THE boys from Vampire Vape have taken a huge bite into the e-cig market - and they don’t have any plans to go on a diet.

From testing their own flavours to heading a multi-million pound vaping business, the last six years have been something of a blur for Nathan Walton and Phil Boyle.

From selling to just family and friends, the firm now produces 30 million bottles of e-liquid, selling to 63 countries across the world. Their range has around 350 flavours and they employ around 100 people having recently invested £11million into their new 115,000 sq ft premises in Global Way, Darwen.

And their phenomenal growth was recently acknowledged at the Hive Awards, when they picked up the Manufacturing, Innovation and Technology Excellence and Growth Business Award.

But all that’s a far cry from when they got together in 2012.

Nathan said: “I had been importing e-liquids from China, but you could never really guarantee what was in them.

“I was selling them to family and friends, but sometimes the flavours tasted horrible.

“So I started creating my own and they became really popular.

“Then I spoke to Phil. I was selling to about 20 shops and Phil said, ‘Why aren’t you selling this into a thousand shops?”

“I was still working full-time so it was a big move to put all my time into this. But Phil persuaded me that it was the right thing to do. And it has paid off big time.”

Phil said: “I had been vaping since it all started in 2011 as an alternative to cigarettes.

“I knew Nathan had been selling bits but I knew it was good stuff and I knew there was a big potential in it.

“I knew we had to go at it hard, and although it’s been very hard work, it’s really paid off.”

The pair have done careful research into what their customers want, a philosophy that has served them well.

Nathan added: “We bend over backwards to give the customers what they want.

“This has paid off in spades as the little jobs we have done for people have paid off when they have come back with big orders further down the line.

“What we offer is different to others. We make our own brand of e-liquid and then make liquid for other smaller providers.

“We’ve been able to get into 63 countries across the globe and we are making strides into new markets all the time.

“We have just become compliant in America so that’s a new huge market. We’re going to Miami soon to talk to distributors over there.”

And it’s the recent change in regulations that the Vampires think will give them a bigger edge as more is known about the effects of vaping.

Nathan said: “We have been meticulous with what goes into our products. The process is robust and the more regulation there is, the stronger our hand will be.

“We’ve done everything the right way and our quality control process is rigorous.”

And as they continue to ride the crest of a wave, the pair are committed to being a great place to work.

Phil added: “We’ve created a new vision: ‘To be the world’s most trusted vaping brand, liberating our customers through creative, innovative and high quality products.’ “We want people to be happy at work and stay here. We have people who have been here since the beginning and that’s somethiong we want to see continue.”