New vaping laws in effect

Southwest Florida stores that specialize in electronic cigarettes don’t expect business to go up in smoke.

New regulations from the Food and Drug Administration went into effect Monday on e-cigarette products that require manufacturers of the flavored liquids with nicotine to go through government application process, along with new labeling and tamper-proof packaging.

The new regulations also make it illegal to sell products or samples to minors, although Florida lawmakers made it illegal to sell e-cigarettes to anyone under 18 in 2014.

“We’ve always had childproof caps. We’ve always had labels,” said Mike Minichiello, owner of Vintage Joye Vapor Lounge near downtown Naples at 89 Ninth St. S.

He’s never sold a product to anyone under 18 and asks for identification, but most of his clients are 30 and older anyway.

That’s the same for Save on Vapor, at 1485 Pine Ridge Road, where minors may have tried to buy products a while ago, but word on the street is that identification is required, James Kennaugh, the store manager, said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requiring manufacturers of e-cigarette liquids for vaping and other products to submit applications and get approval, but the manufacturers have two years to submit the documentation, according to the rules.

There’s also a labeling requirement that warns the product contains nicotine, so Minichiello at Vintage Joye is using new boxes for his products. The FDA is requiring a certain lettering size for the warning that is too large for the bottle itself, so he is using boxes. He was busy Monday restocking his store with the new boxes.

“We knew the FDA was coming and regulating it,” he said. “We always have had a label that lists all the ingredients.”

He doesn’t anticipate the new requirements having an impact on his business because he has always used a well-known manufacturer for his e-liquid brand.

At Save on Vapor, Kennaugh said the new rules won’t impact business because his manufacturer for the products has been preparing for the changes. At the same time, there’s an expectation that the market application component may be eliminated before the two-year deadline rolls around.

“The immediate impacts are fairly muted,” he said. “(The ones) who don’t follow good manufacturing principles should not be in this business. I’m fine with that.”

He also doesn’t expect the FDA rules will cause prices to go up, but that could change when the government decides to impose new taxes.

“That is down the road,” he said.

Clients at Save on Vapor are typically 30 years old up to 65, and are smokers or tobacco users looking for smoking alternatives.

“It is extremely unusual to get someone under-age,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 18 million young people in middle and high school were exposed to e-cigarettes in 2014. That’s seven of every 10 students.

About 2.4 million students have used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days, and it has grown from a $6.4 million industry in 2011 to $115 million in 2014, according to the CDC.

A study published this month based on data collected among young people in North Carolina points out that nicotine dependence may develop rapidly among young people using e-cigarettes who normally are at low risk of smoking cigarettes.