Most vape products are about to become illegal in Pennsylvania

Chris McGrath spends a lot of time thinking about his future.

A former heavy smoker diagnosed with COPD, McGrath switched to vape products and then began selling them to others in the hopes he could encourage more people to quit the habit. His two stores each sell approximately 500 products, including his own line of liquids.

In a little more than two weeks, almost all of those products — including his line — will become illegal to sell in the state of Pennsylvania because of a new law and what he calls government inaction.

Back in December, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed Act 57, which gave Attorney General Dave Sunday control over which electronic nicotine products could be sold in the state. It was an effort by lawmakers to crack down on sales of nicotine products to minors.

Manufacturers had to apply to be on the approved list and pay thousands of dollars in fees for approval. The list was supposed to be released in June.

Sunday’s staff put out an empty list. No one had gotten approval.

Since then, six of the 28 manufacturers that have applied have gotten the green light, including JUUL, which has long been accused of marketing products to teenagers and had to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines to settle investigations into the company.

McGrath’s store only sells one of the six brands, known as Naked 100. It occupies two shelves in his store. The device consumers need to use that brand has not received approval. The remaining shelves are filled with products that are still on the state’s “pending” list.

“It’s two weeks ‘til, and I still have no idea how to run my business. How’s that fair?” he asked. “Especially since I’m going to lose enough to buy a house.”

Across town, Gina Kipp faces the same problem in her three Cool Vapes stores, which she has run for the past 14 years. Naked 100 is also the only product in her store that’s approved by the state.

Kipp said she pays the state between $20,000 and $40,000 per month in taxes. In addition to the money she will lose by destroying any remaining unapproved merchandise, she will also lose the taxes she has already paid for that product.

Pennsylvania makes approximately $140 million per year in taxes on “other tobacco products,” including e-cigarettes, which are taxed at 40%. The state collects more than $600 million per year on traditional cigarettes.

On Friday, Kipp’s customers fretted about their inability to obtain their preferred products. Some said they may go back to smoking, while others said they would have to go back to tearing apart JUUL devices to get to the components needed to build and maintain their own vaping pods for their current supply.

“Our goal is to stay open as long as we possibly can, hoping the government will see that they made a mistake in trying to regulate the vapes without being prepared to regulate the vapes,” Kipp said.

WPXI reached out to Sunday’s team to ask why approvals were taking so long, as far back as July, and twice were sent non-answers.

On Friday, the team finally provided context.

“Many applications have required follow-up and supplemental information to be requested. We cannot predict when those companies will submit the information required for their approval to be listed on the directory,” a spokesperson wrote.

The team did not provide additional details, including how many of the currently pending applications for approval were considered incomplete.

The approximately 300 vape stores that remain in Pennsylvania have until October 18 to get rid of unapproved products. After that date, they face a $500 fine for each unapproved product that remains on their shelves. The ban also affects online retailers and any out-of-state store shipping to a Pennsylvania address.

“We feel like we’re trying to win a battle we can’t,” Kipp said.

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