An e-cigarette store that specializes in custom-made flavored “e-juices” is now open in the 600 block of Main Street in Hellertown, where it offers customers a lounge area in which they can sample the products, relax and socialize with one another.
VapeMeister is an e-cigarette retailer located at 650 Main St., Hellertown. The store, which opened in May, will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, June 27 from noon to 9 p.m.
VapeMeister USA–which opened in the borough in May–is the second retail location for Christine Kreider, whose owns another store near the State Theatre in downtown Easton.
For those who are unfamiliar with the concepts of e-cigarettes and vaping, here is the definition from the Wikipedia entry for Electronic Cigarette:
An electronic cigarette (e-cig or e-cigarette), personal vaporizer (PV) or electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) is a battery-powered vaporizer that feels similar to tobacco smoking.[1] The user inhales an aerosol, commonly called vapor, rather than cigarette smoke.[2] E-cigarettes typically have a heating element that atomizes a liquid solution known as e-liquid.
Kreider explained that VapeMeister specializes in formulating dozens of e-liquids which flavor the vapor inhaled by an e-cigarette user. An e-liquid is a personal choice that can taste like anything from tobacco to pineapple to Apples Beignet or Boston Creme Pie, depending on the flavor extract that is used.
E-liquids sold by VapeMeister in Hellertown
Some of the e-liquids contain nicotine in varying amounts, but Kreider said up to 50 percent of VapeMeister’s customers purchase zero nicotine flavored e-liquids.
Many of them begin using an e-cigarette as a way of weaning themselves off traditional cigarette smoking, which some–including Kreider–believe is more harmful than vaping.
“They’re still doing studies to try to find something (harmful about e-cigarettes),” she said, adding that safety is very important to her, both as a business owner and a vaper herself.
Kreider stressed that the products she sells contain only propylene glycol, a propellant; vegetable glycerine, which is used to help distribute the flavor evenly; and the extracts that give each e-juice its flavor.
“My extracts are all pure extracts” manufactured to meet Department of Agriculture U.S. grade standards, she said.
The production of the e-liquids is being transferred over to a clean room in the Hellertown store from Easton, which is a smaller store that opened in April 2014.
Kreider first became interested in vaping when she gave up cigarette smoking after a bout with cancer five years ago.
With a professional background in both chemistry and nursing, she began to experiment with making her own flavored e-liquids. Eventually, with encouragement from her husband, she decided to start her own business with a partner, Tom Torcivia.
That business also includes a significant online retail component, which Kreider said “is getting bigger and bigger” as more people develop a taste for the vaping trend.
Although many of her customers are former smokers, others are taking up vaping simply to enjoy the myriad of flavors and the fun that comes from exhaling clouds of vapor.
VapeMeister Hellertown features a long, custom-built bar where customers can sample flavors of e-liquid.
Many of these hobbyists are young adults in their 20s and 30s who want someplace to hang out that isn’t a bar, she said.
And in Hellertown there aren’t many places that fit that bill.
With its warm decor and long, custom-built bar, VapeMeister is already becoming an attraction in the Hellertown area, manager Jeremy Onorato said.
Hellertown VapeMeister manager Jeremy Onorato
“Hellertown people really come in to see what it’s about,” he stated. “The people here are very friendly.”
Moreover, if they’re curious to know more about vaping, they’re not afraid to ask questions while maintaining an open mind, he said.
Kreider said she was initially attracted to the Main Street location because of the amount of traffic that passes by each day.
She likes the feeling of community in Hellertown, and how the institutions that exist in the area–such as the Saucon Valley Farmers’ Market–convey that, she said.
VapeMeister is a 2015 sponsor of the market, which is held weekly next to the Hellertown Area Library.
Kreider noted that visitors must be at least 18 to enter the store, and she said employees card guests if they appear to be underage.
Currently there is no legal requirement to do this, but ensuring that everyone who enters the store is an adult is the responsible thing to do, she said, adding, “I don’t want high school students in here.”
Alcohol is not served on the premises, but guests of legal drinking age can BYOB and food purchased elsewhere can be brought in and consumed on the premises.
There is also free wifi available, and the store features a state-of-the-art ventilation system.
Games like foosball and a Coke machine will be installed in the back room of the Hellertown store in the near future, Kreider noted.
VapeMeister Hellertown is open daily from noon to 9 p.m., except for Wednesdays when it is open from noon to 8 p.m.
On Saturday, June 27, VapeMeister in Hellertown will host a grand opening party from noon to 9 p.m.
The party will feature a cloud competition sponsored by Happy Juice Eliquids at 4 p.m. as well as food provided by Culinary Experience Catering.
In addition to their website, Twitter and Instagram, VapeMeister also has a Facebook page where Kreider said their sales and new products are often highlighted.
Future plans for the Hellertown store include installing a TV and possibly a juke box in the rear rec room.
VapeMeister Hellertown manager Jeremy Onorato vapes inside the store at 630 Main Street. Onorato, who lives in Lopatcong Township, N.J., said he’s been vaping for about eight years.
