Vapewithnicohit

When reading the ingredients on a vape bottle, you’ll only find nicotine, propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine and flavourings. This quadruplet of ingredients is simple on paper, but when you break down that last ingredient, flavouring, you have a lot of scope for interpretation. 

Flavourings have long been part of a debate surrounding the safety of vape liquids, and whilst vape liquids other three ingredients are known to be safe to use, there is still some uncertainty surrounding the long term effects of flavourings in e-liquids. Nowadays all e-liquids, from the high VG Dutty Juice to Nicohit 50/50, have been FDA and HMRA approved internationally and rarely pose any health concerns for users. However, these tests are primarily focused on flavourings that are eaten, rather than inhaled. Due to the relative youth of the vaping industry, there is little known about the longer-term effects of flavourings on the lungs of vapers.

Vape liquids use two different types of flavouring - artificial and natural. Whilst all good companies selling wholesale vaping supplies in the UK rigorously test both types of flavourings in e-liquid, there are still some factors to keep in mind when buying.

What Qualifies As A Natural Flavour?

The FDA considers a natural flavouring to be one that’s been taken or derived from a natural plant, spice, fruit, vegetable, meat or dairy products. These can come from roasting, fermenting or distilling the flavours from the subject. A natural flavouring can be an essential oil, essence, extractive, protein or distillate of these plants or foodstuffs. Put into vaping terms, the flavour and taste of the e-liquid has come from a natural source and modified for inhalation

So What’s An Artificial Flavour?

An artificial flavouring uses the molecule or chemical composition of a natural flavour and copies it in a laboratory. These flavours take specific tastes or textures from their natural counterparts and recreate them in a lab. 

The Risks Of Natural Flavours

One of the main risks of natural flavourings in vape liquids is that not everything that is naturally eaten, is safe to inhale. It’s been proven that vegetables such as onions can be a mild irritant if inhaled. From vanilla flavours to fruit burst medleys, a lot of care goes into the natural ingredients in a vape liquid, to ensure that they’re safe to inhale.

Risks Of Artificial Flavours

Artificial flavours have historically gained more notoriety in the vaping world. This was because of a specific incident involving the workers at a diacetyl flavouring factory, an artificial flavouring that has been used in vape liquids that provides a sweet and buttery taste. Some workers in the factory, due to their high levels of exposure, began to suffer from a rare lung disease called bronchiolitis, and since then diacetyl has been dropped from many e-liquid companies flavourings. 

Other artificial flavourings, such as acetaldehyde are also on the FDA’s watchlist as a potentially harmful chemical, but it’s worth pointing out that these warnings are for prolonged exposure, such as that of a factory worker working with far more substantial quantities of these chemicals than you’d find in e-liquids. Furthermore, you’d find about 100 times more of the chemicals in tobacco smoke anyway. 

Which One Should You Pick?

When it comes down to it, natural flavourings will usually - but not always - have a more nuanced and deeper taste to them, but come at a higher price due to the manufacturing process. Nicohit flavours can attest to being an anomaly in this sense, using safe and rich flavour combinations for a natural-adjacent taste. When it comes down to it, both natural and artificial can be safe and satisfying to consume in vape products, but it’s well worth researching the manufacturer to ensure that the chemicals used are not on a warning list.