A vendor I know recently made the switch to brick style disposable carts. He went with these
https://www.kungfuvapes.com/1ml-sirius-pod-iridescent/
Well recently he made an interesting post
So apparently he’s claiming these are American made. I can only find one company AMV but they don’t appear to make brick style atomizers. Think there’s any validity to the claim or is this dude just a liar? I thought all vape carts are manufactured in china
$5 says he’s full of shit. I’d love to be wrong though.
How DARE you disparge the GREAT name of Kung Fu vapes!
He also has the worlds fastest filler, that he’ll only race against a thompson duke
I’ve met this “Kung Fu Vapes” guy. He’s from Spokane, WA. He’s been talking smack for the past 10 years and still hasn’t dropped anything real…
Made in America huh
Like assembled, or manufactured in US…?
The kung fu guy doesn’t seem to claim they’re American made. I can’t find them claiming that anywhere. Only person claiming they’re is some liar east coast sales rep. I called him on his bullshit and he said they’re “designed in Washington, made in Shenzhen” but he still hasn’t changed his post and is letting people believe they’re American made.
Shady ass dudes always lying to customers
Highly doubtful and probably infringing on Buddy or Smoore’s copyright since those two hold the brick and feelm patents iirc.
I saw the kungfu style carts on Albia about 6 months ago as white labels so pretty sure its just an infringing white label factory that Ccell will go after through their smoore division.
Could be wrong though I don’t pay enough attention to the cart market.
Manufacturing in the US may be possible one day, but would require some serious investment to be competitive.
I’ve set up four factories in China now and worked with raw material suppliers for the past four years in Shenzhen. Metals, Glass, Plastics, Ceramics, cotton, etc.
510-thread could easily be manufactured in the US, but unfortunately the current design of these carts is very difficult for automation. Therefore, the majority of not all employ human assembly lines.
All these raw materials (components) could be imported and assembled locally, but would likely be 5-6x the labor cost per unit.
In China, the labor costs per cartridge is roughly $.10-$.12 per unit and the cost of raw materials being roughly $.50 to $.60 per unit.
Also, because of the highly regulated environment of the U.S., real estate costs, insurance and taxes, you’re likely at over $2.00 per unit for a cartridge that can be imported for roughly $1.00 into the US and landed at $1.35 once you clear shipping and import taxes.
If people are willing to pay $2.60 to $2.70 per cartridge, then there is a business model there but unfortunately, I sense that while everyone wants “Made in the USA” they are unwilling to operate at such a clear disadvantage.
If you could employ automation, then this would be much more possible. The cost of an automated production line in Shenzhen is about $300K to set up that could potentially produce 1M carts per month. I’d imagine this is maybe $1.5M for the same in the US.
These estimates only include the tank. The tip costs would need to be factored in as well.
Lol, that’s funny
Just takes one boat to grind world trade to a halt. Hard to put a pricetag on disruptions
I asked about this a year ago with no answer and I doubt anythings changed, nobody is going to pay $15-20 for a vape cart when you can get a CCELL for $1 in bulk or an off brand for less than that.
Where are you getting legit ccells for $1 in bulk
i think those are just sample or “retail prices” ive seen them go down to like $7 a piece (battery and pod) at a 1000 and $3 at 5k and so on.
Like designed in America assembled in China?
In order to be economically feasible in the U.S. you would definitely have to stick to a design that could be manufactured completely automated. My hunch is that you could also make the cart less expensive by eliminating some disposable parts.
Mexico would be harder to setup than China, but I think it would pay dividends for decades whereas China would likely be more risky in the long run. The labor cost in China has risen sharply in the last decade and there’s no reason to believe it will stop. Mexico labor cost is not only cheaper, it has been more stable and predictable.
Ive heard of two entities trying to set up in Mexico a couple years ago and still haven’t heard of any progress. Assumed those projects are dead.
They sure are
Pod systems are easier for automation and being able to eliminate the commonly-used cotton wrap as an absorption material around the ceramic heating element would also reduce labor requirements.
Smoore (CCELL) is trying to expand outside of China to Indonesia and parts of Vietnam could also expand into this type of manufacturing, as well, especially areas like Haiphong where metals and plastics supply chains have become more sophisticated.
While we’ve seen Foxconn successfully move to parts of Mexico, we still have some concerns about overall safety, corrupt governments and a labor market that is questionable for our type of assembly.
Mexico is possible but good luck trying to start that. Without deep connections and pockets, your savings on tariffs with USMECA goes to local protection.
If you can’t get the respect of politicians and aren’t Mexican nor married to a Mexican, don’t bother trying. Even with Mexican business licenses, the quality of production workers doesn’t come close to Chinese.
Decades is too long in the vape game. China is the most sensible option for manufacturing carts, period.
