Synthetic Nicotine - Is there really such a thing?

[tomzgreat]

On the subject of the Gum and the lozenges. (with exception of cherry). They contain Aspartame. Many people have a reaction to Aspartame. I"m one of them.

When I was 27 I started drinking Diet Pepsi. All of a sudden I began having strong hypoglycemic symptoms. It took about a month of thinking that something was seriously wrong with me until I found out that Aspartame throws my body into Hypoglycemic shock and totally effects my sugar levels. I'm not alone look up Aspartame on the internet. It is very nasty stuff.

[newkirk]

InnoVapor Coupon List Thread - Saving you $$$

Tony at Innovapor claims in this post that ECOpure is made with synthetic nicotine, "It is made in a laboratory and is not derived from tobacco." However, it's worth noting that ECOpure is an Intellicig product, Innovapor is a reseller, and he may have misunderstood. AFAIK ShiningWit hasn't said anything on the subject. It's also possible that this is just carefully parsed advertising-speak, IE that it's 'made' in a 'laboratory' by extracting from some other non-tobacco nightshade species...

j

[DVap]

Previous comment (Mister, I think) was right on the mark.

And I very much doubt that Ecopure is made with synthetic nicotine. The price would have to be astronomical.

If you gave me a vial of absolutely pure (-)-nicotine, I could not tell you with any certainty whether it was the result of an exhaustive purification of tobacco or whether it was synthesized in a laboratory from non-nicotine starting materials and intermediates.

If you gave me a vial of absolutely pure (+)-nicotine, or a vial containing a 50:50 mix of (-)-nicotine and (+)-nicotine, I would be absolutely certain it was a non-tobacco derived synthetic material.

While (+)-nicotine is known to display ~50% of the toxicity of (-)-nicotine, it also displays ~50% of the potency of (-)-nicotine. Half as toxic but you need twice as much for the same effect, sound like a wash to me.

synthesizing racemic nicotine (equal amounts of (-)-nicotine and (+)-nicotine) is quite expensive, synthesizing the pure (-)-nicotine or (+)-nicotine is far more expensive.

(+)-nicotine may be synthesized for experimental purposes, but nobody in their right mind would synthesize (-)-nicotine for experimental purposes. It's plentiful in nature, and even after exhaustive purification, it's still pennies on the dollar compared to synthetic (-)-nicotine.

[TaketheRedPill]

....
5. The phsyical characteristics of the nicotine delivery. So far it seems likely that we're receiving our nicotine in teeny blobs of PG and that this slows the absorption time. Not a health concern in any way that I know of but something which may be important in understanding the differences in the feel of nicotine between smoking and vaping.

This is what I'd like to see investigated more. at room temp PG isn't real great at evaporating; neither is VG. So how much 'evaporates' from the lungs as part of normal expiration? And what is the metabolism rate of nicotine bound in PG? are the lungs turned into a biological nicotine patch? Does the body have a set rate at metabolizing PG or can it shift into overdrive at will and metabolize whatever we throw at it? In light of different studies that show spikes in nicotine levels of NRT users, do these studies show the body only goes into overdrive when some sort of toxic threshold is reached in the lungs? What does the presence of nicotine byproducts in hair, fingernails and toenails have to say about how well the body metabolizes nicotine?

IIRC, most nrt's state not for use longer than 6 months. Will we see a 'not for use longer than' for PV liquids?

TTRP

[xtraelf]

Great answers! Yet I'm still puzzled.

Tomzgreat, I am indeed aspartame intolerant, so I suppose I went like a lamb to the slaughter with gum and lozenges. Even a cursory exam of the FDA processes and history of it's introduction certainly shows how corrupt the FDA can be. I can easily forsee e-cigs being the "saccarine" product that gets the ax in favor of big money tobacco in a very similar scenario. The news of two days previous about aspartame causing kidney failure was no shock to me, although my side-effect was acute stomach pain. I didn't have brain fuzz and depression on it, though. Hmmmm.

Vocalek, I valued your points also, and can see their potential as culprets. Though, there were days I saturated my system up to the point of illness with the NP and days I could barely touch the stuff, yet the mental misery remained fairly constant.

However, I'm still mystified to some degree, because patches with no aspartame were the worst method of the three and Cold Turkey didn't unhinge me the way nicotine polacrilex products did.

So now I've several good possilities for my issue with NP including a personal intolerance.

Perhaps Mister could put a chemist's brain to it and tell me just what this stuff is... if he would be so kind.

Thanking all for their replies,
Genie

[xtraelf]

I mispoke when I said aspartame was found to cause kidney failure. I should have said damage or deterioration.

Further, I always type "it's" when I know it should be "its". Sheesh.

Genie

[Mister]

Perhaps Mister could put a chemist's brain to it and tell me just what this stuff is... if he would be so kind.

Sorry Genie, I'm not a chemist, just a layman trying to understand what I can.

On looking around a bit I'm fuzzy as to what ingredients might be in any given NP product. It seems that NP refers to nicotine bound to an ion exchange resin, but not necessarily even a single particular resin. And then there are "buffering agents" (whatever those might be) and flavoring.

However, it is clear that your body is reacting badly to something in the mix since you do even worse when using NP than going cold turkey. I think the best bet is just to stay away from NP products and keep trying other stuff to find something which works to deliver the nicotine content you need without new side-effects. Vaping and snus seem to be the two approaches with the greatest success for people in these forums.

[Angela]

InnoVapor Coupon List Thread - Saving you $$$

Tony at Innovapor claims in this post that ECOpure is made with synthetic nicotine, "It is made in a laboratory and is not derived from tobacco." However, it's worth noting that ECOpure is an Intellicig product, Innovapor is a reseller, and he may have misunderstood. AFAIK ShiningWit hasn't said anything on the subject. It's also possible that this is just carefully parsed advertising-speak, IE that it's 'made' in a 'laboratory' by extracting from some other non-tobacco nightshade species...

j

I've previously tried to correct this theory, but gave up as I couldn't keep up with the Chinese Whispers!

Intellicig has NEVER claimed that it's nicotine was synthetic.

[DVap]

xtraelf,

Here's a chemist's brain...

smoking is fine, not smoking is no fun, but NRT's (gums and patches) make you go various flavors of bonkers. Does that sound about right?

I haven't read back closely enough to see what vaping does for you. Does it create more bonkers, or is it OK, but not like real cigs?

Let us know here and I'll see if I can't put some pieces together and hazard a guess as to what might be going on.

[xtraelf]

I stumbled upon the whole concept of e-cigs about a week ago. I have now read a vast majority of posts here, watched 3 dozen vids... and y'all have sold me. In fact y'all have given me the first hope I've had in years that I might be able to quell my 36 year, almost 3 pack a day, full strength habit.

I'm away from home til Monday but upon my return I will be ordering a KR808D-1. In full truth Vaping is pretty much my last hope as neither NRTs, hypnosis, accupuncture, Wellbutrin nor Cold Turkey have done it. Nor did seeing an old friend die due to smoking induced COPD last year. Some of the very last words out of her mouth to me were a plea for me to quit smoking. I said I'd try and she said, "No, don't try. Take a good long look at me and quit!". As you can well imagine, it haunts me.

She was beyond right that I must get off of cigs. I am sick of feeling lousy all the time. They literally are killing me and I know it.

I realize I'm going off topic, but I came to this particular forum section to find out about what "variety" of nicotine was in e-liquids because of my history with the alternate form. It was my last question before diving into Vaping. I feel reassured that I won't have a repeat of NP symptoms now, though I am aware I will still crave the missing tars and gunk for a short while.

My mind is set and I'm a stubborn cuss so look for me to be vaping soon. I've really no other choice when you get down to it.

As to the NP issue... there was one element to the equation I never thought about until this post series since I don't drink or do drugs or have to take any daily prescriptions. My sinuses went crazy when I was on that stuff and I was reduced to taking Psuedophed. Maybe, just maybe, there was a drug interaction between the two, though it seems I'd have been wired up rather than depressed. Ah, well, as was just mentioned, I should avoid it like the plague whatever the underlying reason.

I want to thank all on this forum for the investment of time and caring that writing these responses take. I do appreciate you all.

Later,
Genie