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If you smoked, you inhaled more diacetyl while smoking than you'll ever vape.
And iif you dripped straight TFA butter flavor (without VG or nic) for months, you still would inhale less diacetyl than anyone who ever developed popcorn lung.
IIRC there is 700 times as much diacetyl (ppm) in a cigarette compared to the worst of the worst e-liquids. (And cigarettes were tested and found to have too low of a concentration to cause popcorn lung)
The popcorn lung dudes got exposed to 10 000 times as much as in a cigarette, daily, 8 hours a day, for decades.
Being scared of Diacetyl in e-liquid is like being scared of drowning when you see a drop of water on the floor.
EDIT: Found this with better facts than ine :)
Even with this information the flavor companies have phased it out anyway and it's difficult to get the flavors we could get years ago.
Diacetyl is not safe for inhalation. It is "safer" for consumption at a specific mg/kg. FDA has a limit set on 25ppm (beverage) and 50ppm (food). Two others to watch out for are Acetoin and Aceryl Propionyl. These are diketones that are very good at radical oxygen generation in-situ.
Our analytical laboratory NN Analytics (nudenicotine.com) tests these compounds on a daily basis for ketones, nicotine, heavy metals, volatiles, and the like. All 33 HPHCs plus more.
/u/Davidhoggsbike PM us here for some more info. I'd be happy to give you some more disclosure on the issue at hand. In addition, it might be helpful for us to quantify these 3 ketones in your flavor mixture before you vape. Can I extend an offer for a free analytical test from our laboratory? This is the right way to know without doubts if it (they) are present or absent in solution.
Moreover, I want to thank you for your concern of your health and the solutions you vape. This shows us what dedication you have to your craft, and your well being. You deserve a very special pat on the back. Cheers, brother/sister!
> Diacetyl is not safe for inhalation.
Dihydrogen monoxide isn't "safe" for inhalation at all concentrations either. Fact is, there's no actual evidence that Diacetyl (or any of the standard diketones) is unsafe, but between clickbait scaremongers/individuals(and organizations) with agendas/mercenaries profiteering off misinformation and typical unwillingness to expose oneself even remotely to a liability claim, people get mislead all the time into thinking diacetyl is actually harmful.
OP: dosage is everything. At a low dose, anhydrous ammonia can clear up a sinus problem (but the therapeutic window is rather small, so nobody would ever suggest it). Digitalis can keep heart patients alive (and also is a potent poison). Practically every medicine known to man is lethal (or at least toxic) at some dose. Below those doses, they are useful (but not 'safe' because of the possibility of overdose).
I vape vanilla custard pretty exclusively. I use CAP Va custard V1. No issues here.
Safety and toxicity isn't a matter of yes or no, but a matter of concentration. Water is good for you, but if you drink 6 gallons of water in an hour, you could die. That said, the concentration levels of diacetyl in vaping products is far less than in smoking.
No one can really say with certainty. A number of years ago, Diacetyl was originally thought to possibly be involved in a case where a bunch of workers at a microwave popcorn factory all came down with a serious bronchial illness which hadn't really been seen before. Which is why it was named 'popcorn lung'. However - no testing or research was done at the time and subsequent investigation has made that original suspicion far less likely. It hasn't been proven to NOT be an issue - but there's literally no proof it is. It is STILL used today to make popcorn - it's what gives that 'buttery' flavour.
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It is also 1000 times stronger in cigarettes (yes - they put it in tobacco) and we haven't seen a lot of cases of it in smokers. Some say that's because other issues related to smoking may be masking it, but that's not a super strong case.
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So - is it safe? There is no research which has been done. There are some indications it could be a problem but they are not conclusive or even terribly compelling so far. So ... maybe? It might even be that it affects some people differently. It's really hard to say, you'll have to make up your own mind. The science isn't there one way or another.
There have been zero cases of popcorn lung involving smokers
Well, there's been an argument that with smokers there's so many other things going on that there might have been but it would either be mistaken for other things or masked.
Again - no proof that it isn't a problem, but zero that it is.