Hi, I'm Chelsea from the Vice office in Brooklyn.
Our colleagues at our China office took a look at the
vaping industry in their country. In this episode
they explore this lucrative market, and what the future
of vaping will look like. This is what we buy; ecigs.
This might look like a Friday night at a crappy Beijing nightclub,
but is actually the 2015
China vape expo in Shenzhen.
I walked in to find models showing vapes on the catwalk,
surrounded by guys with heavy cameras.
Pretty much what you'd expect from a Chinese trade show.
Vaporizers are a simple electronic product.
Nicotine oil, or e-juice goes into the vape
and the atomizer turns it into vapour while you inhale.
E-juice comes in all kinds of flavours, from
cake and mojito to chilli pepper flavour.
The expo is full of foreign brands, mainly American companies.
So I talked to some of them about today's vape market.
We have very high expectations for the Asian market
you know, Asia is sending us all the hardware
So, why don't we sell China a safe alternative of
American or European juices. And
The expectation is that we have a very good chance to
get a good chair in the Asian or Chinese market
We hear a lot about a growing market in Asia
I mean you have so many people smoking
This is the future of tobacco
The vaporizer market is already maturing in the U.S.
and an emerging one in China. The interesting thing is
China produces most of the world's vapes
and 90% of them
were manufactured in Shenzhen
I met up with Greg, the owner of NY Vape Shop
He lives in Shenzhen, where he oversees production
for his brand.
Amy is a factory owner, and a long term business
partner of Greg's. She is only 28,
but has already found her place
in the electronics industry.
We're purchasing on occa- like, during busy seasons
thousands of vaporizers
and they're able to produce it very quickly
So, the battery for example.
This is uhh-
This is for putting together the PCB fab
I mean this is very simple technology.
There are dozens of companies that'll sell
product for 80 dollars, or
60 dollars, or 50 dollars.
But it's all the same.
The only difference
is we're putting a different brand on it. We also distribute as well
but we focus more of our time
with our online business, compared to the big brands.
We sell them at a much more affordable price
for the consumer.
It's still really hot
back in the States,
people are still buying. Just the problem is the
vaporizer shops just have way too much inventory
to be able to sell so much.
These don't have enough foot-traffic to be able to sell
a lot, keep buying.
Supporters of vaping say it's not bad for you,
but how true is that?
I met with Dr. Zhang Shunan to find out.
In busy areas like Beijing's [inaudible],
more and more vape stores are popping up
Even if vaping might not help me quit smoking,
I still wanted to see what kind of fun you could have with vapes.
So I went to check out Lee vape shop
The way I see it, vaping is just a substitute for smoking.
Sellers might claim it can help you quit smoking,
but it seems more likely a marketing trick
It seems ironic that Chinese made vapes.
get exported around the world, and then come back to
China; marketed as part of foreign vaping culture.