Safest Vaping- Health ?

[VaporHead512]

Since this is a pretty broad question all the info I can really give is that I own a Provari V2, a Zmax, my fiance owns a Twist and my mom also owns a Provari V2.



The reason I started vaping is because I wanted to reduce the harm done to me and my loved ones by cigarettes. I wanted to quit cigarettes. I was luckily able to do that on day 1 of receiving my Provari in the mail, as was my fiance. My mom, who has been smoking for many more years, is having a little harder time.



My lady and I have been trying all kinds of delivery systems (tanks, cartomizers, atomizers, vivi novas, clearomizers etc) and for the most part I find them all to be pretty similar other than slight differences in taste and vapor. Trying to find the perfect flavor and vapor has taken me away from my initial reason for switching to vaping, and now after over a month of vaping and occasionally reading a one-liner about potential health risks from certain products (delivery systems, juices, etc) I'm back to being more interested in the "safest vaping".

So basically my question is, what do I have to buy to partake in the safest (health-wise) vaping? Which delivery system is safest? Which juice ingredients are safest? Where do I look for these products? What do I stay away from? If something has a tad more flavor or a tad more vapor but it's not as safe/healthy as something else, I would prefer the safer/healthier route. Cost isn't an issue either. If it's healthier I want it.


Thanks for any help y'all can give me. This is quite an important issue to me and trying to find what I want to know in a sea of information is quite the headache.

 

[rolygate]

This is a hard one to answer short and simple. Apart, that is, from the simplistic version: "Don't worry about any of it because the highest risk of any kind of vaping experience can't be more than 1% of the risk of smoking".

With that out of the way, you could look at reducing risk even more - if you can be bothered. This is an interest of mine but, let's be honest, probably pointless.


Hardware:
Use a Li-Po charging sack for all charging of any kind of ecig batteries from eGo size upward. That takes care of the main risk of regular ecig hardware, which is that you might get a domestic fire if you are really, really unlucky (like one in two million unlucky).

Don't stack batteries (insert two cells in series) in a metal tubemod with no electronics unless you know what you are doing and are prepared to take extra care (like using a multimeter, and so on).

Other hardware risks: negligible. Inhaling melted plastic or silica fibers on a regular basis might turn out to be a bad idea after 30 years, so maybe we should try not to do that. Does it matter much compared to smoking? No.


E-Liquid:
This is where the possibility exists for slightly more issues. Quality is the key here and to be honest nobody really knows what they are getting, no vendors post recent full analyses of their products. You have to go on their reputation. Some would say: choose a vendor with a large turnover and a good reputation, because they have an excellent possibility of losing it all if they make a mistake. A vendor that seems likely to be regularly testing some or all of their materials also seems a good bet. You can only do that if you have your own GC-MS machine and a chemist, or plenty of money (it's the same thing I guess).

The base materials aren't much of an issue, it's the flavorings that could have a question mark. Avoiding obvious problem areas like food flavorings that shouldn't be inhaled (diacetyl for example) is a good idea.

In the end you can only trust your vendor, which is why you should try and pick a good one if you are worried.


Individual concerns:
Not everyone is in perfect health and has no health issues at all. There are some medical conditions that need consideration if you are talking long-term nicotine consumption; or, lung issues for ex-smokers with compromised lungs; or, a family history of things like stroke. A simple question people can ask themselves, which is more relevant than honestly admitted to, is: "What did my parents and grandparents die of and at what age?". If the answer is mostly, "Of old age, at 85", then you might have lucky genes. If it's a lot of stuff like, "At 62, of a stroke" and, "At 68, of an aortal aneurism", then maybe you could consider minimising your nic intake and ensuring good cardio-vascular fitness. Just a thought.

There are new things being brought up all the time, such as the chronic NSAID plus nicotine usage issue, the anti-depressants plus nic issue, and so forth. There is bound to be more of this sort of thing but it's not something we can worry too much about just now.

Some people are intolerant to odd ingredients in e-liquid, and if you think there might be an issue: stop using that brand and switch to another.

If you have personal or family medical issues then a physician should certainly be consulted.

Some vapers mostly (or even only) consume unflavored, or minimum-flavored liquids with a very safe origin (the only known safe materials to inhale are of pharmaceutical grade - but good luck finding anything guaranteed to be of that quality). You have to DIY lo-flavor liquids as there are no vendors. Maybe that's going too far, although it works for people with lung issues.


Overall
There aren't many things of any great concern. To be honest the most likely reason to worry about anything much is if you have personal medical issues that need to be taken into account.

If you wanted to be ridiculously safe, and assuming no personal or family medical issues, you'd do the following. Almost everyone would consider this pointless, but no doubt somebody somewhere does it:

1. Use a device with a single battery, that uses a head with no plastic or synthetic materials.
Example: Silver Bullet plus a stainless RTA with a stainless wick.

2. Vape DIY lo-flavor liquid, made from a source of pharmaceutical glycerine nic base plus distilled water plus hardly any of a known-safe flavor plus a tiny dash of PG to kill any bugs.
Example: I have no idea where to buy *guaranteed* pharma grade synthetic glycerine [1] from an unimpeachable source (such as Dow 'Optim'). Or flavors guaranteed safe for inhalation (there are very few that have any history). Take a punt on vendors that look as if they know what they are doing, and don't worry too much.

Oh, and know this: you might not live any longer but it'll certainly feel like it


[1] High-quality synthetic glycerine is actually the safest bet now, until someone figures how to absolutely and positively stop the toxic phorbol esters of the jatropha plant found in biodiesel by-product glycerine from getting into the supply chain for pharma glycerine, and thus our glycerine nic base. These toxins are hard to identify and no biodiesel by-product glycerine should be used in pharma grade material (it almost certainly is at the moment) until this issue is resolved.

If you want a laugh, ask your VG nic vendor how they have determined that no jatropha plant toxins are in their materials. Listen to the deathly silence