- 2 days ago
I spent three days at the May 2026 Vaper Expo, and I left with a feeling I never thought I’d have. Between the empty floor space, the missing heavyweights like Elf Bar and Vaporesso, and the stories I heard from vendors behind the scenes, the reality is hard to swallow.
In this video, I’m sharing my honest reflection on what might be the final Vaper Expo as we know it. From the staggering booth costs to the regulatory shadow hanging over the NEC, we need to talk about where the industry is actually heading. I cover most of it here, and I may do a second video once I find more out.
In this video, I’m sharing my honest reflection on what might be the final Vaper Expo as we know it. From the staggering booth costs to the regulatory shadow hanging over the NEC, we need to talk about where the industry is actually heading. I cover most of it here, and I may do a second video once I find more out.
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TechTranscript
00:00This video is strictly for educational, informational and harm reduction purposes.
00:05It does not promote, sell or encourage the use of nicotine or vaping products.
00:16I have been sitting here for three hours now trying to figure out how to start this video
00:22and honestly I'm not sure. I don't even want to say what I think I need to say.
00:32All right everyone, I am back. I have been home from the expo now for about 30 hours
00:39and I've unpacked the bags, I've sorted through all of the samples and everything.
00:45The first four things I'm actually going to review are these things.
00:49So I've sorted out my first reviews already. I've not recorded them yet but they're coming up possibly in that
00:55order.
00:55But yeah, now that I've actually got everything unpacked and I've got everything sorted,
00:59I've actually had time to just sit and I've gone through all of the footage I've recorded,
01:05I've replayed the conversations I've had, I've read my notes, what I made over the weekend.
01:10And you know what? Usually after an expo you're kind of buzzing.
01:14You have the expo high, the expo hangover and you're full of that high octane energy
01:21from seeing the community and the latest tech.
01:24But this time I've kind of come away feeling heavy.
01:28There's a feeling I've been carrying ever since I first arrived on the Friday at the Vapor Expo.
01:35It's a feeling I've been trying to push down because I genuinely love this industry.
01:41I love what it does for people but I have to be honest with you.
01:44I don't want to, I'm struggling to accept what I'm seeing but I can no longer ignore it.
01:50It kind of feels like death is knocking on the door for the Vapor Expo UK.
01:55At least the expo as we have known and loved it for all of these years.
02:00If you were at the expo as well, I want you to just think about the scale of what we
02:06just witnessed.
02:07I've actually gone back and looked at the floor plans side by side from this year and last year.
02:14And last year's map, this one, it was a fortress.
02:18It was packed so tightly with so many vendors you could barely move.
02:25This year, this one, I've had to pinch it off Hayati's page because the actual Vapor Expo seemingly has took
02:33it down already.
02:34Because I can't find this on their actual website anymore.
02:37This floor plan tells a different story.
02:40There was about 60 vendors there this year compared to about 100 last year.
02:46So we're looking at a 50% drop in the number of vendors that were actually in attendance.
02:52But here's the bit what really got me.
02:55The floor space.
02:56To hide the fact that the hall was half empty,
02:59they filled a lot of the space with networking areas and very, very wide aisles
03:06to try and hide the fact that some major industry heavyweights were absent and noticeably absent.
03:15Elf Bar, Las Mary, Smock, Vapor Esso, Geek Vape, all missing, all absent.
03:21So many more manufacturers were missing.
03:25VLM was missing.
03:27Alibaba was missing.
03:28Bar Fuel was missing.
03:30It was Bar Fuel, wasn't it?
03:31Yeah, these guys.
03:32They were missing.
03:33And I really wanted to see them again because they make one of my all-time favourite juices.
03:37And I'm kind of disappointed they weren't there.
03:39There were so many massive brands noticeably absent.
03:44Let me put it this way.
03:46It almost felt like you're...
03:48It almost felt like we were walking through someone's house
03:51who has already started packing.
03:54They're preparing to move out to a new home.
03:56And they've already packed half of their stuff away.
03:58The shell's still there, but the furniture, the life, the heart of it, it's just gone.
04:03And the fact that the heavyweights of the industry, like Vapor Esso was another one,
04:08don't we if I mentioned Vapor Esso?
04:09Vapor Esso were noticeably absent as well.
04:11When you have so many massive industry players choosing not to attend the Expo,
04:19you kind of know that something is fundamentally broken.
04:22Now, you guys know me.
04:24You know that I can be a little bit pushy.
04:26I can be a cheeky, cocky little shit when I sense something is off in the air.
04:32And I made it my personal mission this weekend to try and speak to every single vendor.
04:38I wanted to hear the truth.
04:39A lot of it off the record, because not many of the vendors actually wanted to commit their thoughts to
04:46video.
04:46But the sentiment was almost universal.
04:49Pure disappointment.
04:51One vendor actually looked me dead in the eye, and he genuinely said he believes there are more staff on
05:00the stands than there are visitors.
05:03Business and consumer visitors combined, he thought there were more staff on the stands than there were total visitors the
05:11entire weekend.
05:12And I kind of have to agree with him on it.
05:14Another vendor, a different vendor, told me that he estimated that there was maybe 1,500 people, visitors, over the
05:23entire three-day weekend in total.
05:26And to be completely honest with you, as I was walking around and looking at the stands, they weren't wrong.
05:32Other vendors actually said it felt dead.
05:36During the busiest peak time on the Saturday, one vendor was on the phone talking to a young girl on
05:44a little tiny vendor, a little tiny stand.
05:47She's on the phone, and I'm assuming she's talking to a boss because she actually said it's dead.
05:53There was more things that she said, but that's the bit what stuck with me.
05:57So I did actually question a few of the brands as well in terms of the financial thing on this.
06:03And I asked what the bottom line was.
06:05Now, one of the major brands, one of the big brands, who was in attendance, I'm not going to name
06:11them because I don't want to get the staff member in trouble.
06:14I don't work for the brand.
06:15They do.
06:16So I'm not going to name them because I don't want them to get in trouble with their employer.
06:20But one of the brands told me that their space cost £50,000 just for the space, just for the
06:30carpet.
06:30When you factor in product costs, staff costs, logistics, travel, hotels, for all the staff as well.
06:37They estimate that it would cost them somewhere between £100,000 and £150,000 just to exhibit at the vendor
06:47expo, or at the Vapor Expo.
06:49And for a lot of these guys, especially the vendors that are not the big, massive, well-known industry heavyweights,
06:57that kind of cost is very unreasonable.
07:00And when I start hearing this from multiple vendors, it kind of becomes a little bit more obvious why some
07:08of the big industry heavyweights did choose to not attend this one.
07:14Because for a lot of these exhibitors and a lot of these vendors, the return on their investment is just
07:20not there.
07:21These vendors attend the expo knowing that they are taking a massive loss, a massive financial loss.
07:30They don't see enough of a return from the expo to even break even.
07:35Just to earn their money back, they don't earn enough money.
07:39Even following on from all the advertising, all the free samples they gave out, all the promotion they did for
07:45the expo.
07:46Six, seven, eight months down the line, they're still not going to get that money back as a result of
07:51the expo.
07:52The expo is not going to generate enough income to cover its own cost.
07:57One of the other smaller brands who had a smaller stand actually said to me,
08:02I've just paid £30,000 to effectively stand in a quiet room.
08:09And this was a small brand, a small vendor, very small stand.
08:13It was a little tiny stand on the main floor.
08:15£30,000 to stand in a quiet room.
08:19His words.
08:20But that did lead me to another question to ask these vendors as well.
08:24And this is the bit what shocked me.
08:26Because they're telling me about these incredibly high costs for actually exhibiting at the expo.
08:32Well, if you know you're not going to make a financial return on appearing here,
08:38why have you even come now?
08:41Why have you come this year?
08:42And the answer I got was some of them felt trapped.
08:46I'll explain what I mean by that.
08:48Because many of the people I spoke to admitted to me that they only showed up this year
08:54because they had pre-booked and pre-paid for the October one, which was cancelled.
09:01And their bookings were rolled over to this one.
09:04They've already paid the money out months and months and months ago
09:07with the view of attending in October.
09:09And they actually told me if that rollover hadn't happened,
09:13they could not have afforded to attend this one.
09:17They could not even afford a tiny booth if they had to pay today's rates from scratch.
09:24And it does get a bit darker than this, or it gets a bit worse than this,
09:27because there were still some very heavyweight brands in attendance.
09:33Bargeuse, Hayati, SKE, HQD, loads of major big brands did still attend.
09:40Loads of heavyweight hitters were still there.
09:42But three of them, three of these heavyweight industries, or heavyweight companies,
09:48have actually told me that they are done.
09:50One of them actually used a phrase that has been ringing in my ears ever since.
09:55And I'm not going to say who it is, because again, I don't want to get them in trouble.
09:59They work for the brand.
10:00Their job is on the line if I name them, so I'm not going to name them.
10:04But one of them was a very senior manager in a very high-up position within the major brand.
10:10And he said to me, this is his phrase,
10:12after this expo, we're washing our hands of the Vapor Expo UK,
10:17and we are not going to come back.
10:20That's one of them.
10:21Two other major industry heavyweights said very similar things.
10:25They will not return for another Vapor Expo.
10:29And when you hear that from the major industry heavyweights,
10:33who keep these show running,
10:35who put the majority of the bill for this kind of expo,
10:39you realise how close we are to the edge.
10:41It wasn't just the vendors, though,
10:43because I spent a lot of time talking to you guys,
10:47the visitors who actually attended.
10:49Just regular people like me and you.
10:51Spent a lot of time talking to them as well.
10:53And the majority of people I spoke to were moaning about the scale.
10:58This expo being half the size of last year,
11:02with half the vendors of last year,
11:05with half the people, half the visitors of last year.
11:09They were looking for the known brands,
11:11which were noticeably absent.
11:13They wanted to visit those stands,
11:15and they were not there.
11:16So there was a very, very palpable sense of,
11:21is this it?
11:22People travelled from all over the country,
11:24paying for tickets and trains and hotels and everything else,
11:30only to find a show that is a shadow,
11:32not only of what it used to be 10 years ago,
11:35but a show that is a shadow of what it was just 12 months ago.
11:41And while most people did try to make the best of it,
11:45you could sense that sense of,
11:47that feeling of disappointment hanging over everybody's head.
11:51It was almost like going to see your favourite band,
11:54and only the drummer turns up.
11:57So we do have to look at why this is happening.
12:00It's a little bit of a perfect storm.
12:02We had the disposable band last June,
12:05which a lot of the brands have told me,
12:07has already hollowed out their marketing budgets.
12:11We have the supply chain collapse,
12:14with the, was it JW Wholesale, or JW something.
12:18They collapsed not that long ago.
12:21So a lot of these brands,
12:23their supply chain has effectively crumbled.
12:25And then of course,
12:27we have what is coming in October and January.
12:30The new taxes and regulations
12:32are breathing down the neck of every single business
12:37and vendor and exhibitor in that hall.
12:40The brands, what did not attend this expo,
12:44I've reached out to them.
12:45You guys know I have connections now
12:47with pretty much every major brand.
12:49I've reached out to some of them.
12:51And so far, only one of them has come back.
12:54Smock has come back to me.
12:56And they said,
12:57the reason we didn't attend
12:58is because we are diverting every available penny
13:03to retail chain compliance
13:05and surviving the new laws and regulations.
13:09We don't have a marketing budget.
13:11And that goes for all of these brands.
13:13They no longer have the luxury
13:15to just casually drop £100,000
13:18on a flashy weekend at the NEC.
13:21The industry is under siege.
13:23And the expo is probably
13:25the first major casualty of that war.
13:28Now, I do need to touch on
13:30the Ohm Zone a little bit as well.
13:32It was tucked away in a tiny little corner
13:34that about 90% of the visitors
13:37seem to just completely ignore
13:39or not even know it was there.
13:41But for me, that Ohm Zone,
13:43it was the only place that felt like the old expo.
13:48It was the only area
13:49where you could still feel a sense of community
13:52and a real passion for the craft.
13:54Now, I know that I don't cover
13:57the kind of side of the industry
13:59what the Ohm Zone does.
14:01I cover the other 90% of the expo.
14:03The Hayati, the Geek Vape,
14:05all that stuff.
14:06I cover the pod kits.
14:07So the Ohm Zone isn't really
14:09my area of expertise.
14:10The rest of it is.
14:11But the Ohm Zone was the only place
14:14that I actually felt a real sense of community,
14:16a real sense of happiness,
14:18a real sense of togetherness,
14:21only in the little tiny Ohm Zone corner.
14:23It was the happiest place in the entire expo.
14:27But even there in that little corner,
14:30the weight of the state of the expo
14:33and the upcoming regulations and taxes,
14:36the weight of that was heavy,
14:38even over the heads of all the vendors
14:40in the Ohm Zone,
14:41possibly more so than the massive brands
14:44in the bulk of the expo.
14:46Now, I did speak to the vendors
14:48in the Ohm Zone as well.
14:49And a couple of them did say the same thing to me
14:52as what some of the major industry heavyweights said.
14:56They can't afford to come back next year.
14:58They can't afford to take such a massive financial loss
15:02that they know they're never going to see a return on.
15:05One of the vendors in the Ohm Zone
15:07actually made a prediction.
15:09And he said that if there is another Vapor Expo next year,
15:14he doesn't expect there to be an Ohm Zone section at all.
15:19It'll just be gone if there is another Vapor Expo.
15:22And that is the bit what really gets to me
15:24because that is the bit what really breaks my heart.
15:27Because that community is the reason
15:30that most of us actually started doing this
15:33in the first place.
15:34And finally, I have to touch on the cost
15:38of just being there as a regular visitor.
15:41And I'm going to use myself as an example here
15:43because yes, I'm a YouTuber.
15:45Yes, I'm vlogging and everything else.
15:47But I still attend the Vapor Expo as a consumer,
15:51primarily as a consumer.
15:53And I attended all three days.
15:56For me to attend all three days has cost me £500
16:01just to go and walk around for three days.
16:05£500.
16:07I'll break that down for you.
16:08The hotel for me and Mrs Mixer was £300.
16:12That did include breakfast.
16:14Parking for the hotel was £45.
16:16Parking for the Expo was another £45.
16:19You're factoring the fuel
16:21because I drove down there and drove home.
16:23You're looking under £50, £60 just on fuel
16:26because I've got quite a drive to get to Birmingham.
16:28And I'm not even factoring in the food and drinks
16:32we bought whilst at the Expo.
16:35But let me give you another example for the food.
16:38£14 for a euro.
16:40I'd say properly a gyros.
16:42One of the wrap things off the Greek stand.
16:45£7 for a handful of chips.
16:48A portion of chips that will fill your hand.
16:50£7.
16:51A bottle of water.
16:52£2.
16:53A bottle of Coke.
16:54£3.50.
16:55Very, very expensive.
16:56Just to attend and walk around.
16:59And when you look at those costs versus the experience,
17:04the model is completely broken.
17:06It is becoming a financial black hole for everybody.
17:11For the exhibitors, the vendors, the staff, the visitors.
17:16It's just a financial black hole.
17:18And what we get from it in return
17:20is nowhere near the amount of money we outlay.
17:24Now, there are rumours which I heard.
17:27The rumours are going down one of two separate ways.
17:31The first rumour, or the first thing I heard
17:35which is actually more believable to me
17:37because of everything I've heard from speaking to the vendors.
17:41The first thing is that this, the Vapor Expo we've just had
17:45was the last Vapor Expo ever in the UK.
17:50It will not be back.
17:52That was it.
17:54Done.
17:55The other rumour I'm hearing
17:57is that there will be another Expo in May.
18:01But rather than being a Vapor Expo,
18:04it's going to be a CBD Expo
18:08with a little tiny vaping section.
18:11The vaping section will probably be shoved
18:14into a corner where the home zone is now.
18:16And the rest of it will all be CBD.
18:18That's the other side, or the other rumour,
18:21what I'm hearing.
18:22And to be completely honest,
18:23there's kind of enough evidence for both of them.
18:26There's enough opinions amongst the exhibitors and the visitors
18:30that either of them could be true.
18:32Although, to be completely honest,
18:34a lot of people are leaning more towards
18:38this is it.
18:39Done.
18:40Finished.
18:41Finito.
18:42Never to happen again.
18:43That's the one that's winning more than the CBD one.
18:47And look, right, I want to be wrong.
18:49I hope that I am wrong.
18:51I hope that in a year's time,
18:53I can sit here and tell you that I was being a dramatic idiot.
18:58I would love for that to happen.
19:00But I can't shake this feeling that we just watched the lights go out
19:06on the Vapor Expo UK.
19:08It is a shadow of not only what it used to be 10 years ago,
19:12but it's a tripled shadow of what it was just 12 months ago.
19:17And as much as it hurts me to say it,
19:20you can kind of tell that death is knocking on the door
19:24for the Vapor Expo UK.
19:26So before I do actually end the video,
19:27I will say I did record.
19:30I did film a little bit.
19:32And this is going to be a big difference for you guys as well
19:35because last year at last May's Expo,
19:38I was able to make three vlogs for last year's Expo.
19:42I did a day one, a day two, and a day three.
19:45And it was about an hour long each.
19:47That was last year.
19:48This year, I might only be able to make one hour long video
19:53that will have all three days compressed into it
19:57because there wasn't enough there for me to make
20:00a day one, day two, day three video.
20:03So that video is going to be coming up
20:05hopefully within the week.
20:07My reviews of these guys and everything else
20:10will be coming up in the next week or two.
20:12So keep an eye out.
20:14Make sure you hit that subscribe if you want to see them.
20:16And if you want to see my vlog, yeah, hit subscribe again.
20:19But yeah, thank you for listening to me rant
20:22for a little bit, for 20 minutes, 25 minutes,
20:25however long this video ends up being.
20:27But for now, guys, stay safe, stay informed,
20:30and I'll see you in the next one.
20:31Bye.
20:32Bye.
20:32Bye.
20:33Bye.
20:33Bye.
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