Flamingo Vape Shop set for grand opening

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This article was published 17/03/2018 (2783 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A few years after Brandon welcomed its first two full-fledged vapourizer retail outlets, Flamingo Vape Shop has entered the marketplace.

Joining Wheat City Vape Shop (1037 Rosser Ave.) and Fat Panda Vape Shop (601 18th St.), Flamingo Vape Shop (2637 Victoria Ave.) held a soft opening in December and is hosting a grand opening on April 7.

Although vapourizers, also called e-cigarettes, have been linked to adverse health impacts such as gum disease and cancer, they continue to be promoted as a healthier alternative to smoking.

Vapourizers are small battery-powered devices that heat up vape juice, which is inhaled by the user.

These juices come in a variety of flavours and nicotine levels (for those who opt for nicotine), and are made up of propylene glycol or vegetable glycerine, water and natural and artificial flavours.

Flamingo Vape Shop manager Dennise Davis said that a Royal College of Physicians report that estimated the adverse health impacts of vaping at approximately five per cent that of smoking is evidence enough for her to embrace the practice.

She had been trying to quit smoking since 1990, trying everything from nicotine patches to acupuncture, without success.

Then, she gave vaping a go almost four years ago.

“The vaping is tactile,” she said. “You also get the same feeling in your mouth as you did the cigarette, so it’s the whole sensory thing and you’re doing a psychological thing to your brain.”

During the past few years, she has eased back on the amount of nicotine she drips into her vapourizer, and now finds the nicotine flavours sickening.

While vapourizers still carry a health risk, she said that it’s a risk she’s willing to take, in that it’s better than the alternative, which for her is smoking cigarettes.

The first Flamingo Vape Shop opened in Winnipeg in June 2014.

The brainchild of business partners Vadim Andreyev and Igor Tchailkovsky, the shop opened out of their shared desire to help others enjoy vaping as they did.

In a written statement from the two, they wrote that early vaping devices were poorly built and lacked the power input to satiate users’ nicotine cravings.

One of their main goals in starting up was to help others quit smoking, as they had.

They called the shops “Flamingo” because they believe they represent a “calm, clean, stylish and relaxed atmosphere,” which they strive to establish in their retail spaces.

Davis echoed this sentiment, adding that their staff are a knowledgeable group eager to help people learn the ins and outs of vaping, and that they welcome visits, even if it’s just to chat.

Andreyev and Tchailkovsky have opened three Flamingo Vape Shop locations in Winnipeg, with their newly opened Brandon location their first outside of the province’s capital city.

Their Brandon location will serve as a bit of a test to help them determine whether to franchise out.

Davis said that a few months in, it appears as though they’ve already established that vaping wasn’t just a fad of a few years ago and appears to be here to stay.

Although cannabis can also be vapourized, Davis said that Flamingo Vape Shop is not currently poised to accommodate cannabis after its recreational use becomes legal this summer.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB