2016 - The true vaping explosion

[Schnappie]

What a year this has been for vaping! I may sound like the stereotypical reminiscing type now but since I joined the forum a year back I stand amazed just at how much has happened this year.

Firstly we have had an explosion in juice vendors and mixologists. Dare I say the market has been flooded but in a good way for discerning vapers like us. Some wonderful juice makers popped up and upped the ante so much that imported juices have taken the backseat. Because of my memory I am not going to name anyone in this thread but feel free to mention any highlights that stood out for you personally.

Secondly is the massive amount of vendors opening brick and mortar shops, and even branching out! A year ago I would have thought it impossible but now we are spoilt to visit shops, try juices, get advice and even have help with wicking and building coils. The love is being spread like never before!

Thirdly, the introduction and evolution of ceramic tanks. Wow this has been met with a lot of scepticism and health fears when it was first introduced in the local market. Thanks to @Rob Fisher we were spared a lot of trial and error. But still had to pay for a lot of growing pains as a lot of us had to discard coils and even tanks. It seems to now have been perfected in the form of the estoc and cerabis 44/45. So I can now safely recommend this to anyone.

A last few quick points is the evolution of tanks and mods in general. Wattage monster commercial tanks, topfill became standard on most new tanks, squonking became accessible for us with strained budgets and ofcourse vaping hate also reared its ugly head in the media quite a bit.

I think this has been a fantastic and adventureous year for vaping and misreable for some of our pockets, I cant wait to see what 2017 has in store for us. Live long and vape on!

 

[Lord Vetinari]

Pompous Pom blasting the internationals straight out the water twice in the last quarter... yup things have gone next-level in S.A and it is fantastic. Imports are so 2015 lol. In my first year vaping it felt like watching 10 years of evolution. Exciting stuff indeed.

 

[Stosta]

As it is of particular interest to me atm I'm also amazed at the sudden shift away from 22mm tanks and RDAs.

This time last year you wouldnt have easily found anything over 22mm, now all of a sudden, it's almost beginning to lean in the other direction.

 

[Rob Fisher]

Yip there is no doubt that 2016 was the year vaping went MAINSTREAM! I fear 2017 will be the year big business starts seeing the light and getting involved which I don't see as a good thing. We have had 3 years of being on the lunatic fringe and that is always the exciting place to be with new and disruptive technology.

2017 will be the year that Vendors will need to differentiate themselves from the common and garden variety! Service, knowledge, selection and being different will be the keywords for sucess.

 

[Schnappie]

As it is of particular interest to me atm I'm also amazed at the sudden shift away from 22mm tanks and RDAs.

This time last year you wouldnt have easily found anything over 22mm, now all of a sudden, it's almost beginning to lean in the other direction.

Thats true, to accomodate easier building or massive wattage stock coils. Also seen a lot of "mini" versions of different tanks introduced

 

[Schnappie]

Yip there is no doubt that 2016 was the year vaping went MAINSTREAM! I fear 2017 will be the year big business starts seeing the light and getting involved which I don't see as a good thing. We have had 3 years of being on the lunatic fringe and that is always the exciting place to be with new and disruptive technology.

2017 will be the year that Vendors will need to differentiate themselves from the common and garden variety! Service, knowledge, selection and being different will be the keywords for sucess.

All we can do is just stand together as a community, especially if big guys try to control prices or retail like with the Kangertech SA debacle

 

[Rob Fisher]

All we can do is just stand together as a community, especially if big guys try to control prices or retail like with the Kangertech SA debacle

The big guys I refer to are going to be the Game, Dions and Pick n Pay's of the world... they are gonna cut margins and service levels... not good for the REAL Vape Shops!

 

[Schnappie]

The big guys I refer to are going to be the Game, Dions and Pick n Pay's of the world... they are gonna cut margins and service levels... not good for the REAL Vape Shops!

I see what you mean. I really hope it doesnt come to that

 

[Duffie12]

The big guys I refer to are going to be the Game, Dions and Pick n Pay's of the world... they are gonna cut margins and service levels... not good for the REAL Vape Shops!

The way I see it, as with many passtimes/hobbies etc. you'll always have the mainstream "casual" users and then the enthusiasts. Twisp already has the casual market covered and Game, Dions etc. coming into the fray will most likely hurt Twisp, though might be good overall in bringing prices down and perhaps through competition quality will improve.

Enthusiaists, which are usually the minority, will always have their space. Rebuildable devices, sub-ohm, squonkers, managing batteries etc. will likely always be the domain of real vape shops and enthusiast vapers. Same with complex premium juices.

I might be wrong but it seems like this is the normal evolution for most hobbies.

 

[Igno]

I highly doubt Game or Checkers will be stocking Mechanical mods and Drippers so in my case, I know I will definitely still be supporting the vendors who made vaping possible for all of us.

I'm also seeing a rise in popularity for mechanical mods and drippers so that's pretty exciting as well.

 

[Stosta]

I just can't wait to see what comes out in 2017! I have it in mind to save my bonus to up my vape budget every month, but somehow I think I might just try blow it all in January, and spend the rest of the year eating tons of jelly.

 

[Schnappie]

I just can't wait to see what comes out in 2017! I have it in mind to save my bonus to up my vape budget every month, but somehow I think I might just try blow it all in January, and spend the rest of the year eating tons of jelly.

Same here, i felt like I have my sweet spot now of tanks for fruity menthols and one for desserts, but something always comes around and makes u sweat with fomo. Aint anything wrong with jelly, you can add some instant made custard on weekends for a treat

 

[RichJB]

I see what you mean. I really hope it doesnt come to that

It's an inevitable part of something becoming mainstream. I agree with @Duffie12 on this. I don't think there is a "vaping community" but rather two distinct mainstream and enthusiast components. The enthusiast side of it is way too expensive and technical for it to ever become mainstream so it will always be a minority activity.

The mainstream side will probably be dominated by big tobacco and big pharma initially but there's no reason why other corporate players can't become involved. What is to stop Sony or Apple or Samsung from making mods and tanks? What is to stop Tiger Brands or SAB from making their own juice lines? Until now, they have probably avoided it because the customer base wasn't large enough to warrant investment. But as more people transition from smoking to vaping, the larger companies will become more interested. They will also come in at a price point that is more accessible to the mainstream.

I think the big players entering the market will hurt the specialist vape shops in items like starter kits, cheaper juice lines, batteries, chargers, stock coils. They will also probably expand over time to semi-enthusiast (or high end mainstream if you prefer) things like multi-cell regulated mods and sub-ohm tanks. But the likes of Game will never stock stabilised wood or mech mods, rebuildable atties, coiling kits, DIY ingredients and suchlike. Although Takealot might. Exciting times.

 

[Hardtail1969]

The big guys I refer to are going to be the Game, Dions and Pick n Pay's of the world... they are gonna cut margins and service levels... not good for the REAL Vape Shops!

Well, my local PNP family store, already stocks the twisp lineup at their cigarette counter... not much in the way of juices though, and the prices are STEEP...
And as for the juices they do have, most are twisp, with one or two of the chinese brands on display.