Well, vaped pot smells like pot, as does oil and I assume wax. I've NEVER been in a vape shop where vaping drugs was going on. I've been in a couple that did sell the special equipment needed to vape cannabis.
I would assume that if one were in a state where cannabis was legal, that both vapable forms and the equipment would be sold by licensed dealers.
For the most part, though, vape shops are sort of a combination "try before you buy", information exchange, and "saloon" sort of environment.
Sort of like the "cigar bars" that were so popular in the 80's early 90s in some areas of the US.
I've learned a few tricks in vape shops that have saved me money and helped me to have a better vaping experience.
People go to these vape shops to show off the equipment they've bought or built, to show what good "cloud chuckers" they are, etc.
I am disturbed by the number of youngsters picking up vaping and using nicotine though. A lot of youngsters are flavor chasers and vape 0%, which is fine. Actually, nicotine is by far the most benign thing in tobacco so long as you don't have heart or vascular disease.
What I don't understand is why somone who isn't addicted to nicotine would intentionally pick up the habit. Of course, 40 years later, I STILL can't quite figure out why I started smoking.
I'm glad that vaping came along a few years ago and I was able to get into it, though I started out with cheap equipment and bad juices. It wasn't until I visited a vape shop and got a professionally designed "beginners setup" and a lead on where to order a good menthol juice, that I was able to give up cigs.
3 years later? I am still using beginner's setups. I have three of them now. I mail ordered the 2 add'l. Much cheaper. I order my juices over the internet. I vape menthol, peppermint, and cinnamon, separately or mixed. I buy a part called a "coil" or atomizer and replace them every couple of weeks to keep things vaping cleanly. (Otherwise the cinnamon juice clogs things up)
My monthly nicotine fix costs have gone from 350 dollars a month to about 40 dollars a month, including coils and other small consumable bits.
Every three months of so, I have to buy "e-cig equipment cleaner", otherwise known as a half-pint of the cheapest, unflavored vodka I can find. I get a giggle of the liquor store clerks who are gagging at the thought of anyone drinking that stuff ("You SURE you don't want some OJ or Mountain Dew with that??" To which I respond, "Not to worry. I'm not going to be drinking it!") which generates all sorts of confusion.
Seriously though, check out non-drug related vape culture. It's an interesting group of people. I don't agree with a lot of what they have to say, but I don't view my vape as an extension of my person, or somehow connected to my "coolness quotient"