Why?

[Kelsey]

I was trying to convert someone to electronic cigarettes the other day and I told that person there's over 4000 chemicals in a cigarette...including chemicals found in rat poison..etc.
They asked me, "Why?"

So veterans, I was wondering if you know why they put over 4000 chemicals in an avatar?

Also, do you think if Big tobacco got hold of electronic cigarettes and ejuice...if they'd add a chemical cocktail to them?

Thank you.

 

[Hoosier]

Why? Um, because everything is made of chemicals.

tobacco is not a chemical, but a group of them. When it is burned, I creates other chemicals because burning is a chemical reaction. What chemicals are in the tobacco itself depends on the soil it was grown in, the way it was farmed, and the way it was cured. (All of that also effects the taste and texture of the finished product.)

Even after curing, the tobacco is processed. Preservatives are introduced at this point and sometimes chemicals that give the leaf a certain texture. Chemicals, like PG, are also used to keep the moisture content at a certain point.

Then it is flavored. Each flavoring is composed of a slew of chemicals.

The processing and flavoring chemicals are also burned.

Big tobacco has already experimented with electronic cigarettes and cigars. One cigar was not electric, but had an element in the end that was heated by a lighter. There were no provisions in the regulations then for reduced harm tobacco products, so were treated as regular cigarettes and cigars by the government. Also by all second hand things I have heard, they tasted worse than bad.

Of course they had many chemicals in them. They had flavor even if it was bad.

It is the burning that is most dangerous to health. Lettuce makes a fine salad, but inhaling the smoke of burning lettuce would not be as heathful as eating a salad. It would be at least as harmful as inhaling any smoke, and maybe more so? I don't know of any studies examining the long term health effects from inhaling burning lettuce though.

Just keep doing what you feel is best for you.

 

[rolygate]

You can choose a water-based mist with less than 10 chemicals in it (if you DIY), or smoke from burning plant material with 5,300 identified chemicals and a lot more to be found (maybe 10,000 or so according to the researchers who came up with the latest tally).

In theory there is nothing in e-cigarette vapor that can cause lung cancer, other cancers, heart disease, or arterial disease. That just leaves some intolerance to odd ingredients, and lung issues for some people. Logic says the death rate from long-term e-cigarette use will be a tiny fraction of that from tobacco smoking.

To reduce risk further you would need to buy liquid that has been fully GC-MS tested or comes from laboratory-grade premises where professional chemists are employed. This is your choice. Most people do not consider this an issue but the option is there for those who do.