Local Conway smoke shops and UCA students say the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban on selling Reynolds American Vuse Alto menthol e-cigarettes has not negatively affected them.
According to the 2023 Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey from the FDA, over 2.1 million youth currently use e-cigarettes.
The most popular brands include disposable and cartridge-based products, with Elf Bar, Eso Bars and Vuse in the top three.
Caleb Mitchell, an employee at Kum & Go on Dave Ward, said Vuse pods are “very popular.”
He said the gas station sells “40 packs a day at least” and hasn’t heard anything about removing them.
Dalton Black, a Vapor World on Oak St employee, said the ban has affected the store “not much at all.”
He said Vapor World stopped selling “pretty quickly” after the ban went into effect and shipped them back to its warehouses in Dallas, Texas, and Rogers, Arkansas.
When customers complain, employees direct them to “something in the store that’s similar.”
“The few people that did come in and buy stuff like that are just going places like gas stations,” he said.
“They’re a hot commodity that everybody’s looking for right now,” Sasha Hughes, a manager at Mr. Smoke on Dave Ward, said. “I think the ban itself is causing them to be more popular than they were before.”
She said, “At the time that we had them, they weren’t moving. So we had stopped carrying them, and right now, everybody wants them because of the fact they had gotten banned.”
However, Hughes said customers are usually not disappointed because “they understand that not everybody’s gonna have the same stuff.”
Logan, a Vape City on Oak Street manager who declined to provide her last name, said, “We haven’t necessarily seen a decrease in the Vuse pods.”
She said, “Not a lot of people buy them here. They usually go to gas stations.”
Logan said since the FDA announced the ban, the store has not been told by its boss to remove them.
“I wonder if [the ban] is still kind of in limbo,” she said. “We haven’t been told anything.”
Sam, an employee of ZaZa Vape Shop on Oak St who declined to provide his last name, said the store still sells Vuse pods, which make up five percent of sales.
“The ban honestly doesn’t affect me,” Forrest Breshears, a senior majoring in theatre and minoring in film, said. “I know it might seem cliche, but I believe that others should find more therapeutic activities other than these products. The FDA announced that Vuse pods didn’t meet their standards. It should be that simple.”
He said meditation, medication and physical fitness “lead to less stress levels.”
Connor Tullos, a sophomore majoring in theatre and minoring in creative writing, said, “I think it’s an odd thing to ban for sure.”
“I understand the harm of nicotine products, and there is more than just one pod device on the market,” he said. “I don’t understand the target of specifically the Vuse because. From my understanding, it’s one of the more popular devices, though maybe that’s why they banned it.”