Jessica Wynn

Well, a vape cloud contains all kinds of ultra-fine particles and chemicals.

Studies show most aerosols contain nicotine, heavy metals like lead and nickel, carbonyls like formaldehyde, metal particles from the heating coils, and flavoring chemicals.

It's not harmless steam.

It's a mix of substances that get inhaled deep into your lungs.

Wait, formaldehyde?

That's... Yes.

I know.

I know.

And that's just one of the chemicals in vapes.

So we're also talking propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nickel, lead, volatile organic compounds like diacetyl.

The flavorings are another problem.

Vapes are like the contents of a Home Depot aisle turned into a smoothie.

Very, very.

And the regulation is so lax that many vapes labeled, quote unquote, nicotine free are found to actually contain nicotine when tested.

Well, that's where nicotine salts come in.

The company Juul, I think most people are familiar with, they pioneered using nicotine salts instead of free base nicotine.

Yeah, they're scary names.

Freebase nicotine is a natural form of nicotine that's extracted from tobacco leaves, providing really high nicotine levels.

And then salt nicotine is the synthetic form of nicotine created by

Combining that freebase nicotine with benzoic acid or lactic acid, this lowers the pH level, which makes it less harsh to inhale at higher concentrations.