Alcohol in E-health e-cigarettes. Get a DUI?

[UntamedRose]

Tried a blood alcohol calculator... 5 beers, at 175 pounds over an hour(didnt know how long to put) would be 0.99

But the calculator didnt give the options nor did you say how big the beers where and I thought that canadian beer had a higher alcohol content then american(which the calculator was uses) So this might be based on 5 cans rather then mugs kinda thing.

Sucks about your friend but I really doubt vaping had anything to do with it.

 

[kinabaloo]

Something's not right. I don't know if the breathalyzer's have a high error margin, or the one used was out of calibration. No way to know now, but I support the others in that there is almost no grain alcohol in ejuices. I wonder if the breathalyzers can give a false positive with the compounds of pg and vg in the juices. Probably not.

Probably yes. The question is how long these stay around in the mouth/lung; quite a while I would think, especially VG as it is far far less volatile.

If this happens to you (and especially if you didnt drink 5 beers), ask for a blood test.

If I am right, this is not about ethanol in the liquids, but the PG/VG. Though not intoxicating, they are alcohols as far a test equipment looking for O-H bonds is concerned (or a chemist).

 

[kinabaloo]

Tried a blood alcohol calculator... 5 beers, at 175 pounds over an hour(didnt know how long to put) would be 0.99

But the calculator didnt give the options nor did you say how big the beers where and I thought that canadian beer had a higher alcohol content then american(which the calculator was uses) So this might be based on 5 cans rather then mugs kinda thing.

Sucks about your friend but I really doubt vaping had anything to do with it.

That's a close figure, so seems the beer accounts for the reading all by itself (which is good news for vaping - but dont vape just before your test).

 

[Semiretired]

I hope ya'll are wrong - or there will be a law about vaping and driving next...

 

[Nunnster]

I am not sure about vaping, however I did come across this because I always herd that smoking a menthol cig will make you fail and wondered about it. Breath Analyzer Accuracy. So it IS possible that that the test might show up for vaping if the margin of error is so high and goes off on other things other then just BAC. Hopefully if that is the case, your friend got a blood test shortly after he got arrested.

 

[Boodle]

It was Bush's fault. Now the ecig gets blamed for everything.

 

[madjack]

...you know, we have all been voicing OPINIONS and we all know about them...I went to (my friend)Google and entered "propylene glycol and breathalyzers" and found the possibility that PG could trigger some types of breathalyzers...the evidence is sketchy but it is there...verrrry interssssting..........
madjack

p.s. I still doubt it was the ecig however...................mj

 

[kinabaloo]

UntamedRose showed beyong reasonable doubt that the culprit was the beer in the bar.

But yes, I think there could be a small issue with VG/PG. Just to reiterate - though technically they are classed as alcohols, they are NOT intoxicating like beer and spirits (ethanol).

 

[madjack]

...the point is, they are afterall, alcohols and breathalyzers don't measure intoxication, just the possibility of intoxication...as I said earlier, the ecig probably had nothing to do with it but the possibility does exist......
madjack

 

[emus]

If one gets booked for DUI do they routinely do a blood test at the station?
If not can you request they do?
If you refuse the breathalyzer they will force a blood test as seen on the reality cop TV shows.

 

[Boodle]

If one gets booked for DUI do they routinely do a blood test at the station?
If not can you request they do?
If you refuse the breathalyzer they will force a blood test as seen on the reality cop TV shows.

I don't know but golly I don't ever want to find out 8-o 8-o

Had it been one beer this story would have perked my radar and I'd be Googling like crazy. Drink five... then blame it on an ecig? Really? That's poop.

 

[Baldr]

The limit on alcohol is unreasonably low. I have a DWI on my record. I had drank 2 beers and was on my way home.

Also, the machines they test with are notoriously unreliable. And things like a burp just before you blow into the machine can make it register very high.

If there is any alcohol in e-cig juice, it's low enough that most of us never notice. I don't think it can have any effect.

If the e-cig is in any way related, it's because the breath test gives a false positive due to the vapor, not because the e-cig is getting someone drunk.

 

[pauljoseph]

Hi everyone: wow what a great community of people!

I will add a bit more to the story as this has me somewhat curious. My bud's 175, 6'1'. No he had not eaten at all almost all day. We had gone on a road trip and had maybe eaten at 4. and we were stopped at 2. We had just regular Canadian beer (the brand Canadian) started drinking around 6pm-12am, but we stopped drinking at 12 and we drove to get pizza at 2:30. We stopped and waited. He was smoking the e-cigs all night.

HERES THE QUESTION: Everyone keeps talkign about how an electric cigarette does not get you drunk. I 100% understand that. That is not the issue. The issue is he was not arrested for being drunk (it's when you are physically or you seem impared, i.e. slur of speech, incoherent etc) it was for being above the limit of .08 - i.e. the cops even said he did not seem drunk.

SO THE QUESTION IS: To what degree it a breathalyzer reads any type of alcohol - assuming again he had smoked two full (20 cartridges) that day which he did, to what degree would/could that affect it? Where's a chemist when you need one?

 

[pauljoseph]

So i just followed this link: Blood Alcohol Calculator Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself which someone gave regarding calculating alcohol: i even went higher and put 6 just in case I counted wrong. We were drinking from 7-12 - but i put 4 hours instead of 5 hours just to see. if i am right and i am 99% sure we had literally 5 beers for 5 hours - he'd have an alohol level of 0.05ish if i up to 6 beers in 4 hours he'd still only be at 0.071 which is far far far below being over 1.00 level.

Enter it yourself: 6 beers, 175lbs, male, 5 hours.

Guys something seems wrong here. I'm worried now that people may be overlooking the idea of breathalyzers with e-cigs. time to do research...i'll post what i find.

 

[Spazmelda]

Does anyone have a police friend who can borrow a breathalyzer? I'm really curious about this.

 

[pauljoseph]

wow check out this story in another thread! http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ene-glycol-mistaken-alcohol-breathalyzer.html

I know this is an odd question, but recently I was at a restaurant/bar and in about 5 hours time I had a burger and fries, and about 1 drink per hour (5 total).

I did not feel intoxicated and I was vaping the whole way home. I got pulled over while parking at home. I was not swirving and I did not break any laws.

The officer told me I didn't appear to be intoxicated and I didn't smell like alcohol but I talked slow so they wanted to give me a sobriety test, I am normally a slow talker.

I never lost balance or anything during the test, I expected them to let me go but instead they arrested me. I blew a .08 on the machine and I have no Idea how, I didn't even feel intoxicated.

so I was wondering if since the breathalyzer measures the amount of alcohol absorbed in your lungs, is there anything in the ingredients of E-Juice that can be mistaken for alcohol?

 

[pauljoseph]

his story sounds almost the same. officer didnt say he seemed drunk - vaping the entire way...got 0,08...wtf?

 

[sln88]

It would be great if you could find a friendly cop to do an experiment. use a breathalyzer before you start vaping for the day, vape for an hour, and recheck it

I don't think its entirely impossible that we could be exhaling something that shows up as alcohol.

any chemists around that can explain what happens to PG/VG when it is atomized and exhaled? and we would need to know exactly what the breathalyzer picks up as alcohol

my husbands daughter is a cop, but I don't know if I could get her to try this

 

[pauljoseph]

Apparently: from just quick searches

Another thing that is worth knowing is that ignition interlock devices simply don’t work all that well. A big problem with them is that they use what are called fuel cells to measure the presence and amount of alcohol in a person’s breath, and fuel cells, and therefore ignition interlocks are non-specific for beverage alcohol. According to Dr. Michael Hlastala’s upcoming DWI Journal: Law and Science article entitled: Limitations of Transdermal Alcohol Testing:

The fuel cell converts electrochemical energy stored in the ethanol molecule into electrical energy manifested as an electrical current. Fuel cells are not specific for ethanol (ethyl alcohol). They react with any chemical having an hydroxyl group (-OH), and will thus react to chemicals other than ethyl alcohol, but with a different sensitivity. Examples of chemicals that can get into the body by inhalation of fumes or skin contact are: methyl alcohol (wood alcohol – used to produce bio-diesel fuel), n-propanol (cleaning solvent), isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol, metabolically produced in uncontrolled diabetes), butyl alcohol, butoxyethanol (strong cleaning agent), ethylene glycol (antifreeze), propylene glycol (used as food supplement) and glycerine (used in many soaps).

How would you feel if you couldn’t get to w

 

[pauljoseph]

sln88 : i would love love love to find this out. i really dont know. you have to understand everyone: we really didnt drink that much over a long period. it's not like we were out partying our faces off and drove. we drank a few yes, but over a long period and all the readings suggest low amount below 0.08. The more I research it I just have to wonder.

It would be amazing to see if it would register on a breathalyzer by smoking them.