toured a number of factories across the globe before
settling with a manufacturer who we could rely on to produce a quality product. I can tell you that these trips make a huge
difference in the quality of our product line.
The problem is that many of the brands that you see online or on store
shelves are being manufactured by the factories that we passed up. As a result, there have been a number of
incidents involving vaping devices that have made the news.
Batteries That Go Boom
Case in point: In England,
the fire chief of Bartley issued a warning after a resident reported that an
e-cigarette that had been plugged into a USB port on his laptop exploded,
sending burning fragments across the living room, scorching both the sofa and
the carpet.
While the fire investigation
officer reported that the owner had followed the instructions for charging the
unit, other incidents involving vaping devices that caught fire were the result
of the devices being plugged into the wrong charger. My advice for those who vape is to only use
the charger supplied with the kit. Never
use the charger from one manufacturer to charge a unit manufactured by another
company.
It Takes an Engineering Degree
Not all vaping devices are
created equal. In fact, there are so
many components involved in a number of them that it practically takes an
engineering degree to smoke many electronic vaping devices. In a recent scan of the web I came across a
number of vaping providers that were touting everything from anodized aluminum
tank holders and atomizer adapters, to voltage indicators and dual coil
cartomizers. There’s nothing that makes
your vaping enjoyment more pleasurable than having the proper voltage being
sent to your dual coil cartomizer. Are
these guys serious?
The Giggle Factor
On a recent excursion to a
local watering hole I spotted several patrons and even one bartender puffing
away on a bizarre array of vaping devices.
Some of these contraptions looked like a cross between a digital
thermometer and a soldering iron. After
ordering another cocktail, I couldn’t resist telling the bartender, “Dude, what
are you smoking?! Try one of these…it’s
so much easier.”
Having been one of the
pioneers in e-cigarettes, I sometimes wonder where the industry went off the
rails. The benefits of vaping are
many. But when it comes to smoking
satisfaction, you don’t need a lot of complicated bells and whistles. What you need is a way to enjoy a smoke
without spending a fortune or irritating those around you. You also need a manufacturer that is
dedicated to producing a quality product at a price you can afford. Everything else is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
Jay Galletly is the CEO and one of the founders of VIAe in North Carolina. He is one of the pioneers of the e-cigarette industry and was instrumental in the growth and success of other e-cigarette companies before starting VIAe.
