Vape shops thrived even in the age of Amazon, but now they face an uncertain future amid worries over teen vaping and a mysterious lung ailment.
Public health advocates have been critical of the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating e-cigarettes. They say the agency’s decision to allow some products to remain on the market pending authorization has harmed consumers. Warehouses surrounding the Cool Clouds headquarters are packed with boxes of the devices, filling the air with a faint cotton-candy aroma. Posters on the wall inside advertise that Puff Bar, “LA’s favorite disposable device,” is “Sold Here.” A warehouse down the street used by GG Distribution, one of Puff Bar’s distributors, is painted black with Puff Bar’s white cloud logo.
“Kids’ attitudes and behaviors can evolve very quickly,” Gottlieb said in an interview. “So if youth use of e-cigarettes is shifting toward disposable products, that can happen quickly and basically evolve to epidemic use of these products before regulators spot it.”