How to find the safest e-liquid & switch to vaping this Stoptober

Want to make the switch to vaping this Stoptober but worried about the quality of your e-liquid? Discover how to find the safest e-liquid on the market.

What is Stoptober?

Stoptober is an annual campaign funded by Public Health England each October since 2012, which encourages people to stop smoking for 28 days. The idea is that if a person can avoid cigarettes for this period of time they are 5 times more likely to stop smoking altogether.

Month-long pledges such as these are becoming more and more popular, such things as Stoptober, Veganuary, Dry January and others provide a support network and a sense unity; “we’re all in this together” attitude. 

How can Vaping help me switch from smoking?

Over 2.9 million people in the UK currently use an e-cigarette. 1.5 million of these claim they have not touched a cigarette since they began vaping.

A recent study conducted by the National Institute of Health Research and Cancer Research UK found an 83% increased chance of stopping smoking with e-cigarettes compared to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). This came from a panel of 886 smokers who were randomly assigned either NRT products such as gum and patches, or e-cigarettes. 

This is positive news for those looking to curb their cigarette habit, as e-cigarettes are estimated to be 95% less harmful than tobacco.

Many of our customers have also told us that by smoking sweet and alternative flavoured e-liquids, they are less likely to switch back to smoking traditional cigarettes as they find they no longer enjoy the taste. 

How safe is vaping?

Safer than smoking so long as you stick to tested e-liquid from recognised retailers such as ourselves. 

You may have seen recently, that vaping has been deemed as the culprit behind the death of five and 450 reported cases of lung illnesses in the US. Sounds scary right? But what you may not know is that all the confirmed deaths and the vast majority of lung illnesses have been linked to black market e-liquids containing THC (a compound from marijuana) oils, synthetic street drugs and/or vitamin E acetate, an oil derived from vitamin E.

If you stick to tried and tested e-liquids from recognised retailers then you should be fine, the problem arises when you start vaping concentrates that are unregulated and you don’t know the source. 

You wouldn’t eat at a restaurant with a 0 hygiene rating, so why would you vape something if you’re not sure where it was made or who it was made by? 

Here in the UK, all e-liquid must be tested and submitted to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Agency (MHRA). This ensures there are no potentially harmful contaminants in the e-liquid. You can find a list of registered retailers here, if you are unsure before purchasing. 

Even if, hypothetically speaking, there were health risks associated with vaping which led to these illnesses, it would still be far less risky than smoking cigarettes which, when burned, produce 7,000 chemicals of which 69 are known to cause cancer and many others are toxic.

Since this news story hit the global headlines, the FDA has told people to avoid using ‘street’ vapes, a term used to describe vape juice or devices bought on the black market, and to only buy from verified vendors. Vapers are also advised not to use any other liquid in their vaping device apart from fully tested e-liquid.

All UK e-cigarette products are tightly regulated for quality and safety by @MHRAgovuk. It’s important to use UK-regulated e-liquids and never risk vaping home-made or illicit e-liquids or adding substances, any of which could be harmful

— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) September 12, 2019

What legal regulations do vaping products follow?

Electronic cigarettes have been sold in the UK for over 10 years, and as the industry matures, the legal requirements for the manufacturing and selling of e-liquid and products become stricter to ensure the safety of the consumer. 

Since the early days, it has been illegal to sell to under-18s or to adults on behalf of under-18s. Packaging also has to have all sorts of warning labels and display the ingredients, and as I mentioned above all e-liquid must be submitted to MHRA.

In 2016, with the introduction of the Tobacco Products Directive 2014/14/EU (TPD), new rules were introduced to ensure e-cigarettes and e-liquid met minimum standards on quality and safety. New requirements were added the following year which limited e-cig tanks to 2ml, the maximum volume of nicotine-containing e-liquid to 10ml. 

When I began working in this industry, you were able to purchase premixed vape juice with up to 2.4% (24mg/ml) of nicotine, but this has since been lowered to 2.0% (20mg/ml). 

You can read up on all the e-cigarette regulations on the UK Gov website. 

Where can I buy safe e-liquids and vaping devices?

Always ensure any vape juice or device adheres to the legislation above and the company appears on the MHRA list of registered retailers here. 

Here at Decadent Vapours, we have been producing e-liquid for over 10 years and have led the way in terms of safety standards and compliance. We were the first company in the world to test our e-liquid for acetyl propionyl, diacetyl and DEG and we are happy to say not a single flavour we produce contains them or other contaminants. 

Our e-liquid is free from diacetyl, acetyl propionyl, polyethylene glycol, caffeine, sucralose, formaldehyde, acrolein and acetaldehyde.

All our e-liquids are produced here in the UK using the highest quality pharmaceutical grade nicotine, vegetable glycerine, and propyl glycol which complies with all USP and EP specifications. Our nicotine is some of the finest in the market – filtered, titrated and diluted from 100% nicotine in our proprietary 13-step process to craft the purest and cleanest nicotine, without any ‘peppery’ taste.

We ensure to use sustainable vegetable glycerine and no palm oil is used in our e-liquid. We carry out independent checks on all our suppliers and have full transparency with our customers. All testing certificates and Cas numbers can be provided upon request.

We consistently test everything we produce and never sacrifice on flavour, which is why we are the trusted supplier of flavour concentrates for leading e-liquid brands globally. Try it for yourself! View our range of premixed e-liquids, or DIY concentrates. 

Want to find out more about us and how we produce our vape juice? Read about us here.