Are E Cigarettes Safe?

Pictured Device: Joyetech eGo AiO⁠

The Big Question, Are E Cigarettes Safe?

To answer this loaded question of Are E Cigarettes Safe? We have to dive in to what makes up an E Cigarette, it's components, it's e-juice, etc. We do just that in this article.

First off, What are E Cigarettes?

An electronic cigarette, or ecig, is a battery operated device that heats up an element in order to vaporize your preferred liquid flavor profiles into a gas or vaper. Once the liquid is in this state, it is able to be utilized as a form of a nicotine delivery system, and inhaled. This is simply a healthier form of habit replacement which still endears to the things that a vaper would miss while transitioning out of smoking. That would include things such as oral fixation, and of course the nicotine fix.

Pictured Item: The Grape White⁠

What is E-Juice?

The liquids used in an ecig is a mixture that contains liquid nicotine (if desired), artificial and organic flavourings, as well as the base ingredients which are propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG). PG is an organic compound that helps carry the flavour for better taste when vaporized, as well as adding harshness that can be reminiscent of a traditional cigarette. The VG is a liquid derived from plant oils such as coconut. It is thicker than PG and is what helps produce a satisfying amount of vaper and provides a more, full bodied experience when inhaling it in a vaporized state.

is Nicotine Deadly, or Harmful?

This blog post answers this question

What are artificial or organic flavourings?

Artificial flavors are simply chemical mixtures that mimic a natural flavor in some way. These are the same flavourings used in desserts, candies and ice cream.

What is Propylene Glycol? ¹

Propylene glycol, also called propane-1,2-diol, is an organic compound with the chemical formula C₃H₈O₂. It is a viscous colorless liquid which is nearly odorless but possesses a faintly sweet taste. Chemically it is classed as a diol and is miscible with a broad range of solvents, including water, acetone, and chloroform.

It is produced on a large scale and is primarily used in the production of polymers but also sees use in food processing as the E-number E1520, and as a process fluid in low temperature heat exchange applications.

Propylene Glycol is a great flavour carrier, and without it the flavour you would taste in the e-juice would be extremely muted.

Common uses for Propylene Glycol include Fog machines, and Inhalers.

What is Vegetable Glycerin? ²

Vegetable glycerin, or glycerol, is a clear, odorless liquid produced from plant oils, typically palm oil, soy, or coconut oil. Palm and coconut oils are natural triglyceride mixtures; each triglyceride is composed of three fatty acids esterified with glycerin. Vegetable glycerin has a number of valuable applications that include cosmetic products, foods, and as a replacement for alcohol in herbal and botanical tinctures.

Vegetable Glycerin is used to make the liquid thicker, thus allowing the liquid to produce large clouds of vapor. The more Vegetable Glycerin in an e-juice, the larger the clouds of vapor it will produce.

Great, Is vaping safer than smoking?

According to the Royal College of Physicians in the U.K, E-cigarettes are 95% safer than traditional tobacco cigarettes. 

“E-cigarette vapour contains a far less extensive range of toxins, and those present are typically at much lower levels, than in tobacco smoke,” the report notes. “In normal conditions of use, toxin levels in inhaled e-cigarette vapour are probably well below prescribed threshold limit values for occupational exposure, in which case significant long-term harm is unlikely. Some harm from sustained exposure to low levels of toxins over many years may yet emerge, but the magnitude of these risks relative to those of sustained tobacco smoking is likely to be small….Although it is not possible to quantify the long-term health risks associated with e-cigarettes precisely, the available data suggest that they are unlikely to exceed 5% of those associated with smoked tobacco products, and may well be substantially lower than this figure.” ⁴

Some of the questions the RCP answered with their recent studies are:

• E-cigarettes are not a gateway to smoking ³
• E-cigarettes do not result in normalisation of smoking ³
• Among smokers, e-cigarette use is likely to lead to quit attempts that would not otherwise have happened, and in a proportion of these to successful cessation. In this way, e-cigarettes can act as a gateway from smoking ³
• The possibility of some harm from long-term e-cigarette use cannot be dismissed due to inhalation of the ingredients other than nicotine. but is likely to be very small, and substantially smaller than that arising from tobacco smoking. ³

Sources: 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propylene_glycol¹
• http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/what-is-vegetable-glycerin/²
• https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/news/promote-e-cigarettes-widely-substitute-smoking-says-new-rcp-report³
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2016/04/28/royal-college-of-physicians-says-e-cigarettes-can-prevent-almost-all-the-harm-from-smoking/#308797041f46⁴