I cannot say what is in the barrel. What I don't see that I would expect to see in a working lab, is any glassware, I see no botteling gear, bottles, I see no operating mixers, heaters or lable machines or trays on the counter. The pic of the barrell obvoiusly was not taken at the same time as the others, and is in fact not visible in the other photos. If theses pics are supposed to be of a lab in production, why is there no production occuring?
If this is what the lab looks like during production, they deserve to no longer participate in the Ecig industry. These pics were put on the company's webpage, with the depiction of them being a social event subsequent to the completion of the lab, but priour to production. They were NOT taken while producing eliquid. Were they testing the equipment? Checking processes? I don't know. I personally find it easier to believe that these pics portray what the company says they do, than believe that a company would invest the time energy and expense to create a facility that meets standards, and then take pics and put the pics on their own webpage showing a total lack of any best practices.
I just finished a side project of opening a retail store (in no way vape related) with several other people. The space we leased used to be a dry cleaning facility, that had stood empty for over 2 years, with all the drycleaning equipment, high pressure steam lines chemicals, electrical wireing that was not to code etc. We had all the chemicals removed and certified. The flooring was removed , a sub floor was installed and new ceramic tileing. The electrical was completly redone to code, and all outlets, switches were replaced, and new ones added. The cieling was replaced, everything was painted, emergency lighting was installed, we passed the fire and other inspections with "No deficiencies found". In fact, we exceeded all requirements and standards.
Had you seen the pics of the little party we had there 5 days before opening, they would have made the ones above look good. Many of the tradesmen who attended our little soirre had come from work, and were not wearing dinner jackets, ot tuxes.
Believe me there were no bottles on the display cases, no spills on the floor, no pizza boxes,and no staff consuming alchohol on opening day, or since. A staff member wanted to post some of the pics she took on the webpage. I asked her not to as it is difficult to seperate the context. I want customers to picture the establishment the way it looks now. Spotless. In a way, its rather sad that we didn't, but I can see now that there are people who don't understand the differences between in progress, and open and operating.