Healthiest Vape Juice?
Is it even possible to claim that there is a healthiest vape juice? By now, almost everybody knows how easy it is for people to become addicted to nicotine. Yet even the FDA mostly targets smoking because the worst problem is attaching this addictive substance to thousands of toxic chemicals that smokers inhale. Still, it’s reasonable to assume that inhaling anything but clean air offers some risks, and nobody here will argue that.
Generally, health authorities dislike anything with nicotine. Nobody can argue with this either. Still, say that vaping is probably much less risky than smoking, especially for non-pregnant and generally healthy adults. If vaping is less risky than smoking, explore some solid ideas about the healthiest and least risky vape juice to use.
Is There a Healthiest Vape Juice?
PG Vs. VG in E-Juice Bases
First, consider the base of most vape juice on the market. Manufacturers typically use a mix of vegetable glycerine, or VG, and propylene glycerine, usually referred to as PG.
While most people do not experience negative symptoms with this mix, more people appear to have sensitivities to PG. Vape juice with a larger concentration of VG tends to produce more vapor but weaker flavors.
Nicotine Strength of Vape Juice
You can, of course, buy 0 percent vape juice. Some people who have never used nicotine buy e-juice with no nicotine because they enjoy vaping because of the flavors, the activity calms them, or for other reasons. Of course, it’s fair to say that most people who vape are using vaping to replace cigarettes.
Still, you should remain mindful of the nicotine concentration in your e-juice so you can taper off or at least, not become even more addicted to nicotine. In most commercial e-juice, you will see the nicotine concentration stated as mg./ml. or a percent.
For instance:
- Typical e-juice may come in concentrations from 1.8 to 12 percent nicotine. For nicotine salts, strengths between 3 and 6 percent are common.
- You might also see this stated as mg./ml. For example, 3 percent might be labelled as 3 mg. or 3 mg. per ml.
Healthiest E-Juice Flavors
The best way to uncover potentially healthier vape juice ingredients in flavorings may be to consider chemicals in some formulas that have raised potential concerns.
Diacetyl in Vape Juice
The chemicals used to make some flavors have raised health concerns. For instance, one Harvard study found a chemical called diacetyl in three-quarters of the e-juice that they tested. This chemical was associated with a serious disease usually called popcorn lung, but that was mostly in plant workers who were exposed to very large doses for years. Apparently, a Colorado man also contracted this disease after making and consuming microwave popcorn each day for a decade.
Diacetyl tastes buttery, so it’s used often to make microwave popcorn. You may also find it in margarine and some alcoholic liquors. It’s considered safe to eat, but obviously, it’s not safe to inhale in large doses. Diacetyl is actually a natural and organic byproduct of dairy fermentation. If a food or a vape juice is simply labored as having “flavoring,” it might contain diacetyl.
The risk for contracting a disease light popcorn lunch may be low, but at Vapor Scapes, we’d prefer to minimize it. You can find diacetyl-free vape juice, and it’s probably a good idea, especially if you vape a lot. You should also know that cigarette smoke contains a much higher concentration of this diacetyl than vapor does, so you have another reason to quit smoking by vaping.
Benzoic Acid in Nicotine Salts
Nicotine salts, and especially Juul, have come under scrutiny for using benzoic acid in the formula for vape juice. Yes, benzene exposure is bad, but is that what happens when you vape nicotine salts?
This doctor analyzed the research and found that devices like the Juul don’t produce enough wattage to produce the dangerous chemical. In fact, they used a five-second puff, which people don’t do, and they still did not find benzine in Juul vapor. He concluded that even with some high-wattage devices, it’s unlikely to be a problem, but particularly not with low-wattage devices like Juul.
Vaping Formaldehyde?
The potential for inhaling formaldehyde compounds tends to increase at a higher voltage, says the Scientific American. In fact, the risk of developing cancer from high-voltage vaping devices may even be higher than from smoking. Low-power vaping doesn’t appear to carry this increased risk. Critics of this study did argue that most people don’t tend to push variable-voltage devices up this high, but higher voltages do tend to carry more flavor.
Minimizing Health Risks of Vape Juice
This article may not have touched upon every chemical in every vape juice. Besides the formula, the device’s power, frequency and length of puffs, and many other factors may contribute. In fact, most of the time, increased risks come with increased voltages. That means that it might not be unhealthy vaping juice flavors but unhealthy voltage levels that come closer to the heat of combustion, as in a regular cigarette. Besides researching the healthiest vape juice, you probably also want to consider the power of your device, settings, etc.
Hopefully, this overview of vape flavor concerns can lead you to do your own research about healthier vape juice flavors, power settings, and so on.
Air Quality Samples in a Busy Vape Store
Here’s some good news about vaping from the CDC. No government health organization will say vaping is safe, but the CDC sampled the air in a 10,000 SF, busy vape shop with about 10 employees on duty at a time. Both customers and employees are allowed to vape in this store. Employees also mix vape liquids onsite for customers.
The CDC found that the levels of all vape-related chemicals that they checked fell below safety standards. They did offer suggestions such as having employees wear gloves when mixing chemicals.
Bottom line: At the least, companies should assure you of food-grade flavors and post lists of ingredients, either on the bottle or at least, online. Still, vaping doesn’t appear to damage air quality the way that cigarette smoking or even many other activities can.
How to Buy the Healthiest E-Juice
Some vape juice companies list ingredients on the label. If not, better manufacturers post ingredients and even lab certifications online. Of course, this information may not always be easy to find, but that should be a red flag that you’re not buying the healthiest e-juice from the most transparent company.
To explore the quality and mix of bases, flavors, and nicotine in the next vape juice you buy, you might ask vape shop owners, contact manufacturers, or research brands online. Of course, you can also obtain supplies to make your own vape juice online to exercise complete control over the ingredients that you inhale.
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