Shadi Mansour, owner of Glass Paper and Vapor on Wilmington Road, inspects some of his inventory. (Photo by Annabelle Chipps/News)

By Annabelle Chipps, New Castle News

Brian Willson claimed Fog Vapes was the only electronic cigarette store around when he bought it seven years ago.

Inside Willson’s Wilmington Road store are couches from days when vaping was a social activity for smoking hobbyists. The walls are decorated with art by Willson’s 4-year-old granddaughter and lined with discount books he wants to get rid of.

The owner keeps a guitar handy for slow business days, which he said are often now that there are nine other vape shops in and around New Castle.

In New Castle, five of the vape stores opened within the past year sporting bright signs, skill games, and pipes, bongs and other smoking accessories for sale.

Shadi Mansour, owner of Glass Paper and Vapor on Wilmington Road, thinks vape stores are multiplying because CBD regulations have loosened.

“It helped accelerate the need for people to sell it,” Mansour said. His store opened in 2018, the same year a federal farm bill legalized CBD variants, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Of the 10 local stores, Fog Vapes was the only one without bright, flashing lights or signs in the windows. It was also the only shop that did not sell CBD/hemp or additional psychoactive substances.

Willson emphasized that his store is not a smoke shop. It’s meant to help customers quit smoking. FDA regulators, the Associated Press reported last week, concluded a study by vaping brand JUUL showed e-cigarettes are less harmful for adults than traditional cigarette smoking.

“I feel better vaping at 61 than I did at 51 when smoking,” he said.

Mansour considers his store cannabis-oriented with a focus on local manufacturers of pipes and edible CBD products.

Vape stores must obtain licenses to sell cigarettes and CBD. On average, it takes less than three months to get everything approved.

Customers must be 21 and older, though some shops allow 18-year-olds to be in their stores — which sell soda, posters and keychains among other merchandise.

The consequence for selling nicotine to underage people is a fine under Pennsylvania law. Multiple offenses could shut down a business.

Annabelle Chipps is a recent graduate of Slippery Rock University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.