It may effect certain people in this way, but it's hard to say for sure. It's got to be better than hacking up a lung every morning from the smoke and tar in real ciggies. 
Does vaping cause phlegm?
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Where do I begin? At the beginning I guess. Last night, after vaping for one month, and coughing up clear, thin, phlegm that was comparatively easy to bring up, I came and did a search for "phlegm." I read about 20 pages of posts before bed and woke this morning with the subject on my mind.
My decision to start vaping hinged on two things. One, my son started doing it and raved. Two, my health was deteriorating and I had recently been hospitalized thinking I was about to have a heart attack. In the weeks preceding the ER/Hospital visit, my legs were so weak I had to ride an electric cart while trying to shop. I was winded all the time. Last year I developed tachycardia along with high blood pressure and was put on meds. The year before that I spent nine weeks on pain meds risking addiction trying to avoid surgery for a popped disk in my neck acquired during a coughing attack in the middle of the night. Somewhere in me I knew that the thick yellow, choking, mucus that grew more and more difficult to bring up the older I got was responsible for those coughing fits. I blamed it on allergies and my pets but I knew what was really going on. What I did not know was that an oxygen saturation of 60 (normal is above 90)that caused my weak legs and racing heart was due to smoking and not getting enough oxygen. I suspect my high blood pressure was also as it has come down to normal since I started vaping. I spent big bucks in the hospital with MRIs and CAT scans only to learn after starting vaping that the physical symptoms were due to smoking. So I have reached a point where lung cancer is not my major concern with analogs. I've experienced/developed the physical consequences not discussed as much. I should mention here that I'm nearly 69 years old, started smoking at 11, and with retirement slowly upped analogs to nearly two packs a day with idle time. I guess I'm trying to say that while some reading (quite an assumption on my part LOL) may not have experienced any of this YET, with lenght of time smoking, an aging body and qauntity smoked each day health consequences begin to show up and they're pretty grave involving strokes and/or heart failure.
So, now to vaping and phlegm. Yes, I am experiencing that but nothing like analog smoking and it goes away pretty fast when not vaping. What I think I've discovered, although I will continue being an observant guinea pig, is a problem with flavoring. I have vaped only 33% VG and chain vape at 3.7 with an ego c passthrough anywhere from 12 to 0 nic... I do mean chain here as an X two-pack-a-day smoker. I get really bad phlegm when the vapor feels oily. I don't know vaping terms but that's the best I can describe it. These "oily" ones do make me cough with first, second or even third hits. At this point it seems those flavor combos containing nuts (banana nut bread and pina colada) feel oily and produce phlegm while the pure fruit flavors don't. So far I've only bought from one vendor (awaiting juice from two others now) and I don't know what where the flavorings they're using come from... only that they say they're USA made (truthfully I don't trust what they say at this point is why I said it that way.) After I get the other two orders from other vendors which contain some signature blends and may contain nut flavoring, I'll know more on what I suspect to be causing my phlegm situation. But, regardless, no matter where I get them from or what flavor, I will know because of the feel of the vapor.
Okay, that's my 2 cents for whatever its worth. I hope it has helped someone and appreciate the forum mods allowing this discussion. I also hope to find real, honest, discussions about vendors allowed somewhere. I've been treated pretty poorly by the one I started with and, so far, have not had a community to turn to get candid comments on vendors.
My decision to start vaping hinged on two things. One, my son started doing it and raved. Two, my health was deteriorating and I had recently been hospitalized thinking I was about to have a heart attack. In the weeks preceding the ER/Hospital visit, my legs were so weak I had to ride an electric cart while trying to shop. I was winded all the time. Last year I developed tachycardia along with high blood pressure and was put on meds. The year before that I spent nine weeks on pain meds risking addiction trying to avoid surgery for a popped disk in my neck acquired during a coughing attack in the middle of the night. Somewhere in me I knew that the thick yellow, choking, mucus that grew more and more difficult to bring up the older I got was responsible for those coughing fits. I blamed it on allergies and my pets but I knew what was really going on. What I did not know was that an oxygen saturation of 60 (normal is above 90)that caused my weak legs and racing heart was due to smoking and not getting enough oxygen. I suspect my high blood pressure was also as it has come down to normal since I started vaping. I spent big bucks in the hospital with MRIs and CAT scans only to learn after starting vaping that the physical symptoms were due to smoking. So I have reached a point where lung cancer is not my major concern with analogs. I've experienced/developed the physical consequences not discussed as much. I should mention here that I'm nearly 69 years old, started smoking at 11, and with retirement slowly upped analogs to nearly two packs a day with idle time. I guess I'm trying to say that while some reading (quite an assumption on my part LOL) may not have experienced any of this YET, with lenght of time smoking, an aging body and qauntity smoked each day health consequences begin to show up and they're pretty grave involving strokes and/or heart failure.
So, now to vaping and phlegm. Yes, I am experiencing that but nothing like analog smoking and it goes away pretty fast when not vaping. What I think I've discovered, although I will continue being an observant guinea pig, is a problem with flavoring. I have vaped only 33% VG and chain vape at 3.7 with an ego c passthrough anywhere from 12 to 0 nic... I do mean chain here as an X two-pack-a-day smoker. I get really bad phlegm when the vapor feels oily. I don't know vaping terms but that's the best I can describe it. These "oily" ones do make me cough with first, second or even third hits. At this point it seems those flavor combos containing nuts (banana nut bread and pina colada) feel oily and produce phlegm while the pure fruit flavors don't. So far I've only bought from one vendor (awaiting juice from two others now) and I don't know what where the flavorings they're using come from... only that they say they're USA made (truthfully I don't trust what they say at this point is why I said it that way.) After I get the other two orders from other vendors which contain some signature blends and may contain nut flavoring, I'll know more on what I suspect to be causing my phlegm situation. But, regardless, no matter where I get them from or what flavor, I will know because of the feel of the vapor.
Okay, that's my 2 cents for whatever its worth. I hope it has helped someone and appreciate the forum mods allowing this discussion. I also hope to find real, honest, discussions about vendors allowed somewhere. I've been treated pretty poorly by the one I started with and, so far, have not had a community to turn to get candid comments on vendors.
I have been vaping a whole year now. I still have phlegm. I am wondering if it is because I am down to 6 mg. of nicotine, and I vape a lot. Frequently, I mean. Perhaps if I were using higher nicotine and vaping less frequently, it would be less.
I do worry that vaping is harmful. Our lungs are meant to inhale oxygen.
I do worry that vaping is harmful. Our lungs are meant to inhale oxygen.
I have phlegm. I think mine comes from sinus drainage which goes to my throat and is then often coughed up. I do irrigate some with a NeliMed bottle...perhaps should do it more. It is effective.
I get this phlegm too maybe once a day after 8 months of vaping. It's never significant and I mostly use 70/30 PG. I have found that gargling each night with mouthwash each night seems to reduce this significantly.
I've been experimenting and have found the culprit for me. Its cinnamon. I discovered it by accident as the juice I used had no cinnamon taste at all until I thinned and thinned and thinned to get different levels of nic, pg, vg and dw. When I got it down to very low nic as well as flavor, the cinnamon showed up in this banana nut bread! Whodathunkit! I had a bottle of 12mg nic cinammon roll 50/50 which I had quit vaping due to the sore tongue early in my vaping when the crud was still coming up and I thought that was just due to smoking cleansing. So I had no idea what cinnamon does to me. I, then, deliberately vaped it in the evening and next morning I woke, for the first time since quiting smoking, with copious clear phlegm in my bronchials. Well, that made sense, if it irritated my tongue then it might irritate bronchials, throat and nose though other parts of my mouth were okay. They, however, might have gotten the same irritation had I continued vaping it.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that with complex flavors, one really doesn't know what's gone into them to create that flavor. I sure wouldn't have expected cinnamon in banana nut bread and it was undetectable until thinned down so much nothing else could be tasted but it. In another experiment with another juice I discovered pepper when thinned out. The only real test of whether a base is the problem would be to vape it an entire day and not vape anything else containing flavoring or nic which is exactly what I intend to do next.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that with complex flavors, one really doesn't know what's gone into them to create that flavor. I sure wouldn't have expected cinnamon in banana nut bread and it was undetectable until thinned down so much nothing else could be tasted but it. In another experiment with another juice I discovered pepper when thinned out. The only real test of whether a base is the problem would be to vape it an entire day and not vape anything else containing flavoring or nic which is exactly what I intend to do next.
I have been vaping for almost 3 years now and it is the VG that causes extra congestion for me. Always has.
No amount of film from e-cig (if any at all) can compare to the film or I should say tar coating from tobacco. Just look at your teeth and how brown they used to be when you smoked. After few months vaping you'll see your teeth starting to go slowly clean. If e-cig would produce so much film you'll feel it in your mouth. And normal amount of phlegm is a good thing. Body cleans it's self, just don't forget to spit it out 
if I may add, so that we don't have to keep buying refills of the rinse,
we can make our own sinus rinse!
Mix three heaping teaspoons of iodine-free salt canning salt (no anti-caking or additives)
with one rounded teaspoon of baking soda.
use 1/4 tsp in 1/4 cup distilled water warmed
I still get tightness in my chest, narrowed down the culprits to nicotine (non nic bases cause no issues) and most if not all flavorings. Think my lungs are really sensitive post quitting cig smoking.
Bumping up a very old thread to ask: was the study that was referenced by one poster earlier in the thread (couched in many mysterious tidbits but with nothing official ever really said) ever released?
If it was, does anyone have a link?
If it wasn't, and the whole idea just sort of melted into nowhere-land, well then...did it ever actually exist? I haven't been on the forum long enough to know who's for real and who isn't, so I mean no offense.
FWIW, I actually found this thread Googling about phlegm and vaping...I have had some irritation issues, some coughing issues and today I had clear phlegm...of course, I'm worried.
Thanks for any help with that study!
If it was, does anyone have a link?
If it wasn't, and the whole idea just sort of melted into nowhere-land, well then...did it ever actually exist? I haven't been on the forum long enough to know who's for real and who isn't, so I mean no offense.
FWIW, I actually found this thread Googling about phlegm and vaping...I have had some irritation issues, some coughing issues and today I had clear phlegm...of course, I'm worried.
Thanks for any help with that study!
Hi - I'm for real. I've been vaping for a few years now. I still experience it, but it's not as bad. If you find anything about it, please let us know. How long have you been vaping? I switched to 6 mg., not because I was trying to cut down, but just that I was finding the higher mg. ones too strong for me. I noticed that I don't get irritation or cough, with the 6 mg. Certain juices cause it too - for me it was the tobacco ones.
Hi there! I found the poster I was thinking of...TropicalBob, on post #27 in this thread. I primarily vape menthol flavors.
I have been vaping for one year. Right now I'm vaping 18mg but have been considering going down to 12mg.
Thank you so much for answering!
I know a lot of people think the plegm is from your lungs cleaning themselves out after quitting analogs and I'm sure that plays a huge part in it but I never smoked cigarettes and I have phlegm from vaping, in fact, I really thought I had pneumonia about 3 weeks ago. My lungs were so congested and I was sick for two weeks, I'm still healing. It hurt to breathe deeply and I was coughing up disgusting, thick, mucus and I don't recall ever having that problem with my lungs before, maybe when I was a child, IDK. I didn't vape during those 2 weeks. I never went to the doctor so I don't know if I actually had pneumonia since I've never had it before but man was I sick. I've only been vaping about 2 months, not sure of the exact length of time.
I never smoked cigarettes but I started vaping all VG, 0 nic. I thought vaping would help me quit another "habit" and it has. It gives me something to do throughout the day and I enjoy the yummy flavors but after a couple months the old itch is starting to come back but I'm going to keep my pv's, I find them enjoyable, I like fruity menthol flavors but I have stopped inhaling into my lungs. I will never do that again.
After I got sick I thought maybe it was the VG liquids so I got 80 pg/ 20 vg and I still have some phlegm even though I stopped deep inhaling. It is noticeable when I vape a lot. I suck it in so it hits my tastes buds in the back of my throat and I know I inhale a bit into my lungs using this method but I think it's very little.
I've read some people around here say that after a year or two they don't get phlegm from vaping anymore. Do you think it's possible their lungs have stopped expelling the mucus? Maybe the lungs are so accustomed to the foreign invasion that they are treating it like it's normal now. IDK, scary to think about.
EDIT: Oh let me correct myself, I was vaping 20%, 30% PG a couple days before I got sick.
I never smoked cigarettes but I started vaping all VG, 0 nic. I thought vaping would help me quit another "habit" and it has. It gives me something to do throughout the day and I enjoy the yummy flavors but after a couple months the old itch is starting to come back but I'm going to keep my pv's, I find them enjoyable, I like fruity menthol flavors but I have stopped inhaling into my lungs. I will never do that again.
After I got sick I thought maybe it was the VG liquids so I got 80 pg/ 20 vg and I still have some phlegm even though I stopped deep inhaling. It is noticeable when I vape a lot. I suck it in so it hits my tastes buds in the back of my throat and I know I inhale a bit into my lungs using this method but I think it's very little.
I've read some people around here say that after a year or two they don't get phlegm from vaping anymore. Do you think it's possible their lungs have stopped expelling the mucus? Maybe the lungs are so accustomed to the foreign invasion that they are treating it like it's normal now. IDK, scary to think about.
EDIT: Oh let me correct myself, I was vaping 20%, 30% PG a couple days before I got sick.
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I have been vaping for almost 3 years and i still have lots and lots of phlegm. People like to think it is the lung cleaning themselves, I tend to disagree. On days I dont vape as much, less phlegm, when I dont vape at all, no phlegm. I'd say it is just another bad habit that needs to be broken. Having that said, I still believe it is a better option than analogs, at least I want to
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