Vapefest was the future once

Almost seven years ago, in August 2015, I attended Vapefest in Shropshire.

I wrote about it here and described the outdoor event as a "breath of fresh air".

Sadly the annual event, which attracted hundreds of ordinary vapers and had a really friendly atmosphere, hasn't taken place for years.

Instead there are commercial events – often in large but soulless exhibition halls – and industry forums attended by 'vaping executives, parliamentarians, healthcare practitioners, smoking cessation experts and academics'.

I mention this because in a tweet posted yesterday the organisation that represents the UK vaping industry emphasised that "vaping products should only be accessible to adult smokers looking to quit".

I understand why the UKVIA feels the need to make this statement – especially following the news that underage vaping is on the rise – but what does it say about vaping if the industry's own trade association says its products should only be accessible to adult smokers who want to quit?

It's hardly a ringing endorsement, is it, to suggest that non-smoking adults shouldn't vape? I'm not saying vaping products should be targeted at non-smoking adults but it's a bit like saying Diet Coke should only be accessible to people who want to quit the original (sugary) product.

It plays into the hands of public health campaigners who see e-cigarettes as nothing more than a quit smoking tool which is not the best way, in my opinion, to attract the millions of confirmed smokers (many of whom are social smokers) who don't want to quit.

In my view the best way to win that group over is to convince them that vaping is at least as pleasurable as smoking and does have a recreational aspect to it, just like smoking and drinking.

The issue is, when are some vaping advocates going to stand up and defend e-cigarettes as a relatively harmless product that, if used recreationally – even by some non-smokers – is not going to bring Western civilisation to its knees nor is it going to be a pathway to smoking tobacco.

Looking back I enjoyed my day at Vapefest because the consumer was king. There may have been some vaping executives present but there were no parliamentarians, healthcare practitioners, smoking cessation experts or academics.

The sun was shining, we were in a large showground just outside Shrewsbury and it felt like a lovely recreational day out. It didn't feel like an anti-smoking event and no-one was calling for smoking to be banned for good.

It was a quietly under-stated celebration of vaping and an opportunity for vapers to sample a wide variety of products and there wasn’t a suit in sight.

'Vapefest,' I wrote, 'is what I imagine it might be like holed up in a candy floss factory with fans of Black Sabbath.'

There's a place for industry forums, of course there is, but without the consumer playing a central role I fear for vaping.

Unfortunately several groups that began with a consumer focus have either disappeared or been taken over by anti-smoking campaigners.

Vapefest was the future once. A mini Glastonbury-style event for vapers (there was live music in the evening), I loved the informality and the consumer focus.

Above all I liked the fact that vaping was being enjoyed not as a quit smoking product like nicotine patches and gum but as a pleasurable recreational product in its own right.

Somehow, in the seven years since Vapefest 2015, that message seems to have got lost because vaping advocates are worried that it might alarm public health campaigners who are never, with the best will in the world, going to endorse the use of vaping products long-term.

Is that why the number of vapers in the UK has fallen and stalled around three million in recent years? I don't know but I'd hazard a guess it hasn't helped.

Below: Vapefest 2015, West Midlands Showground, Shrewsbury

Comments

[Pat Nurse]

This says to me that vaping is not as harmless as the industry keeps pushing it to be and also that making the issue about health and not choice means it is more of a quit smoking aid than a consumer pleasure.

Soon it will only be available as a prescribed alternative to smoking in the same way that methadone is an alternative to heroin use. I am sure the smokerphobic anti smoker industry would love that. It gives them a new product to make money from while pushing the idea that both smokers and vapers are "pathetic addicts."

What an idiotic industry vaping has become. 😂😂😂😂 If only they had listened to smokers from the start we could have pushed back this public hate campaign together. What a shame the vaping industry has shot itself in the foot by buying into it.

[Luc Van Daele]

1/3th of the vapers who did quit smoking completelty are accidental quitters who never had any intention to quit in the 1st place. Dual users should also be denied access to the product if they do not have the intention to quit completely. And those who did want to quit and succeeded; do they realy need to continue vaping forever if there is no real danger for relapsing?

"vaping products should only be accessible to adult smokers looking to quit"

Did UKVIA think this thru? The only realistic way to achief this is medicalised prescription vaping. How else can one distiguish between someone who vapes to stay off cigarettes or just because he likes it.

UKVIA is lobbying to dismiss more then half of it's clients immidiatly, and on the long run at least 95% of them! As a shop owner who wants to make a living one would say who needs enemies with a friend like this.

In the times of vape fest, vaping was under fire by the EU in the TPD2. At least 95% of the vapers (hint : at least 95% safer, but more likely 99% got it) were united under one message "vaping is not a medicine like gum or patches and should not not be regulated as such - vaping is an enjoyable consumer product similar to smoking but with the risk profile of coffee". The 5% remaining vapers who see vaping as a cure or replacement to their addiction took over in such aggresive way, there is no room left any longer for things like vape fest.

Vape fest did furfill an important role : if you ban flavours, it is dead easy to add your own, if you limit nicotine levels to absurdity, same deal. If you ban refillables and only allow sealed pod systems that need to be tamper proof, do not fool yourself, if it can be filled in a factory it can be filled at home as well or do you think 'tamper proof' inkjet catridges can not be refilled at home as well.

People who are tought to be self reliant can't be controlled, and that is unacceptable to those 5% vapers who jumped into bed with tobacco control to lick their asres clean. Result : vape fest had to die.

"Vaping products should only be accessible to adult smokers looking to quit". Be my guest, just give it try and vape fest will return whenever the need for it returns.