Vape

Vape liquids, at the bare minimum, have three main components: flavors, sweeteners and solvents.

Solvents are substances used to dissolve either nicotine or marijuana-derived compounds including THC or CBD so those ingredients can be inhaled.

The solvents most often used in vapes are vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol. (THC is the compound in marijuana responsible for its high; CBD, or cannabidiol, is also found in marijuana, but doesn’t have psychoactive effects.)

Vegetable glycerin produces the visible aerosol, or cloud, seen when vaping. It’s made from vegetable oil.

Propylene glycol is a clear, slightly syrupy liquid, and it’s virtually odorless and colorless.

Sweeteners include sucralose and ethyl maltol. E-liquid flavors are wide-ranging, and can read like a wine tasting: “notes of vanilla” or “berries and herbal notes.”

All of those ingredients — the solvents, the sweeteners and the flavors — are considered “generally recognized as safe” by the Food and Drug Administration.

But that designation refers only to when those compounds are consumed as food. The ingredients take on different properties when heated into an aerosol, and little is known about the effects those ingredients have on the human body when inhaled.

E-cigarette

aka JUULs and vape pens, use a battery to heat up a special liquid into an aerosol that users inhale. It’s not just harmless water vapor.

The “e-juice” that fills the cartridges usually contains nicotine (which is extracted from tobacco), propylene glycol, flavorings and other chemicals.

Studies have found that even e-cigarettes claiming to be nicotine-free contain trace amounts of nicotine. Additionally, when the e-liquid heats up, more toxic chemicals are formed.

Because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not begun its review of any e-cigarette or its ingredients, nor has FDA issued any standards on the products, e-cigarette composition and effects vary. What researchers do know is that these toxic chemicals and metals have all been found in e-cigarettes

Vape Pen