There has been a lot of chatter regarding vaping and whether it’s “safe,” or some “gateway” to other drugs or what not. I’ve decided it’s been long enough, and I’m going to help put a familiar, friendly face to vaping. Hopefully I can help dispel a lot of the myths surrounding vaping, and we can all get a better idea of what the practice actually is.

First of all, we need to distinguish vape pens and atomizers from e-cigarettes. E-cigs look like actual cigarettes. E-cigs are a ploy by Big Tobacco to make it look like they give a damn about your health. E-cigs are essentially cigarettes without a lot of the same crap as normal slims. But these e-cigs are unsatisfying, and people go back to the Big Tobacco death sticks.

Vape pens operate on a different basis from cigarettes. Instead of using combustion as the primary physical reaction, like cigarettes do, the pen vaporizes (thick liquids in this case), and the product actually turns out to be water vapor, not smoke. This technique has been used in the theater and movies for fog machines and occasionally fake cigarettes for decades, so it’s really a surprise that people are throwing such a fuss about it now. In fact, here's an Instructable showing you how to make your own fog liquid. You can clearly see that it uses glycol (a main ingredient in vape pen e-juice) as its main component.

Although most e-cigs do vaporize the tobacco, there are still a lot more unhealthy ingredients in these than there are in vape pens (again, its Big Tobacco trying to get you to come back to their product).There are anywhere from 4000-7000 chemicals in tobacco when it is lit, and the majority of them are terrible for your health! Lead, tar and everything in between are known carcinogens, and can destroy your body.

There has been talk about e-juice (the liquid put into vape pens) and manufactures “not knowing what’s in them.” This is completely false! Most e-juice creators know what they are including in their juices. There are only four (sometimes only three) ingredients in e-juice. The first ingredient is propylene glycol (PG). Do not confuse this with ethylene glycol (the main ingredient in antifreeze). PG is found in medicines like Albuterol and asthma inhalers (which are commonly inhaled, go figure). PG carries flavor well, and is safe to inhale like most glycols.

The second ingredient is vegetable glycerin (VG). VG is found in our everyday food as a sweetener. In e-juice, it produces a lot of vapor and gives a sweet tang to the flavor. So this ingredient is likely already in your body as we speak. Most people consume it every day, unbeknownst to them.

The third ingredient is the natural and artificial flavorings. Again, if you look on the back of any cereal box, you’ll see the same ingredients. Depending on the flavor, different mixtures are used. I do recommend people stay away from any e-juice that uses diacetyl as a flavoring ingredient. Diacetyl causes the infamous “popcorn lung,” so just be an informed consumer and know what you’re putting into your body! With that said, the majority of crap that the Food Industry puts into your everyday meals are not very good for you either. So it’s really just a tit for tat at best. The FDA just put out their report on vaping products. You can read there findings here.

The fourth (optional) ingredient is nicotine. Many ex-smokers vape at higher levels, and then work their way down to lower levels, which has obviously got Big Tobacco’s panties all up in a wad. Many young vapors use non-nicotine juices because they’re not vaping for the nicotine high. Vaping actually keeps a lot of people from going to actual tobacco products and completely wrecking their bodies. Again, vaping is a safer alternative to smoking, but it’s not necessarily safer than not inhaling anything at all.

So the bottom line is that we do know what’s in the majority of e-juices used for vape pens. There are ever improving experiments and tests to see which e-juices are safe, and which need more regulation. But even the e-juices with some “questionable” ingredients rank right up there with food we consume everyday in toxicity and damage to health. Nonetheless, being an informed consumer is always the most important part of a business transaction!

So what’s the point? I don’t vape on a regular basis. In fact, I doubt I will ever become a chronic vapor, as I have no intention of incorporating it into my every day life. It was a nice experience, and it really gave me that relaxing feeling that people can get with smoking, but I don’t think it's important enough to me to consistently use. The truth is, we know a lot about what is in these e-juices and such, but we really don’t know the long term effects because vaping is still such a young industry. For that reason, I’m not going to take up vaping as a hobby, but I’m very glad I had that experience and the chance to learn more about such a taboo subject.

Now I'll give you all one obligatory, "We get it! You vape." Stay puff my friends.