Is vapor made up of 99 % water? Supplier business card explanation for vaping

[Pav]

I've gotten business cards from a supplier with orders that explains ecigs. I've given a few out to provide an explanation of what vaping is. I recently reread the explanation and it says the following.

What you see when the person exhales is vapor, NOT SMOKE, that is made up of approximately 99% water, approx 1% nicotene and some other flavoring compounds.

I'm no chemist, but I thought PG/VG was 99% of the vapor, not water. Is this an accurate way to describe vaping to people? I do not want to hand out erroneous info when promoting vaping. I was under the impression it's not water, but always explained to people it was "like a water vapor". Would that be misleading as well?

 

[Scott EE]

PG/VG are humectants which means they absorb water from the air quite readily. The visible vapor is not the PG/VG but the water being absorbed from the surrounding air. Not sure what percentage of the exhaled vapor is water vs PG/VG by volume though.

 

[kylewinther]

I think is is the easier way to explain to someone who does not know what electronic cigarettes are. If you say it is 99% pg/vg, then you will have to answer their next question. What is pg/vg? It is an easy way to get the person to understand that it is not smoke and it is not dangerous to electronic cigarettes smoke inside.

 

[Pav]

Very interesting point about humectants. Never heard that before.

I think is is the easier way to explain to someone who does not know what electronic cigarettes are. If you say it is 99% pg/vg, then you will have to answer their next question. What is pg/vg? It is an easy way to get the person to understand that it is not smoke and it is not dangerous to electronic cigarettes smoke inside.

I agree with your point, but if it isn't 99% water but rather PG/VG isn't that misleading to say it is water? iow, it may be easier to say it's water, but is it accurate?

 

[spider362]

Very interesting point about humectants. Never heard that before.



I agree with your point, but if it isn't 99% water but rather PG/VG isn't that misleading to say it is water? iow, it may be easier to say it's water, but is it accurate?

The way I see it, it's not INaccurate, either.

As to the question "What is PG/VG" I just answer "It's the same stuff that's used in fog machines" and everyone I've said that to just gives me a knowing nod and we move on.

 

[Automaton]

...In addition to what's said above, it's actually much less than 1% nicotine, according to the New Zealand study.

I can't find the link, but here is what I read.

About 98% of the nicotine in juice is absorbed before exhaling. So, you have 2% of the original nicotine content in exhaled vapor.

I vape 18mg, which is a fairly run-of-the-mill nic strength. So I'll just use that for demonstration.

18mg juice is 1.8% nicotine. 2% of that is .036% nicotine in exhaled vapor.

 

[uzzaperez]

I think I'll try vaping water.

Hack, spit, bad idea.

 

[Nighthawk]

...In addition to what's said above, it's actually much less than 1% nicotine, according to the New Zealand study.

I can't find the link, but here is what I read.

About 98% of the nicotine in juice is absorbed before exhaling. So, you have 2% of the original nicotine content in exhaled vapor.

I vape 18mg, which is a fairly run-of-the-mill nic strength. So I'll just use that for demonstration.

18mg juice is 1.8% nicotine. 2% of that is .036% nicotine in exhaled vapor.

Which is exactly why I allow myself to vape in the house with kids and numerous small critters around.

 

[THE]

It's the same way with even cigarettes. 99% of the nicotine is absorbed by the user and the other 1% "settles out of" (whatever that means) the air very quickly. The cigarette tar is still in the air when people smoke, though. With vaping I don't think ANYTHING harmful could be left, at all. Because there's nothing harmful in the first place.

 

[Pav]

The way I see it, it's not INaccurate, either.

Well, PG is not water correct? So to say the vapor is 99% water is innaccurate as far as I can tell. I'm not really concerned with the nicotene portion or how much is absorbed. Not really relevant to this topic.

What I am concerned about is handing out info that may not be true. So far this thread has almost 200 views and I'm not sure I see a definitive answer yet. I'm inclined to believe the supplier business card in not true. Still open to hearing some new info if anyone has something to add though.

 

[LynGBH]

PG is not water, but PG is not the vapor you're seeing, either. PG is a humectant, meaning it attracts water. Apparently, the vapor you are seeing is water that's attracted to the PG.

I'm not sure this is actually true, but I think it's the theory.

Feel free to correct me, as I don't really give a flying fart. I don't vape where I wouldn't smoke, anyway.

 

[bassnut]

If I were exhaling large amounts of PG/VG my cloths, hair, skin, desk, keyboard and computer screen would be constantly coated with a sticky film.

 

[spider362]

I wonder how much water vapor you are inhaling when the humidity outside is 100%?

 

[petem]

PG/VG are humectants which means they absorb water from the air quite readily. The visible vapor is not the PG/VG but the water being absorbed from the surrounding air. Not sure what percentage of the exhaled vapor is water vs PG/VG by volume though.

The card could be right but misleading, what you "see" is 99% water but may be a lower % of the "total" (seen and unseen) particles that are exhaled.

 

[Pav]

Lots of conflicting info so far. From another thread about using water as a base for vaping juice.

On to the real question, water as a juice base.

Water vapor is pretty hard to see. Anyone who's gone through a summer with 80%-100% humidity can attest to that, so little visual feedback. No biggie really.

So far I'm under the impression that saying the following on a printed business card to explain vaping is just plain wrong.

What you see when the person exhales is vapor, NOT SMOKE, that is made up of approximately 99% water, approx 1% nicotene and some other flavoring compounds.

Seems to me there's a lot of misunderstanding regarding this subject. Maybe I'm just the one misunderstanding. I'm not concerned with adverse health affects of vaping PG as I don't believe there are any serious ones, just the veracity of info being handed out.

Critics will look for anything to shoot down vaping imo.

 

[motox]

Conflicting information seems to be a part of the game. Fact is, although most of us are using these products extensively, no one is really 100% sure about how they work, their effects and the composition of the vapor. I try not to think too much about it as I can't imagine that vaping is any MORE harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

 

[Pav]

Conflicting information seems to be a part of the game. Fact is, although most of us are using these products extensively, no one is really 100% sure about how they work, their effects and the composition of the vapor. I try not to think too much about it as I can't imagine that vaping is any MORE harmful than tobacco cigarettes.

That seems to be the norm. And that's fine if that's what I believe. But like I said, it could hurt us down the line if wrong info is being promoted, especially by suppliers.

Unless I hear some more info to change my current opinion, I will not be handing out the supplier cards with that explanation any longer. I will continue to promote ecigs however by example and open communication. People are always curious.

 

[OldDragon]

I think I saw a good example of what people need to know. Take a white cloth, have some else smoke a cig and blow thru the cloth, then have some else use a e-cig and blow thru the cloth. Guess what the results are.....
One yellow nasty spot, one damp spot. That should be all they need to see to tell which is better....

 

[Pav]

Wow, Forget the smoke and cigarettes. This thread has nothing to do with that. I agree 100% that vapor is better than smoke. Not the topic though.

The topic is how accurate is it to say the vapor exhaled is 99% water when describing vapor to others.

 

[Pav]

one more point. I'm boiling some water right now to make dinner. The steam from that is nothing like the vapor that I exhale after vaping. It dissipates very quickly. Why?

Wish I would have paid attention more in chemistry class!