News Center 7's Monica Castro said most businesses did not want to speak about the ban because it hurts their bottom line. But one shop showed all the products that had to be pulled from their shelves.
“Of course we are not selling these, they are not for sale,” Robie Ahmed said of the products they had to remove from store shelves after a nationwide ban went into effect last week on fruit and min flavored cartridges or pre-filled vaping pod devices.
“It’s really hurting a lot. Of course, we don’t have customers anymore for the systems,” he said.
A package of flavoring runs between $14 and $15.
“We had to throw away a lot of inventory, a lot of inventory,” Ahmed said.
But the flavoring ban does not apply to menthol and tobacco-flavored products. Also, the FDA ban said nothing about disposable e-cigarettes.
“We have a lot of disposables, no issues with those,” Ahmed said.
The FDA’s top tobacco regulator said it can still go after any vaping product that appeals to teenagers.
Ahmed said he thinks disposable products like Puff Bar and Stig and Fog could be next.
While bans hurt his business and the vaping industry, Ahmed said he doesn’t want to see these products get into the wrong hands.
“We appreciate what they are doing, the main thing we have to save people’s lives,” he said.
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