Politicians can tax sin, but not medicine.

The FDA has ruled that propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, food flavorings, and nicotine are all safe for human consumption. The FDA currently regulates all of these items, including nicotine, as part of their broad function of regulating what we put into our bodies. The only odd-man-out in this bunch of components is nicotine.

As we’ve discussed before, propylene glycol is used as a drug delivery system for many creams and all nebulizers on the market. Vegetable glycerin and food flavorings are regulated as food additives and stabilizers. Nicotine, however, is only regulated when used for “smoking cessation” purposes.

The reason for this was once a single fold issue, being that nicotine is a common component in pesticide, and to regulate it beyond the realm of “smoking cessation” would force the FDA to overreach into the bounds of the US Department of Agriculture.

The second fold is now the admittance of vaping as a form of smoking cessation.

You see, if the FDA steps in and is required to study the effects of vaping they’re going to study the reasons why, the results of, and the health impact from vaping. This includes, but is not limited to, smoking cessation.

So, why is it so scary that the FDA look into vaping as a form of smoking cessation? It’s not for the everyday commoner like you and I, but instead, our elected officials in state and federal office who are fearful of losing tax revenue generated by current tobacco users.

To tax vaping and e-cigarettes like standard tobacco (we’ve not seen anyone use the term “analogue” in a while, so we’re gonna try and bring that back), you have to prove its harmful and detrimental impact on society as a whole. It’s easy to prove with tobacco, but much harder to prove with vaping, for two reasons:

First, it’s hard to prove that vaping should receive what are essentially sin taxes because it’s not any more harmful than drinking soda with caffeine in it.

Second, if it’s proven to have significant health benefits as a form of smoking cessation, then vaping builds an image similar to that of nicotine gum and patches, which are medicine.

So, FDA, we encourage you to go beyond your currently regulation of e-liquid components, and research and regulate all four components of e-liquid in the state that they are combined. We’re ready to once-and-for-all put an end to this political babble bullshit and move on with a healthier, happier, far less harmful lifestyle.

Companies Doing Business the Right Way!

Recently we began having trouble with the bottles from one of our e-liquid suppliers, High Caliber. We’ve got to say, Richard and his crew are fantastic at what they do and hold their production and facilities to a high standard. They don’t just use the name High Caliber, they earn it.

So, when the tips on bottles began to break, we gave the High Caliber crew a shout. Immediately they stopped production for a quality control check and to fix the issue. Not only did they stop their manufacturing process to perform integral quality control checks, they accepted 90% of our current inventory (we kept some in stock because we needed to) and got us a replacement stock.

This isn't the only aspect of e-liquid manufacturing in which High Caliber is truly a leader. They've also created a topnotch facility that keeps the outside contamination to a near zero-sum. From masks and respirators, to positively pressurized production facilities, everything that High Caliber does is correct.

It’s not just correct by personal and e-liquid manufacturing standards, either.

The International Standards Organization, or ISO for short, is a non-government organization that sets forth standards to “give world-class specifications for products, services and systems, to ensure quality, safety and efficiency.” They have standards, practices, and measurements that allow companies to build cleanrooms for manufacturing of any product that could be impacted by biocontaminates. In this case, the product that could be impacted by biocontaminates is the e-liquid.

There are simple but effective ways for e-liquid manufacturers to keep biocontaminates from infiltrating the product they’re producing.

First, the clean practices of those who produce the liquid. Much like individuals in medical fields, those producing e-liquid should be wearing clean clothing such as lab coats and scrubs, clean footwear, and in our industry’s case, respirators. External items, such as a sticky foot pad outside of a cleanroom, will ensure that biocontaminates do not enter the room with the producers.

Second, the positive pressurization of the manufacturing facilities keeps biocontaminates from infiltrating the room and getting into the e-liquid. So, what is positive pressurization, you may as?

From Wikipedia:

Positive pressure is a pressure within a system that is greater than the environment that surrounds that system. Consequently if there is any leak from the positively pressured system it will egress into the surrounding environment.


Basically, all it means is that the pressure inside of the cleanroom environment is greater than the pressure outside of the cleanroom environment, and thus, whenever physical items are introduced into the cleanroom environment, air particles with possible biocontaminates are not. Only clean air can get out, but dirty air cannot get in.

Third is the introduction and sanitation of contact devices. These pieces of manufacturing equipment are qualified to handle production of materials in a clean environment and can be sanitized to bring the level of biocontaminates within a cleanroom down to a specified level.

Using these standards to create a cleanroom environment is what the FDA is going to require of the e-liquid manufacturing facility, among many other items on their regulatory agendas. Working with companies who are ahead of these standards and who have implemented these practices since their inception helps keep the quality of products flowing out of brick and mortar vape shops at the highest caliber.

Highest caliber. See what we did there?