Thoughts on Essential Oils

[l0cal_User]

Firstly... I know the word oil anywhere near the topic of e-juice is cause for explosions of terror and the foresight of imminent death, but, lets assume that because the essential oils I am referring to do not contain fats/lipids (read here) - I will survive long enough to experiment further.

A friend popped up with some new twisp liquids, one containing ylang ylang and the other geranium and asked me if I couldnt reproduce them for him. They arent bad, and actually make a nice addition to the choices of sweet/tobacco/alcohol... herb.

Failing to find much more than eucalyptus and rose on the surface of my lackluster investigation into commonly available flavors, I discovered essential oils and their inherent differences to the lung crippling varieties of oil one might consider vaping after frying chips. They seem quite promising and are, surprisingly, being used by quite a few people over long periods of time without any notable side effects.

Naturally, I raced home, dug through our medicine cupboard until I found my wifes hippy stash of essential oils - my oil of choice being the peppermint oil by sOil. I put four drops in about 15ml of ejuice (Republic from Pirates Grog I think) and so far so good... awesome peppermint overtone, cold hit in the back of the throat - subtle sweetness from the underlying flavor. My next test will be with Clove essential oil to see if I can get that numb mouth effect (I found clove smokes in India years ago... they were magical, as were the reactions of friends who tried them without knowing what they were in for).

I have read that the quality of the essential oil is key, you cant cheap out and must make sure it is not mixed into a carrier oil (essentially it should dissolve readily in alcohol), the sOil ones seem to meet this criteria. If one thinks about the benefits of using these things in nebulizers, incense burners etc - surely vaping them would have the same if not amplified effects? This is the theory/justification I am running with at the moment.

That being said, the questions I have are:

• Have any of you fine people experimented directly or indirectly with essential oils?
• Do you have any locally (SA) relevant tips and tricks?
• Are there any gotchas that one should be aware of?
• What would be more important to you, the flavor or effect (as advertised) of the essential oil - eg, clove has a numbing effect etc etc
• What would you suggest as a good way cover up some of the less desirably flavors whilst maintaining the benefits?

TLDR;
Have you vaped essential oils? Are you dead? Will I die?

 

[RichJB]

I just don't see why you'd need to vape oils. Florals (jasmine, lavender, hibiscus, ylang ylang, honeysuckle, violet, eucalyptus, cherry blossom, etc) are already available in vape-specific flavourings by FA, TFA and others.

 

[l0cal_User]

I just don't see why you'd need to vape oils. Florals (jasmine, lavender, hibiscus, ylang ylang, honeysuckle, violet, eucalyptus, cherry blossom, etc) are already available in vape-specific flavourings by FA, TFA and others.

I couldnt substantiate this (typing before running out) - but would there not be a "health benefit" difference between a flavor and extract... as in, one is made to taste like that thing whilst the other is made to release your inner hippy/calm nerves/dull pain etc.

 

[RichJB]

If one subscribes to the belief that there are health benefits in essential oils. Or, more specifically, that the health benefits of inhaling essential oils would outweigh the benefits of ingesting them or applying them to the skin.

 

[l0cal_User]

If one subscribes to the belief that there are health benefits in essential oils. Or, more specifically, that the health benefits of inhaling essential oils would outweigh the benefits of ingesting them or applying them to the skin.

Fair enough, the effects do seem (according to the all knowing google) to vary depending on how they are used. Ingesting peppermint aids in digestion whilst topically it relieves muscle tension, inhaling freshens breath etc - I am just regurgitating this though: link.

So if I were to believe said effects (to the extent that someone believes in vicks) - I cants see any downside to vaping them, assuming it is done correctly.

 

[Lukeness]

A better choice would be hydrosols, which are the closest thing but are water based and are made during the oil extraction process. These would at least mix with your vg/pg more easily.

 

[l0cal_User]

A better choice would be hydrosols, which are the closest thing but are water based and are made during the oil extraction process. These would at least mix with your vg/pg more easily.

Thats very interesting, thanks for sharing. There are worse things than becoming a walking air freshener

 

[l0cal_User]

I got my hands on some clove bud essential oil yesterday, and true as bob, 2 drops in a 4ml tank overtook the original flavor in there and left me with (after 5-6 puffs) a gloriously numb tongue. My lungs arent on fire, which is nice, and so far (after vaping it the entire morning) I can only say that the effect whitles down as you go.

At this level, it is not nearly as strong as the clove smokes i had in India, but the flavor is definitely there. I am going to try increase the amount of clove as well maybe some orange/citrus punch to see if I can mask the flavor a tad while maintaining the effect.

I am not sure on the "safe" ratio though, I did read somewhere that no more than 5% is recommended - so I am going to make a dedicated mix at that ratio (5% citrus, 10% brown sugar [or honey], 5% clove, 3mg Nic 30/70) and see what comes of it. Who knows, maybe I can come up with a moderately decent pre-dentist mix.

 

[zadiac]

I got my hands on some clove bud essential oil yesterday, and true as bob, 2 drops in a 4ml tank overtook the original flavor in there and left me with (after 5-6 puffs) a gloriously numb tongue. My lungs arent on fire, which is nice, and so far (after vaping it the entire morning) I can only say that the effect whitles down as you go.

At this level, it is not nearly as strong as the clove smokes i had in India, but the flavor is definitely there. I am going to try increase the amount of clove as well maybe some orange/citrus punch to see if I can mask the flavor a tad while maintaining the effect.

I am not sure on the "safe" ratio though, I did read somewhere that no more than 5% is recommended - so I am going to make a dedicated mix at that ratio (5% citrus, 10% brown sugar [or honey], 5% clove, 3mg Nic 30/70) and see what comes of it. Who knows, maybe I can come up with a moderately decent pre-dentist mix.

You might want to look at the flaming/combustion point of those oils. I won't even try putting it in an atty that heats up to 200-250 degrees celcius. It just screams "danger" to me.

 

[l0cal_User]

You might want to look at the flaming/combustion point of those oils. I won't even try putting it in an atty that heats up to 200-250 degrees celcius. It just screams "danger" to me.

Good point, I didnt even consider that (on account of it being so heavily diluted). It would seem to be Class 3 flammable (50-60 celcius) - I have been vaping it on a .8 ohm coil at between 40/50 watts... many consecutive pulls at about 2 seconds each... no flames or "odd smoke" yet.

Just out of curiosity, I am going to expose some to an open flame and see what happens, I will also put some on coil without cotton to see what happens.

 

[zadiac]

Good point, I didnt even consider that (on account of it being so heavily diluted). It would seem to be Class 3 flammable (50-60 celcius) - I have been vaping it on a .8 ohm coil at between 40/50 watts... many consecutive pulls at about 2 seconds each... no flames or "odd smoke" yet.

Just out of curiosity, I am going to expose some to an open flame and see what happens, I will also put some on coil without cotton to see what happens.

Good idea. Better to be safe. Good luck with this and give feedback.

 

[l0cal_User]

Alrighty, so, pure clove bud essential oil does set alight after about 30 seconds of exposure to an open flame. On red hot coils, its just makes a bit of smoke as it rolls off. I think the dilution would be more than ample to prevent it from bursting into flames inside the tank - that being said, bursting into flames may be the wrong way of putting it - it does not "erupt" into flames or combust, but rather carries the flame for a few seconds before it vanishes.