What is used to make E Liquid?
E Liquids do not contain tobacco or other harmful ingredients found in tobacco products like cigarettes and rolling tobacco. Instead E Liquids are made up of a liquid solution which is made up of a few different ingredients
There are three to four main ingredients of Liquids
- Vegetable Glycerine
- Propylene Glycol
- Food grade flavouring
- Nicotine (optional)
What is Vegetable Glycerine?
Vegetable Glycerine is known as Glycerine and also simple VG , it is a clear liquid that is typically made from soybean, coconut or palm oils. VG is odourless and has a mildly sweet taste and the consistency is like a sugar syrup. VG is produced by heating triglyceride-rich vegetable fats, such as palm, soy and coconut oils under pressure or together with a strong alkali. This results in the glycerine to split away from the fatty acids and mix with water to form an odourless, sweet tasting syrup like liquid.
Vegetable Glycerine is popular in the cosmetic industry due to its health benefits, you can also find it used in other products such as food, toothpaste, sweeteners and also E Liquids. It may sound very strange that E Liquids uses an ingredient that is often used in cosmetic products but studies have shown that it is safe to ingest orally and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed it ‘’generally recognized as safe’’ to be used as a food additive.
Why is Vegetable Glycerine used in E Liquids?
Vegetable Glycerine is used to thicken the consistency of E Liquids, this results in the dense vapour clouds that is found with Sub Ohm Vaping. Other benefits of VG in E Liquids include a smoother vaping experience without the strong throat hit that is given by Propylene Glycol.
What is Propylene Glycol?
Just like Vegetable Glycerine, Propylene Glycol is a substance which is also commonly used as an additive or ingredient in many cosmetic products. The European and US food authorities have declared that it is generally safe for the use in foods. It is an odourless, colourless syrupy liquid which has a slightly thicker consistency than water.
Why is Propylene Glycol used in E Liquids?
In the world of vaping Propylene Glycol is known as PG, it is used in E Liquids to provide the 'throat hit'. PG isn't as thick as VG and helps to make the E Liquid runnier but the consistency helps to create a more flavourful hit. This is why E Liquids with a 50/50 rather of VG/PG is designed to replicate a mouth to lung (MTL) vaping style. Ex smokers tend to prefer a more PG based E Liquids because they mimic a harder throat hit, like you would get with smoking. PG has an added benefit of helping to carry the nicotine as VG resulting in the throat hit.
What are Food Grade Flavourings?
Flavouring concentrates in E Liquids are typically a combination of both natural and artificial flavourings. E Liquid manufacturers now use ‘food grade’ or ‘GRAS’ flavouring concentrates approved by Flavour Extracts Manufacturers Association (FEMA). There are thousands of flavourings available for the use of E Liquids and with blending them together, you can get some truly remarkable flavoured E Liquids.
There has been a lot of speculation and fear mongering stories about the dangers of E Liquids, the most commonly told one is that vaping causes ‘popcorn lung’. Not all flavour concentrates are considered harmful and that's why it's important to check the ingredients to make sure you are not purchasing an unsafe concentrate. Diacetyl is an additive used to create the mouth-watering buttery flavour in microwave popcorn and E Liquids in the US used to contain Diacetyl but it was found that although low levels of diacetyl in food was ok, E Liquids that contain the chemical diacetyl, which at very high levels of exposure has been associated with the serious lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans.
We will recommend always checking product descriptions and doing more research into flavourings before anyone attempts at creating your own E Liquids. When it comes to purchasing already made E Liquids, we also recommend purchasing E Liquids from reputable companies as they would have already had to get E Liquids and their ingredients verified and approved before being able to sell them.
What is Nicotine?
Nicotine is an alkaloid which is a highly addictive chemical compound that is found in the nightshade family of the tobacco plant. Due to the addictiveness of nicotine, this causes many people to find quitting smoking very difficult. I think it is safe to say that most people know that cigarettes and other tobacco products are very addictive but there are also many people that believe nicotine is the dangerous substance in cigarettes that causes cancer and death. This is not the case, it is this mix of chemicals (not nicotine) that causes serious disease and death in tobacco users, including fatal lung diseases, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cancer. There are no scientific studies to support that nicotine causes cancer.
Different types of Nicotine?
There are two main types of nicotine used in E Liquids and they also come in different strengths, this means that you can choose a strength which is best suited to your needs. Not all E Liquids contain nicotine, these are labelled as being 0mg nicotine strength. The main reason for an E Liquid at 0 mg is to help quit nicotine but to keep the vaping sensation.
Freebase Nicotine
Freebase nicotine is the most commonly found type in E Liquids, it is also referred to as regular nicotine and is the most commonly found in strengths of 3mg, 6mg, 12mg and 18mg. For ex smokers, finding the best strength does depend on how much you are used to smoking. The higher the nicotine levels, the harsher the throat hit and obviously the higher dosage of nicotine you will inhale.
Salt Nicotine
Nicotine salts also are known as Nic Salts. Nicotine salts are relatively new in the vaping world, being around for a couple of years now. What makes Salt nicotine different from regular Freebase nicotine is that vapers can vape at a higher nicotine strength without getting the harsh taste as you would with freebase nicotine. It is the closest vaping experience that delivers nicotine as a cigarette would. The most common strengths found with Nic Salt E Liquids vary from 20mg - 50mg but you can get lower strengths in some E Liquid brands.
How to make E Liquid?
We've gone over the four ingredients used in the creation of E Liquids but how are they made? Making E Liquids is a lengthy process and for those that have tried making their own home-made E Liquids has found that it's not as easy as it seems. Pouring a bit of this and a bit of that will result in a terrible tasting liquid that you won't be able to throw away quick enough.
To create any E Liquid you will need to follow a recipe, ingredients will need to be carefully measured before mixing, this is especially important when using nicotine. Not only is nicotine the most expensive ingredient but adding too much can be harmful.
If you are looking at making your own E Liquid, there are plenty of guides online and many forums where people will share recipes of flavours they have made themselves. You can also find E-juice calculators which help you ensure your measurements all add up to the correct quantity.
Besides the ingredients, you will need to get empty bottles for holding liquids, gloves are also required when mixing with nicotine as nicotine can be absorbed through the skin and no matter how careful you are, the likelihood is you will get some spillage. Syringes and pipettes are an essential tool for helping you measure out the exact ingredients.
First, the flavourings are added to the base mix of PG and VG, you will need to decide whether you are looking for a 70/30 VG/PG ratio or a 50/50. You can experiment making your own flavouring though in our opinion we would suggest trying out other recipes that have been posted on forums. After adding the flavour concentrate mix it's time to add your desired quantity of nicotine. After mixing all the ingredients you would need to let the liquid sit for a few days, this process is referred to as 'steeping', similar to how you might age wine or meat.
How E Liquid Manufacturers make E Liquids
Home-made E Liquids can taste mediocre and sometimes you can make one that you like but it's unlikely you'll end up creating an E Liquid that tastes anything like some of the beautifully crafted flavours that the best E Liquid manufacturers produce.
E Liquid Manufacturers have a lot of resources, time, money behind them and most importantly, a skilled Research and Development team. It is very rare that the best E Liquids are made on a kitchen worktop one afternoon. Weeks and maybe months may be invested into creating their best sellers and they don't produce them one bottle at a time. There are a lot of regulations when it comes to making E Liquids and that's why we would suggest purchasing well established branded E Liquids.
The benefits of buying branded E Liquids are you know they are using high quality ingredients, each batch of ingredients are tested and that all their products are made at the highest quality standards.
E Liquid Companies who pride themselves on producing premium E Liquids guarantee a high-level quality of their products by following hygiene, safety and environment rules. Various tests may be carried out to reach this goal.
Composition Analysis
The analysis of the composition is designed to check the proper observance of the standard composition as well as the quality of the raw materials. The results should confirm the absence of heavy metals such as iron, aluminium, arsenic, mercury, lead, and cadmium, aldehydes (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein), diacetyl, etc.
Microbiological Analysis
Microbiological analyses are important to check the control the purity of the product and to check that it has not been contaminated by bacteria such as, salmonella, mould, staphylococcus or other yeasts.
Nicotine content testing
Confirming the content of Nicotine is also very important. Mislabelling E Liquids with incorrect Nicotine strengths is very dangerous and would result in a total product recall. Batches of Nicotine based E Liquids are analysed after liquid production to confirm the nicotine content of the product.
Final Thoughts
Producing E Liquids professionally is not an easy task and it takes a lot of time, money and dedication to create the best E Liquids. That’s why Jumponthevape takes the time to check that all branded E Liquid are made by the most reputable vaping companies in the world. DIY E-Liquids can be fun to make but vaping the delicious flavours of professional e liquids from brands such as Nasty Juice, Halo, Double Drip is something you won’t want to forget about.
