I got the ingredients at the chemist

[Giraut]

and it felt like trying to buy drugs in a backstreet alley at night

I've tried to procure glycerin and menthol cystals today - no nicotine, it's illegal here, but I like menthol and I only vape VG, so I figured those two ingredients would get me started on DIY liquids.

So I stopped at a pharmacy near my place that I sometimes go to but not very often, and asked the lady in the most neutral, polite way if she had glycerin. She looked at me funny for a good 5 seconds, then declared defensively that "no, sorry, that product goes bad very quickly so we don't stock it". Huh??

Clearly she wanted to get rid of me. So I yanked her chain a bit and said "okay, it's for immediate use. Can you order some for me?" To which she immediately replied "No! no! the supplier has run out. You'll have to come back another day". That was going nowhere and I was getting bored, so I left.

Then I went to my favorite chemist who's a bit farther, but whom I've known for years. I asked her if she had glycerin. She was a bit taken aback by my request, saying they usually don't sell it alone, but sure why not. Fair enough. She went to her fridge and came back with a 100 ml bottle full of the stuff. Good!

Since it was going well, next I asked her if she had menthol crystals. Now she too looked at me funny, planted her hands down on the counter, looked at me straight in the eyes and asked "Okay. Now you tell me what all this is for..." I told her. She disappeared in the back passage and I heard her and her colleague whisper for a few minutes, occasionally catching the words "electronic cigarette", "are you sure?" "does he look high?", that sort of thing.

Eventually she came back with 5 grams of menthol crystals, said it was half of her stock, and that I could have it only if I swore to be careful not to overdose the mixture and damage my airways. I swore. I then paid and left.

So, I got what I wanted. And the good thing is, if I come back to get more glycerin and I don't seem to have made a mess of myself, she's likely to sell it to me a bit more easily. But dammit, neither glycerin nor menthol are dangerous, explosive, addictive or on a list of controlled substances: why do these people have to make me feel like I'm doing something dirty or shameful? I can get more dangerous stuff from Walmart no questions asked. It's so annoying...

 

[Spazmelda]

How bizarre! Do they have glycerin at the wal marts there?

Maybe next time, ask her why she's so worried? I'd be interested to hear what misinformation she's going on.

 

[Giraut]

How bizarre! Do they have glycerin at the wal marts there?

Hehe no, I was more thinking of Drano and dangerous crap like that. You can get that stuff more easily from a supermarket than silly pharma-grade glycerine from a chemist, is what I meant.

Maybe next time, ask her why she's so worried? I'd be interested to hear what misinformation she's going on.

I don't think they have any information at all on the subject. I reckon they're immediately suspicious of people who request things that are out of the ordinary, just because. Nevermind that the products I request are harmless, it's not normal so I must be up to no good. It probably has a lot to do with how society is turning these days...

 

[glasseye]

That's very curious. I hate that feeling too. We do nothing wrong or illegal. I Googled 'glycerin misuse' and I got- laxative abuse, sports doping, and that-herb-we-can't-talk-about tinctures on just the first page of results. Possibly they've had people there wanting glycerin for those purposes.

 

[Spazmelda]

The reason I asked about Walmart is that our does have glycerin. I just wondered if that might be easier.

 

[Spazmelda]

One time when I went to walmart, they were out of glycerin. I asked the pharmacist there about it and she told me that a lot of summer camps were having the kids make bubble liquid, and they had bought out all the glycerin. Maybe tell the chemist you are making bubbles? Lol. Danger, danger, bubble liquid.

 

[WileECoyote]

I remember making bubble liquid as a kid. Huge strong bubbles. Good memory. I think all this goes back to ignorance.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

[bsidb]

If I see Bubbles Ill tell him you said HI

 

[Tom Thorpe Jr]

Just reading this raised up the blood pressure. I too have experienced the same type of treatment. I now just ignore the questions. I'm tired of being made to feel such ways as you described. People are ignorant by choice. In that they do not choose to educate themselves. Instead there is fear, suspicion, and bad information being spread far and wide.
I'm also getting tired of feeling like I need to explain myself. Not in a constructive way, but a defensive one! I must have explained vaping five times to my father in law. After which he asks "but you're going to quit smoking right?"

Drives me nuts!

 

[Crunktanium]

I get the feeling some people worry about the potential for making explosives or maybe some new drug compound. We might think of many chemicals we use as harmless but in this day and age you just don't know. I can understand the Chemist's reaction but the Pharmacist was just being a strait up .... Then again some people hate Ecigs and all they stand for. Maybe that Pharmacist is worried they wont be selling as many drugs to smokers in a few more years lowering their pay grade in turn.

I woud have asked for a store manager or called Corporate if a Pharmacist treated me that way. Hell I called corporate on my local Walmart for always being out of half and half. I don't tolerate stupidity or ignorance if someone wants my money they need to earn it. And with a simple phone call it almost always leads to positive change. If enough people complain they would replace with an unemployed Pharmacist who deserves a paycheck.