The cannabis vaping and e-cigarette sales industry has faced some challenges in the last year.

First, a rash of vaping-related lung injuries started cropping up at hospitals across the country. By February, 68 people had died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Less than a month later, the coronavirus pandemic arrived, restricting consumer access to products and forcing many Americans to wear masks over their mouths in public places.

Though the pandemic persists, executives from some of the biggest cannabis vaping companies say they expect e-cigarette sales to rebound and then some this summer.

Executives Say They Have Reason to be Optimistic About E-Cigarette Sales

In a recent interview with Forbes magazine, Clear Cannabis Inc. CEO Tom Brooksher, DaVinci founder and CEO Cortney Smith, Spherex chief financial officer Dan Gardenswartz and Elizabeth Hogan, vice president of brands at GCH Inc, the parent company of  Willie’s Remedy and Willie’s Reserve, discussed the state of the cannabis vaping market. Most said they expect sales to soar for the foreseeable future.

Brooksher said the summer is typically one of the best seasons for sales because customers tend to buy more products than usual to use on their vacations and during outdoor activities. That, combined with the easing of COVID-19 lockdowns and shutdowns, should lead to higher sales volume, the Forbes piece said.

“As restrictions are lifted, we expect a pent-up demand” to be unleashed on the market, Brooksher told Forbes in June, and the “phased reopening of tourism in key tourist/cannabis markets, such as Nevada, California, Colorado and Florida, to positively impact vape product sales.”

DaVinci’s top executive said she thinks the stress caused by the pandemic has actually led to more consumer interest in the potential benefits of cannabis vaping. “We’ve seen an uptick in new consumers,” Smith told the Forbes reporter.

A heightened awareness of the dangers of spreading germs – warnings about which have become a constant drumbeat in the age of the coronavirus – also have people shying away from sharing vaping products. That should also drive e-cigarette sales higher, GCH Inc. Vice President Hogan said.

“Vapes sales will continue to grow as consumers move away from shared joints or bowls,” Hogan is quoted by Forbes as saying. “We’re sharing in spirit only these days.”

Spherex CEO Gardenswartz agreed, according to the Forbes report. He said there has been a noticeable shift from traditional cannabis cigarettes to e-cigarettes and vaping “driven by health and sanitary concerns.”

Vaping Related Lung Injuries Drew the Addition of the CDC

In the fall of 2019, hospital emergency rooms across the U.S. started reporting instances of vaping-related lung injuries. The cases continued to pile up and by February of 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said more than 2,800 people had suffered the same kind of lung injuries, to varying degrees, and 68 of them died.

Federal health officials said most of the cases involved the use of illicit vape oils, but not all. Five victims, at least, in Oregon, bought the products legally from retail shops, the Oregonian reported. It is still unclear exactly what caused the lung injuries, but some health experts suspect additives for flavor and consistency might play a role.

In the wake of the outbreak, health officials have been warning users to be wary of inhaling any kind of vapor or smoke, an article published on the Morning Call newspaper’s website on July 9 said. Yet cannabis industry executives predict vape product and e-cigarette sales will rebound.

E-cigarettes use battery power to heat liquid to the point it forms a vapor the user can inhale. The liquid can contain a variety of ingredients, from nicotine to cannabis oils and other additives. First introduced to the American market in 2007, e-cigarette sales have been on the rise, especially among young people, according to the Pew Research Center.