The Tobacco Leaf in our Logo

A customer asked why we have a tobacco leaf in our logo since vaping does not have to involve tobacco.  Rather, the nicotine can come from eggplants, tomatoes etc. she explained.  This was a really good point. I want to explain why our logo has this image, even though the place that vaping is today and is going in the future, has nothing to do with tobacco.

It is true: vaping is not the same as smoking, and nicotine from eggplants, tomatoes and other sources has nothing to do with tobacco and its end product, cigarettes.  However, vaping still originated as an alternative to smoking cigarettes, and it should not ignore those roots as we step into something new.

When my buddy Jake Blount designed our leaf logo, we were in Birmingham Alabama, and I was road tripping across the south visiting every vape shop from Lexington to Atlanta.  We were in tobacco country and it was apparent, but there were no 200w box mods, or fancy hand made coils out there yet.  Sub-ohm was as scary as hot potato with a hand grenade.

The people who were vaping when we designed our logo were doing it for one reason: to quit smoking.  This truth largely has not changed.  An e-go twist, an NJoy or Logic cigalike… these were the gateway for hundreds of thousands of people to leave behind their tobacco analogs.

I asked my waitress at IHOP while she was smoking a mint flavored cartomizer how she liked it and her 70 year old face lit up with the enthusiasm of a newly-wed, “I love it!  I can breath again!”   This kind of liberation is really motivating to see.   Putting the tobacco leaf in our logo was a way to win over people like this waitress who were just getting their feet wet.

Tobacco cessation and replacement.  Not THC, not caffeine, not supplements or vitamins.  Vaping started as, and still is an alternative to tobacco smoking. DIY ejuice and craft made, batch produced ejuice is the heart and soul of that movement.

We want to keep the tobacco leaf and I am glad it is there even as just a historical reminder of where we came from.  As vaping moves forward and people gain victory over their tobacco habits, the vape culture should remember this origin as an accomplishment or point of pride.  In the Words of Ralfy: “Smoking Kills, Vaping Saves lives.”