How do you all feel about the materials used in vaping equipment?

[exodus454]

I've been vaping awhile now, and every once in awhile I'll come across a thread that makes me a little concerned about the materials used in vaping hardware these days. Between the potential metallurgical issues of heating coils, to silica wicks which are now EVERYWHERE in RBA's and Nova's, all these plated/cheaper metals coming from Chinese products, all the aluminum used in tanks and even stainless because the cheaper stainless alloys contain lead. Some juices worry me too the way they interact with plastics, makes me wonder what it'll do to my body if they have the power to destroy plastics.

Do these potential issues concern any of you? I find myself worrying about it a lot more lately, probably more so just because I don't know enough of the factual stuff to make an educated decision by myself and 99.9% of products offered don't tell you what the alloy is. There's plenty of "silica could case harm in the long run" discussions, but no FACTUAL evidence or first hand situations to back it up. Plenty of these "tank killer" liquids I won't even touch anymore either, mostly because the offenders usually contain some natural oil of some sort and I'm really on the fence about vaping an oil.

How do you all feel about this stuff? Am I just thinking about it too much? No matter what, I'm still gunna keep on vaping but the thoughts definitely do cross my mind.

 

[DizGrizz]

To each of your points:

I'm not concerned about the heating coils themselves (Kanthal or NiChrome) but the occasional dry hit where I'm actually burning the junk that builds up on them does concern me a bit as inhaling burning anything is generally inadvisable (after all, we quite smoking for that reason).

Silica wicks again, don't concern me much but they do have the potential for fragmentation and vapers (especially those who do DIY wicking/re-wicking) should be cognizant of the dangers of broken fibers. Be gentle with the wicks to reduce breakage and always make sure any fibers you trim are removed and that the trim cuts are clean.

Plated "mystery metals" do concern me a bit, especially in tanks where the juice comes in constant direct contact with the metal. I much prefer stainless. As to your point about lead-bearing stainless...I am unsure as to what to do about that or even how to determine if it is true for a specific product. If concerned, choose all stainless steel devices from reputable (probably US/Greek/Canadian) sources. Of course, that rather limits your options.
Other materials such as polycarbinate, polypropolyne, and silicone have a considerable history of being safe at least in the food industry and are also widely used in science and research. Some devices use Pyrex glass or fused quartz for the tanks and there are aftermarket Pyrex tanks available for quite a few tank atomizers (mostly carto tanks and Genesis type devices). The poly-fill in cartos can be a concern in that the burning of it from inadvertently letting it become dry will give you a mouth full of burned hydrocarbons and should, of course, be kept to a minimum.

"Caustic" juice certainly makes me pause. I have a couple of cinnamon juices that I really like but I do wonder about them. As a consequence, I only use them occasionally. Other known plastic killers are the citrus juices and they strike me as less problematic as it is, as I understand it, it is simply the acid content that causes the plastic degradation and I don't believe that inhalation of mild acid levels has been shown to cause issues. If you are concerned about these juices, you can avoid the juices known to be "tank killers" and, if desired, get some replacement polycarbonate tanks (or just some polycarbonate sheets from the hardware store) to use as test subjects for unknown juices by letting some of the juice sit on them for a while.

EDIT: As a note, I always boil all of my new atomizing devices (at least the parts that will survive boiling) to help remove any residues remaining on them from the manufacturing process. Other parts I will soak in PGA.

 

[AttyPops]

Some plastics are better than others too....I'm thinking clearos and cartos here mostly. IDK

So yeah, what this stuff is made of (from the atty/carto/tank/juice-contact angle) is a concern.

I'm using a Vivi Nova tank. Usually SS mesh coils. Kanthal A-1. DIY juice too, with minimal "extras" like flavorings or other additives (no WTA either). And a low VG %.
Some nic bases are better than others too, IMO. IDK what to say on that one though.

We don't have 20 or 50 years of data on these things. Probably better than smoking though....I tried most all the other stop-smoking stuff (gum, patches, lozenges, cold-turkey). So...this is the best I can do now. I'm not sweating it too hard. I do read up here though and try to make it better every day while still maintaining a "Be cool and don't freak out about this stuff" attitude. The freak-out thing is a good way to ruin an otherwise good vape.

 

[dam718]

I was initially concerned about the silica, so I started re-wicking with cotton, which IMO has a better taste anyway. It's a little less dense as well, which I've found allows it to wick up the thicker juices better, and it seems to not dry out as quickly as silica, so you get more consistent vapes. The more I think about it though, I'm not so sure we need to be too concerned with silica. First off, the silica is (or should be) wet with juice. If the silica were to start breaking down in the tank, the bits of silica that make it to the wicking area will most likely stick to the hanging wick, and never make it to the coil. Now maybe I am all wrong... There is also a fair amount of compression of the silica inside the coil which further enhances it's filtering capability. So I'm just not so sure there is a valid concern there... Maybe I'm way off...

I haven't put much thought into the materials this stuff is made of. Brass, stainless steel, aluminum, none of those really concern me too much. Perhaps the chrome plating, but not really... Most of the stuff we are allowing to enter our bodies is traveling through a stainless steel pipe, then through whatever your drip tip is made of. If you don't want it in your body, don't get a drip tip made out of it! Lead would be a concern, yes... And maybe I am putting myself at risk by using an anodized aluminum drip tip... Maybe I should switch to polished stainless or a plastic. I tend to keep my equipment pretty clean though, especially air passages. So I'm about as worried about my PV as I am the air ducts in my home HVAC system. Good lord, I'd hate to see what's inside those air ducts, and we breathe that in a lot more than we breathe in what's in our PV's!

As far as the tank killer flavors go, I'd say there is just as much reason to be concerned with every other flavor as there is about these flavors. Nobody really knows what the long term effects are of any of this stuff. I mean, I can say that I can breathe better now than I could 2 months ago, that's a fact... I don't get headaches all the time like I used to, also a fact. But in the grand scheme of human history, we just don't know what a lifetime of vaping is doing to the lungs, and we won't know until 60 years from now when we start dying for whatever reason, and some biologist studies a cross section of our lungs. I'm sure this is what a lot of folks at the FDA are concerned about. I've thought about it, and I'm mentally prepared to deal with those consequences, should we find out this is a pretty hazardous pass time. I knew smoking was absolutely horrible, but I did it any way because at the time I liked it.

So really, I guess that's what you need to ask yourself... Do YOU feel better? For me the answer to that is a resounding YES.

Even after vaping a tank full of cinnamon bun

 

[Izan]

I don't know what kind of plastic they use for straws, but I presume it's safe.
I don't know is in the flavors they add to my coffee at the shop, but I presume it's safe.
I don't know what kind of metal my knives,forks and spoons are made of, they have "SS" stamped on them, but not a grade, but I presume it's safe.

And finally, I drive way too frogging fast to worry about any of this stupid poopoocaca
I

 

[SnakeFarm]

No, not concerned at all. What concerns me is how eager we are to allow demonstrably corrupt government agencies like the FDA to define what is safe. They have been regulating tobacco since 1996 and it has killed millions. I have come to believe that there is no crisis so large that an enormous bungling federal agency like the FDA can't make it worse. Also, the belief that the FDA is concerned with public safety should have been abandoned long ago. Please wake up.