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Local vape shops fume over potential FDA regulation
Some blame Big Tobaccos influence, credit new habit with breaking smoking addiction
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Russell Ouellette, the owner of Russell’s Vape Lounge, adds a specific amount of nicotine to an e-juice Friday at his store on Dawsonville Highway in Gainesville. Ouellette adds the custom amount of flavor and nicotine each customer requests to the e-juice. - photo by Erin O. Smith
No longer are paper-rolled cigarettes — the tar-producing kind with tobacco and chemicals mixed into a potent, carcinogenic blend — the flavor of the week. Liquid nicotine, heated with a battery-powered device that produces vapor to inhale, is the new smoker chic. According to Wells Fargo estimates, personal vaporizers, e-cigarettes and their accessories are a $3.5 billion industry, and could grow to as much as $10 billion over the next two or three years.