Smoke-Free Ontario Act, what’s changed?

On October 17^th, 2018, the new version of Smoke-Free Ontario and its regulations came into force. For our customers, nothing truly earth-shattering comes with it. You can still sample flavours, see our products, and have us set them up for you. Sadly, there are a couple of caveats, but we’ll get to that.

The reason can still operate in this capacity is because with the introduction of the act, we are now able to be officially considered a “Specialty Vape Shop.” That’s cool, right? We think so. To obtain and keep this designation however, there are conditions that have to be met. A couple of them have nothing to do with you, so we’ll skip over those ones, but here are the major ones that have the biggest impact on you (and our staff unfortunately)

1. Minors (younger than age 19) shall not be permitted to enter the establishment, other than the store owner, employees, or a support person accompanying a person with a disability who is at least 19 years old.

2. Under the regulation, activating an electronic cigarette (i.e., turning it “on”) in a registered specialty vape store is permitted, if the following conditions are met:

• Activation is for the purpose of testing the electronic cigarette or demonstrating to customers how the device can be activated.
• No vapour is inhaled or exhaled from the activated electronic cigarette.

3. Under the regulation, using an electronic cigarette (including inhaling and exhaling vapour from an electronic cigarette) in a registered specialty vape store is permitted, if the following conditions are met:

• Use is for the purpose of sampling a vapour product.
• No more than two persons may sample a vapour product at the same time.
• Specialty vape stores must provide fresh, one-time use disposable mouthpieces for sampling, unless the electronic cigarette is the personal possession of the person holding it.
• The electronic cigarette must not contain cannabis, tobacco, (e.g., Heat-Not-Burn tobacco products), or a controlled substance.

Pretty straightforward, yeah? If not, we’ll simplify it for you.

People under 19 can’t be in the store; this means that if you have a toddler with you, they can’t come in. If you look under 25, we have to ask you for ID immediately, and if you can’t produce it… well, you can’t be in the store either. We’re not trying to kick people out of the store, that’s just not what we’re about. The argument that you can bring your kids with you into the liquor store comes to mind, but we’re not the liquor store, and this is the law now.

You can’t use your own device in the store anymore, but if it makes you feel any better, neither can we. The one and only exception to vaping in the store is for the purpose of sampling flavours, unfortunately it comes with a catch: only 2 people at a time. We’d really appreciate your patience with this during busier times, as now you’ll have to wait in line to sample things.