# E-liquid Safety



## Lee_T

Careful with your juices, we just had an incident where a popular juice 'unicorn milk' was found to contain Titanium Dioxide' which is apparently poisonous for inhalation over here in the states.



Lee


----------



## Silver

Hi @Lee_T, thanks for pointing that out.

Something my better half asked me the other day - she said "How do I know what these companies put in the juices" She said, "you don't know, you just buy them and vape them and inhale them". She has a good point.

I've vaped probably about 10 different brands, locally available. For some of them, I don't really know where they are made and how they are made and exactly what goes into them. I have not had any bad experiences that I notice yet, but it does concern me that a "cottage industry" develops where anyone and everyone is mixing juices and selling them. At some point, maybe not intentionally, something may go wrong and some harmful ingredients may come into play. 

It does worry me a bit.

Perhaps we should do some sort of self regulation or approval, where we check out the ingredients and manufacturing process of e-juice and create some sort of "accredited supplier" list. 

@Oupa and @Tristan, what are your views on this?


----------



## Lee_T

Silver said:


> Hi @Lee_T, thanks for pointing that out.
> 
> Something my better half asked me the other day - she said "How do I know what these companies put in the juices" She said, "you don't know, you just buy them and vape them and inhale them". She has a good point.
> 
> I've vaped probably about 10 different brands, locally available. For some of them, I don't really know where they are made and how they are made and exactly what goes into them. I have not had any bad experiences that I notice yet, but it does concern me that a "cottage industry" develops where anyone and everyone is mixing juices and selling them. At some point, maybe not intentionally, something may go wrong and some harmful ingredients may come into play.
> 
> It does worry me a bit.
> 
> Perhaps we should do some sort of self regulation or approval, where we check out the ingredients and manufacturing process of e-juice and create some sort of "accredited supplier" list.
> 
> @Oupa and @Tristan, what are your views on this?




Personally, I live very close to an all organic vape shop that uses 100vg and all natural flavoring, no alcohol either. It's still great on flavor and doesn't taste fake like the pg juices I've tried. It also doesn't leave my tongue slightly numb like pg juices.

I pointed this out here because the first pic with the sparkly opaque juices reminded me of Unicorn Milk. It was extremely popular over here, but when the manufacturer was questioned, they went silent and changed their recipe without a statement to a translucent juice instead of the milky one.
People have been trying to get returns and local shops are honoring exchanges for it because of this.

I just hope we develop some effective self regulation before our big government(s) steps in.



Lee


----------



## Johnny2Puffs

I'm happy with my self mix supplies from Oupa and it gets couriered to me the next day to my door.
Valley Vapours in Fish Hoek are quite cheap. Check them out.


----------



## Tristan

Silver said:


> Hi @Lee_T, thanks for pointing that out.
> 
> Something my better half asked me the other day - she said "How do I know what these companies put in the juices" She said, "you don't know, you just buy them and vape them and inhale them". She has a good point.
> 
> I've vaped probably about 10 different brands, locally available. For some of them, I don't really know where they are made and how they are made and exactly what goes into them. I have not had any bad experiences that I notice yet, but it does concern me that a "cottage industry" develops where anyone and everyone is mixing juices and selling them. At some point, maybe not intentionally, something may go wrong and some harmful ingredients may come into play.
> 
> It does worry me a bit.
> 
> Perhaps we should do some sort of self regulation or approval, where we check out the ingredients and manufacturing process of e-juice and create some sort of "accredited supplier" list.
> 
> @Oupa and @Tristan, what are your views on this?


This is a valid point made by your wife, Silver, and I do take this point seriously in my business, by checking specs of supplies before buying anything and doing further research on specifics, such as the Company profile and Industrial certificates, before placing any orders.

As far as a list of Accredited Suppliers goes, not sure (Very technical subject, let alone being very expensive to do testing). Personally I think it is the responsibility of the consumer to ask any question/s ( as Lee_T pointed out)about any concerns they may have. That is what I do as a customer.
IMO, trust plays a major role here.... What was the deciding factor for any one of us, when we bought juice. Did we do technical research or did we decide relative to a specific flavour, or was it the hype of the juice, or do we trust the reseller/retailer etc. when buying juice.

What I can say is that there are certain don'ts in juices, e.g.
Diacetyl. Is it good for you?, No.
Is it ok in juice? No, IMO.
Has it been endorsed by FDA as an ingredient in food, sweets, cooldrink? Yes.
So have you decided to buy a juice with Diacetyl in the flavour? That you decide. I won't!!

The bottom line is: if you have concerns ... ask or do your research before you buy. 
If you are not sure of the contents ... ask or do your research.
At the end of the day you need to have peace of mind when using any liquid. 
I don't think that knowing the contents will make a difference to the taste , but at least you have satisfied your inquiring mind. 

The same goes for knowing if any contents' are non-water soluble. (Stay away from non-water soluble ingredients!!!!)

Hope this has shared some light on the subject. If you have more questions, please feel free to ask


----------



## Andre

For my mind, I would like to know exactly what ingredients are in a juice. Like on food. And it can be done without giving away your trade secrets. The legislation to make that compulsory will eventually come anyhow.

Reactions: Agree 2


----------



## CraftyZA

@cvs, was it his juices you sent as sample to me? I was not impreessed with the sinfull peach or the pineapple express. Gave the remainder away to other vapers


----------



## Tristan

CraftyZA said:


> @cvs, was it his juices you sent as sample to me? I was not impreessed with the sinfull peach or the pineapple express. Gave the remainder away to other vapers


Thanks for your feedback, it helps. Sarcy tho.


----------



## CraftyZA

Tristan said:


> Thanks for your feedback, it helps. Sarcy tho.


I'm just not a fan of minty juices. 
Which is actually funny since i smoked kent mintek for the last 2 years before i quit analogs.
I've still got my very 1st bottle juice bought. Liqua menthol. Still 75% full


----------



## Silver

Hi @Tristan,

Many thanks for your response. You make very valid points.

From what you said, I picked up two things
- diacetyl is not good
- make sure all ingredients are water soluble.

I do appreciate that this is a complex topic. And most of us buy things from the shops to eat and drink with no clue what the ingredients are, even though they are printed on the label. If it comes from Checkers or Pick n Pay, it must be ok. That sort of mentality.

So I'm not saying that now all of a sudden I must become a scientist and start analysing all the ingredients of my e-juice under a microscope. I wouldn't even know where to start. 

It's just that I am scared that with all the small manufacturers popping up, many of whom probably don't have a detailed background in this or even something similar/food related, there are bound to be problems somewhere along the line. Even if it's not intentional. After all, a chocolate we buy from Pick n Pay, made by Beacon or Nestle is probably unlikely to kill us (it may be unhealthy and have long-term health issues) but given the size and experience of those types of manufacturers and their worldwide customer base, I as a consumer am fairly comfortable that it should be ok.

With the smaller e-juice companies, it's much harder to tell.

When one asks a small e-juice manufacturer (as I have done on this site for example) where do your juices come from and where do the ingredients come from, one usually gets the feedback - our ingredients are of the highest quality and sourced from all over the world.

Just saying it's hard to judge.

So perhaps we just need to get a bit more help from you guys, the juice manufacturers/blenders to satisfy us that your juices are safe. I.e. explain to us why _you _are satisfied they are safe. I am not concerned about taste, just safety. Posting of certificates on your webpage and posting FAQ's of your juice ingredients (without giving away trade secrets) is an excellent start in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to knock the smaller companies at all. Without you guys, we would have far less choice and vaping would be less interesting.

@Matthee, as a suggestion, perhaps the above few posts could be moved to a new topic called "Juice safety" under E-liquids?


----------



## Derick

When you do the research, it's kinda scary what is out there and what could possibly in your juices - I mean we have no guarantee that any juice vendor (local or otherwise) isn't using pesticide grade nicotine in their liquids - and to further that - USP grade nicotine only has to be greater that 99% pure to qualify as USP grade. The purest you get is 99.9% pure, but it is a lot more expensive, so why would e-liquid manufacturers bother getting the higher purity if they can get away using the cheapest option?

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## TylerD



Reactions: Funny 2


----------



## Silver

Thanks for moving the posts @Matthee

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


----------



## Lee_T

Tripped me out moving these posts haha. Sorry to have hijacked that thread, ADD here.



Lee

Reactions: Funny 1


----------

