Nicotine Mint Strips -> eJuice

[Andervil]

Hey everyone. Newbie here. Waiting for some ecigs to come in the mail, but until then I figure id do some research and learn how to work this forum. Anyway, I work in a QC micro lab where we test these new Nicotine Mint Strips (1mg of nic). These are like those listerine mint strips, just with a cigs-worth of nic in them. I have access to thousands of these strips, which get tossed in the garbage after X amount of days after testing is complete. I was wondering what you vapers would think about dissolving a boat load of these strips in water, alcohol, PG, VG, etc (or any combination of solvents) to make a minty ejuice. I guess the new members area wont get the most traffic and responses, but i figure its a good place to let me get those first 5 posts.
It seems that the most common ingredients in the strips are: Corn Starch, Alginic Acid, Maltitol, Natural Mint Flavour, Aspartame, Cellulose, Glycerin, FD&C Blue1.
I know a lot of that wont be good for the atomizer, and possibly gunk it up real good, but maybe if i make a very strong nic solution (boil it down to a small volume containing high amounts of nic), perhaps i can dilute it with some pg or vg to an acceptable level to not destroy the atty? Or maybe the nicotine will be nicely dissolved in my choice of solvent, and i can centrifuge the solution, save the nicotine-containing liquid, and discard the pellet which would contain the cellulose and other larger/not-too-dissolvable ingredients?

Im basically just looking for a way to convert Nicotine Mint Strips into a menthol ejuice. Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks a lot. Hope i didnt break any forum rules.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Hi Andervi and welcome to ECF. They're gonna love you over at the DIY juice Forum LOL. No you haven't broken any rules and a lot of your post is gobbly-.... to me so I'll just say hello and ask what PV do you use?

 

[madjack]

Corn Starch, Alginic Acid, Maltitol, Natural Mint Flavour, Aspartame, Cellulose, Glycerin, FD&C Blue1. .

...other than the Glycerin, only a couple of those are used in flavorings...the aspartame might be but personally, I think that stuff should be banned from everything...the malitol is also used for sweetener sometimes...the corn starch and cellulose would clog the atty pretty darn quick...I can see you desire but, don't think it would work......
madjack

p.s. WELCOME to the romper room..............mj

 

[GhosT81]

Good idea, but unsure how it would work. I'm no chemist though. Welcome to ecf.

 

[mooreted]

Well, you have an aweful lot of ingredients to sift out somehow. Juice generally only consists of propelyne glycol, vegetable glycerin and food flavoring. Not sure how healthy some of those ingredients are when inhaled or if they would vaporize at all. It would be easier just to get yourself some unflavored juice and add menthol or mint to it.

The data sheet on Alginic Acid, for instance, shows this warning:


NOTES TO MEDICAL DOCTOR: This product has low oral toxicity.
Large quantities of this product may cause intestinal obstruction. Aspiration or inhalation of this product could cause chemical
pneumonitis. Treatment is symptomatic and supportive.

So, I would be very careful messing with it. Ingestion and inhalation are very different.

 

[Andervil]

whoa, this community really is incredibly helpful. thank you all for the responses. it seems as though my minty ejuice concoction will just remain wishful thinking until i dust off my old orgo textbooks. I already ordered a ton of 100mg/ml Nic (both VG and PG versions) as well as blackberry and spearmint flavoring. I have all the stuff necessary for my ejuice...just no PV.

vaporeyeser, im ashamed to admit it, but i took the cheap, frowned-upon way to test out e-cigs.....and by this i mean....dealextreme (hahah). I did a good amount of researching, and surprisingly a lot of the models over at DX had great reviews, and some even last for a month or more. It seems as though the main problem with the dx ecigs is the poor soldering...luckily im a soldering master and might be able to squeeze a few more drags out of a "broken" ecig. I couldnt justify pickin up a starter kit from reputable companies for $30-100, when I could get 6 complete setups with 20+ extra cartridges for under 25 bones. I'll prob regret it when they are DOA, but ill take my chances. If anyone wants to bash me for gettin dx merchandise, please do! I'm very curious what you guys think about DX PVs.

again thanks for the help. lookin forward to being an active member of the community.

 

[madjack]

DX...I have bought as couple of things from them CHEAP(as in low priced)...shipping is about 3-4wks...as far as the e-cigs, they are crap BUT, if gets you off the funkarettes, then good for you...and when you have come to your senses there are plenty of affordable kits out there that actually work...good luck on your quest!!!!!!
madjack

 

[mooreted]

Well, hope you get something to vape all that juice in soon. It will be good to see how your DIY juices turn out. Good luck.

 

[mwa102464]

Andervil,

I'm not to sure how good dissolving these strips would be, personally I dont think to good, However, I'm wondering if you couldn't help out the forum and all of us vapors just by where you work in this lab in some other way. I would like to know if Kurt our helping ECF Chemist here would have anything you could help him with in regards to testing or something he may be able to utilize out of your skills and place of employment. Please seek out Kurt and speak to him Andervil he's a super nice guy and you could be of assistance one way or another here possibly for many if you would be kind enough to do so.

 

[mwa102464]

whoa, this community really is incredibly helpful. thank you all for the responses. it seems as though my minty ejuice concoction will just remain wishful thinking until i dust off my old orgo textbooks. I already ordered a ton of 100mg/ml Nic (both VG and PG versions) as well as blackberry and spearmint flavoring. I have all the stuff necessary for my ejuice...just no PV.

vaporeyeser, im ashamed to admit it, but i took the cheap, frowned-upon way to test out e-cigs.....and by this i mean....dealextreme (hahah). I did a good amount of researching, and surprisingly a lot of the models over at DX had great reviews, and some even last for a month or more. It seems as though the main problem with the dx ecigs is the poor soldering...luckily im a soldering master and might be able to squeeze a few more drags out of a "broken" ecig. I couldnt justify pickin up a starter kit from reputable companies for $30-100, when I could get 6 complete setups with 20+ extra cartridges for under 25 bones. I'll prob regret it when they are DOA, but ill take my chances. If anyone wants to bash me for gettin dx merchandise, please do! I'm very curious what you guys think about DX PVs.

again thanks for the help. lookin forward to being an active member of the community.

There are Mooch-O better ones out then what DX has, look around at some of the suppliers here on ECF, I'm not gonna mention any but theres tons better then those disposables from DX

 

[Andervil]

good looks. im sure ill run into Kurt once i graduate from the new members area (although this area is packed with amazingly useful info). I've just begun to scratch the surface of vaping, but love what i hear about it. I, personally, dont smoke cigarettes (although i do enjoy the occasional drag on the ski slopes or around the campfire). I'm actually trying to get a family member off the cancer sticks, so i figured i can educate myself and then help him get started once all the supplies come (it was supposed to be a christmas present, but china is far away...). I will def be looking for a reliable vaporizer at an affordable price since I know the DX ones won't last too long.

 

[swedishfish]

One of our fellow New Jerseyans carries a great menthol- two actually.

nhaler- nuport juice Love it!

Also Halo!

 

[bnrkwest]

Welcome! I am curious about those nic strips, are these sold as a stop smoking product, like gum? I had not heard about them before. The only thing I think that might work is use the nic strip orally for a nic hit and then vape zero nic flavored e juice. That would work to satisfy the hand to mouth inhale and puff part of quiting smoking but it won't give any TH without nic in the juice. bnrk

 

[Loveridden]

I don't think that would work really well,
but I am intrigued by these dissolving mint nicotine strips. Never heard of those.

 

[Andervil]

I believe it is a stop smoking product. We get products before they hit the shelves, so while there are a couple companies with similar products on the market, these particular ones are not out yet. I tried a few. Pleasant at first, but then burned my throat like a mother. Not looking forward to popping any more haha. I'm gonna have a chat with the chemists next door to see if they can provide me with a method for a crude extraction of the nic (i think they might actually have to test these strips also to see if they're up to spec with their 1mg claim....i just test them to make sure they're clean of pathogens). I have hundreds of milligrams of nicotine in mint-strip form that will be getting tossed in the trash unless i can figure out a way to save the nicotine haha.

 

[oldsoldier]

I would probably file this idea under "ill advised"

 

[swedishfish]

I believe it is a stop smoking product. We get products before they hit the shelves, so while there are a couple companies with similar products on the market, these particular ones are not out yet. I tried a few. Pleasant at first, but then burned my throat like a mother. Not looking forward to popping any more haha. I'm gonna have a chat with the chemists next door to see if they can provide me with a method for a crude extraction of the nic (i think they might actually have to test these strips also to see if they're up to spec with their 1mg claim....i just test them to make sure they're clean of pathogens). I have hundreds of milligrams of nicotine in mint-strip form that will be getting tossed in the trash unless i can figure out a way to save the nicotine haha.

Toss them, buy some great tasting juice.

 

[Shamruck]

HEY! welcome to ECF most of what your talking in your OP is latin to me, but unless im missing a major point here, why not just buy the menthol or any other mint flavored juice? Im actually a die hard mint flavor junkie, i bought all kinds of sampler packs last week and hated almost everything except green apple, citrus, and MINT!

Toss them, buy some great tasting juice.

Agree!

 

[Andervil]

yeah, im totally down to toss them, especially since i got some sexy flavors and nic base already...just need a damn PV. thought there may have been a 1% chance that someone else may have done this already haha. no worries. thank you all for the help and advice (and for letting me reach #5 in no time haha). I'll be back!