SAN DIEGO — People who vape are saying goodbye to flavored products, which are now gone from store shelves; that includes smokers having to give up menthol cigarettes.
The state-wide ban went into effect Wednesday.
CBS 8 called more than 20 local smoke shops and liquor stores. None of the owners wanted to speak on camera, but many said over the phone that this ban will kill their businesses. Some say 80 percent of their products are flavored vapes and menthol cigarettes.
Sophia Rall and Bianca White were shopping for last-minute flavored vape products in San Diego before they disappear off the shelves since the state-wide ban went into effect.
"It's pretty sad. We are going right now to stock up. We are not fans of the ban," said Rall and White.
Everything from aloe grape, and strawberry, to watermelon bubble gum flavored vape products, are banned along with menthol cigarettes; a decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court after 63 percent of California voters approved the ban.
"There are so many people that are, like, addicted, so they are going to go cray cray; that’s what I think," said Rall.
"Yeah, I agree." said White.
While consumer Makai Brown, feels differently.
"I don’t mind. I just got the unflavored one. It's more of a tool for me. It's better than smoking cigarettes," said Brown. "Either way, it's not the flavors' fault, it’s the smoke shops' fault," said Brown.
Meanwhile, Michael, who wished to stay anonymous, works at Utopia Smoke Shop in Pacific Beach. He says they will have to take 100 items off their store’s shelves.
"I feel that the ban is pretty shocking because the majority of our customers are interested in buying our nicotine vapes. It will be interesting to see how things change and what they buy. I don’t think it will hurt business because smoke shops have been around since before all the flavored tobacco. It just might be a different shift of what customers come interested in to buy," said Michael.
A local smoke shop owner tells CBS 8 they have thousands of flavored vape products in their warehouse and now they don’t know what to do with them since they can no longer sell them; a problem many local shops could now face.
Local non-profits dedicated to healthy communities, like Community Action Service Advocacy, tells CBS 8 that this ban is a long time coming.
"The tobacco industry exploits youth and then they use the legal system to continue that exploitation and they failed. They always fail. Public health will prevail," said Dana Stevens, executive director at CASA.