Your Vaper Expo
Hosts
Johnnie Lovell and
Ashley Hansen
Coming together from different
parts of the world to take to the
stage are our much-loved hosts.
By Phoebe Fuller
Johnnie Lovell
BH Vape
Returning to the Vaper Expo for a third year, with all the energy
and eccentricity he has become so well-known and loved for, it is
only BH Vape’s Johnnie Lovell.
Vaper Expo devotees will undoubtedly know Johnnie for his high-
energy stage presence and outlandish antics on the expo floor,
often seen zooming around on a mobility scooter and being just
plain, well, Johnnie!
“There’s been a lot of funny moments,” he told us right before this
expo weekend. “The first year that I hosted the awards I put on
some characters, so I got some props and wore a chicken suit and
took the mickey out of some far leading juice makers, distributors
and companies.”
He certainly isn’t one to take himself too seriously, which is
immediately apparent as soon as he introduces himself, always
with a smile and a joke, of course.
And Johnnie’s Bournemouth-based vape shop is an absolute
extension of his personality; a truly one-of-a-kind experience, with
peculiar knick-knacks dotted around the place and even a coffee
shop on-site, it’s unlike any other.
Having given up smoking as soon as he was introduced to vaping,
he’s proud to not only help others do the same, but to also represent
this flourishing industry at the UK’s biggest expo.
Johnnie says: “I’ve enjoyed every little bit of it – it’s been fresh from
the word go and just a wonderful experience to be in an industry
that has grown from people stopping smoking.
“The highlight of the expo is to be amongst the thriving vape community
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and seeing young faces, new faces, old faces turning up, new vapers;
just people enjoying something.”
It’s certainly not hard to enjoy yourself at the Vaper Expo, with such
enthusiastic hosts bouncing off one another’s witty banter and
excitement, like a perfectly choregraphed duo.
Though Johnnie assures us that he and Ashley don’t ever have to
rehearse their stage presentations, all the chemistry is off-the-cuff
and genuine.
He says: “We just go for it and we have a laugh. We’re chalk and
cheese, she’s an American and I’m from London, so you mix the
two cultures together and it’s fantastic.
“I was thrown into the same arena as her and we just hit it off, I love
her to bits; she’s great and she brings a lot to the show.”
Despite the enjoyment he finds on stage, Johnnie has been looking
forward to getting some time off stage this weekend too. Hoping to
spend more time talking to different people and, crucially, welcoming
newcomers.
“Hopefully you’ll find a lot more giver-uppers here this weekend
and we welcome them with our open arms, to the NEC and the
world of non-smoking.”
He adds: “I think the Birmingham Expo – THE expo – is the one for
me, I know they’re all over the world now and I’ve been to a few,
but home - the UK - and the NEC is the best.”