In the human village known as Stockholm, you don't have to look far to find a well-stocked vejpshop. There's one on Sveavägen, and behind the counter is a figure familiar to many in the vejp world.
Christian "Cristo" El-Hage may be a new store manager at Ecigg City, but he's a pretty old hand at vejpgaming. He sticks his neck out and says he would have preferred to see disposable vejps disappear altogether.
"If you sell mostly disposable vejps, it's the store's own fault," says Christian El-Hage to Vejpkollen.
Sveavägen is a 2.5 kilometre long main street that runs through the districts of Vasastan and Norrmalm in the centre of Stockholm. It runs north-north-west from Sergels torg to Sveaplan and then westwards to Norrtull. Approximately where the neighbourhoods meet, opposite the Stockholm School of Economics, is Ecigg City, owned by Vejpkollen acquaintance Steve Tasker together with Jimmy Micksäter. But it's Christian El-Hage who's been running the show here for the past six months.
"I've only been here since January, but I have quite a long history and worked at Cigoteket before. But I started vejpa myself back in 2011," says Christian.
Long road to finding the right one
It quickly becomes apparent that Christian's rather long history includes a major schism with the now defunct Cigoteket chain of shops. Without going too far into it, Christian's personal opinion is that the owners "drove it into the ground" and although there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then, there is a bitterness both about how he ended up there and how he was treated during his years as an employee and store manager.
The upside is that he still gained a lot of experience in both the service industry and as a store manager. To make a long story, which runs over both store jobs at Elektrolux and the start-up of another vejp store that also did not turn out well followed by unemployment, somewhat shorter - the circle was closed with the employment at Ecigg City. And Christian has only good things to say about his current situation.
"Here I feel part of the company. And in the same way that they can speak up to me, I can speak up to my managers too. That has not been the case in the other places."
Sweden's biggest heavy smoker
Christian discovered e-cigarettes back in 2011, but before that he smoked more than most people. He could consume two or three packs a day.
"Well, I was the biggest heavy smoker in Sweden, haha."
Three parcels a day? How do you even have time for that?
"Yes, many people wondered that. But I was spending maybe SEK 4,000 a month on cigarettes and chain-smoking constantly. My plan then was to bring in loaves from my home country, Lebanon - it's bloody cheap there. I told my friends that I was going to start earning some black cash," Christian laughs, pointing out that this was a long time ago and that he was young.
Started smoking at the age of 14
He was 14 when he started smoking. This year he turns 34. In any case, he continued chain-smoking for quite a while, until he came across e-cigarettes by chance.
"They were the kind of ciggalikes that you bought 20-30 of at a time. I found them at a regular market, at the T-centre I think, and had never heard of it. "What is this shit?" But the guy showed me and I tried it. But they tasted like shit to be honest."
Better and better with time
They did get him to start cutting down on smoking to maybe a pack a day instead, and then better and better products started coming out, and Christian went along for the ride.
In parallel, his older brother ran his own vejprace. For a while he ran the juice brand "Dubbla ansikten" and in 2016 he got Christian a job at the aforementioned Cigoteket. And for a few years he still enjoyed it there.
"Things went quickly for Cigoteket in the beginning. There weren't that many vejp shops so they became quite well known and had damn good daily takings there for a while."
Adapting to the customers' situation
Now of course the owner has Steve Tasker and Jimmy Micksäter, but Christian has a clear vision of what he wants Ecigg City to be.
"We have the most and best reviews, so I hope we have the best turnover in Stockholm too. But that's my whole plan. To educate customers and offer everything that can be offered in this store. If the customer is having a bad month financially, we have something to offer for that. If they're looking for fancy liquids, fancy hardware, we have that too. Same with high-end stuff, we still have that unlike many other stores now. I still sell mechanical machines - but then I need to know how well the customer knows themselves about battery safety and covers and things like that."
"Vejp shops must train those who vejpar"
Christian El-Hage sticks his neck out when it comes to disposablevejpar. He finds them deplorable and believes that the vejp shops that sell most of them are sleeping on the job.
"Then it's the fault of vejp stores that don't educate their customers. Sure, disposables are good for testing - but ONLY for testing. If e-cigs really help you quit smoking or stop sniffing, you'll go straight to a real machine."
"Disposable ones contain battery, plastic, cotton, metal wire just like a real machine, which you then just throw away. They are an environmental hazard and they attract children. I've scolded people I've seen throwing disposables in the sea or on the lawn. Did they not go to school? I have really grabbed them and told them off. Don't you realise there's a battery and technology in this? Veg shops need to get much better at educating. Now I might sound like the government here, but think of the children too."
Great ignorance in the shops
It's clear that the topic stirs up emotions, and Christian steams on.
"If you were to ask me, I would prefer to get rid of them completely. Then it's better to bring in pods that you can just throw in a plastic bin. But I've said it many times, that there are far too many ignorant people opening or working in vejp stores. It can't all be about selling."
Tricks that have become cringe
Christian's vejp story is a long one, as he stated at the beginning of the interview. But one chapter in it is that for a while he was sponsored by several national vejp companies and was sent abroad on a few different stages. It's all about vejptricks - which was quite big a few years ago, even if it's not so big nowadays.
"It's pretty cringe today, but I had different social media where I posted videos. And I got a lot of free products and performed a lot where they paid for travel, food, etc. But now I'm an adult with two kids and I've left it behind - but it was pretty fun back then."
That's how the name 'Cristo' came about, and he has to put up with it. Even his colleagues here in the shop just call him that.
Five quick ones for Christian El-Hage:
Who is your typical customer?
- Mixed in all ages
How big is vejp in Stockholm?
- It is probably like in the rest of Sweden, so not very big I would say.
What is your own favourite flavour?
- These days it's almost all mint flavours.
What would you never put in the tank yourself?
- Pizza, hamburgers and such bizarre flavours as a while ago.
What made you start vejpa?
- Was a heavy smoker and stumbled upon e-cigs
Vejpkollen visits Swedish Vejpshoppar
StoreEcigg City
City: Stockholm, Sweden
Behind the counter: Store Manager Christian El-Hage
Found since: 2019
