Magical E-Liquids: The Driving Force
Part2 of 2-Part Series On Propylene Glycol
How E-Cigs Work with Propylene Glycol
So you have the pure nicotine, the substance that is what fosters tobacco cigarette use but without any of the tar, ash or carcinogens. That’s cool, but pure nicotine is one of the most poisonous substances on earth! The problem for scientists was to find a way to get this substance into the body through a method similar to “analog smoking” (tobacco cigarettes) without using the tobacco itself. The answer? What else but PROPYLENE GLYCOL!
The Propylene Glycol plays the most important role in producing the vapor and transmitting the nicotine into the body through a safe method. For full information on how propylene glycol works and what it’s used for, see Part 1! For our e-cigarettes, it serves two purposes: as a base to dilute the nicotine safely and as the source of the vapor. The prop. glycol, nicotine and flavorings are all mixed together into the e-liquid form; this is the substance that is vaporized by your device and turned into that amazing nicotine-infused vapor.
The nicotine is dissolved in the propylene glycol according to the desired strength of the resulting e-liquid. This is measured with the mg/ml measurement which is used in the sale of cartridges and e-liquids everywhere. An average measurement is 8mg of nicotine per 1ml of propylene glycol which would have been created by adding 80mg to a 10mL base. It would require a lot more water to dissolve that much nicotine, plus nicotine isn’t even water soluble! Not only is prop. glycol the best possible medium for dissolving the nicotine into liquid, but it’s what makes those beautiful vapor clouds possible!
Water would require much higher temperatures to turn into a nicotine-carrying vapor like propylene glycol vapor. Propylene glycol is easily vaporized by the atomizers inside e-cigs at a very easy temperature to achieve, and when this happens, it doesn’t lose any of it’s nicotine absorbing abilities! So we’re left with a nice, thick cloud of vapor infused with only nicotine and no tar. Beautiful. But is it safe?
Vaporized Propylene Glycol Safety Review
Many media sources, mainly local news types, have jumped on the possibility to shed negative light on the booming trend of e-cigs. I don’t blame them, negative press and scare tactics are how they get their paycheck. I would like, however, to shed some light on the safety of the e-cigarette vapor made from propylene glycol.
First, we obviously have to note that e-cigs are (unofficially but obviously) healthier and safer than analog, tobacco cigarettes. Those things cause deadly disease, have second-hand smoke, bother everyone and cause you to inhale insane amounts of carcinogenic tar and ash. But still, we want to make sure that e-cigarettes are not dangerous in their own right.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) classified prop. glycol as “GRAS” which means “generally recognized as safe” for drugs, flavorings, additives and cosmetic products. This is the most important point you will read. While they haven’t given the GRAS classification to e-cigarettes, they also haven’t come up with anything that would deny them it eventually, even after years of studies. Other institutions like the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have not deemed propylene glycol as unhealthy or carcinogenic.
So basically, all signs point towards go for using propylene glycol based e-cigarettes. And especially using them instead of that cancerous tobacco stick alternative we all hate. Make sure you stay updated on new studies and news about propylene glycol; this substance plays an important role in everything e-cigarettes and we have to stay informed!
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