E-cigarettes in Norwegian gas stations

After surviving a week in the mosquito infested woods of Sweden, I got back to some fantastic weather here in Norway. Almost 30 degrees Celsius for several days in a row. That's not something that happens too often here, I tell you that. And of course it happens the week we have to spend moving houses and cleaning the old apartment. Nice timing eh? But we managed to squeeze in some time for a trip to the beach too cool off after moving what seems to be a million cardboard boxes filled with stuff we haven't used since we last moved. On the way to there we had to stop for ice-cream at a gas-station (of course we had to) and then I saw something I haven't seen yet here in Norway: A sign that said  "We have e-cigarettes". Of course they were hidden away behind the covers that hides the regular tobacco products, but I asked what kind they sold. The guy behind the counter was quick to inform me that it was zero-nicotine as well... almost like he thought I was some kind of undercover cop out to get him. Kind of funny actually. When I told him I was using the stuff (with nicotine) myself he seemed to relax a bit and showed me what kind they had, some re-branded eGo starter kits (from these guys I guess: http://goo.gl/Y6prkj).

With this in mind I started looking for e-cigarettes in other gas-stations whenever I was in one. So far I've been able to find just one more that had some disposables from Playboy. Turns out they've had them for a while actually. They told me that most people who buy them are drunk as hell, on the way home from a night out (this particular station is pretty close to a bar- and restaurant-area downtown).

Both of these gas stations are part of large chains (I guess all stations are, at least here in Norway), but the people who run these stations have some kind of freedom to choose if they want sell at their station, and at the moment I doubt any of the big chains have decided to start selling e-cigs in all their stations ... yet. But who knows what they decide in the future. These guys might just have gotten the snowball rolling (even if it's 30 degrees outside).

So, now we have e-cigarettes in gas-stations here in Norway as well :) Wonder how long it takes before we start seeing them in the super-markets? And I wonder how the big chains will react to merchants putting e-cigs in their shelves. I'm pretty sure it will start happening soon. Actually we're known to be kind of slow here in my part of the country so there might be e-cigarettes in the shelves of super-markets in other parts of Norway already for all I know. Feel free to leave a comment if you've seen any.



photo credit: Alexander Rentsch via photopin cc