Emailing An E-Cig Guide To Smoke Shops

[SavvyVapes]

I'll admit that I haven't been vaping long enough to really have a gripe, But, I had an experience yesterday that left me a bit peeved. I went to my local smoke shop to see if I could source things locally. I vaugley remembered being in there and seeing a case of e-cig related products.

I go in to look around and the case is missing. I ask the clerk if they have a case of accessories for e-cigs. She looks at me blankly. I say "You know starter kits, drip tips, batteries, etc." She says "All of our fake cigarettes are non refillable." ....OK... I guess she only honed in on "drip tip"? I asked to see them. She tells me they don't work well, but lifts the case onto the counter. None of the brands look familiar, so I pass.

I'm talking to my husband really more than I am talking to her at that point. We'd probably need to get more parts online, cartomizers for filling etc.. She butts in and says "They aren't meant to be re-used." I tried to explain they were refillable. She shakes her head and says "No" LOL. What? I unscrewed the cartomizer from my battery, and held it up so she could take a look. I taped the end and said "This cap comes off." And, earned myself a dirty look.I shook my head and left. I'm so incredibly glad that I won't ever need to go in there again.

So, after that rant and ramble here's my question: Is there a guide that goes out to smoke shops to educate sells-people on e-cig products? I mean, I'm not the smartest noob but, I've done my research. Maybe I only encountered this because I live in such a rural part of Missouri? It just seems like you could sell more products if your knowledge of them was at least on par with the person wanting to make the purchase?

Arghh. I'm surprised this woman didn't give me the speech about nicotine causing cancer. In her defense I might have been more put off by "fake cigarette" than anything. So, what do you do? I thought about calling the manager and offering to email some links...??

[mcquinn]

Tobacco wholesalers have in the last few years started carrying those nonrefillable and some disposable one shot battery ecigs.They have the potential to be a huge revenue stream from folks who do not shop online.I have a buddy at work who buys them despite me showing him my stuff and explaining how inexpensive it can be.I did get him to start injecting Dekang eliquid into his disposable carto's .So maybe he will one day make the plunge.I don't think the discount tobbaco shops and convienience stores are intereted in saving thier customers money as much as making money ,so you will not likely change thier way of doing business.

[SavvyVapes]

Good Point McQuinn. I don't so much want to change the way they do business, but a change of attitude would be nice. Lol. Maybe that's a job for a customer service trainer. I have a friend that bought her e-cig from a truck stop. I think her set-up is pretty close to mine but, she was able to buy liquid and carts there also. Hope your friend makes the plunge. Not only because of the money he can save, but so he will stick with it. One shot batteries have to be frustrating.

[Uma]

I've run into the same attitude, from a cigar shop. Snooooooooty. is too mild a word. They were even snooty and rude to my hubby who charms everyone. It's their loss.

On the other hand, the headshop was totally different. They were excited about the new brand coming in, said it's going to be great and there's lots of accessories for it. I tried to pinpoint a brand, but they of course refused, in case I was a spy for the competition lol

The gas stations are being sent promotional material from BT, along with their "contracts".

The race is on...

[SavvyVapes]

Uma,

Your post makes me wish we had a head shop nearby. I haven't seen one since I left Oklahoma. My experience kind of made me sad because people wanting more information on e-cigs in this area go to the smoke shop thinking they will get it. I live in the Ozark Mountains so internet is not the norm in peoples homes... People in my area can't jump online and do their research, you know?

Snooty salespeople need a different job. I'd have suggested kicking puppies for a living, but she looked like she'd enjoy that a little too much. In the future I'll just send people here to the forum. And I agree snooty is much to nice a desciption for these types of people.

[Jdog]

I have talked to a few smoke shop owners about their e-cig stuff. Most don't know much of anything about it. They see it at the wholesale place and grab it because 'it is new technology and fancy looking'

none of them had ever used one, although at one place I found a clerk that knew a little bit that he had gathered from an informative customer.

i figure this could be part of the problem..

[danpio1217]

Unless it's a specialized storefront that sells ecig products, i've found that they're entirely clueless, especially when dealing with the gas station/tobacco store brands. Overall they seemed to somewhat interested tho and asked me how i liked them (this was back when i was trying out disposables and different mini models)

The mall sellers on the other hand, are worse than clueless. Not only do they possess no knowledge about the products whatsoever, but they've been given a list of 15 pre-designated responses as to why their ****ty product is the best and their ****ty price is fair. They exist for no other purpose than to screw over new vapers. They don't even know the mAh of their batteries or ohms of their atomizers, they don't know if their juice is PG or VG, or specifically what nic their juice is (them: there's high medium and low; me: but how much actual mg/ml is that? them: what?)

So to summarize, unless you have a big ecig specialized storefront near you, we're all probably better off sticking to the internet

[kgoallthewaygo]

i went into a local tobacco shop just about a week ago and they are a reseller of totally wicked eliquid. you couldnt find a nicer guy and bless his heart he wanted to know what he was talking about but he didnt have a prayer when i walked in... lol. of course i walked in with my twist and dct and started talking to the guy asking him what he had but his inventory was low wich i thought is a good thing cuz people are buying the stuff... then he looks at my setup and is like ohh you got one of thos extender tanks! we have those to and proceeds to pull out a clearomizer and after i said its kinda close but not really he was still trying to say it was what i had... and thats were i let loose and told him what was what... lol i think totally wicked has a handle on their resellers knowing the very basic knowledge of the products such as the names and flavors and stuff but when it comes to how they work and the difference between the volts and ohms and variable voltage it may as well be in swahili... lol

[mcquinn]

I guess for a lot of people it's all about getting or thinking you are getting your nic fix ,and as overpriced as some of that junk is, it can be less expensive than analogs.Some of us have gone way overboard and have turned this into a fixation and we know wayy too much .I never gave any thought to my ciggerettes other than to make sure I always had more than enough and a way to light them up.Most of the inexpensive R.Y.O. backy' was pretty nasty floor sweepings I suspect.I try not to be too hard on folks who don't seem to get it ,I just answer questions and sometimes make suggestions.

[SavvyVapes]

Dan, I've never seen one of the mall kiosks. Nearest mall is 100 miles from me so, I doubt I ever will. I do have a gas station near by but, the one e-cig box I saw in there was so dusty you couldn't really tell what was in it. lol I think I did see some "mall types" online and I hope that the Google Gods prevents new people from even seeing those sites.

KgoATWG, I'm glad to hear the reseller next to you was willing to learn, and DID learn. I guess the misinformation part is so hard for me because I've literally spend the last 6 years telling people how/what/why they should do what they were searching for. Misinformation, or only giving people enough information to hang themselves with drives me up a wall.

Mcquinn, I can honestly say that I did WAY more research to switch to e-cigs than I EVER did to smoking.(in my defense there wasn't any internet in those days) I may never be able to tell you what ohms/voltage/wattage to use, but I am going to try and commit it all to memory so I can recommend to others. Hubby and I are 1 week into e-cigs and already helped 4 other family members switch. Would have converted a 5th, but he'd just bought a 1 month supply of RYO and didn't see the need to waste it. Maybe next month.

[danpio1217]

I think a big part of it is by the time i started smoking analogs, everything was already known about them. They cause cancer, they smell, they're expensive, etc. So... nothing good.

Ecigs are so new and revolutionary it takes a lot of research for people to feel comfortable enough with the product to make the switch and stick with it, and they seem so far to be all good.