Refilling carts - safety considerations

[Bellinghamster]

Hello all!

When you refill carts, do you take any special safety measures? Nicotine can be transdermally absorbed extremely well, though I believe it might be up for debate how much will transfer from "trivial" contact.

I only drip my DSE901 really, but for some of my other devices I prefer carts. To minimize the number of times I'm directly fiddling with carts and liquid, I wait until I have a goodly supply of empties (or blanks), wash out the filler (if required), then do all my refills at once and store them in a watertight container.

I'm interested how over- or under-cautious I am compared to the rest of you.

1. Do you wear gloves when refilling carts? What type? If not, do you just wash your hands afterward? 1a. If you have gotten liquid on your hands, is it difficult to remove? Has anyone ever felt they may have transferred nic to another via skin contact?

2. Do you wear eye protection? Ever gotten a stray droplet in your eye?

3. Do you protect your refilling surface? (I.e. cover in a disposable towel, etc?) Are there concerns with liquid being on your surfaces in small amounts after you refill?

4. How do you address spills? Just paper towels, or do you use cleaner? Will anything "neutralize" the nicotine?

5. Has anyone on this forum experienced any ill-effect from skin contact? Could be I'm overblowing the whole thing, but I'm not sure you can be too careful with this stuff [I generally treat it as radioactive, but I know some drip-n-drive and prolly refill carts in their lap while performing neurosurgery]

Your experiences and techniques are greatly appreciated!

EDIT: "Radioactive" is not a reference to the green JC liquid in another thread!

 

[ZambucaLu]

I have to admit I haven't taken many precautions.....but I have had no adverse effects either. It seems I always get the liquid on my hands when I top off and go to replace the cart....a little always seems to drizzle somewhere. I don't use gloves...I just go wash my hands. After washing stuff, I just set it on a paper towel til dry.

When I have topped off in the car, I have gotten it on my hands and wiped it off but wasn't able to wash for an hour....I still did not notice any problems. Never got any in my eyes.

I'm sure though that others will come along and advise a quarantine outfit and total sterilization, but not me. It really hasn't bothered me at all.

Lu

 

[Satire]

Highly unlikely that you would absorb any detectable level of nic through the skin unless it was a large spill over a wide area or you just let a pool of it sit on your skin for a while, but there are plenty of chemicals in the liquids that can cause skin irritation, inflammation, rashes, etc. When I first started using eliquid I was rather careless when refilling and one day I woke up with the skin around my eyes very swollen and red, these were rinsed under hot water for few min in the shower and ointment applied, cleared up by the next day. I later tested this again by putting a small amount of liquid (puresmoker's premium juices pina colada and apple) on the tip of my finger, wiping fingertip off on a towel until it appeared gone, then wiped the dry fingertip across the skin above the eyelid (one flavor on each side). The next morning they were both very swollen and red (as it heals it becomes dry and flakey), and i did the same rinse/ointment routine and it was gone within a day or so. Since then I have been much more careful, and also usually use carts instead of straight-drip now to avoid constantly having to mess with liquid, but using the same one because carts tend to leak even with the caps on them. Best advice I can give is use a bottle with a drip-top, be careful, and if you get any on your hands wipe the excess off and avoid touching your face or other sensitive skin areas, finish refilling and cap everything once you are done refilling, then wash or rinse your hands (and any skin that came in contact with the liquid) and you will be ok. The liquid doesn't seem to irritate the skin unless it is there for a while, so a little bit on the hands followed by a wash shouldn't be any concern. Good to see people being cautious =)

 

[katink]

No gloves. Papertowel on the surface when mixing liquids or when refilling a whole bunch of carts, but if I'm just refilling one cart then I can't be bothered. I try to be pro-active as to having/buying things that just don't spill easily or at all (I never use bottles with loose drippers for instance, those are accident-prone in my observation - if I get those in, they are just transfered to bottles with attached droppers right away).

Spillage, on surface or on hands: I use paper towel to blot or wipe it up/off; only if I ever get so much on my hands that they begin to feel slippery or sticky I will go rinse them inbetween, if any water is near (and else a thorough paper-towel rubdown). If I have spilt onto another surface then paper towel I will clean that surface afterwards with warm water.

Though I simply have very little spillage because of pro-actively getting the right 'tools', I am certainly not overly-careful with what spillage I do have - more 'just finish the job first while using paper-towels where needed; give any surface, skin or other, that might have been contaminated a rinse afterward along with cleaning of the tools used'. I have never seen any 'symptoms' from getting nicotine on skin or anywhere it shouldn't be.

Of course I wóuld be using gloves if I knew I would be handling nicotine-holding liquids for many hours on end, or if I would have the experience of always spilling a lot during mixing or refilling - but I would be doing that because I don't want exzema-like skinconditions (from having the substance on my skin for too long) móre then from scare of the nicotine itself... I don't think that's very dangerous at the lower levels that we are using.

And I would be very very surprised, btw, if our skin or even stomach would be getting just as much, let alone móre, out of the liquid we have then that 'one-on-nine' that Dr. Laugeson is mentioning for our lung-absorbtion... I think it will be very considerably less, in fact... maybe one in fifty for the skin and one in 15 to 20 if swallowed... lung-tissue will no doubt be the bést absorbing tissue we have. And if that is 'one-of-nine' as to it's effects... then I really don't feel overly worried with every little blotch of liquid I might be getting onto my skin.
So no 'treating as if handling something radio-active' here... if anything, I would (meanwhile) sooner be treating the real tobacco that way...

 

[spike]

I take the same precautions as I would when working with the chemicals used in my practice of alternative photography. I have a dedicated section of a worktop in my darkroom where I keep all liquids in a covered lightproof container, and everything has its' place. I use tweezers when handling the carts, kitchen towel and soft tissues which mop up quickly if any drops are spilled - all refilling is done there. I would wear gloves if I was doing anything like transferring liquids one bottle to another. Paper towel lines the surface. Maybe I am over cautious but I treat this stuff with respect.

 

[Frankie]

It also depends a lot on the strenght of your liguid, I think. I use 7-9 mg/ml and never had any problems with runoffs on my fingers. Just wiped them and that was all. With
36 that might be a totally different story.

 

[parked]

I use 24mg i get the stuff on my hands all the time when refilling never had a problem
i just wash my hands afterward.

And if i spill i just use a paper towel

 

[Myk]

I haven't got mine yet but I don't plan on doing any of that.
If I was that worried about it, inhaling it would be the last thing on my mind.

If I get some on my hands I'll wash them just like when I'm messing with lead or any other chemical.

 

[SuperStack]

A bit of liquid on the skin is no big deal to be honest. I do it all the time and can't even notice it, even with really high strength. People seem to think it's far more dangerous than it really is.

You'd have to spill a considerable amount on a large skin surface area and leave it there to soak for a while before it ever becomes a concern, especially true for those who already regularly vape.

The slight stickiness of it is the main reason why I even bother to wipe it off with a wet rag.

 

[RjG]

18 and 24mg liquid, I used to be cautious with tweezers and stuff until the 50th time I got it all over my hands anyway, and noted it had zero effect, so now I don't bother.

You know if you can't even get a nic buzz with it all over your fingers for 1/2 hour, you're not not absorbing much that way. I can get a buzz by sucking down a cigarette too fast. So it's considerably less than that, since I can't even notice it.

I actually did flick a drop in my eye. It was when prying the dropper part out of a squeeze drip bottle. When the top popped out a drop flew directly into my eye. It burned briefly, I wiped my eye on a towel, waited a minute to see if I'd buzz out, hit the floor, or go blind. Nothing happened, so I went back to filling the bottle.

I *DO* close the door when mucking with this stuff, keep the kids out of the bathroom, wash my hands with soap and water, and wipe everything down CAREFULLY when I'm done, within 3 feet of where I was working. Because I have a 2 and 5 year old. And I can't imagine being so careless to expose them to even a single drop.

If I didn't have kids, I probably would just wipe the counter quick with a rag though ;-)

 

[Bellinghamster]

I've got a little one too, which is the primary reason for my concern. Sounds like basic precautions are all that is required for personal safety, but I'll continue to be paranoid at the house.

Thanks everyone!

 

[slianfoxob]

i must admit that I'm pretty careless in this department. i have often dripped liquid onto my hands and I just wipe it off without any ill effects. i'm an anti-hand-washer. haha.

however, i did have a somewhat similar situation to Satire's. Since I often get the liquid on my hands I once scratch my cheek (on my face) and it started burning like crazy so I quickly rinse my face and it was gone within seconds.

The skin on our bodies is very different all over. The palms and soles have skin cells that no other part of our body does and provide a lot more protection because of their frequent use. Satire, you were brave to intentionally rub liquid into your eyelids. That's one of the thinnest skin layers on the body. I think the main problem I had was that I removed the dead skin cells on my cheek when I scratched it, exposing fresh new cells that had yet to harden.

So, I wouldn't be overly concerned with getting liquid on yourself unless you have an open wound or abrasion. And obviously if you have kiddies around take care.


Foxy

 

[yvilla]

Well, I'm another one who has spilled it on myself continually - fingers, hands, legs, etc. I've never taken any major precautions and most times just wipe off any spill with whatever is handy, sometimes even my shirt sleeve. I've used 18, 24, and 36 mg at different times. And I've never had a problem.

No kids around, so that is thankfully not a worry for me. The only thing that I do worry about is my dogs, who grab and chew anything at all within reach. So I religiously make sure to keep my stuff very high and way back on any surface it may be on!

 

[restever99]

I have been going as far as using nitrile gloves when refilling and wiping the carts as best I can before placing them in the atomizer with even more wiping. I thought the swollen eye thing was just me but for the last few days my eyes have been swollen and a little crusy in the morning. I've only been using for 4 days and it's a pretty consistent event. Can't be a sign of anything good.