Having allergic reaction to DIY ingredient? Help!

[cicatrize]

This might be a lengthy post, but I really need to get to the bottom of this. I think I might be having an allergic reaction to something specific in my DIY, as I've never experienced this before with store bought juices.

I started DIY on Friday evening. I tried making a couple different concoctions with the 3 flavors I purchased from TFA, and both of them smell absolutely fantastic. The problem is what they do to me, and how they taste. First, let me start by listing the ingredients I have:

• 1 gallon Nature's Oil VG USP
• 16 oz Plant Guru PG USP
• 250ml VG Diluted nicotine (100mg/ml) from NicVape
• Flavors:
  • TFA Strawberry (Ripe)
  • TFA Cheesecake (Graham Crust)
  • TFA Apple Flavor

The first thing I made on Friday was a Strawberry Apple flavor, but it tasted and smelled gross, probably because I didn't have syringes capable of measuring by 0.1ml at the time, so I'm sure my percentages were off. I tried to tweak it, but nothing worked, and within 30 minutes, I had a sore throat and was having symptoms similar to my seasonal allergies. So, naturally, I thought I was just experiencing my usual allergies (not uncommon this time of year), and didn't think to blame the e-liquid.

On Saturday, the allergy symptoms continued. I made a strawberry cheesecake flavor with 10% strawberry (ripe) and 1% cheesecake (gc). The graham crust was overpowering, but I could still taste the strawberry, but I could taste a weird nicotine flavor on top of it. I vaped this most of the day and felt pretty horrible, but it did taste pretty good.

I re-made the strawberry/apple flavor on Sunday using 70vg/30pg, 4mg, 6% strawberry, 6% apple. It smells exactly like a local juice I buy, but actually a little better. I was pretty excited. However, when I taste it, it's horrible! It tastes like absolute shit. Like nicotine with some flavor in it. My wife tried it and she said it tastes fine, and that the flavor was pretty strong. At this point, I assumed my taste buds were messed up because of the allergy symptoms, so I just kept vaping it.

Yesterday, my Boreas came in the mail. My first build on it wasn't too good, but I did a rebuild on it early evening with 26ga, 2.5mm 9 wraps, 0.5ohm dual coils. I cleaned everything off and filled it with my local juice. By the time I had vaped half the tank, my allergy symptoms were completely gone, and I could taste the local juice (and holy hell, the Boreas is amazing). I felt great last night. "Sweet!", I thought. "I'm going to try my apple strawberry juice again."

I filled the Boreas with my recipe and within 5 hits, I felt terrible again, and the flavor was just ugly. I tried to power through it, but my throat was getting worse, and I was coughing like crazy in bed while watching some Netflix. So I cleaned everything out again and filled the Boreas with my local juice, but didn't hit it much before I went to bed. I woke up feeling terrible again, but I've been hitting my local juice this morning and I'm already starting to feel a little better. My throat doesn't hurt much, and I'm not coughing.

Is it possible that I'm allergic to one of the ingredients in my DIY setup? I really want to get to the bottom of this, because I'm tired of paying ~$35/100ml at my local store. I much prefer the ~$1.40/100ml of my DIY, as well as controlling my ingredients.

Some more information that may help:

• I have a suspicion of the nicotine being the culprit. I can easily taste it over my flavors (at supposed 4mg strength), and I very lightly shook the nicotine bottle when I got it. I read some people shake the living crap out of theirs, but I don't want it to oxidize faster.
• I'm using a variety of syringes, but as these were sterile prior to opening, I doubt this could affect anything.
• My specific recipe for the 30ml bottle I made of apple strawberry (if it helps):
  • 1.2ml - 100mg VG nic (4%)
  • 5.4ml - PG (18%)
  • 19.8ml - VG (66%)
  • 1.8ml - TFA Apple (6%)
  • 1.8ml - TFA Strawberry (Ripe) (6%)

 

[pulsevape]

I once spoke with a nic manufcturer who told me tht if my nic base had been sitting for more than a week the bottle needed to be rolled in order redistribute the nic within the base....when I buy my nic I usually put it on the magnetic stirer before I try mixing with it.and since I get my nic base as a VG base I usually warm it in hot water before stirring it.

 

[BigNasty]

For vg based nic..

Shake the living hell out of it, then shake it like a baby like you are trying to give it brain damage.

Depending on where you got your wire for your builds you could have machine oils on them. I know a couple places I have gotten wire from have had some bad juju reactions from us here.

My actual suspect is the PG.. the site for some reason makes me think the pg is not as usp as they claim.

 

[martin]

nicotine may be stronger than stated on container is there no one else to try it

 

[cicatrize]

For vg based nic..

Shake the living hell out of it, then shake it like a baby like you are trying to give it brain damage.

Depending on where you got your wire for your builds you could have machine oils on them. I know a couple places I have gotten wire from have had some bad juju reactions from us here.

My actual suspect is the PG.. the site for some reason makes me think the pg is not as usp as they claim.

I've been using the same wire for about a year, and I always dry burn them before wicking, so that's probably not it.

I made a 70pg/30vg blend for my wife and I was dripping that directly to test it and it was alright. I tasted ok but I still didn't feel too well. I'd suspect the VG before the PG based on the data, but then again, do people even have VG allergies? I dunno, but my plan today is to test each ingredient individually. VG first, then PG, then VG/PG/nic. If that's all fine, I'd have to guess the flavoring is to blame.

 

[BigNasty]

I've been using the same wire for about a year, and I always dry burn them before wicking, so that's probably not it.

I made a 70pg/30vg blend for my wife and I was dripping that directly to test it and it was alright. I tasted ok but I still didn't feel too well. I'd suspect the VG before the PG based on the data, but then again, do people even have VG allergies? I dunno, but my plan today is to test each ingredient individually. VG first, then PG, then VG/PG/nic. If that's all fine, I'd have to guess the flavoring is to blame.

Where did you get the wire?
What wicking medium?

I still would focus on the PG.
Below 1 ohm the pg is going to super thrash your throat, if you are using to much flavor also that will add some thrashed throat issues also if you are not taking in the flavoring % with your pg.

 

[cicatrize]

Where did you get the wire?
What wicking medium?

I still would focus on the PG.
Below 1 ohm the pg is going to super thrash your throat, if you are using to much flavor also that will add some thrashed throat issues also if you are not taking in the flavoring % with your pg.

Amazon, Lightning Vapes Kanthal A1 26ga.
Wicking with KGD.

I'm mixing the same PG/VG percentage as my local juice (30/70) and including the flavoring as PG (you can see the recipe on my post). I hit my local juice on 0.5ohm, 45w, no issues. My concoction destroys me. It's also more than just throat pain while vaping. It feels like an allergic reaction, as it continues even while not vaping.

 

[BigNasty]

Amazon, Lightning Vapes Kanthal A1 26ga.
Wicking with KGD.

I'm mixing the same PG/VG percentage as my local juice (30/70) and including the flavoring as PG (you can see the recipe on my post). I hit my local juice on 0.5ohm, 45w, no issues. My concoction destroys me. It's also more than just throat pain while vaping. It feels like an allergic reaction, as it continues even while not vaping.

Funny LV wire caused reactions here.
I tossed it and picked up Kanthal from Temco and issues went away.

 

[cicatrize]

Funny LV wire caused reactions here.
I tossed it and picked up Kanthal from Temco and issues went away.

Can the properties of the kanthal change over time? As I said, I've been using this wire for about a year with no issues, and all this started the day I began DIY, so I'm not convinced the wire is at fault, unless there's something I don't understand about kanthal.

EDIT: I'm actually vaping my local juice on it right now. No problems.

 

[Scy123]

If you like to rule out the PG, you can use water instead of PG. Add about 10% water to your mix instead of PG.

 

[PuffOn]

Process of elimination.
Vape some VG.
Vape some PG
Vape pg/vg +nic (unflavored)
Add a flavor
Add another flavor
Etc.
Personally I get a irritated throat from apple and citrus.
Vaping the unflavored will rule out the nic.
Good Luck

 

[Light seeker]

Like others I suspect the VG.

You can buy a small bottle of USP VG from Wal-Mart as a test. I've used it many times, it's good.

 

[pulsevape]

the other thing you might consider is the source of your VG some VG is made from coconut..some from Palm some from Soy...you may have a reaction to these plants

 

[AndriaD]

do people even have VG allergies?

Not allergy per se, but intolerance, and yes; I can't vape more than 16% VG or I can't breathe -- nothing at all like your symptoms.

I'd suspect the nic, or the PG, first; then, maybe some chemical in those particular flavors. Get others, from a different mfr -- doing great DIY is mostly about finding the flavors you like, and flavors from different vendors can be completely different. But I said the nic first, because at 4mg, you really shouldn't taste it at all -- I vape 5mg, and never taste it -- I really didn't taste it much at 10mg either, just had more TH.

Andria

 

[cicatrize]

OK, update time:

On my lunch, I went home and experimented a bit. The only thing I did differently from before was I shook the living hell out of my bottle of nicotine. With each sample, I took approximately 15-20 DTL hits from a dripper on single coil. Here's what I tested:

• 100% VG: Tasted sweet-ish. No ill effects.
• 100% PG: Tasted even sweeter (surprise to me). No ill effects.
• 96% VG & 4% nic (VG): This was interesting. I didn't even taste the nicotine, and there were no ill effects.
• 86% VG, 4% nic, 10% strawberry ripe: Delicious! No ill effects.
• 90% VG, 10% Apple: Not very strong flavor, but tasted good. No ill effects, but it did feel a tad bit "harsh" compared to my other tests. Nothing terrible though.

Given this data, I'd have to conclude that the issue was in fact my bottle of nicotine and there may have been too much separation in there or something. I suspect my violent shake of the bottle may have mixed it up well.

I'll have to do a full test on a 30ml bottle to prove it, but so far, so good. I'll update after I get to test the full recipe tonight.

EDIT: It might be worth noting that I used "drops" for all these tests (i.e. 9 drops VG, 1 drop Apple for the last test), except the ones where nicotine was involved. I don't think it really means much, since I didn't once taste that horrible flavor I had before, but maybe...

 

[BigNasty]

Nic hot spots with vg based nic are HORRIBLE.
Violent shaken baby bottle it...
Also the apple can be harsh allow it to mellow a bit. Hot bathing it helps round the sharp edges down some.

 

[cicatrize]

Not allergy per se, but intolerance, and yes; I can't vape more than 16% VG or I can't breathe -- nothing at all like your symptoms.

I'd suspect the nic, or the PG, first; then, maybe some chemical in those particular flavors. Get others, from a different mfr -- doing great DIY is mostly about finding the flavors you like, and flavors from different vendors can be completely different. But I said the nic first, because at 4mg, you really shouldn't taste it at all -- I vape 5mg, and never taste it -- I really didn't taste it much at 10mg either, just had more TH.

Andria

This is what I was thinking too. I haven't really tasted nic in a long time, but I remember the flavor, so that's what I suspected. My juices were tasting like my old 24mg RY4 from 6 years ago, and that set off a red flag for me.

 

[Heabob]

This is what I was thinking too. I haven't really tasted nic in a long time, but I remember the flavor, so that's what I suspected. My juices were tasting like my old 24mg RY4 from 6 years ago, and that set off a red flag for me.

I also had some harshness and coughing from a Dutch Apple flavor I tried awhile back.
FA Fuji Apple has been fine tho.

 

[cicatrize]

Alright, another update.

I'm fairly certain it was the nic now. I made a 30ml bottle yesterday after shaking up the nic and got a chance to fill my tank about 30 minutes ago with it. Not only is the flavor on point, it's not killing me and I can't taste the nicotine! Yum. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[gopher_byrd]

Glad you were able to work this out! I shake my nic and flavors right before adding to a bottle I'm mixing in. Next bottle everything gets shaken again.

 

[roxynoodle]

Glad you found the answer, and that you like Boreas

 

[cicatrize]

Glad you found the answer, and that you like Boreas

It's actually kinda ridiculous how good it is, Roxy. It's the closest damn thing to an RDA I've tried, and that's awesome.

I only have one issue, really. The bottom that screws in to hold the deck into the rest of the assembly has some terrible threads on mine. It's really tough to get on there (I don't force it, but it takes 30 seconds or so to find the right spot). Is there a trick to it, or did I just get some bad threads?

 

[SteveS45]

I once spoke with a nic manufcturer who told me tht if my nic base had been sitting for more than a week the bottle needed to be rolled in order redistribute the nic within the base....when I buy my nic I usually put it on the magnetic stirer before I try mixing with it.and since I get my nic base as a VG base I usually warm it in hot water before stirring it.

I agree with this observation about the Nicotine but now I see you have found the problem! Great and Good Luck!

 

[roxynoodle]

It's actually kinda ridiculous how good it is, Roxy. It's the closest damn thing to an RDA I've tried, and that's awesome.

I only have one issue, really. The bottom that screws in to hold the deck into the rest of the assembly has some terrible threads on mine. It's really tough to get on there (I don't force it, but it takes 30 seconds or so to find the right spot). Is there a trick to it, or did I just get some bad threads?

Sounds like you got a bad part Did you contact the vendor?

 

[cicatrize]

Sounds like you got a bad part Did you contact the vendor?

I haven't yet. I'm so deeply in love with this tank that I don't want to send it away and not have it for a while.

 

[roxynoodle]

I haven't yet. I'm so deeply in love with this tank that I don't want to send it away and not have it for a while.

The only extras I have are from the prototypes and the machining is subpar. They were only made quickly for testing.

Maybe SS can get you just that part. It's worth asking.