I was curious if there are any animal products used in the making of e-liquid and after some google and searching forums, i read about the infamous 'castoreum', said to be used as a vanilla flavouring, and even claims that some PG and VG could've been made with ingredients of animal origin. I still don't know if that might be true, but i asked the more popular flavour companies about their products. Any further insights are also welcome to be shared in the comments!
The Perfumers Apprentice:
> Our PG is produced through a wholly synthetic process; there are no animal products involved at all.
> Some flavors do contain milk solids, though; here's the list of those:
> * Cheesecake Flavor
- Waffle Flavor
- Gingerbread Flavor
- Butterscotch Flavor
- Holiday Spice Flavor
- Papaya Flavor
> All of our flavor products, outside of those that I mentioned, are vegan!
Since Cheesecake was on the list, i had to ask about Cheesecake (Graham Crust).
> That's a good question! I'll admit these names can be a bit confusing sometimes. Cheesecake and Cheesecake Graham Crust are totally different flavors. Only the first one has animal ingredients!
Capella:
> Our products are used in many different industries and we use only the purest, high-quality ingredients in our flavor concentrates. When you use Capella Flavor Drops you can rest assured and enjoy pure, concentrated flavor.
> * Flavor Drops are Corn & Peanut derivative free!
- Flavor Drops are Vegan Friendly (NO Animal ingredients of any kind)
- Flavor Drops are Gluten-Free!
- Flavor Drops are Caffeine-Free!
- Flavor Drops are Preservative Free (No Potassium Sorbate)!
LorAnn:
They sent me their 'vegan statement' PDF:
> Although our products do not contain animal products, we do not guarantee that one or more of our ingredients are 100% free of animal origin. Many natural flavor chemicals are found in a variety of sources which may incur a source that could contain animal (ie. a fruit flavor may contain a smoothing effect from a chemical with a dairy or egg origin). Please note that all of the flavors we produce, with the exception of products containing dairy, do not contain animal proteins; however, may subsequently have origins from dairy or eggs.
Very fair answer. I sent a second mail to ask if they can maybe clarify and list some products that are definitely vegan and some that definitely aren't.
> This statement is as clear as we can make it. We don’t have lists sorted by what product contains (or doesn’t contain) certain ingredients. If you would like to send a list of the products you are interested in, and what ingredient(s) you are checking on, we can have them researched for you.
Flavor West:
> We do not use animal products in anything we sell at Flavor West.
Since they only gave such a short answer, i wrote a second mail to ask if they're also sure that the products they might get from their suppliers also don't contain animal products like milk solids or 'hidden' or 'unexpected' ingredients like castoreum and the like.
> We do not use Milk Solids, the flavorings are N&A.
I'm afraid the person i mailed with might not know much about the matter. But neither do i, so maybe i'm wrong here. Either way, it feels to me like the request wasn't taken too seriously and more information could've been provided.
Flavour Art:
(translated from german)
> FlavourArt Aromas contain no Ingredients of animal origin. Our aromas are extracted only from base material that grows in nature. The used Plants are not genetically manipulated.
I decided to write a second mail to ask if they're also sure that the products they might get from their suppliers also don't contain animal products like milk solids or 'hidden' or 'unexpected' ingredients like castoreum and the like.
They didn't reply anymore.
Atmost Lab:
> First of all I have to make clear that we use 100% products made by Chemical Industry. As you see in our website, we do not use "Claims" for Organic, Bio- and other marketing lies.... Animal products is not a root for our materials. Nicotine is extracted of tobacco, PG is made by synthesis and VG has energy-plant as the first raw materials to be produced. No animals invoilved in our suppliers' procedure. Imagine also that this think you talked about, is not possible to happen in any other competitor. We all buy the same raw materials and the diffrence has to do with origin and purity (so the cost). But generally, animals are not involved.
That "generally" made me sceptical so i asked again if they're sure.
> All raw materials for flavours come from chemical industry. No extraction from animals. The cost is such big and not propriate. So, even in case we had to choose, we would choose PURE CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS. We love animals too.
> PS: We do not offer home-made products. No milk, no fruit juice is added..... Think about it.
Inawera:
> Even if they are made from oil then they surely have animals' origin as oil was created from prehistoric animals or plants
Didn't really answer my question at all, not sure what that was about. So i decided to ask again.
They didn't reply anymore
Lorann's.
> If you would like to send a list of the products you are interested in, and what ingredient(s) you are checking on, we can have them researched for you
I can just picture some smart ass sending them their entire list of flavorings one flavor at a time.
Cool, this will be useful for about 6 people
vegan, gluten free vaping is the new rage bro
Shit, I'm glad he posted it. It hasn't even crossed my mind that flavourings might not be vegan. So far I'm in the clear.
Thank you for doing this.
I like TFA's response but, for some reason, the phrase "wholly synthetic process" bothers me. Aside from that, INW fucking wins this thread and the Internet. Both bc they didn't answer shit and somehow, at the same time, talked shit about LA (which, consequently came in last all on their own accord).
Fuck the rest of them, because "English, motherfucker, do you speak it?"