What Happens If You Add Your Own Ingredients To A Vape?

The e-juices you buy aren’t very complicated: a base mixture of vegetable glycol (VG) and propylene glycol (PG), a flavouring agent, and, if you’re vaping to quit smoking, maybe some nicotine. Some vapers might see this list and think that adding some extra ingredients won’t hurt. 

Don’t believe this. What you buy in the store should be what you put in your device and nothing else. This is because not all ingredients can be heated up as part of an e-juice!

Why You Shouldn’t Alter E-Juices

You shouldn’t experiment with adding ingredients to nicotine-infused e-juice. The liquids are carefully mixed to have every ingredient in the right amounts. By adding new elements, you are throwing off this blend. 

Nicotine is a toxic substance that can irritate the skin, and the lethal threshold is low for infants and pets. Getting it on you can irritate the skin, and if in a high enough dose, it can cause dizziness and nausea. Adding your own ingredients to a premixed liquid can be a messy process, especially if you don’t take precautions. 

It’s not just nicotine though – adding new ingredients to any vape liquids is a bad idea. Just because something is safe for consumption doesn’t make it safe for inhaling as a vapour. If you add a flavour that shouldn’t be heated, it could become a contaminant, and you could do a lot of harm to your lungs.

Making DIY Vapes Instead

Instead of adding ingredients to e-juices, you can make your own liquid instead. You still have to follow the necessary safety precautions to avoid coming into contact with the nicotine, but this way, you know exactly what is going into your vape and the proportions of each ingredient.

When making a DIY liquid, it’s important to have two components: a base liquid made from a mixture of PG and VG, and water-soluble flavour concentrates. Liquid nicotine can also be added but isn’t necessary. Make sure to mix these components by weight using a calculator to get the optimal ratio; a 70/30 e-juice is the most desirable. Be sure to follow the instructions of your recipe, and handle all the ingredients with gloves. If you add nicotine, purchase it from a reliable source, make sure it is bottled safely, and keep it away from children.

It’s easy to accidentally alter the chemistry of an e-juice, but DIY vapes can be very safe if there are no chemical additives. However, bootlegging has given vaping a bad rap. The stories and government action against vaping don’t come from non-nicotine vapes, or even from altered nicotine pods. The source of the scares in the United States comes from black market THC vapes infused with vitamin E oil. These are unsafe, and even in Canada where THC is legal, you shouldn’t play around with bootleg chemical ingredients. 

If you’re careful about what you add and purchase your supplies from regulated suppliers, DIY vapes can be very safe. However, resist the urge to add new ingredients to the e-juices you buy, because it could be harmful to your health!