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A vapers Rant about this study:

In light of recent revelations regarding e liquids and flavorings that contain Diacetyl, Acetoin, and/or Acetyl Propionyl, I decided to start a thread where DIYers could post results of their findings about flavors they've researched. I'm currently waiting on responses from several suppliers that I use regularly, and as soon as I receive some information, I'll post it here. I urge other DIYers to do the same. Also, I'm sure that Diacetyl, Acetoin, & Acetyl Propionyl aren't the only things we need to be looking out for in our juices, so if anyone has anything they'd like to share on other potentially dangerous ingredients, feel free to share that information as well.

Here's a link to FlavourArt's lab analysis of individual flavors performed by Enthalpy Analytical, Inc. From the website: "FlavourArt is proud to be the first flavour company in North America to publicize Enthalpy testing results. We are committed to professionalism, community support, advocacy and research towards the betterment of the vaping industry. This is our third party lab analysis of our complete North American flavour compendium conducted by Enthalpy Labs in June/July of 2015." "The head PHD at Enthalpy was quoted as saying that our results are "amazing”, however we are never satisfied and continue to work at making safer aromatic flavours for eliquid use."

I am finally happy with my charging situation. I picked up a new 6 bay Efest and I am really impressed. I like being able to check on the state of my batteries from my phone. I also can increase the mAh of charge from my easy chair in the den. Now to build me a better charging station/battery tester/and vape stand....

This makes sense to me. It seems I run a higher wattage, lower nicotine, and vape a whole lot more of the High VG juices. I am kinda strange in the fact that I seem to have more issues in my throat with higher VG juices than I do with high PG juices. I don't have pain, or problems, but will start to loose my voice on days where I am chain vaping. It also could be that I am not drinking enough water. I tend to drink much less when I am working in the store. I also drink much more coffee. When I am on the road, I am a water recycling machine. I feel guilty stopping at a convenience store to get rid of the last bottle of water that I drank, so I buy another, and the cycle continues all day, and into the night. I also have a lot of trouble in the summer with my 50/50 juices due to the high temperature in the car. I can't take my mod out of the car and into a plant, or a customers' place, so I leave it in the car. I have learned to store them tank down in an insulated can coozie in my cup holder. It isn't perfect, but it is better than coming back to the car and finding it all leaked into my mod and cup holder. This time of the year the problem will be the opposite and my juice will get so thick, that it won't wick properly.

I'm not a scientist so I can't explain why but humidity also plays a role in vaping, when the humidity changes so do the settings, at least it happens to me. It may only change the settings a little but it still changes.

When I started I used 60PG/40VG. I moved down to 50/50 and stayed there for a long time. I then jumped on the High VG band wagon, and stayed there a long time. I have now settled on either 50/50 or 60VG/40PG. I do get a better flavor with the higher PG, plus I like the throat hit. It also will wick in just about any tank with minimal effort. I am not into clouds, but I use devices that are high airflow and do produce quite a bit of vapor, so I have to be a bit more discrete in public.

Don't get too hung up on the numbers, they will drive you crazy. On the juice, if you need a bit more throat hit, up the PG. If it isn't satisfying your cravings up the Nicotine. If it is too harsh up the VG. If you are getting dizzy or sick to your stomach, lower you Nicotine (or slow down vaping a bit). On the mod, if it is too cool, turn it up. If starts tasting burnt, turn it down. I don't mean to sound like I am over simplifying this, but we all do it. I am one of the worst, but I am getting better. If I put a tank on one TC mod and set it to 400F, and then put it on another, I expect it to be the same...it never is. Every tank, every mod, every juice, and sometimes every coil is different. You will eventually get used to what works for that juice in that tank, on that mod and have a good estimate, but you will still catch yourself turning it up and down a bit through out the day.

We all going to die from something, I prefer to die from something I enjoy.

For me, I'd also prefer to fire to be more than a match or lighter. Just sayin'.

50/50 or if I can customize 30/70 (pg/vg). Sometimes I make adjustments when a juice gets too muted with too much vg to a 40/60. But thats generally where I hang out.

New base problem solved!

What PG/VG and nic ratio do you go with, Bebop?

I tried a tight fitting wick a couple of times but seem to get a burnt taste after 2 or 3 hits. Right now I use watts but once my TC mod gets here I will probably try a tighter wick with TC maybe that might make a difference. Right now I use a snug fit. That pre order Kanger TC mod hasn't shipped yet so it will be a few weeks before I can try it.

Well said, Christopher. I can't argue with that at all. The truth is,. I have no idea what I'm vaping. I place a lot of trust in liquid manufacturers and i might be more forgiving of them just because I'm glad to be not smoking. But ultimately without full disclosure and actual unbiased scientific testing (if there is such a thing) we don't know ****. And no group or country has any claim to know better than anyone else. There are still a lot of unknowns. My instincts tell me this is better than smoking but no free ride. My taste buds tell me diacetyl is delicious, lol. My heart rate, blood pressure and skin tone tell me I'm OK. I trust there are more well meaning and competent people of any country, than there are bad guys. After all, it's their families and friends addicted to smoking too. It just bothers me - I find this kind of reporting irresponsible. I don't really care if you want to publish how vaping contains formaldehyde, just make sure you publish right along side of that the conditions under which it's found. If someone is going to run around screaming "Fire! Fire!", there had better be a freakin fire, is all I'm saying.

For the most part I agree that China vs US has little to nothing to do with studies like this. This not about us vs them in a geographic sense. This is a us vs them in a governmental agenda sense. It is not about multi million dollar clean rooms, or DIYers making juice in their home or B&M shops making it in a back room. You can have the cleanest environment possible and still have an issue with some of these chems in the e-liquid. It is not introduced by the environment it is mixed in. it is introduced by the flavorings used 99.9% of the time. When it comes to Diethylene glycol it is introduced when manufactures try and cut corners to compete using low grade Propylene Glycol. The heavy metals come in from contaminated water (ie Tap Water), what it may be mixed in or even the coil that is used. This is all true be it Made in the USA or Made in China. Having said that, This is about governments that are hell bent on destroying the vaping industry and have billions to back slanted studies to fit an agenda. This is about the bottom dollar and losses that occur from people switching to vape products that affect the bottom dollar of Governments, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma. How many of these studies do testing or report results of the products put out by Big Tobacco ((Made in the USA)? Rarely do these type of tests name what products are tested and when they do, non are the Big Tobacco brands... hummmm... Flavor manufacturers are stepping up to the plate and are giving test results of the flavorings they sell. This is giving the smaller e-liquid manufactures information about the chems that are in the flavorings sold. Responsible e-liquid manufactures need to know what they are putting into the end product. By having this information it makes it easier for the small companies to determine what is going into what they produce. These chems don't just magically appear in the product it has to come from somewhere. If the flavorings are clean of these chems, it will not be in the end product that is just fact. IMO The real enemy here are the the agencies that continue to further the agenda of the ones that want to kill the vaping industry. An industry as a whole that potentially will save thousands if not millions of lives over the whole planet.

You know it really bothers me the whole "China bad, 'Merica good." I'm going to be devil's advocate here and say that not all US liquid makers are exempt here. If I recall correctly 5 Pawns had an issues with Diacetyl in their eliquid not to long ago. (And I recall some members on the forum avidly supporting their quality) This isn't a shot at 5 pawns, I'm sure they've corrected the issue by now, but the point is, we should take every study seriously and not simply dismiss it because it's "probably Chinese e liquid." While there are some top notch US liquid makers, you're naive if you really think China goes out of there way to produce low quality liquid. Sure some manufacturers might, but not all. (The same can be said equally for here in the US) I've visited a number of local retailers across the country some of which carry some seriously shady e liquids. I've seen Dekang facility first hand for example and it's not some shoddy warehouse pumping out liquid it's a literally a multi million dollar state of the art facility. (They make some serious quarterly profits and they have the capital to invest) Some US liquid makers are mixing in the rear of their retail store. While "of course we don't use Diacetyl" might be enough for some people, why do we extend so much trust and leeway to US manufactures? (or any manufacture for that matter) I remember talking to a vaper who was loyal to X brand of e liquid because it's "safer than that Chinese ****" and I asked him, have you ever requested a breakdown report? Do they have monograph reports up on their website? At the very least are they mixing in an ISO certified clean room? The guy didn't have an answer and neither do most vapers. They just jump on the US bandwagon and say I vape this because I know it's safer. Thing is, back when us old timers started their was legitimate concern over Chinese e liquids. It was the only source for e liquid at one point and because of trade secrets, very little information about how this stuff was produced. These days most manufactures worth their salt have no issue posting lab reports online along with at least some kind of certification. There is an e-liquid manufacturer on the east coast that I'm currently under an NDA with but they perform testing on 3rd party e liquids. While some of them passed free and clear for Diacetyl they failed for heavy metal traces. Others passed heavy metal tests but were shown positive for trade amounts of Diacetyl or Diethylene glycol. It was eye opening to see some of the reports. I'd asked why they don't display these reports online and because they themselves produce eliquid have been advised against it for legal reasons. But I can tell you, not all US liquids are as "clean" as you might believe them to be. (Same goes for other countries as well) Late last year I attended a conference with some of the top manufactures in China and do you know what it was about? Safety. It was ensuring their liquid was free of unnecessary additives as well as ensuring the purity of their liquids before shipping out across the world. They were also working with some well known testing facilities out of Europe prior to TPD rearing it's head. I'm not saying you should choose one country over another or that China has liquid superior to US manufactures, I'm simply saying that spouting off that US liquid is good, China is bad is a really lumping some good manufactures in with a couple of shady ones. It's really no different here in the states with some brands mixing this stuff in the basement of their own homes. Whatever liquid you're vaping, you should go ahead and email your vendor and ask them for reports. I say hold every brand accountable. Ask if they have reports for Nicotine level verification, Diacetyl, Diethylene glycol, Ethylene glycol, heavy metals, HPHC analysis and see how many of them produce results. I'm not voting for a nanny state here, I'm simply saying that some of this liquid costs 20-30 bucks a bottle and if you ask me, someone damn well better be investing some of those high costs in ensuring we have safe, clean e liquid. otherwise what's the point of switching to vaping other than less of a smell. I also don't think you should simply be confident in the brand you're using because it was "made in the USA."

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even organic has VG. There is Organic VG. True organic E-Liquid needs to tested and registered as organic. They may use All organic ingredients including the water use to thin it out. and yes that would make it "made with organic ingredients', but unless it is "certified organic" they can not legally make that claim. Just make sure that there "Certified Organic" and your good to go. I have seen some that make the claim and do not have it truly certified.