Phlegm

[Cumulo Vapus]

Usually around 3 weeks after stopping cigarettes, I hack up some phlegm which Ive always seen as the lungs ridding themselves of tar etc to begin some sort of healing process.

Now it's been a month after stopping all cigarettes and taking up vaping….the phlegm episode has returned, but Im not sure whether its due to ceasing cigarettes or a reaction taking up vaping/VG/PG etc.

Any ideas?

 

[bacc.vap]

Probably nothing to worry about. I get some every once in a while. I get it more so with higher %'s of VG liquid, but it doesn't seem to indicate any real problem, after all, we are inhaling foreign substances. Unless it's giving you a serious problem I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[crxess]

Well, vaping 4 years, currently 20+ml/day of 50/50 blend and...........not really any Phlem other than when Sinus act up from Spring allergies.

I'd think you are likely still purging a bit - no such thing as a Set Time.

* Any Acid Reflux can cause damage to the Esophagus allowing Drainage to build into a Phlem ball.

 

[Rickajho]

Could still be a quit smoking thing. How bad were you at it when you quit? Years - decades - multiple packs a day?

It's also a widely variable thing. Some smokers get next to no hacking up of the stuffs. Other people go through an extensive hacking up phase.

Need to know what kind of gear you are using, PG/VG ratio & nic level of your liquids, a guesstimate of how much liquid you are going through per day etc.

 

[Cumulo Vapus]

Never been a suuuper heavy smoker, thought its all relative....12-15 sticks a day...maybe a pack and a half max if Im out partying. Ive given up three times in all...each time lasted 2-3 years. Ive also given up for short periods of a month or two. No cold turkey.... then I transitioned to rolling my own for a few years. All in all, around 20+ years of analogs...

Ive seen perfectly healthy people whove admonished me on smoking drop dead so I guess I just figured Im gonna do what I want and let the cards fall where they may.

What struck me was that the consistency of phlegm this time was different from the times when I stopped ciggies...thats why my mind went to vaping as the cause. Im using 70VG. Prior to the phlegm episodes I was using blacknote 50VG

 

[rice721]

its probably normal. I'll take coughing with phlem over chronic dry coughing no phlem any day. If you are seriously concerned, however, I would visit your nearest health care professional.

 

[Foggy Road]

I had a similar issue with high VG juices. As I progressed in vaping I started getting gluttonous about it just like (most) everyone else. Wanted more and more. Drilled out the airflow on my atties and moved from MTL to DL with 75-90% VG juices. After several weeks I noticed the phlegm AND wheezing returning. After going back to MTL and 50/50 juice the problem has subsided to manageable levels.

One thing to add.. I do have COPD and believe I had seen something in the medical info forum that I shouldn't vape at all. Blew that off cuz the decision to vape had already been made.

 

[jdrewry]

I actually had a problem with phlegm when vaping juices that are 50VG/50PG. I've since moved to juices that are at least 70VG/30PG, and that problem, for me, has disappeared...

 

[WillyZee]

I actually had a problem with phlegm when vaping juices that are 50VG/50PG. I've since moved to juices that are at least 70VG/30PG, and that problem, for me, has disappeared...

with me it is the exact opposite ... high VG = phlegm

 

[crxess]

Never been a suuuper heavy smoker, thought its all relative....12-15 sticks a day...maybe a pack and a half max if Im out partying. Ive given up three times in all...each time lasted 2-3 years. Ive also given up for short periods of a month or two. No cold turkey.... then I transitioned to rolling my own for a few years. All in all, around 20+ years of analogs...

Ive seen perfectly healthy people whove admonished me on smoking drop dead so I guess I just figured Im gonna do what I want and let the cards fall where they may.

What struck me was that the consistency of phlegm this time was different from the times when I stopped ciggies...thats why my mind went to vaping as the cause. Im using 70VG. Prior to the phlegm episodes I was using blacknote 50VG

Aging is also a Factor - Each previous Quit attempt, you were younger than the next attempt and had Smoked less total cigarettes.
I Switched at 58yrs, now 62yrs and the health seems much better, However the COPD will never go away..................or so they say.

 

[dbrandt01]

I cough stuff up all the time even with vaping. Doesn't matter 50/50 or 100% vg. It's always whitish/clear color so I don't really complain. It really only happens when I wake up in the mornings anyways. I did it before vaping also.

 

[Cumulo Vapus]

Phlegm and mucus are what the body cells usually produce as an immune response against bacteria….so Im not sure its 100% harmless…but reassuring to know Im not alone.

 

[Max-83]

so Im not sure its 100% harmless

I don't believe any informed vaper will ever tell you vaping is 100% harmless. However, most will point out that independent studies in England have concluded that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes.

 

[Cumulo Vapus]

I don't believe any informed vaper will ever tell you vaping is 100% harmless. However, most will point out that independent studies in England have concluded that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes.

Absolutely Squire…what I meant was that the presence of phlegm and mucus is not 100% harmless…it's the body's early warning system after all.

 

[Alter]

After 3 years of vaping still bring up a luggy in the mornings as soon as I go outside, I see it as removing toxins from the body so I don't think twice but throughout the rest of the day, no phlegm until the next morning.

 

[HauntedMyst]

VG phlegm logies go further than PG logies. VG is thicker.

 

[ppeeble]

It's the VG. I will bring up phlegm if i vape heavily. But what pearly clear phlegm it is, not the brown flecked treacle my body used to eject when i was a smoker. Celebrate your oral ejaculations.

 

[Alien Traveler]

Phlegm is associated with some abnormalities in a body. I would not celebrate even clear phlegm, but of course the clear phlegm is of minor consern.
Phlegm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It looks like I have phlegm problem when I vape VG rich juice. Right now I am on 50/50 base, no phlegm, but a bit of throat irritation instead.

 

[ppeeble]

Obviously no phlegm would be the better option but if one does produce throat mucus due to inhaling glycerin then clear gob beats brown gob.
As for abnormalities in a body, producing phlegm because of inhaling glycerine seems like a perfectly natural response. In fact i would go so far as to call it a normal, rather than abnormal, body response.
But i'm not a doctor of Wikipedia.