I loved electronic cigarettes since the first day I got my Blu Cig in the mail. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before, and hit me like a ton of bricks when it felt just like the real thing... only better. But the Blu had problems, tiny battery = crap life and the same was true for the cartridges. I went looking for more. Little did I know, there was an entire ecosystem devoted to the use and furtherment of these things called PVs (personal vaporizers). I found out the industry was still very young. I found out there were tons of mom and pop e-commerce stores all over the net. I found out I could do it better than them. My new mission involved me trying out different types for myself, reading forums and blogs on the subject, keeping up to date with what was popular, and what was proven. Quite a bit of time and money was spent in the first couple weeks. Was I sure anything would come of it? No, but I had an itch that had to be scratched. My search led me to Volcano, a very popular brand, whom was still in it's early growth stage (where we are now). They had just come out with a product called the "Magma" and I was sold. The Magma was a 510 style e-cigarette (if you don't know what that is, no big deal) and it was a monster. Looking into the 510 more educated me on how popular this style actually was... extremely.
Off I went, calling my mentor and asking questions about manufacturing (his family owned a plant in India) and how to find the one I wanted to use. He pointed me to online (duh) sources of information where I could find TONS of manufacturers and contact them directly. I started with one, talked to five, moved to another, got samples, decided against, and went back to the original in about a months time all while working out other details of the business infrastructure. I'm glad I chose to go back to our first, it has become the Smōk Cig you see today.
It has been a lot of work dealing with the manufacturer as there are tons of quirks to have to learn. Shipping, customs, United States regulatory, MOQs, and design all play a part, not to mention trying to keep up with the FDA...