I don't know if it's because I'm tall and men don't know how to ignore me, or if it's that I'm insistent and trolly when people *try* to ignore me, but I usually find that most men get flustered when you hit them with intellect OR with damsel-vibes, but for obviously different reasons. The Damsel stirs up the machismo and they WANT to help you because then they can feel like superheros for a few minutes afterwards. (Downside to this is that sometimes they don't know what they're talking about and then you're stuck letting them "help you" into nowhere.)
Intellect can either make them angrily competitive (depending on their own ego malfunctions), or curious and fascinated, but either way you have their attention, and their best efforts...because they now feel the need to impress you, one way or the other. Actually, you get their best efforts in all of these scenarios, because they put on their best show for the Needy Little Woman too.
I like your For Funsies idea but I would take it a step further. After you get them engaged, sweetly tell them that they were really dismissive of you last time you were in, that it bothered you because it's so hard to find friendly, knowledgeable people in the vaping world "these days." Then watch them scramble to try and redeem themselves. They may remember it and be nicer to women patrons next time.