Vaping Trends
Vaping technology continues to evolve, putting better quality products
in the hands of more consumers than ever before.
CASE IN POINT: Dr. Dabber recently partnered with Miamibased
artist AHOL Sniffs to design a limited-edition vape pen
with graffiti artwork, packaged in an authentic faux spray can,
as the first release in their new series of artist partnerships. The
new pen, the Dr. Dabber Aurora X AHOL Sniffs Glue, features
artwork printed in Biscayne Blue/White or Heat Red/Black
color schemes on the award-winning Aurora, a fully magnetic,
low-heat, variable voltage vaporizer pen.
Where else will vaping technology go next?
B2B Wholesaler asked those who know best -- a
panel of leading executives with their fingers on
the industry’s pulse. Here’s what they see coming:
COMPETITION A DRIVER: “The vaporizer industry has been
rapidly evolving over the past two years, as more states open
up and more people have access to medical marijuana,” says
Pantelis Ataliotis, President of Dr. Dabber, a vaporizer company
that has produced the first portable electronic rig.
Catering to such a diverse demographic is a challenging task,
he points out, “but healthy competition has been driving all
of us forward into creating more advanced products with
unique functions and features.”
Five years ago, vaporizers were still somewhat of a novelty, and
by no means considered a primary device by most smokers. Fastforward
to today: there is a huge portion of the market that relies
on a vaporizer as their preferred way to use cannabis.
“Our goal now,” notes Ataliotis, “is to create simple-to-use products that can easily be assimilated into everyday life, whether the consumer is a 21-year-old college student or a 75-year-old retiree.”
CONNECTED DEVICES: “Vapor technologies have come
a long way in the past few years,” says Arnaud Dumas de
Rauly, Chief Strategy Officer for The Blinc Group, a distribution-
centric vapor and cannabis incubator. “Much safer and
precise technologies like ceramic coils and convection have
emerged. We have seen a lot more innovation going on in
the past few months with the miniaturization of components,
along with the emerging extraction market.”
In addition, connected devices allowing for precise dosing, like
Enovap or Ryah, “are becoming more and more prevalent,” says
de Rauly, a renowned expert and advocate for the vaping industry,
the former President of the French Vapor Trade Association,
and the current treasurer of the Vapor Technology Association.
“One rule stays the same, though: always make sure you know
what you are going to put inside. Only then can you choose/
develop the right technology.”
HIGHER IQS: Sasha Kadey, Chief Marketing Officer at Greenlane,
a leading distributor of premium cannabis accessories
since 2005, suggests that the vaporizer market has advanced
rapidly over the past few years, and continues to do so at an
even faster pace.
“Consumers now have a higher vaporizer IQ and better understanding
of the products, so they are looking for more advanced
features,” Kadey points out. “On the closed-system side, we are
seeing people begin to move away from ‘cig-a-like’ pen-style
cartridge vaporizers towards more proprietary pod/cartridgebased
devices like PAX Era, Double Barrel and G Pen Gio.”
On the open system side, Kadey adds, “We are seeing an uptick
in smart, app-enabled vaporizers with higher and higher
levels of heating control and new advanced materials like the
ceramic-zirconia in the DaVinci IQ.”
QUALITY & FUNCTIONALITY: As consumption preferences
rapidly change, so do the vaporizers being brought to market.
According to Mike Bologna, CEO of Dipstick Vapes, a vaporizer
company that develops high-end, innovative products for
the ever-expanding market, there has been “an increase in both
quality and functionality for new vaporizer demands; non-differentiated
products can no longer stand out, and customers
are becoming increasingly discerning with their purchases.”
Vaporizer companies, Bologna adds, “can only succeed if
they match the market with reliable, well-made products for
a variety of consumption habits.” Dipstick Vapes created the
Dipper, a vapor tip atomizer that allows for dabbing without
a rig and torch, or any loading.
GENUINELY DIFFERENT: “Vaporizer consumers have long
moved past the lifecycle where (they) are willing to experiment
and gamble on less expansive or product that wasn’t thoughtfully
designed,” notes Richard Huang, co-founder of Cloudious9,
a high-tech vaporizer company that developed the first-ever
vaporizer with a built-in water-filtration system that allows the
user to burn or vaporize their product.
There was a time in this space, Huang recalls, when “anything
that produced smoke, even if it was through direct combustion,
was called a vaporizer. Consumers are very well educated today,
with a number of them providing great suggestions for our
products.”
Today, Huang continues, “We find just having a well-designed product is not enough anymore, as consumers want to be impressed. Long story short: vaporizer technologies have matured to the same degree as most consumer electronics, as consumers need to see something genuinely different about your product, and they needed to be wowed by the experience.”
BEAUTIFUL DESIGN: Michael Trzecieski, CEO of Vapium, a
Canadian vaporizer company focused on providing durable,
portable high-tech devices designed for outdoor use, suggests
that technology is moving from utilitarian operation to “a focus
on beautiful design and innovation – cleaner materials, technology
with connectivity and portability. We need to think about
development (in vapes) so they move seamlessly in the lives of
our customers -- both as lifestyle tools as well as delivery systems.”
AN EXPERIENCE: “Vaporizer technology and trends are evolving
as fast as phone technology,” believes Shauntel Ludwig, Vice
President of Operations for DaVinci, a popular dry-herb vaporizer
company with products that have high-tech features ranging
from precision temperature controls to state-of-the-art heating
methods, to increased battery life.
“Customers are demanding more than just a product, they want
an experience,” Ludwig continues. “Customers are asking for
more. Vaporizer companies are truly evolving to be technology
companies, and at DaVinci we strive to accomplish the impossible
and set the bar for innovation in our product offerings.”