Vapor Digest #3 The Trade Publication For The Vapor Products Industry
Issue link: http://vapordigest.epubxp.com/i/442928
GETTING TO KNOW GETTING TO KNOW DIMITRI AGRAFIOTIS Patrick V*: Let's start off with an ice-breaker. You may already know this, but the words "vape" and "binge-watch" became official words in the Oxford Diction- ary on the exact same day (August 14, 2014). What is your favorite show to binge- watch? Dimitri: I am totally hooked on Pawn Stars. Funny thing about that show is that I always think of a 10 year down the line version where people come in with unicorn mods trying to sell or pawn them and the shop has to determine if they are authentic or clones! It would certainly make for an entertaining spin! Patrick V*: Where were you born and where do you live now? Do you think that your views on vaping are influenced by the area of the country you live in? or would they be the same no matter where in the USA you resided? Dimitri: I was born in the US but my father died due to tobacco related illness when I was just a baby. My mother moved us all back to Greece so I grew up in a culture where smoking was not only normal, some call it the Greek National past time. I came back to the US at the age of 15 to go to work since finances in Greece were tight. I have been living in Chattanooga TN since 1999. Patrick V*: Tell us about your career before embarking on your vaping-related endeav- ors. Dimitri: Like many Greeks who came to the U.S. I started working in the restaurant business. Before I got married I would take over shut down restaurants, build the business and sell them. Ironically one of my first ventures was in Greensboro NC just down the street from Lorrilard, makers of the Newport cigarettes. A lot of their executives were good customers of mine. I settled down after I got married and have been working with my father in-law running Porto- fino's Greek and Italian Restaurant in Chat- tanooga TN. Patrick V*: Are you still active in this career, or has vaping stuff become your full-time job? Dimitri: I still am in the restaurant business however 2014 was a whirlwind for me including taking a COO position with Moun- tain Oak Vapors, one of the largest eLiquid manufacturers in the US. Having been a consumer advocate for so long and under- standing the business nature of this indus- try, it was a natural progression for me and I really enjoy working in a field that I am so passionate about with a company driven by doing things right. Better known as the "Vaping Greek"