How many chemicals are really in e-liquid?

[WillyZee]

I ate my share of Pop Tarts when I was a kid ... then I smoked for 30 years ... therefore, I am not too worried about what is in ejuice flavouring.

I am a crazy risk taker ... but hey, I quit smoking and smell better ... win win

 

[RustyR]

I have just started making my own e-liquid and was surprised at how hard it is to find flavoring WITHOUT alcohol. Not sure why this ingredient is needed but for my DIY liquids I'm passing on the ones with alcohol.

 

[Myk]

Do we have to include the multitude of chemicals that are found in air and make up a significant portion of vapor?

The real issue is the number of ingredients. PG, VG, flavoring, water, nicotine.
And yes flavoring can have a bunch of chemicals whether they're natural flavorings or artificial flavorings. The universe is made up of scary sounding chemicals.

Of course the claim of the number of chemicals in cigarettes is generally as big of a scare story. I love the rat poison one.

 

[Talyon]

I recommend any and all people who join ECF should have to read the most recent study by CASAA, most of what is beng asked in this post has been answerd scientifically.

Except for the longer term 25-30 years plus we know what's in our Vapes, I well side a bit on the error side when it comes to all flavors being inhaled.

vape On!

Ps, 4000 chemicals in cigarettes is old news there's actually over 7300 and 90 something are carcinogens. Again this is on CASAA.

 

[Chas_L]

Every year many new drugs are approved after years and millions of dollars testing and then years later there are class actions law suits and recalls ,same thing with surgcal implants.

Is vaping completely safe , no way. Is vaping safer than analogs ,sure seems so.

 

[Jay-dub]

No, the tobacco corporations have admitted to adding almost 200 chemicals to the tobacco and paper, when burned that creates almost a total of 4,000 other chemicals. Studies have shown that eliquid when vaporized remains the same.

My point is there can be 200 chemicals in one ingredient. So, to compare the ingredients of e-liquid to the chemicals in cigarettes is disingenuous. But, it's exactly what's been happening. Let big tobacco mislead people but for vape culture we ought to choose a higher ground.

I recommend any and all people who join ECF should have to read the most recent study by CASAA, most of what is beng asked in this post has been answerd scientifically.

Except for the longer term 25-30 years plus we know what's in our Vapes, I well side a bit on the error side when it comes to all flavors being inhaled.

Vape On!

Ps, 4000 chemicals in cigarettes is old news there's actually over 7300 and 90 something are carcinogens. Again this is on CASAA.

I don't expect an industry lobby to be completely honest. Sure, they help promote and legally secure vaping but I don't know at what lengths their influence can be used. When CASAA pays for studies the independence of the study and it's result are called into question for me. In the early days of cigarettes "studies" done "independently" (paid for by tobacco lobbies) supposedly showed smoking to be good during pregnancy. Ha! We now know that to be absolute malarkey.

 

[Spazmelda]

What would you do with all of this information if you had it? A list of all natural and artificial flavoring compounds/molecules known to man would be massively huge. Studying the effects of even the most commonly used of these compounds/molecules would be a monumental task that would take an army of scientists several generations to tackle. Add in there that you'd also need to study these chemicals in combinations to understand interactions and reaction products. This would become not just a monumental task, but for all practical purposes, impossible.

Here's a cute little post I found about chemicals in apples. That apple is full of chemicals! | I think it makes a good point, however the list of all the chemicals found naturally in apples would be much much longer. Do we need our apples to contain a list of components? I'm not asking this to be snarky. I'm trying to make the point that we are surrounded by chemicals. Nature is a giant chemistry lab and can produce an endless combination of molecules. It would be impossible to study and understand every single possibility.

Think about apple pie. A recipe for a simple home made apple pie contains about 5 'ingredients': crust, butter, sugar, water, and apples. If you were to break those ingredients down into their individual molecular components the list would cover pages and pages, even if everything you used was organic. Not many of us would stress about wanting to know every single molecule type present in our mom's home made apple pie, even if it was reasonably possible to do so. Even if we did have that information, what would we do with it? Would we know all the possible ramifications and effects of even one of the chemicals present?

 

[Jay-dub]

What would you do with all of this information if you had it? A list of all natural and artificial flavoring compounds/molecules known to man would be massively huge. Studying the effects of even the most commonly used of these compounds/molecules would be a monumental task that would take an army of scientists several generations to tackle. Add in there that you'd also need to study these chemicals in combinations to understand interactions and reaction products. This would become not just a monumental task, but for all practical purposes, impossible.

Here's a cute little post I found about chemicals in apples. That apple is full of chemicals! | I think it makes a good point, however the list of all the chemicals found naturally in apples would be much much longer. Do we need our apples to contain a list of components? I'm not asking this to be snarky. I'm trying to make the point that we are surrounded by chemicals. Nature is a giant chemistry lab and can produce an endless combination of molecules. It would be impossible to study and understand every single possibility.

Think about apple pie. A recipe for a simple home made apple pie contains about 5 'ingredients': crust, butter, sugar, water, and apples. If you were to break those ingredients down into their individual molecular components the list would cover pages and pages, even if everything you used was organic. Not many of us would stress about wanting to know every single molecule type present in our mom's home made apple pie, even if it was reasonably possible to do so. Even if we did have that information, what would we do with it? Would we know all the possible ramifications and effects of even one of the chemicals present?

Then we should quit using the "tobacco has 4000 chemicals" byte as a war cry is all I'm really saying. I bought the hype at first but now that I realize that the vape culture has been using a comparison of ingredients to chemicals; I feel like my naivety was taken advantage of. Basically, quit chiding a product for it's number of chemicals when you're in denial of how many chemicals are in the product your advocating as an alternative. Nothing wrong with accuracy. Why not "tobacco has 40 known carcinogens while e-liquid has 0" which may be a more fair and accurate comparison.

 

[Spazmelda]

Then we should quit using the "tobacco has 4000 chemicals" byte as a war cry is all I'm really saying. I bought the hype at first but now that I realize that the vape culture has been using a comparison of ingredients to chemicals; I feel like my naivety was taken advantage of. Basically, quit chiding a product for it's number of chemicals when you're in denial of how many chemicals are in the product your advocating as an alternative. Nothing wrong with accuracy. Why not "tobacco has 40 known carcinogens while e-liquid has 0" which may be a more fair and accurate comparison.

Okay, I can't say I disagree. It's not really the number of chemicals that's the issue.

 

[Mr.Mann]

Doubled-up accidentally.

 

[Mr.Mann]

Kind of what I'm getting at. It's not a fair comparison to hold the chemical composition of of one substance against a simple list of ingredients of another. If we talked about the ingredients in analogues the list would be as short as it is for e-liquids. Paper, tobacco, and a few other things. We, as a community, have been exaggerating a little bit to make our product look even better in comparison to it's competition when it's not even necessary to do so. If we want to compare chemicals in e-liquid to chemicals in cigs then lets do so. All I've seen is us comparing the ingredients of e-liquid to the chemicals in cigs. Doesn't seem entirely honest.

I applaud your goal of clarity and accuracy, but if "all [you've] seen" is a tit-for-tat with chemicals in ecigs vs. smoking, you're probably reading the wrong threads. There's much more research and dissection of said research than the canned "4,000 chemicals in cigs and only 3 in ecigs" statements. It all depends on where you're reading.

 

[wv2win]

Here are some ingredients from Dekang.FAQ

I think this list answers the OP's question. Bottom line, e-liquid has thousands less than analogs.

 

[Jman8]

One day we'll stop comparing vaping to smoking, and let vaping stand up on 2 legs, all by itself.

 

[Jay-dub]

I think this list answers the OP's question. Bottom line, e-liquid has thousands less than analogs.

Maybe... but when you read how tobacco and many other flavors are extracted for e-liquid it seems like you'll be getting most if not all of the chemicals from the original substance. Steeping tobacco leaves in alcohol for months or slow cooking it in water for a day or two would pull a lot more than a few chemicals out of it. Not only that, but then it's reduced by allowing the alcohol or water to evaporate away. It's then diluted again into the e-liquid but you may be getting a higher ratio of tobacco alkaloids etc. from less vaper than it would take through analogues. Not what people want to hear I know. I can speak first hand about how much healthier I am vaping than smoking. I can't deny it's a better delivery system for my drug (nicotine) so I see no reason to misrepresent the product.

 

[wv2win]

My point is there can be 200 chemicals in one ingredient. So, to compare the ingredients of e-liquid to the chemicals in cigarettes is disingenuous. But, it's exactly what's been happening. Let big tobacco mislead people but for vape culture we ought to choose a higher ground.



I don't expect an industry lobby to be completely honest. Sure, they help promote and legally secure vaping but I don't know at what lengths their influence can be used. When CASAA pays for studies the independence of the study and it's result are called into question for me. In the early days of cigarettes "studies" done "independently" (paid for by tobacco lobbies) supposedly showed smoking to be good during pregnancy. Ha! We now know that to be absolute malarkey.

1. CASAA is NOT an industry lobby and does not solicit funding from the vaping industry. Your statement is ignorant.
2. The study done by CASAA was paid for by ME and thousands of other vapers like me.
3. What study would you trust and how would you have it paid for?
4. I believe the list provided by DeKang is comprehensive and has been verified

Your "concerns" have been addressed well. You are short on providing any reasonable alternatives.

 

[wv2win]

Maybe... but when you read how tobacco and many other flavors are extracted for e-liquid it seems like you'll be getting most if not all of the chemicals from the original substance. Steeping tobacco leaves in alcohol for months or slow cooking it in water for a day or two would pull a lot more than a few chemicals out of it. Not only that, but then it's reduced by allowing the alcohol or water to evaporate away. It's then diluted again into the e-liquid but you may be getting a higher ratio of tobacco alkaloids etc. from less vaper than it would take through analogues. Not what people want to hear I know. I can speak first hand about how much healthier I am vaping than smoking. I can't deny it's a better delivery system for my drug (nicotine) so I see no reason to misrepresent the product.

You have no evidence that anyone has misrepresented anything. You are speculating your "fears" or whatever you are doing into something that you cannot support. Companies have provided a list of chemical compounds in eliquid. Numerous studies have been done on both the eliquid and the vapor. The results have been posted and in most cases, peer reviewed.

You are not providing any reasonable alternatives, just more "fear" statements.

 

[Caridwen]

Vape unflavored.

 

[Mr.Mann]

Maybe... but when you read how tobacco and many other flavors are extracted for e-liquid it seems like you'll be getting most if not all of the chemicals from the original substance. Steeping tobacco leaves in alcohol for months or slow cooking it in water for a day or two would pull a lot more than a few chemicals out of it. Not only that, but then it's reduced by allowing the alcohol or water to evaporate away. It's then diluted again into the e-liquid but you may be getting a higher ratio of tobacco alkaloids etc. from less vaper than it would take through analogues. Not what people want to hear I know. I can speak first hand about how much healthier I am vaping than smoking. I can't deny it's a better delivery system for my drug (nicotine) so I see no reason to misrepresent the product.

It's not what people want to hear because it ain't true. Be careful--you are beginning to "misrepresent" a product.

 

[Jay-dub]

1. CASAA is NOT an industry lobby and does not solicit funding from the vaping industry. Your statement is ignorant.
2. The study done by CASAA was paid for by ME and thousands of other vapers like me.
3. What study would you trust and how would you have it paid for?
4. I believe the list provided by DeKang is comprehensive and has been verified

Your "concerns" have been addressed well. You are short on providing any reasonable alternatives.

Nothing is stopping an industry insider from individually donating so you can't say that certain individuals don't donate for the benefit of the industry they are highly invested in. Like it or not, I'm just as weary of studies done by known anti-vape advocates as studies commissioned by pro-vape organizations. Sorry for my ignorance.

 

[Jay-dub]

It's not what people want to hear because it ain't true. Be careful--you are beginning to "misrepresent" a product.

You see the word "may" in the statement you took the time to make bold right? It shows that I was speculating. It's a hypothesis. It MAY be incorrect. Plus, if it's true that reducing something into a concentrate then diluting it into a mixture doesn't change chemical ratio's from the original substance to the new one then you obviously know a lot more about chemistry than me.