*WARNING*
The views expressed within are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Steve K, his advertisers or any rational person.
“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice” Rush/”Free Will”
Life is a terminal condition. I don’t want this to sound trite or to sound like I take our general health and well-being lightly. I think the very fact that, after most of us smoking for many years knowing full well the ultimate result, we are thinking about such things is a huge step in the right direction.
THR, or Tobacco Harm Reduction, is the action of lowering the risk associated with tobacco use. There are many out there that adhere to the “quit or die” dogma. In other words the use of nicotine in any form is as bad as smoking and should not be allowed or at the very least be highly regulated. They are like a deer in the headlights, they see the car coming but can’t decide what (we should) do or where (we should) turn, but continue to stare down the oncoming car.
“Smoking is bad, yes, but vaping is not proven safe” they will tell you, “so you shouldn’t vape.” I can’t tell you how many times someone has brought up the exploding battery reason for not vaping and continuing to smoke. I ask them if they have googled “exploding cell phone” and generally get the blank stare associated with the deer in the headlight.
So what does this have to do with DIY? It goes back to the reason behind what we do. One of the arguments brought up against vaping is “you don’t know whats in that stuff”. In the early days of vaping when all juice came from China that was true, there was no regulation and no way of knowing just what exactly was in the e-juice at the time. Then the FDA found diethylene glycol in 1 sample of juice at a 1% level. Ironically, if you read the product safety assessment of DG, it reads just like the warnings you see or hear with many FDA approved drugs on the market.
Today there are many reputable juice manufacturers and sellers who mix a very pure product under safe conditions. If you decide that DIY is not for you, you can be assured that there are products out there that don’t contain questionable ingredients.
All this to say that through DIY, you know exactly what is in the juice you are vaping. Steve has an excellent post on PG which I highly recommend reading. VG has also been in use for years and there is reams of information on its effects. Nicotine we all know is a poison at high enough concentrations, as is oxygen.The wild card here is the flavorings but now many flavoring suppliers are noticing the E-cig market and are careful to point out any flavorings that may contain ingredients with known issues such as diacetyl.
Life is a series of risks, some can be mitigated more so than others, but risk can never be eliminated. Like I mentioned, the fact that these issues are being discussed, often by people much smarter than myself, is a positive. By buying your own ingredients and mixing your own juice you will be taking another step in the direction of harm reduction.
As always please feel free to leave any questions, comments or sarcastic remarks below. Happy vaping!
