It was a full house when iSmokeking celebrated Waffle Day with free waffles and coffee for customers. At the same time, the question of the looming taste ban was in the air, as thick as the smell of jam and cream, in the Uddevalla store.
"It's definitely successful, I must say. There has been shuttle traffic all day in here. We barely have time to pack all the orders" states Adrian Petrusson, shop assistant, as he takes a break from the waffle iron and sits down at one of the tables.
Important part of everyday life
Roadside shops have always been natural gathering places. Tables and chairs are almost as obligatory as e-juices, mods and tanks. iSmokeking is no exception. It's one of two vejpshoppes in Uddevalla, a town that has developed a vejp culture over the past decade that is infectious.
"It is an important part of everyday life. I have a lot of friends that I would never hang out with if it wasn't for vejpningen. We get to know each other here in the store, you try different juices, talk about mods" says Magnus Tengberg when he is changing the coil in his tank, together with Max Johansson.
Smoke-free for 5 years
Magnus Tengberg stopped smoking 5 years ago, he says. He had smoked for 10 years, before he found the right taste in a vejp and quit. And he hasn't looked back, he says.
"I started smoking quite late, actually. When I was eighteen. Now I'm 33. For me, it's been about actually being able to do what I want with my body. But without a really good flavor in my vejp, I couldn't have quit smoking. And I can't stand tobacco flavors, it's disgusting." says Magnus Tengberg.
"Why do we have to like tobacco?"
The government's proposed flavor ban is, as I said, up in the air. According to the government, e-liquid should only be allowed to taste like "tobacco", if it should taste like anything at all. The reason is to make e-cigarettes less attractive to non-smokers, but still appealing to smokers. Magnus Tengberg does not see the logic in it.
"Why do smokers have to like only tobacco? That's exactly what you want to get away from when you stop smoking. If I wanted the taste of a cigarette, I would have continued to smoke a pack a day. Politicians who think they know what others need, have not understood what vejpning is all about. They should go into a vejpshop and talk to people instead. If there were only tobacco flavors, I will probably fall back to cigarettes again" says Magnus Tengberg.
Persuading smokers at work
He is joined by Erik Olsson from Tanumshede. He has been vejpat for many years and has brought many smokers on board. But it took some convincing.
"I work in a chemical factory and we usually gather during breaks in the smoking area. I went there even after I stopped smoking, I vejpade and the others smoked. Eventually they got curious. Unfortunately, smokers are the ones who are most skeptical about e-cigarettes. They are told this and that, by the authorities and the media." says Erik Olsson.
"Road opening is damage reduction"
He believes that many smokers need a little nudge to understand what vejpning is. Correct facts about e-cigs are important.
"I follow the research and try to keep track of what's going on. The British Public Health Agency reports are very educational and clear about what this is about, what the risks of vapor are compared to smoking and so on. And that vejpning is harm reduction. Many people don't know that" says Erik Olsson.
Flavors were the key
But information is all well and good. Allowing colleagues in the smoking area to try different appliances, and especially different flavors, proved key.
"Since I'm the kind of person who buys way too many vejps, I brought four or five of them with different flavors to the smoking area. That way they could try them out. Now, a few years later, vejp gets 4 out of 5. I think that's a success," says Erik Olsson.
Tested patches and everything
Also present were Linus "Koyuki" Gustafsson, a juice maker from Tibro who also trades online with his own e-juice brand. "He started smoking at an early age and, like so many others, found it difficult to quit," he says.
"I quit smoking with a peach-flavored e-juice. And then I had tried to quit smoking many times before, with gum and patches and everything. But it was that peach that did the trick" says Linus Gustafsson.
From smoking cessation to business
It soon became clear that flavors would be more than just a way out of cigarettes for Linus Gustafsson. Within a year and a half of quitting smoking, he had learned to mix e-liquid. And started a business.
"It tasted terrible at first. Nobody liked it. But then the competitive instinct took over and I was determined that it would be good. It took about a year from the time I got my first DIY kit to the time I could vejpake the juice. Technically, I invested 300 SEK for a DIY kit and now it's my livelihood" says Linus Gustafsson.
Swedish vejpshoppar important
He currently runs two online shops, one for flavor essences and one for ready-to-eat juices. But most sales are made in Swedish vejpshoppar. Like ismokeking. Being on site in the vejpshoppes from time to time is important, he says. He likes to travel around the country.
"It's a way to be seen - talk to vejpare and get feedback. It means a lot" says Linus Gustafsson.
The 31 March the government is due to present its new draft law regulating nicotine pouches and prohibits all flavorings except for 'tobacco' in e-cigarettes and e-liquid. According to the government's investigation, the ban will hit small business owners hard, closer to 90% of all e-juices will be banned regardless of whether they contain nicotine or not. But the government thinks it's worth it to stop more people using e-cigarettes.
