LYNN — Five months after an inspection turned up flavored vape products at Jolly Vapors, the Board of Health voted not to close the shop.

On May 23, Ordinance Enforcement Officer Christopher Poole inspected 104 Woodman St. and discovered “thousands” of flavored vape items stored in a box in a back room. The sale of flavored vape products at retail stores has been banned in Massachusetts since 2020, and the Board considered whether the finding warranted revoking the store’s tobacco license.

Owner Jack Jolly and attorney Sam Vitali told the Board the portion of the building where the products were found had been leased to an unaffiliated tenant, Eric Schwarz, a licensed tobacco distributor in New Hampshire who was using the room for storage.

Board member Dr. Clark Van Den Berghe called the circumstances “really suspicious,” but said there wasn’t enough evidence directly linking Jolly to the contraband to justify shutting the shop down. “We’re not a court of law. If we look at the facts, I don’t think we’d be able to stand and say we have proof that he is doing this. So I don’t feel comfortable suspending it, but he’s on pretty thin ice,” he said at the Oct. 21 meeting.

Chairman Ron Dupuis expressed a similar view before the Board unanimously voted against revoking Jolly Vapors’ license. “This isn’t about giving anybody a chance or not giving anybody a chance. It’s about if you violate the law to a great enough amount for us to have to take away your permit. I’m not sure that this rises to that occasion. If we take it away and go to court, we’re going to lose because there’s not enough proof,” Dupuis said. He added that while the Board must protect public health from egregious business practices, it also must be certain before stripping someone of their permit: “If we’re going to take that away, I think we have to be 100% clear. I don’t feel comfortable permanently suspending it either.”

Jolly Vapors has remained closed at the Woodman Street location since May after an unrelated shooting in the neighborhood raised safety concerns. New zoning rules also require a tobacco retailer seeking to open at a new site to obtain City Council approval for a special permit, because tobacco stores are classified as “sensitive retail.”

Jolly said he has looked for a new location since May but hesitated to finalize any options while his license was at risk. “I’m glad they didn’t revoke my license. They didn’t have sufficient evidence. But it’s been a struggle to find a new location. It’s not going to be easy,” he said.

This article was adapted from an original report published on itemlive.com. All rights belong to the original publisher.