Inside the Fast-Growing Vaporizer Market: Q&A With Vipvape Founder Raphael Pepi
Q: Why is there a shift toward vapor products? Why do you think cannabis users are attracted to vape pens?
A: I see a lot of people viewing concentrates as the next big wave because of the ease of distribution.
They are much easier to manage, and you can really manage how much you are taking in with the vapor devices.
Also, there’s always been an interest in healthier living with the cannabis crowd. Doctors want patients to switch over from smoking to vaporizing because you get fewer tars and chemicals. I always told my doctor that I was vaporizing and had been doing so for 10 years, and he was encouraging to that aspect. It eliminates a lot of the argument from the detractors of cannabis who say it’s unhealthy.
There’s also the discretionary side of it. When we were designing it, we shied away from the big glass bowls that some vaporizers have. We wanted to present a product that looked slick, like an e-cigarette. It’s something that moms at the park could use if they wanted a toke.
Q: How does your product operate within current medical marijuana regulations?
A: We are still considered an e-cigarette, so we are governed by the laws related to that market. From a hardware and tech side, we’re a product that works with generic essential oils, not just cannabis, so from a sales and distribution standpoint we can sell them wherever.
We pay import taxes to bring them in [from China], that is really it. We make hardware. What the consumer chooses to use that hardware for is completely up to them.
