Disposables took center stage during the second annual vapor trade show in the Middle East.
VV Staff Report
It was a big show. Held June 16–18, 2022, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the World Vape Show (WVS) Dubai 2022 brought together more than 250 exhibitors representing some of the leading suppliers and manufacturers in the vaping industry, showcasing thousands of global brands in the fast-growing Middle East market. Combined, exhibitors and visitors represented approximately 66 countries, according to WVS staff.
Numerous exhibitors said that sales exceeded expectations. Dimitrius Agrafiotis, executive director of the Tennessee Smoke Free Association and the owner of several vape shops in Greece, was at the show representing Innokin, a China-based hardware manufacturer. He told Vapor Voice that the Innokin show stand seemed to stay full of prospective buyers and that new products, like the company’s disposable Lola, a water-based vaping product (see “Trouble the Water,” page 24), were selling very well. The company’s Klypse system also won an award for the best new pod system.
“We haven’t had much time to stand around,” he said. “The Aquios system vapes are doing well and our new Klypse system is really turning heads. [The show] is definitely a lot bigger than last year in both terms of exhibitors and visitors.”
Phil Bruno, international sales manager for California-based Streamline Group, the manufacturer of the Juice Head brand, agreed that the show was a major success. “We are so thrilled to have exhibited at the World Vape Show in Dubai. The experience was outstanding, and we were able to connect with many potential customers,” said Bruno in an email. “It was an absolute pleasure meeting everyone and representing Juice Head in Dubai. We look forward to future events in the Middle East and other countries as well.”
By far the most popular products being hawked by vendors at WVS Dubai were disposables. During a seminar session on the impact of disposable products, Omar Fdawi, owner of Xtra Disposable Vape, said that disposals are great for a customer who’s looking to quit smoking because the transition from smoking is comparatively easy. However, he also noted that the long-term effects of disposables and their environmental impact should be considered.
“As a gateway, in order to quit smoking, it’s a fantastic method,” he said. Disposables have a shallower learning curve than larger, more complex devices. In an ideal situation, however, consumers would then quickly move on to nondisposable devices, such as closed pod systems, with a lower environmental footprint, according to Fdawi.
Todd Jiang, sales director for international business at Zinwi Biotech, a China-based e-liquid manufacturer, said the WVS Dubai brought a variety of visitors, and many were searching only for disposable products. He expects regulators to put into place rules for disposable products soon.
“For instance, the U.K.; I guess the regulators already put this through and they want to establish some new rules or standard regulations for disposable products,” he explained. “It will happen in maybe one or two years, even quicker. But [in Dubai], I think it depends on how this market will grow and how the regulators will step into this industry. The environmental impact of disposables is a serious concern.”
Coco Li, founder of Elf Bar, one of the largest disposable product manufacturers, said that her company, too, is really concerned about the environmental issues surrounding disposables. “We’re going to have a recycle plan in the U.K. maybe from the beginning of July,” she said. “We are going to have this marketing campaign in the U.K. and also in Russia, Malaysia [and other countries] where we will have recycling bins. There is another way too. We can find results from technical ways. Our research team and the technical team are doing a lot of research into finding different ways to solve this problem.”
In addition to worrying about the environmental impact of disposable products, many show attendees said they were concerned about the growing youth use of disposable products. Atif Amin, marketing manager for the My Vapery chain of vape shops, said his company has been training and educating its staff on the strict rules designed to prevent underage vaping.
“If you suspect that the individual that’s coming to purchase is underage, ensure that you check the required identification,” he said. “Beyond that, as a retailer, it’s pretty much as much [as] we can do. If someone else is purchasing the product on behalf of a minor … that’s out of our hands. We do our due diligence and do our best and train our staff to ensure that they’re following all the regulations. And if they’re seen not to be following the regulations, we obviously have to monitor that and deal with that situation accordingly.”
In the end, most manufacturers at WVS Dubai said it all comes down to the design of the product itself. John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) who moderated the disposables seminar, said that using technology like biometrics could help curb youth use, and technology could also help find a solution to the environmental impact of disposables.
Dunne stressed the importance of involving all manufacturers in the discussion on how to dispose of products. The UKVIA, he said, had been talking to Elf Bar and other manufacturers about the possibility of dismantling products at the end of their lifecycle and shipping them back to China for reuse in new vaping products.
“We need to be looking at all of these different options and how we can, as an industry, work together to do it,” said Dunne. “Because it can’t be done by a single retailer. It can’t be done by a single brand on their own. Because even if you have a national recycling program, who’s going to pay for that? Is it the government? Probably not. If it’s the manufacturers? Well, how do you proportion that? Some manufacturers are very big. Some manufacturers are very small. These are all of the challenges that we’ve faced in the U.K. when we’ve looked at the problem. And I’m sure the UAE is no different. But I think what’s important is [that] we have to start talking about it. Because if we don’t, the regulators certainly will.”
The next WVS event will be held in the U.K. at the ExCeL exhibition center in London from Dec. 1–2, 2022.
This article first appeared in Vapor Voice 3, 2022.
