Vape juice, sometimes referred to as eliquid or ejuice, contains four major ingredients:
Vegetable Glycerin
Propylene Glycol
Flavoring
Nicotine
Vape juice is a viscous liquid that is used to fill an electronic vape or electronic tobacco to deliver nicotine. Don’t forget that you can always get vape juice without nicotine as well. The e-liquid gets heated in the vape to generate the appearance of a vapor cloud.
You might be wondering, do the chemicals present in the vape juice safe to smoke?
Before we dive into the ingredients in vape juice, it’s essential to understand that these substances are deemed “Generally Required As Safe (GRAS)” by the FDA for human ingestion. But the health risks from smoking or inhaling these substances aren’t fully recognized.
At the end of this article, you will know:
Each component in your e-juice
What is it used for?
What impact does this have on the vaping experience?
The first two are propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin since it makes up the majority of your e-juice content. Both of which are used as humectants (substance to keep moisture) in everyday household products for cosmetic and food items.
Vegetable Glycerin (VG)
What is Vegetable Glycerin (VG)?
Vegetable Glycerin (VG) is also known as Glycerol is an opaque and thick liquid that is typically made from soybeans or palm trees. It is also made from animal fat , but it is more uncommon.
Many people mistake this with vegetable oil because of it’s thick texture and thick syrupy appearance, however VG isn’t the same as vegetable oil. Glycerol can be dissolved in water, but vegetable oil isn’t.
VG is affixed from the FDA as an FDA-approved “generally accepted as safe” chemical that is safe for human consumption. However, the effects on health of breathing in Glycerol or VG is not known.
What is VG used for?
Glycerol is commonly used in the food industry to sweeten foods because it has the taste of a slight sweetness. It’s also used as a food additive to preserve the moisture in food products, to aid in thickening and even homogenize ingredients.
In the pharmaceutical industry, Glycerol is used in cosmetic creams to retain moisture and also to increase the liquidity of other ingredients so that it is more absorbable by the skin.
VG is a popular ingredient used in personal care products such as shampoo, makeup, soap, deodorant and hand creams, toothpaste, and drops for the eyes.
It is also present in food items such as baked products, cheese, gel capsule pills, yogurt as well as other processed foods.
What do VG affect your experience of vaping?
VG can affect the amount of vapour produced due to the viscosity of the liquid. The higher the VG ratio, the more dense the clouds. Vapers who are cloud-chasers will make use of a the highest VG ratios in sub-ohm vapes to produce large and plump clouds.
VG is also known for its soft and smoother throat hit.
Because of its thickness it will make it harder for your vape coil to wick that can result in dry hits. This is why a high VGR will require more time for the cotton inside your vape’s coil to be fully saturated.
It’s also important to note that VG will make it harder in cleaning the tank compared to PG due to its sticky consistency.
Propylene Glycol (PG)
What exactly is Propylene Glycol?
Propylene Glycol is a colorless and odorless liquid made from petroleum that has a faintly sweet taste. The texture of PG is syrupy however it is more fluid than vegetable glycerin.
Propylene Glycol is often confused with a harmful chemical that is found in antifreeze, called Ethylene Glycol. Because of the high toxicity of ethylene glycol, a lot of producers are employing a substitute called Propylene glycol. The chemical PG is utilized in products that are for pets and humans, while ethylene glycol requires proper handling.
Propylene glycol is a substance approved by the FDA for human ingestion, and it isn’t considered to be cancerous. When inhaling PG the long-term effects on health are not known yet.
What are the uses of PG?
PG is widely employed as a food additive because of its capacity to hold in moisture, making ingredients more dense, as well as bonding different ingredients together.
Foods that use PG as an ingredient: salad dressing, soft drinks, ice cream, packaged frosting, boxed cake mix, industrial food coloring.
Cosmetic products that contain PG such as shampoo and lotion, mouthwash, toothpaste, ointments and deodorant.
What does PG influence your experience of vaping?
The use of PG is as a vehicle in juices that contain flavoring to carry it. The higher PG ratio, you’ll get a sharper flavor compared to the VG.
A rise in PG can also be linked with more powerful throat hits which is similar to inhaling tobacco smoke.
The consistency of PG is lower when compared to VG, and is much easy to clean the vape. If you’re smoking with high PG, it is possible to experience leak issues, based on the device you are using.
Some people are sensitive to PG, and if you have allergic symptoms like a sore throat or irritation to your skin, it could be best to select an e-juice with higher VG ratio.
Flavoring
What are the flavoring concentrates?
E-juices that contain flavoring concentrates are made using a combination of natural and artificial flavoring to reproduce the taste of a beverage or food.
E-juice producers use ‘food grade flavoring concentrates which have been approved from FEMA (flavour extracts manufacturers association). Though the flavoring concentrates used are food grade however, the effects of inhalation from these concentrates is not completely known.
What are flavoring concentrates used for?
Flavoring concentrates can be found in baked items, soda, sweets and other processed foods that contain some kind of artificial flavoring.
When flavors for vape juice are made, a flavor like strawberry could make use of a variety of flavors to recreate the feeling of eating strawberries. Mixology is both science and an art.
How do flavoring concentrates impact your vaping experience?
Flavoring concentrates are not more than 10% of the E-juice’s total content.
E-juices do not contain flavors made from oil.
Flavorings belonging to the diketone family like diacetyl, acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl are all ingredients that are believed to be harmful if breathed in. Diacetyl was identified as a health risk in the media when employees from a microwave popcorn factory were diagnosed with the rare lung disease known as popcorn lung or bronchiolitis .
The amount of diacetyl found in cigarettes is 10-100 times higher than any e-juice found.
Nicotine
How do you define nicotine?
Nicotine is an alkaloid discovered in the nightshade family of plants such as tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, and tobacco.
Nicotine is a highly addictive substance and one of the primary reasons smoking cigarettes is difficult to quit.
Nicotine is considered stimulant however it is also used to relax the user in addition.
Many people mistakenly believe that nicotine is what causes cancer in cigarettes. However, it’s the tar and other additives in cigarettes that exhibit carcinogenic qualities when inhaled. Nicotine is extremely addictive however there aren’t any evidence-based studies that show that nicotine causes cancer.
What are the uses of nicotine?
To help smokers quit To help smokers quit, nicotine is found to treat nicotine addiction in the form of nicotine chewing gum nicotine patches, and e-liquid.
To quit smoking cigarettes cold turkey is difficult due to strong cravings for nicotine.
Nicotine is used in vape juices, as well as in other nicotine replacement therapies to help people in quitting cigarettes. Vapers often use vape juices to experience the smoking sensation and also to get nicotine in a non-harmful way.
Since nicotine in vape juice is an aid to quit smoking as well, nicotine-free vape juice is available. It can be used as the final step to reduce your intake of nicotine for good.
How does nicotine affect the vaping experience?
Nicotine vapes can be found in various levels like 3 mg, 0 mg, 6 , mg and 12 mg.
Not all vape juices contain nicotine . You can order 0 mg nicotine E-liquids if you wish to stop smoking nicotine but maintain the sensation of smoking.
The more nicotine you take in are, the more harsh the throat sensation. Nicotine has a peppery taste and may make the flavor sharper.
There are two kinds of nicotine two kinds: freebase nicotine and nicotine salts.
Freebase nicotine is often called regular nicotine. It’s most frequently found in 0 mg, 3 milligrams, six mg, in addition to 12 mg.
Nicotine salts are relatively new and what differentiates them from standard nicotine (freebase) is that vapers are able to vape higher nicotine strengths and avoid the unpleasant taste that it is with freebase nicotine. It is the closest vaping experience that provides nicotine in the same way smoking cigarettes would.
Nicotine salts also are known as nic salts. Nic salts are usually found in 25 to 50 mg nicotine strengths.
All e-juice bottles are required to be child-proofed in order to stop youngsters from drinking e-juices. Nicotine overdose in children can be fatal.