Alcohol Content.

[Kurt]

Also, cookies made with alcohol in them will not have alcohol in the end because the baking will evaporate it away. alcohol rarely survives in food that is cooked, due to evaporation. PVs are designed so that all evaporation products can be potentially absorbed, including alcohol. That is a simple fact.

As I said, there is ZERO necessity to have alcohol in e-juice. If anything it is a "luxury" ingredient that enhances wicking and flavor, both of which distilled water does just fine, at least in my experience.

[Kurt]

I am a recovering alcoholic as well. I have never had or felt any ill effects from vapeing. But now you all have me worried I hope that there is no alacohol in my blood now from vapeing..

It might be detectable, but it would be far lower than the legal limit for driving, I am sure. It most certainly is present. Whether or not it affects you is another story. It depends on the person, and their metabolism. It affected me, but I have little tolerance for alcohol, and a life that requires being extremely sharp and physically agile and fast, probably more than most, so for me it was an issue that needed to be fixed, which distilled water did just fine with little loss of vapor, wicking or flavor quality.

If you have an actual monitor that detects alcohol, I dont know the level that sets it off. I personally would be avoiding alcohol in my juices if I had one of these, but as I said, people can do what they want. And generally do. I am not trying to tell people what they can vape. I am only saying what affected me, why I think it did what it did, based on decades of chemical and biochemical education and professional experience, along with some past recreational inebriation experience, and what I did to remedy it. We are all adults here that should be able to decide for themselves what they should vape, and what they should not.

[Jherek]

This thread has me concerned, though I haven't noticed any such effect from using a small amount of alcohol in my mix.

It seems to me that the heat from the atomizer would break down at least SOME of the alcohol. Wouldn't it? Neither would all of it be absorbed, of course.

[Kurt]

This thread has me concerned, though I haven't noticed any such effect from using a small amount of alcohol in my mix.

It seems to me that the heat from the atomizer would break down at least SOME of the alcohol. Wouldn't it? Neither would all of it be absorbed, of course.

No, there is no thermal decomposition of the alcohol. This has been shown with GC-MS analysis of the vapor. In fact, nothing gets hot enough to decompose in the juice, only vaporize, as long as the atty is not glowing hot. It boils only, it doesn't react. People that are saying it gets "cooked" or "breaks down" simply do not know the chemical facts. It becomes part of the vapor.

If you do not think that the alcohol is affecting you, I wouldn't worry about it at all, as it probably isn't. If you are using a few drops for every 5 or 6 mL of juice, it is not much at all. I was using 10% in my juice, and it was affecting me, and I could certainly feel it. Many people have a glass of wine with dinner, without any issues at all. I cannot do that! Alcohol affects me strongly. I do kendo (japanese sword) and gung fu. Anything that impairs the equilibrium even a little makes those two things very dangerous, to me and to others.

Yes, some is exhaled, like the rest of the vapor, but some is absorbed, no doubt. Has to be. I didn't want to believe it would affect me. But I cut it out, and felt fine again. Added it back, and felt it again. Cut it out again, and was fine. Did this several times.

Many people here use it without issues. Some here don't want alcohol at all. Some are affected strongly by alcohol. Water works fine if you are concerned.

[Wall]

This thread has me concerned, though I haven't noticed any such effect from using a small amount of alcohol in my mix.

It seems to me that the heat from the atomizer would break down at least SOME of the alcohol. Wouldn't it? Neither would all of it be absorbed, of course.

Whatever the atomizer does, you still inhale the byproduct. In such a low mixture I would assume that nicotine, alcohol, food coloring, etc, is suspended in the massive amounts of pg/vg that the juice is made out of %age wise, and you inhale that.

The alcohol might evaporate when exposed to heat, but you are still breathing it in. If you think the alcohol is destroyed/burnt up by the heat, I dont think that is the purpose of vaporizer element, and seems unlikely that a significant portion would do so. Otherwise, why would alcohol cause a bigger throat hit if it was all gone by the time it got to your throat?

[MBblue]

Being a newbie to this forum, I appreciate everyones responses. This forum is outstanding. Thank you all so much. I've been stressing on this for some time now and it's good to have a few facts.

[Jherek]

Well, Kurt and Wall, your reasoning seems sound. Well, starting tomorrow, I'll give distilled water a shot and see if there are any appreciable differences.

BTW, this could, incidentally, be of interest to another thread here in the new members' forum: the one on "green gunk" on atomizer and battery threads. I haven't noticed any at all in some time, and wonder if this could be due to using alcohol, rather that DW.

We shall see.

[Kurt]

Well, Kurt and Wall, your reasoning seems sound. Well, starting tomorrow, I'll give distilled water a shot and see if there are any appreciable differences.

BTW, this could, incidentally, be of interest to another thread here in the new members' forum: the one on "green gunk" on atomizer and battery threads. I haven't noticed any at all in some time, and wonder if this could be due to using alcohol, rather that DW.

We shall see.

I will watch for the green. I am not familiar with this issue, and haven't had it when I was just using vtvapor unflavored juice, flavor and added vg. the unflavored has water added by Adam, the producer, and I think it is about 20% or more, so if it was water, I think I would have seen it. Could be colors, as some flavors have red or blue or yellow added, like blueberry. I don't vape colors if I can help it, but that's another issue entirely. The batt and atty threads do get a dark material that I think is a little decomposition between terminals from the current passing, but it is more black than green in my experience.

[Raenon]

the ounces to milliliter conversion was wrong. 160 ounces=4732 milliliters. just google ounces millilter conversion. so 0.5/4732=.0001 or .01%

Hmm, You're right and I'm not sure how I managed to not only make that math error (bad calculator!), but I didn't catch it any let it continue through.

Either way, it still holds.

If you INJECTED half a ml of pure alcohol directly into your bloodstream, you'd have 0.01% BAC.
Inhaling the vapor doesn't get it "directly into your brain", that's just silly. Nothing gets directly into the brain unless you use a large drill.
Inhaling might conceivably be faster than drinking, but it's nowhere near as effective as direct injection, AND you're not vaporizing half a ml all at once- that's a maximum of half a ml if you're cutting 20% into 2.5ml of juice a day, which is something that most of us would take ALL day to vape (and who cuts 20% ? Flooded attys, much?).
Oh, and that also assumes that you inhale every bit of the vaporized alchol and don't exhale any of it with the rest of the vapor that you exhale... and of course, your liver will continue to metabolise all the tiny quantities you take in- it doesn't all store up throughout the day to hit you at once.

And a brandy snifter is NOT to get drunk off the fumes of alcohol, it's to condense the aromas as you sip it.

People who think they get drunk off the smell of liquor are fooling themselves.
If you smell the alcohol in e-liquid and find it unpleasant for any reason (including just being reminded of the drink), then don't use it. You can DIY with distilled water and it'll make a passable vape, but if you don't have ethical/medical/personal reasons for not using the ethanol, it really does produce a superior end product.

[Shadowdr]

I can't say how much alchol is actually retained after vaping but I can tell you that much of it is exhaled, I can taste it. I drip PGA straight into the atty to melt away the hardend juice. It works very, very well and does have a specific flavor. I usually only use a drop or two at a time but I have never felt anything from it. To be honest I like the taste and it does give several good throat hits even from what seems to be a dry atty, before it is dissapated.