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Youngstown Vapes tries to offer alternative to smoking
AUSTINTOWN
Two Austintown natives, after spending years working in Las Vegas, are trying to bring a trend from the West back to their hometown.
Chris Posterli and Chad Lewis started Youngstown Vapes just two weeks ago and are trying to slowly introduce the idea of “vaping,” using a vaporizing pipe to heat flavored liquids that may or may not contain nicotine, to the Valley. The “smoke” that comes out of the vaporizer is simply water vapor.
“We probably spend about 20 minutes explaining it to each of the customers,” Posterli said.
The flavored liquids can have varying amounts of nicotine and a number of different flavors, including some that resemble tobacco and others such as vanilla, butterscotch or fruity lemonade.
“This trend just hasn’t been moving fast enough from the West to the East,” Posterli said.
The product works by using a coil heated by a battery to flash boil the flavored liquids, Lewis said.
Most people in the Valley are probably more familiar with the e-cigarettes sold by a number of tobacco shops that operate on the same premise but have no smell and look like a cigarette.
“We look at this as a way to help people quit smoking,” Lewis said. “My father died of lung cancer.”
Posterli said he got involved in vaping as a way to quit smoking.
“I never liked the smell of tobacco,” he said.
The vapor smells good and won’t harm the person breathing it in or anyone nearby, Posterli said.
The transition for people moving from smoking to using the vaporizers can be relatively inexpensive with starter kits costing $35 and flavored liquids costing $12.99, which is enough to last two weeks for someone with a pack-a-day smoking habit.
Vaporizing also can turn into an expensive hobby with Posterli’s personal vaporizer costing $180, he said.
Posterli became interested in the product as a way to quit smoking. When he uses his vaporizer, there is either no nicotine or the smallest amount. In fact, the two prefer to use the term vaping to differentiate the product from cigarettes, or the marijuana pipes some of the vaping machines resemble.
“There is no tobacco or marijuana involved,” Lewis said.
The goal when people come to the store is to educate them about the product and then let them try all the various flavors without nicotine, Lewis said.
The business also has a small lounge area where people can try the products they have purchased, he said.
“It’s not a place for people to come hang out and watch football, but it is a place for people to talk about vaping,” Lewis said.
There are those who are proposing legislation to regulate these products because they are not regulated in most states. There has been talk of regulating their online sale.
In addition, at least three cities in California have banned the use of the vaporizers in public areas.
Though the health risks of e-cigarettes, including the vaporizers, are still being studied, the liquids used in the devices contain more than two dozen chemicals that are on a federal list of harmful or potentially harmful substances, said Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Los Angeles has banned using the vaporizers in public.
Oklahoma is also considering a law that would ban their sale to minors. New York City is considering adding the items to their smoking ban.
The legislation in New York is sponsored by Speaker Christine Quinn and Council member James Gennaro. They say allowing e-cigarettes in places where tobacco cigarettes are banned threatens “effective enforcement” of the smoking ban because they’re designed to look like real cigarettes.
Both Posterli and Lewis admitted that in some forms it is challenging to tell the difference between the vaporizers and cigarettes.
But they said they believe the issue is primarily a lack of education, and government should support efforts to get people to quit smoking.
This is a safer option than smoking, Lewis said.
The shop opened Dec. 9 at 1502 Raccoon Road, Suite 3.
Both Posterli and Lewis will for a time commute back and forth from Las Vegas to the Austintown store, although their hope is that the store will be successful and they will be able to move back to the area full time.
Associated Press reports contributed to this story.