Is the 30ml bottle on the endangered species list?

#1

Looking at what the Vape Shops are selling, I wonder if 60 ml & 120 ml bottles are now the “standard” rather than 30 ml & 60 ml?

10mL and 15mL are almost completely extinct in vape shops and 30mL is losing market share to the more economical sizes.

Then again, the trend could reverse itself with state-imposed taxes (often charged by the mL), and a possible future federal limitation on size (like the EU did).

Regardless, right now it looks like bigger is becoming better every day.

What are you seeing with your e-liquid brand or in your vape shop?

Please comment.

#2

I have customers who want smaller sizes to “test drive” a flavor but many want 60ml or larger like the 120ml @ $15 they find online.

It is getting harder to find brands I can carry at all, Oregon packaging laws make it near impossible to carry any brands my customers have asked for so they are going online or to the “head” shop that is not following the rules.

#3

Tell us more about how the Oregon packaging laws are affecting you.

#4

Oregon is getting bad. Anything with fruit or desert on the label or any cartoon or fictional character etc is a no go. so far I only knew it was in multnomah county but I am sure it is headed to all of Oregon eventually.
as for our shop, 30’s are definitely our biggest seller. 60mls sell but not anywhere near as fast. We are in small town Silverton though so I’m sure that’s a factor.

#5

My juice line (snobjuice) may be on the chopping block because of the snob smiley on our label even though it’s just a single lined circle with eyebrows and eyes. who knows what will happen next.

#6

By far 60mls are our best seller then 100mls, 120’s sell but very good. We have very few customers asking for 30’s. Our 60ml’s are $15 and we have a loyalty program where you buy 4 and the 5th is free. It is the same for the 120’s but we punch loyalty cards more for 60’s.

#7

Oregon law defines packaged in a manner attractive to minors as:
any package or label (outer or inner) that depicts cartoons, celebrities, fictitious characters, depicts people using the product, depicts food or beverage, resembles any product typically marketed to a minor or resembles any shape of any animal, commercially recognizable toy or candy.

Further defines cartoon as any drawing or other depiction of an object, person, animal or creature or similar caricature that uses exaggerated features, attribution of human characteristics to animals, plants or other objects or use of anthropomorphic technique or attribution of unnatural or extra-human abilities such as impervious to pain or injury, x-ray vision, tunneling at high speeds or transformation.

So basically words and colors are generally allowed. Multnomah County is enforcing it, I am unsure of all other counties but it is the law statewide. We are on the other side of the state but started following to rule as soon as we learned about it.

We have stayed away from cartoon labels in general but it is difficult finding brands that do not have pictures of food or beverage.

To add insult to injury, we have removed out our noncompliant brands and are replacing them with compliant ones but the local head shop is picking up the brands we have stopped carrying with no regard for the rules.

I have a picture of brochure Multnomah county is circulating but do not see an attach option.

#8

For the time being the 30ML is still the de facto standard. The larger sizes have been the trend for well over 18 months and the wild card is the intrusion of the TPD guidelines which may negate any and all larger sizes.

#9

We carried mainly 30ml’s for the longest time, but after adding two 60ml brands to our line up last month I can already see a shift where our customers are preferring the 60ml bottles. They don’t question the price as much on the larger bottle, either, which is nice.

#10

@erika97838 There’s no shame in reporting the head shop.

#11

Big thanks to @erika97838 for sending this along. It’s the brochure that describes Oregon’s labeling restrictions.

PS, to upload pictures and files to the forum, just click on the “Upload” button in the toolbar. It looks simply like an upward pointing arrow.

mult county brochure.jpg960x738 140 KB

#12

As far as we are aware this is not for all of Oregon…yet. I think that brochure was for Multnomah County. I may be wrong.

#13

Wow, that should wipe out about half of what a vape shop now sells in the eliquids.

#14

The law is for all of Oregon (ORS 431A.175, defined by authority rule OAR 333-015-0300 to 333-015-0375) but Oregon Health Authority(OHA) does not have a process in place to enforce at this time. (learned this through our lobbyist Monday, so much for getting my competitor to comply)

Multnomah County, with their retail licensing inspections is currently enforcing and put out the brochure that represents the law statewide. OHA is working toward statewide licensing that follows Multnomah county structure. While it does not appear to be being done yet, any local jurisdiction could enforce this law. Also the agencies that do the stings to ensure we are not selling to minors could enforce if they chose.

I hope this information is helpful, law took effect July 2016 and like you I was unaware for many months but have been working to comply since learning of it.

#15

Wonderful (sarcasm) did this info come from Matt Minihan?

#16

OHA not enforcing was shared to the Vape Advocacy Oregon group on facebook by Matt. The brochure was shared there also by somebody else.Oregon.gov has the published rules.

I agree with your sarcasm, these rules are over the top, makes it hard to do business when our customers want these items and can get them online easily but we are not supposed to sell them.

#17

indeed it does. as far as i’ve heard, Multnomah will be enforcing but nowhere else as of yet. Things are in the works with Matt so there may be good news on the horizon.

#18

Being in a small town we always have people coming in asking for the “cheapest juice” that we have. We ask them if they want the cheapest or best value. Our cheapest juice is our worst value and our most expensive bottle is our best value.

12.99 / 15ml = $0.866 per mL
29.99 / 120 ml = $0.249 per mL

Strangely enough we sell a bunch of the 15’s

#19

Do you break it down for them like that? That’s a compelling visual that certainly changed my mind.

Perhaps you can break it down by “hit” too?

#20

we do and people still pay the least amount possible