Booming vape shops in South Florida brace for new rules
From: Miami Herald
Suddenly, vape shops are everywhere. Just about every strip mall in South Florida seems to have one offering assorted battery-powered tubes and an array of colorful bottles of liquid nicotine. Inside, customers puff out fleeting, white clouds of water vapor as they sample the latest flavors — hazelnut coffee, pineapple cheesecake, peanut butter cup or something called Miami vice.
But the booming vaping business is in for a shock. An industry that has operated essentially without rules faces a regulatory upheaval dubbed by some as the “vapocalypse.” After largely ignoring vaping for a decade, the federal Food and Drug Administration is set to roll out a finalized rule this summer that would treat e-cigs just like real cigs. The same mandates that require tobacco products to include health warnings and test ingredients will apply to electronic cigarettes, vaporizers and the liquid nicotine inside.