Inside the hidden world of a Sydney vaping bar
The sign at the front door warns that anyone entering must be at least 18 years old and the frosted glass windows mean no one can see in or out.
Even the name of the business - The Steamery - suggests this brick building in a semi-industrial inner Sydney suburb might house something seedy, or at least vaguely illicit.
But behind the doors of this shop wedged between a store selling timber flooring and another selling taps is a completely legal operation, albeit one beset by regulatory restrictions more befitting a licensed premises.
The Steamery bills itself as 'Sydney's Premier Vape Lounge', home to a community of 'vapers', many of whom have had to break laws they say are stupid in an attempt to save their lives.
Millions of smokers have reported quitting using vapourisers in the United Kingdom, United States and European Union
Shop assistant Kevin Ta vaping at The Steamery vape lounge in Sydney's Beaconsfield behind a selection of devices
Passionfruit, apricot, blueberry, watermelon, mango, peach and lime are among the flavours of 'e-juice' available to vapers
The front windows of The Steamery 'vape lounge' are frosted and customers are warned they must be 18 years old to enter
This is where the city's e-cigarette users come to buy their atomisers, batteries and 'e-juice' to vape. This is where they talk their own language of 'drippers', 'throat hit' and 'vaper's tongue'.
With at least 100 visitors a day, this is Sydney's vaping central.
Everything that goes on at The Steamery, on Botany Road at Beaconsfield, is legal. To keep it that way the owners try to stay one step ahead of sudden regulatory changes.
Vaping devices cannot be openly displayed and are only revealed when a potential customer specifically asks to see one. Other quit-smoking aids such as nicotine patches, lozenges and gum sold by chemists face no similar restrictions.
Even products such as batteries and battery chargers must be hidden, yet nearby electronic stores sell the same accessories without those rules. Vaping bars cannot provide free samples.
The Steamery's Kevin Ta attempts to make a 'tornado' - a spinning plume of vapour - as his colleague Maddy May watches on
The Steamery vaping lounge features mood lighting, couches, arm chairs and rugs on a wooden floor; pictured is Maddy May
The range of e-juice flavours is enormous; this touch-screen shows apple, coconut, lychee, melon, mango, grape and cherry
The Steamery features a tasting bar where customers can try a dizzying array of flavoured e-juice. There are couches, arm chairs and rugs on the wooden floor.
There is mood lighting, a coffee machine and a pair of pinball machines in one corner. While the room can become hazy, there is strong air-conditioning.
Owner Maxim Fichkin says people come here after work, take a seat, vape and wind down.
'There's no expectation to buy anything,' he says. 'It's here if you want it but you're not being treated any differently if you're a buying customer or not.'
The place feels more like a bar than a shop and customers have been known to spend hours inside.
Bartender Maddy May, who works behind the shop's tasting counter, says customers regularly ask when the business will get a liquor license. (It won't).
'It's got a high-end feel but it's comfortable enough that you'd want to stay here and enjoy yourself,' Ms May says.
Vaping devices come in a huge range of styles, shapes and finishes suitable for the newcomer up to the seasoned user
About 100 customers a day visit The Steamery; first-timers seeking advice start at the shop's help desk pictured above
Bartender Maddy May at the tasting counter where a touch-screen terminal allows customers to pick their 'e-juice' flavours
'People come and stay for four hours. It's just a bit of a hangout. People know that they can come here and spend as much time as they want, enjoying the flavours and the ambiance without any time restrictions.'
The 'vapers' who visit The Steamery are among the estimated 250,000 Australians who use e-cigarettes, battery-powered devices that heat a liquid solution into an aerosol which is inhaled and exhaled.
Vaping replicates the hand-to-mouth action of smoking but The Steamery does not sell nicotine.
What goes into the mouths of inhalers and what comes out is a visible mist, or vapour. Nothing is combusted and no smoke is produced.
The Steamery is one of about eight vaping stores in Sydney and almost all its customers are smokers or ex-smokers.
Some source their own liquid nicotine from overseas and independently add it to the flavoured 'e-juice' the business sells.
Visitors to The Steamery vape lounge often ask staff when the business will get a liquor licence because it feels like a bar
Bartender Maddy May vapes while she serves two customers who have come to The Steamery seeking flavoured 'e-juice'
Vaping devices are not visibly for sale until a customer asks to see the range, when a light switch is flicked to illuminate a case
It is an offence in every Australian state and territory to manufacture, sell or supply nicotine, which is scheduled as a 'dangerous poison'.
However, liquid nicotine can be imported by an individual for use as an aid to stop smoking, if the importer holds a prescription from a doctor.
It is believed very few doctors are willing to write such prescriptions so those wanting to buy nicotine go online and overseas.
Meanwhile, smokers over 18 can freely buy cigarettes and other tobacco products which cause cancer.
Vapers say they have found a way to give up smoking but those who possess nicotine still face potential punishment under the law.
Mr Fichkin describes his customers as a 'community' which communicates online and gathers at places such as his bricks and mortar store. Like most of his clientele, Mr Fichkin once smoked.
'There're not a single vape shop that I know of that isn't owned by an ex-smoker,' he says.
This customer came into The Steamery with half a packet of cigarettes and left with a vaping device with cost him $79.99
The range of flavours used in vaping devices includes vanilla cupcake, banana milkshake, cheese cake and peanut butter
Vaping is legal in Australia but it is not legal to possess nicotine; Kevin Ta is pictured vaping flavoured e-juice without nicotine
'If you don't have a love for the product you won't succeed in the industry full-stop.'
Mr Fichkin, who used to smoke up to 30 cigarettes a day, was introduced to vaping when a friend returned from Europe with a vaping device.
From the start, he was sold on the product. 'From that point it was an immediate transition for me personally,' Mr Fichkin says. 'It was instant for me.'
Mr Fichkin was working in finance and his wife in insurance when they decided to turn their new passion into a business.
They began at Parklea and Flemington markets and the business grew to a point where they had enough stock and customers to open their own store. The Steamery started in 2014.
'Back then it was a little bit of a wild wild west industry as it was flying well and truly under the radar,' Mr Fichkin says.
Shea Williams-Philpott, The Steamery's retail area manager, says the business relies on the internet and word of mouth.
Customers at The Steamery in Sydney's Beaconsfield sit at the tasting bar to experiment with flavours to inhale from devices
Once a customer has chosen a vaping device they will be taken to the taste bar to find an 'e-juice' flavour that suits them
Kevin Ta vaping at The Steamery in Sydney's Beaconsfield which owner Maxim Fichkin says attracts a vaping 'community'
He says when he encounters another vaper while driving or walking down the street they will often each raise their device with a wave to acknowledge their common story.
'Community is a real thing in this industry,' he says.
'The reason that "community" applies so much to this industry is that everyone who vapes vapes because of somebody they know.
'The generation that we deal with most, which is the millennial generation, they're very peer review based.
'If it's not peer reviewed it doesn't exist. If they can't find detail on it they don't buy it.'
Mr Fichkin says almost no one arrives at the shop accidentally.
'This industry is not walk-in traffic. They are jumping online. They are looking for a shop.
'These are not people that would see our signage and just come in.'
A first time customer who approaches the front counter of The Steamery is initially asked if they are a cigarette smoker
The Steamery has had to introduce a nominal fee to use its bar tasting service to comply with government regulations
All the employees at The Steamery understand the mechanics of the devices they sell; bartender Maddy May behind counter
Vaping is not harmless but the current scientific agreement is that it is far less harmful than smoking tobacco. Vapers who have given up cigarettes are generally keen to share their success with family and friends who smoke.
A first time customer who approaches the front counter of The Steamery is initially asked if they are a smoker, how much tobacco they smoke and what strength they need.
The customer would then reveal whether they were a 'mouth to lung' smoker or 'direct to lung' smoker. What type of 'throat hit' - the feeling of inhalation - the customer prefers is sought.
The kind of device the customer wants comes down to personal taste and what is practical for them, Mr Fichkin says. The language varies widely but there are regulated mods, mech mods, pens, drippers and more.
'It's not about the best device on the market,' Mr Fichkin says. 'It's about having the best device for you.'
Mr Fichkin says there is also 'techy, geeky' side to vaping for those who want to build and maintain their own devices. Mr Shea Williams-Philpott prefers the term 'hobbyist' for those aficionados.
Proponents of vaping say there is no evidence the increased visibility of the practice makes smoking appear more acceptable
The Steamery's owner Max Fichkin says almost no one walks into his business without research or hearing about it first
Mr Williams-Philpott says in keeping with the millennial vibe, the device must look and feel good too.
'It's like buying a computer,' he says. 'It can have the best specs in the world but if it's not tactile and doesn't have the good looks you won't pick it up again.'
Once a customer has chosen a device they will be taken to the taste bar to find an 'e-juice' flavour that suits them. Most start with a tobacoo flavour but the options are immense.
A touch-screen terminal also lists fruit, nuts, coffee, dessert, breakfast, candy, drink and menthol flavours. Each of those categories can be further broken down.
Flavours include caramelised banana, fresh lime and lemon tart as well as 'drop bear', 'gecko sludge' and 'fairy fart'.
Mr Fichkin says seasoned users can sometimes experience 'vaper's tongue', which occurs when someone has vaped the one flavour so long they can no longer taste it.
It has been estimated that up to 250,000 Australians are regular vapers but the practice is far more widespread in the UK
The Steamery's Max Fichkin (right) watches as bartender Maddy May helps set up a new customer with his first device
He describes the vaping retail experience as 'highly rewarding' helping someone stop smoking and take up a less harmful habit.
'I'm not saying it's a healthy option,' Mr Fichkin says. 'It's a healthier option.'
'If you're looking to a harm reduction option, vaping for me personally is safer than smoking.'
A tradie wearing a high-visibility shirt who wants to buy his first atomiser is in and out of the shop within 20 minutes when Daily Mail Australia visits this week.
He came into the store with half a pack of cigarettes and left with a $79.99 vaping device.
'As soon as I walk out of her I'm gonna through 'em out,' he says of his remaining smokes. 'This'll be the best 80 bucks I'll ever spend.'
Ross Cameron comes into the store to pick up some e-juice as his online supply has run out.
He describes himself as a 'hopeless smoker' until he discovered vaping.
A glass cabinet shows some of the flavoured 'e-juice' options available to vapers who want to give up their tobacco habit
The Steamery feels more like a bar than a shop and customers have been known to spend hours inside relaxing as they vape
'I couldn't give up,' Mr Cameron says. 'Tried all the drugs. Tried all the therapies. In the end I just hated it. Hated lighting up. Hated the smell of it. Hated the smoke.
'For me it's a way to stay away from smoking. I'm not particularly concerned if it's hip or cool. If I didn't stop it was going to kill me.'
Every one of Mr Fichkin's employees understands the mechanics of the devices. He compares buying vapourisers to purchasing mobile phones.
'It is a tech-based environment,' he says. 'Vape devices are treated with a similar thought process as your new iPhone.
'You can upgrade, downgrade, side-grade, based on what experience you want from your device.
'The constant innovations in this fast-paced industry is a very attractive component of vaping.
'This industry is very, very fast paced. Every three to six months there'll be a slight evolution, a revised version of a previous model.
Modern vaping devices can provide the same level of nicotine as tobacco cigarettes while relieving strong urges to smoke
First time vapers are encouraged to find the right device for their needs before choosing a flavour of 'e-juice' that suits them
'I would say this industry is one of the most innovative in the country.'
Colin Mendelsohn is an associate professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of New South Wales and a tobacco treatment specialist.
A strong supporter of the use of e-cigarettes as an aid to stop smoking, he too describes a vaping 'community'.
'It's all about sharing the love and helping other people,' Dr Mendelsohn says. 'It's a network, a group to belong to.'
Anti-vapers are concerned the practice will make smoking seem acceptable and encourage children to take up the habit. They say the long-term health risks are not fully known.
Mr Fichkin notes the Royal College of Physicians in the United Kingdom has found vaping was up to 95 per cent safer than smoking.
'Countries like the UK, New Zealand, Canada and the USA are all supportive of vaping,' he says.
Dr Mendelsohn is adamant Australian laws need changing to allow smokers an easy, lawful way to kick their habit.
'The question is would you break the law or continue to do something that will kill you?' Dr Mendelsohn says.
There is no suggestion that any of the persons shown in this article have engaged in anything other than legal vaping activities.