Ooh I'm excited for this one!
Because every time I hear someone tell me there is antifreeze in my e-juice I get giddy!
So i'm not sure if you vape or not but sometimes when I "blow my sick clouds bro", as some would say, I have a person who will come up to me and say something along the lines of...
Do you even know what you are putting in your body?!
or
Just so you know you are going to get popcorn lung from that!
...and honestly, I love it when this happens cause my "Classy Ass Pretentious Side" gets to come out and I get to right all the wrong things people have heard! Now i'm sure if you have been on the upside of a rock for the past couple years you have seen all these rumors, but have you ever taken the initiative and researched some of the findings yourself?
Well now you don't have to cause I am here to shed some light on the subject! Here are some of the craziest things I have heard over my years of vaping and why they are just not true.. Enjoy!
1. Antifreeze In My E-juice
Okay so one of the craziest things that I still commonly hear today is that there is antifreeze in my juice, this all stems from the use of PG (propylene glycol, the main flavour carrier in e-juice) being used in antifreeze.
Now the problem with the statement "i'm vaping antifreeze" is that PG is also used in many thing such as ice cream.. so please stop eating frozen antifreeze sigh. On top of it just being a chemical similarity between the two drastically different substances, PG was actually put into antifreeze to make it healthier for the environment, and not as poisonous for animals to consume.
2. You don't even know whats in that!
Fortunately, I do. I have made DIY e-juice at home for quite awhile now and I can assure you that vaping has plenty less chemicals than their counterpart cigarettes.
The 2 main chemicals are PG (propylene glycol) and VG (vegetable glycerin) and they make up normally about 95% of the vapor. Nicotine is another thing used in e-juice
and that normally makes up anywhere from 0% - 2.4% generally.
The final ingredient is the flavouring and that is where you want to be a little more careful, if you are buying from un-reliable sources some may use cheaper artificial flavours with additives that could be un-healthy.
The positive side about this is any reputable company out there makes sure to keep their juices up to date with the latest regulations and rules or may end up being liable to be shut down, also the additives that are deemed un-healthy would have to be in mass doses to do the body any real harm.
3. The dreaded popcorn lung!
This one always makes me giggle just because of they way they twist the facts, so this comes from people working in popcorn factories inhaling a large amount of Diacetyl (one of the chemicals used in butter flavouring). Now the people working in these factories would inhale large quantities of this chemical on a daily basis.
Diacetyl was also one of the chemicals used in e-juice custard flavours, fortunately this chemical was never used in high doses so the chances of obtaining popcorn lung is negligible, to put this in perspective an actual cigarette contains a lot more diacetyl than any e-juice ever did but have you ever heard that cigarettes cause popcorn lung? (My favorite is the day my grandmother told me I would get "little popcorns in my lungs" if I didnt stop vaping).
4. Vaping is just as un-healthy as smoking
On the bright side for anyone who believes that Vg, Pg, Food grade Flavorings, and Nicotine are just as un-healthy as the Over 4000 Chemicals in a cigarette NOT COUNTING TOBACCO here is a friendly study on the:
Acute effects of using an electronic nicotine-delivery device on myocardial function comparison with the effects of regular cigarettes Here
(sorry for directly copying the title I thought it was reasonable being a study)
I don't even want to dignify this myth by discussing it much I find it to be a very ignorant way of thinking (apologies to anyone who is thinking this way! I mean no offence just a personal opinion). I will say that in the time that I made the switch to vaping I have gotten my taste back, can breath better, and finally realized they smell and taste disgusting!
In Closing
You will never hear me say that vaping is healthy, nothing foreign in your lungs is healthy! Do I believe that vaping is healthier than cigarettes? Of course I do all evidence and research points towards this, and if you are one of those people who say "Well there hasn't been enough research done", or, "they haven't been around that long", please feel free to refer to one of my previous posts on The History Of Vaping!