To say that it's an interesting time for the vape industry is an understatement. There are a lot of unknowns floating in the air: When will these flavor bans go into effect? How long before we lose access to disposable vapes altogether?
Well... Labor Day. That's the answer, at least for that first question... at least for Wisconsin.
Yes, Wisconsin legislators have locked down a date to ban their non-FDA approved vape products: Labor Day.
The official ruling was filed in June, but since then, WISCOFAST threw a lawsuit in the face of the state in federal court, deciding to challenge the ruling. A hearing occurred on August 1st and, apparently, a judge is still currently reviewing the suit. The goal, they said, was to make a solid decision before Labor Day 2025, September 1st, when the ruling has been scheduled to go into effect.
While the good news is, you're not exactly losing access to your disposables. But many would argue this is the beginning stages of a complete ban of vaping products altogether.
But that's where it gets tricky.
Ignite Dispensary's spokesperson Tim Frey said that this ruling would be detrimental. According to him, when (if?) this goes into effect, he'll have to pull everything from his stores. Otherwise, he's looking at thousands of dollars worth of fines per day if he doesn't get rid of products not listed on Wisconsin's official registry.
So if this goes into effect, this very well could have a severe impact on the state of Wisconsin for those who vape and sell vapes.
What worries a lot of people in the industry is the potential that this is only the beginning. Talks of banning vape products is nothing new and with big tobacco with their hands in the cookie jar, it may happen sooner than we realize.