Tiny plastic pellets from flavouring bottles. Anyone else had this happen when mixing?

submitted almost 11 years ago by dicknigga

Comments

10 points

by thinmanalmost 11 years ago

Plastics are formed in the factory with these tiny beads. They get melted down and formed into the desired shape. The bead form allows them to be pumped through a series of pipes all over the factory.

Googled a source: http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic5.htm

4 points

by zombiemannalmost 11 years ago

I worked in an injection molding plant when I was younger.... you never quite forget that smell.

3 points

by dickniggaalmost 11 years ago

I'm going to strain out each of the flavours I used in the mix through fine stainless steel mesh tomorrow to pin point it. They must have found there way in there just somehow when the bottles were manufactured.

2 points

by To0nMaNalmost 11 years ago

Please let us know your findings.

2 points

by willFouralmost 11 years ago

I work in injection molding, and these pellets seem awfully small. The bottles for flavors are blow molded though, not injection molded. They may have grades of plastic that come in smaller pellets and it may be that I've just never seen them this small. Where I work, this would likely not happen, as the hopper/area that the raw plastic goes into the machine is well away from where the finished parts come out and are packaged. It's certainly a possibility though. If you do find that they come from a specific manufacturer, such as Capellas, I'd be sure to let them know so they can correct the problem with their molder.

3 points

by dsfkjsdalmost 11 years ago

Flavor beads

3 points

by GVSCSalmost 11 years ago

One word: Glass!

3 points

by wat_watersonalmost 11 years ago

So my question to you is: does this happen when you use a new bottle of flavor, or old bottle of flavor? They honestly look like they are plastic punched out from the needle tip on some flavor bottles.

2 points

by dickniggaalmost 11 years ago

Every few mixes I've been doing lately I see one or two of these tiny pellets in the beaker that I need to fish out. Thumb for scale.

I pour straight from the bottle and make sure that the beaker is spotless.

I've checked my PG/VG, Capella 4oz bottles, ecigexpress rebottled flavours etc, whatever I put in closely with just my eyes trying to find the culprit that's contaminating my mix but can't figure out which it is. They're so tiny that they look like air bubbles until I turn on the magnetic stirrer.

Has anyone else run into this and if so what are they from?

1 points

by machine_monkeyalmost 11 years ago

Is it possibly burrs from the mixing bar?

3 points

by dickniggaalmost 11 years ago

I don't think so, the stirring bar gets washed and cleaned pretty well and seems not to be peeling or crumbling. The plastic looks like the type used in Capella's 4oz bottles in terms of colour. The bottles are slightly opaque so its hard to rule them out.

2 points

by on_a_moosealmost 11 years ago

This is a valid reason for concern, please keep us updated if you track it down.

1 points

by SDVAPEalmost 11 years ago

I just checked all my capella bottles(20)...all bought within the last month or so, and non of those in the flavoring. The rest of my flavors are TFA so all glass bottles. Hope you find the culprit

1 points

by dickniggaalmost 11 years ago

I found the culprit to be a large bottle of VG. I'd poured some out into a 250ml clear bottle previously and didn't see any pellets so I moved on to straining all my flavours.

When it was the only thing left through elimination I found a few more pellets at the bottom of the VG.

I contacted the supplier to let them know. It hasn't happened previously with their products so I'm writing it off as a freak accident on a single 1LT bottle of VG.

1 points

by willFourover 10 years ago

I've asked somebody at work (injection molding) with more knowledge than myself, and they say that LDPE pellets for blowmolding are small like that, so I'd say it's certainly coming from inside the blowmolded bottles.