In the United Kingdom alone, vape use has skyrocketed with over 2.8 million users. Compared to 8.7 million people who still smoke conventional cigarettes, this shows the growing popularity of vaping in the country. Many smokers are now switching to dab pens to avoid the risk posed by tobacco usage such as artery cell damage, cancer development, etc. That is why the best vape pens (find more here) provide a safer user experience. Additionally, a great variety of juice flavors and vape features, as well as millions of followers all over the globe, transform vaping from a daily habit or ordinary hobby into a unique culture.
However, while vaping is considered to be the safer alternative compared to conventional cigarettes, it does come with its own dangers. For example, there are numerous recorded instances where vaping mods have exploded, leaving the user severely injured. Hence, there is a long list of tips which users need to follow to stay safe while vaping. Nevertheless, most safety techniques can be grouped together in two broad tips – taking care of your vaping device and buying your e-liquid from trusted suppliers and manufacturers.
Here I will go through some ways you can stay safe whilst vaping.
Vaping Device Battery Safety
As with other electronic items, it is important to ensure that you use your vaping mods and pens in the right way. Every electronic item including vaping devices has the potential to be dangerous if used inappropriately.
Hence, what makes vaping mods dangerous are the lithium ion batteries. These are the power source of most vaping devices and while they perform reliably most of the time, they can become hazardous if mishandled or not used properly.
Most regulated mods now come with built in batteries. However, if you are using a vaping device with replaceable batteries, then it is important to follow a few simple safety tips. These include charging your device with the right charger, avoiding water at all costs, cleaning your battery on a weekly basis, avoid keeping them in direct sunlight and storing the batteries correctly.
Other essential battery safety tips include the following:
- Do not over charge your device or let it discharge
- Store your batteries in a protective case when not in use
- Do not charge your device on wooden or carpeted surfaces
- Do not let your batteries or device over heat
- Do not use the batteries if they fail to hold the charge
Ensuring battery safety is one of the most important ways of staying safe while vaping. While there are numerous other battery safety tips, if you simply read and follow the instructions on your vaping device you can prevent many dangerous situations in the future.
Buy your E-liquid from Trusted Manufacturers and Suppliers
While vape mod explosions are a leading safety concern, vapers also need to be careful when buying their e-liquid. Trusted manufacturers, like Flawless Vape, only make e-liquids with pharmaceutical grade or food grade materials which have been approved for food and drinks. A great supplier that I highly recommend is https://www.vaperswarehouse.co.uk/, they are a fairly new e-liquid shop whom offer over 100 different flavored TRPR e-liquids for great prices from industry leading UK brands, such as Cosmic Fog, and always have discounts and offers for customers.
Many other manufacturers use cheap ingredients or non-food grade materials which affect the consistency and taste of your e-liquid. Additionally, e-liquids made from cheap ingredients can be extremely dangerous to your health as well.
Here are some harmful ingredients which are used by low quality manufacturers.
- Oil Based Flavourings
Although, it may be exciting to find ‘bargain’ or cheap e-liquids online or even in shops you can significantly damage your health with low quality and unpalatable liquids. For example, oil based flavourings instead of PG can damage your lungs and cause problems such as lipid pneumonia. Lipid pneumonia is a specific form of lung inflammation caused by lipids or oils entering the lungs. Hence, reputable manufacturers and suppliers do not use oil based flavourings as these can affect the quality of e-liquids.
- Diacetyl
Low quality e-liquids can also contain diacetyl. This can cause bronchiolitis obliterans or popcorn lung. This is a lung disease caused by inflammation and scarring which can lead to fixed airway obstruction. Symptoms of this include dry cough, shortness of breath, wheezing etc. This is also an irreversible condition which means that once it develops there is no cure for it. Hence, trusted suppliers avoid stocking e-liquids with diacetyl and other such harmful chemicals.
- Heavy Metals
A number of cheaper e-liquid brands also contain heavy metals such as copper, tin and brass. These can be very dangerous at higher temperatures. Additionally, the acidic properties in e-liquids can also cause these heavy metals to be absorbed into the blood stream, leading to lead poisoning.
While there is no certain way of identifying low quality e-liquids, here are certain tips for differentiating low quality e-liquids from high-quality choices.
- If the e-liquid corrodes your tank and tears through your coil it is likely of low quality
- E-liquids which are cloudy or have particles floating around are also of low quality. Good quality e-liquids have a stable colour and no random particles or objects.
- Harsh smelling e-liquids often signify degraded nicotine solutions or low-quality Propylene Glycol (PG) and Vegetable Glycerine (VG). Remember, e-liquids usually taste like they smell – hence, if your e-liquid does not smell right then chances are that it is not safe to vape either.
Hence, it is crucial to buy your e-liquids from trusted suppliers who only stock high quality juices with food grade ingredients. This is also the best way of ensuring that you are not inhaling harmful chemicals in your e-liquids.