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As the vape market continues to grow and flourish, with the expectancy to reach over $22 billion by the end of 2022, it is only natural that fake and poor-quality products start to pop up among the safe and reliable ones. However, while a fake designer bag isn’t very likely to cause anyone serious harm, counterfeit vape products can pose a huge risk to the health of those who use them.
Luckily, there are several easy ways to spot the items every vaper should better stay away from. It’s vital that no matter what you’re purchasing, be it one hitters or just cartridges, you should always buy from trustworthy sellers.
How to differentiate between the two? The customers can get safe vape products by following a few other simple rules. For instance, prices that are suspiciously low should make an alarm go off in your head, as should products with no serial numbers or the ones that don’t pass the “stress” test.
Continue reading the article below to learn more about methods that will help you avoid falling prey to vape fakes.
Inadequate Packaging
When it comes to how vape products should be packaged, manufacturers should follow a series of strict regulations. Therefore, the packaging is one of the first things you need to pay attention to, whether you’re used to ordering your goodies online or you frequent traditional vape stores.
A suspiciously looking packaging indicates that you either should stay away from a certain brand or refrain from making a purchase until you’ve done more research about the particular product and the company behind it.
Remember that all packages should come with a clearly visible manufacturing date, as well as a packaging date, a lot number, and a batch number. On top of that, packages on vape products cannot look appealing to children – therefore, they can’t show any cartoon characters or images that are usually used for advertising to children.
Furthermore, you shouldn’t find any medical claims on the packaging. Most of these rules adhere to products sold in the U.S., but if you apply them when shopping for vapes in other countries, you’ll be much more likely to buy safe and trustworthy items that won’t do your health any harm.
Suspiciously Low Prices
If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is, and while this old saying isn’t always 100% true, it usually checks out when it comes to vape products. Therefore, comparing different prices is another excellent way to check whether the item you’re interested in is worth the hassle.
Let’s say that you find a great deal on a vape pen that looks like it should cost at least $50, but someone is selling it for $10, yet the description lists all the good (and pricy) things about it. This should be suspicious enough to stop you from typing in your credit card info. After all, it doesn’t really make sense for any company to sell expensive items and lose money for your gain unless it’s a sale that they run regularly and you’ve shopped from them before.
Bear in mind that while competitive pricing is perfectly fine, prices that are far lower than in any other store are not worth taking the risk.
Stress Test
If you purchase a non-disposable vaporizer but aren’t quite sure whether it’s a safe and legitimate product, you can stress test it. Stress testing your vape means charging the battery to 100%, turning the temperature up to the maximum, turning it on, and leaving it this way until the battery runs out. It’s essential not to use the vape when performing the test.
When your battery drains, you’ll want to observe it carefully and look for certain issues. For instance, it may start giving off a strong chemical smell. While it’s fine for the first few minutes, a smell that isn’t gone after 30 minutes is a sign that there may be something wrong with your device, and you definitely shouldn’t vape and inhale the chemicals.
Then, you can also check the battery life that’s advertised on the packaging. If the battery drains suspiciously fast, this may mean that your vape was produced in the cheapest way possible and with a low-quality battery that discharges too fast or can get overheated or even explode.
On top of that, every vape should have a unique serial number. If you haven’t purchased your vape straight from the manufacturer and have doubts about whether you can trust its serial number, you can look for the manufacturer’s name on the packaging. Then, perform a simple Google search, find what company produced it, and email them with your questions. They should be able to verify the serial number on your vape with no issues.
In Conclusion
As you can see, learning how to spot fake vape products is essential if you want to ensure that you won’t put your health at risk while simultaneously avoiding wasting money on unreliable and unsafe products. It’s also best to support trustworthy businesses that comply with industry standards.
Some of the most common and arguably, most reliable ways to spot a fake vape product include inspecting the packaging and avoiding buying items that seem to be priced inadequately. Additionally, if you have already purchased the vape yet still find yourself in doubt, you can stress test it to see how it works and avoid using a defective product.