Sweetened E-Liquid is making me sick

[Jaimeson Southern Son]

Hi all - looking for similar experiences/thoughts suggestions.
Been using a Texas (Big) Brand e-liquid Marlboro Flav which is a base that's 85% Vegetable Glycerin & 15% Propylene Glycol. This has been great and no ill effects. I was on 24mg mix as well!

Of course the better half complained about the smell - so I chose to diplomatically swap to a variety of "nice" sweet flavours (banana/vanilla/strawberry etc) which I couldn't care less about. I also dropped down to 6mg

Anyway these new sweet flavours are definitely making me sick & I have stopped using them - (feeling kinda edgy now cause I have no Nicotine!!!)

Definitely not the nicotine as I have dropped way down.

Symptoms are definitely apparent straight after using sweetened E_Liquid. They are mainly - Pressure/Sinus-Type Head Aches/Flu-like symptoms like running nose & feeling crappy/nausea. They go away when I stop vaping.

I never had 1 incident like this on the tobacco Flavour.

Gonna ask for a refund/swap - so wish me luck. I'm a loooong way from Texas!

 

[Denvap0r]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I have never had a reaction like that to any e-liquid. Have you tried other "sweet" flavors other than that particular brand?

 

[Jaimeson Southern Son]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I have never had a reaction like that to any e-liquid. Have you tried other "sweet" flavors other than that particular brand?

Hi and thanks for the welcome.

I have been making imperial observations (I have never experienced these types of head-aches ever before and they coincided with the first use of the new sweet liquids). I am 99% sure they are the culprit. I have never tried other brands. The symptoms coincide only with sweet liquid vaping. No such affects with tobacco flavours (+ much higher Nicotine mix).
Manufacturer of these ones states: "100% of our liquids are USP Food Grade, Natural, Kosher, and ALWAYS Made in the USA. We make these in house in a clean room environment utilizing completely sterilized laboratory instruments. Available in 0mg, 6mg, 12mg, 18mg, and 24mg nicotine levels. All of our fluids are always steeped at least 10 days unless made to order. Our mixture includes a base that's 85% Vegetable Glycerin & 15% Propylene Glycol. "

The symptoms disappear probably 1/2 hour after I stop, so perhaps I simply have a bad reaction to some of the sweeteners.

I googled the subject and there quite a few similar experiences relating to sweetened e-juice out there.

 

[Denvap0r]

There are different sweeteners and might just be a matter of figuring out which one they use and stay way away from that. Sounds like a really bad reaction.

Might have to tell the wife to get used to the tobacco

 

[Susan~S]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here!

Sorry to hear about that. Perhaps you could try vaping unflavored nic base when around your wife and your regular Tobacco flavors when she is not near you.

 

[Denvap0r]

Susan has a point. You might also want to look into DIY (making your own juice). Then you control the ingredients.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

sucralose is commonly used in ejuice as a sweetner. I cannot tolerate it either. Why I started making my own juice and use liquid Stevia from GNC as my sweetener.
They also use EM Ethyl Maltose? as a sweetner, not sure if they use Nutri Sweet or not.
But I have problems with all artificial sweeteners I have tried. headaches, upset stomach, etc.

 

[Vandal]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here!

Sorry to hear about that. Perhaps you could try vaping unflavored nic base when around your wife and your regular Tobacco flavors when she is not near you.

Unflavored is one idea. I use Sweet Naked (you can google it), the only flavor being Ethyl Maltol with no sweeteners. It is very mild, barely sweet, and the vapor smells quite nice according to those I vape around. You could also DIY it quite easily.

 

[Jaimeson Southern Son]

Wow. Thanks Susan, Mr Cromwell and Denvap0r. Great suggestions. Any way - I will try for a refund & if they refuse will start looking for another retailer. (here in Down Under West Oz they will not allow sales of e-cigs/liquids etc. Basically we are governed by Neo-conservatives who enforce a Nanny State).

- I would be grateful if you could supply pointers towards making my own juice. I am unfamiliar with liquid Stevia from GNC. Is this a plant derivative? I did try to find a liquid vegetable glycerol locally but no luck. Can you make nicotine liquid as well? I am very keen on self sufficiency when practical.

 

[Jaimeson Southern Son]

Unflavored is one idea. I use Sweet Naked (you can google it), the only flavor being Ethyl Maltol with no sweeteners. It is very mild, barely sweet, and the vapor smells quite nice according to those I vape around. You could also DIY it quite easily.

Thanks Vandal. To be honest I work long hours and have just been looking for simple quick fixes so end up buying on-line ready made. Looks like I may have to rethink that strategy and start looking at DIY.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

Wow. Thanks Susan, Mr Cromwell and Denvap0r. Great suggestions. Any way - I will try for a refund & if they refuse will start looking for another retailer. (here in Down Under West Oz they will not allow sales of e-cigs/liquids etc. Basically we are governed by Neo-conservatives who enforce a Nanny State).

- I would be grateful if you could supply pointers towards making my own juice. I am unfamiliar with liquid Stevia from GNC. Is this a plant derivative? I did try to find a liquid vegetable glycerol locally but no luck. Can you make nicotine liquid as well? I am very keen on self sufficiency when practical.

yes Stevia is a plant derivative. Sorry did not notice that you were from the land down under.
Google Stevia. also there is one type Stevia rebaudiana which is sweeter and non bitter as compared to some other varieties of the Stevia plant.
On the nicotine, nope cannot make it, and would not try since it could be dangerous without very good lab practices and quality control.

 

[Jaimeson Southern Son]

yes Stevia is a plant derivative. Sorry did not notice that you were from the land down under.
Google Stevia. also there is one type Stevia rebaudiana which is sweeter and non bitter as compared to some other varieties of the Stevia plant.
On the nicotine, nope cannot make it, and would not try since it could be dangerous without very good lab practices and quality control.

okay - so I am sure a little google researching is in order.
I assume I would be best to buy nicotine infused liquid online then add your plant based sweetener?
Can you steep the base in tobacco and get nicotine into it + tobacco flavour? (logic tells me this would be dumb & expensive though?)

 

[Robert Cromwell]

I buy flavorings, PG, VG and nicotine and make my own. there are many recipes on here and ejuice calculators. visit the DIY forum for more information than you can stand.
also many videos on youtube about DIY ejuice.

 

[dcfluegel]

may want to try unflavored - really not bad at all

 

[mcclintock]

The tobacco flavor may have little flavoring, 24 mg unflavored is more intense than many 6 mg flavored liquids. Also may use less of it ... there's several variables here to isolate. Is the "1.5" referring to mg or % ? 1.5% is approx. 15 mg/mL, common mistake.

 

[Hans Wermhat]

Can you steep the base in tobacco and get nicotine into it + tobacco flavour? (logic tells me this would be dumb & expensive though?)

You can buy "tobacco absolute". It's similar to what you are talking about. Several of the DIY suppliers have it. I hear it's very viscous and difficult to work with though.

 

[mcclintock]

^^-- steeping tobacco can get the flavor, not really any nic though.

 

[Jaimeson Southern Son]

Cheers mates! So I am interested in working out the phenomena at work here making me and others (on google land) sick using sweetened e-juices. Because there may be bigger issues at play than just short term affects I describe. I would like some regulation that enforces uses of natural products in e-juices.

My retailer got back to me and - of course - denied any knowledge of similar cases. But they admitted using artificial sweeteners & have agreed to swap my sweet juices for tobacco/unflavoured. So a small win!

I also asked a few other retailers on-line and they all denied knowledge of problems - but most of the bigger ones admit using artificial sweeteners.....so checked out the stores linked to this site and found some good ones who seem to value pure/natural juice additives over artificial. So I will spread the word.

Got some holidays coming up so I am definitely going to study up on DIY.

Thanks from a newbie for all your help and great suggestions. Excellent site!

 

[440BB]

Once you have a stock of unflavored, the bonus is that you can mix in a bit of the tobacco liquid you like and get the best of both worlds. If the mix is light, it might even be less of an issue with your better half! Good luck!

 

[stevegmu]

What is the PG/VG ratio for these sweet flavors?