Are E-cigs even healthy?

Have you ever wondered if E-cigs are really healthier than cigarettes? E-cigs are still fairly new to the public and most people are still trying to figure out how they feel about them. Well if you are still wondering you've come to the right place. Lets start by talking about what is actually consumed by the user when using either. In e-cigs, you use something called e-juice. E-juice is primarily made with 3 ingredients: Vegetable Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, and flavorings. All of these ingredients have been approved as safe for human consumption by the FDA and pose no real threat if used as intended. The only possible bad ingredient in e-juice is nicotine and its only dangerous when used incorrectly. For example, if you add too much to your e-juice mixture or somehow end up ingesting it. That rarely happens though, as most e-juice makers are well aware of the dangers of nicotine poisoning. When nicotine free e-juice is heated up in an e-cig, the user inhales water vapor and the flavoring, which is much more pleasant and easier on the throat than nasty tasting smoke. When exhaled, its the same thing coming out, so you don't have to worry about the idea of second hand smoke. With that being said, that's no excuse for you to start vaping anywhere you want, still try to be courteous to other around you. The common mistake people make about e-cig vapor is that they think its still smoke. Well, its not. Smoke is something that is produced when something is combusted, usually with a flame. In e-cigs there is no flame, therefore no smoke can be produced. E-cigs utilize electricity to heat up coils wrapped around e-juice soaked wicks. The end product is water vapor with flavorings in it, which cause you and the people around you less discomfort when in the presence of it. In cigarettes, the user consumes chemically saturated tobacco, that when burned produces actual smoke. That smoke has more than 200 chemicals all meant to increase and accelerate your nicotine high and to get you hooked on them. Some of the chemicals in cigarettes like Arsenic and Ammonia are very harmful to your body and are very carcinogenic.

Don't believe me? Next time you pick up a pack of cigarettes, look around the box for the surgeon generals warning. It clearly states that cigarettes cause cancer, yet little to no people actually pay attention to that. As if that wasn't bad enough, cigarettes also harm the environment by polluting the air that you and I breathe. Who wants to smell and inhale that nasty secondhand smoke? I know I don't. That's just my opinion though, you can take it upon yourself to decide. When you do decide, just make sure to take some of these thoughts into consideration.

How to Make E-Juice

Have you ever wondered what people actually vaporize when they use an electronic cigarette? The simple and cheap solution is referred to as Electronic Cigarette Juice or E-Juice for short. E-Cigs are designed to vaporize this liquid in order to deliver the nicotine in a cleaner and healthier way. E-juice is sold across many stores in different flavors and nicotine strengths in order to accommodate the preferences of many people. The common nicotine strength in stores today are 0 mg, 6 mg, 12 mg, 24 mg, and 36 mg. Although it is not recommended, you shouldn’t exceed 24 mg as this suits most people’s nicotine needs. If you don’t like the flavors or strengths available to you for purchase, you could always make your own e-juice! It’s relatively easy and cheap to make. E-juice consists of 4 main ingredients that you’ll need to start:

A: Propylene Glycol and/or Vegetable Glycerin (VG provides more vapor in juices while PG gives you a bigger throat hit similar to ones in cigarettes.)  

B: Nicotine (only if you want it in your juice)

C: Flavoring

D: Water (Distilled water preferred)

Along with these things, it is suggested that you also get these tools to help the process be more precise and easy:

E: Oral Syringe (Multiple; 2 or more preferred)

F: Dropper Bottles (To store and mix juices, 250 ml bottle for this example)

 

With all that being said let’s get started.

1: Depending on what types of e-juice you want to make and your preferences, you can start out by using PG or VG. You only have to use one but if you want to have both the throat hit and more vapor, you can always mix different ratios of these two ingredients. Different recipes have different ratios, so always do research before starting to make juice. My preference is to use VG since I want more vapor. If you want to follow this recipe, go ahead and add 140 ml of VG into your 250 ml dropper bottle via oral syringe.

2: Next add 30 ml of distilled water into the dropper bottle via oral syringe as well. The reason I add water to this mixture is because VG has a high viscosity and needs to be mixed with water in order to use it in an electronic cigarette. After the water is added, cap the mixture and shake vigorously until well mixed.

3: If you’re going to use nicotine add it now. For the sake of this recipe, I’m not going to add any since I don’t want it. Be extremely careful handling this as this can poison you if not used properly. Always do research on a recipe containing nicotine to see how much to add exactly.

4: Lastly add about 30 ml of your choice of flavoring to the mixture and shake vigorously again. Water based flavorings are suggested as they mix better with this mixture and as a result give you a better taste.   

After that you’re e-juice is ready to vape, although it is recommended you let the mixture sit in the dark for a week or two so the flavor can really come out. Trust me this always makes or breaks a juice. If you vape it early on, it won’t taste as good.  With that being said, that’s how you make e-juice. All of the ingredients used here are really easy to find and they are relatively cheap, with the exception of the separate nicotine mixture that you have to buy at a specialty shop. Anyways, if you enjoyed this, go out and try to make your own, and remember always do research

Types of Electronic Cigarettes

Have you ever seen a person sucking on a large metal tube and then blow out smoke? Eager to know what it is? Well, in this blog post I will be going over the 3 main types of electronic cigarettes available. The types mentioned in this post also have different sub categories, but for the sake of time I won’t cover those today. Without further a do, the first type of electronic cigarette is called a Mini or “Cig-a-Like”. These are the ones most commonly recognized by people due to their design, which is made to mimic the look and feel of a real cigarette. Typically, these are the perfect choice for someone who is beginning to make the transition from traditional to electronic. These offer the least amount of customization and are either made disposable or rechargeable. Some pros of these models are cheap startup cost, very discreet, small, and lightweight. Some of the cons of these models include poor battery life on rechargeable units, electronic juice runs out fast on disposable units, and limited upgrade options. Overall, these are for people who want the most natural transition. These are not meant for heavy smokers since they either run out of juice or battery pretty quickly.

 

The next category of electronic cigarettes are called the Mid-Size Cigarettes or Vape Pens. These are ideal for most smokers since they offer stronger battery life and produce more vapor. These are typically operated manually with a button, similarly to the Mini’s. Another thing to note is that Mini’s and Mid-Size Cigarettes are the safest electronic cigarettes since they have many built in restrictions and regulators. The computers inside prevent things like overheating and electric shorts. One thing users enjoy most about these models is that, unlike their Mini counterparts, they are widely customizable. You can customize things like the battery size, voltage, types of juice, flavor, and many more things on these models. Some of the pros include relatively good price for a startup kit, a lot of support in the vaping community, and the customization options are vast. Some of the cons include manual operation with a button take away from the natural feel, some of the performance isn’t customizable, and it is slightly larger than a traditional cigarette. All in all, these are for moderate to heavy smokers who want to have certain customization options all while having a very safe device.

 

Last but not least are the advanced personal vaporizers (ABV’s) or Mechanical Mods. These are designed for advanced users. With this type of electronic cigarette, everything if fully customizable, even performance. With that being said, these are the most dangerous and should not be used to transition from traditional cigarettes. Mechanical mods are called so because they have no electronic regulators or restrictions built into them like its other counterparts. There is no way to warn you if you are overheating the unit or are experiencing a short, so tread lightly when first building one. To use and build these, you have to be familiar with voltage drop, ohms, and other electrical concepts before building one of these. These units are the most interesting because they are much larger and come in several designs and shapes. These are made to tailor to different people’s needs of power and amount of vapor. On a side note, unlike the other electronic cigarettes, these can also come in the form of boxes. The performance delivered by these units is unrivaled by the other two types and also provide users with more advanced options that allow you to control every aspect of this device. According to CigBuyer.com, some of these features include variable voltage, digital readouts (box forms only), and integral liquid feed. These are the units are for people who already have experience with electronic cigarettes and have done their research.

To reiterate, when one makes the choice to go electrical, you have to carefully decide what type of electronic cigarette is best for you. Factors like how much you smoke, experience level, and preferences all play a role in deciding that. So the next time you or a friend make the switch, get informed and think about it.

Why Vape?

Today, many people all over the world are making the switch from traditional cigarette smoking to vaping. Why you ask? Well for the majority of people its usually because they want to quit or adopt a healthier way of intaking their nicotine. An electronic cigarette utilizes heat and vaporization to deliver nicotine to the user instead of the traditional means of a lighter and smoking. When you breathe in a puff of e-cig vapor you get water vapor, flavoring, and nicotine if you added it. whereas with a cigarette you get a toxic mix of over 200 chemicals, most carcinogenic. If that's not enough, most cigarette packs today have a surgeon generals warning saying that they cause cancer. The only chemicals in e-juice(electronic cigarette juice) are Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerin, flavorings, and nicotine if added. None of which cause cancer or any other terminal diseases when vaped. If not being used as an alternative, people use these as tools to help them avoid cigarette smoke while still getting their dosage of nicotine. Over time users can lower their levels of nicotine until they no longer need to ingest it. If you ask me, this sounds like a really good alternative to smoking and outweighs the negative effects of smoking by a lot.