Is Tobacco Free Nicotine The Future of All E-Juice?

When you think of vaping, most vapers don’t have tobacco cross their minds too much, unless they’re thinking of how they’re inhaling none of it compared to inhaling cigarettes. Tobacco, as we know, is the ingredient known to be the leading cause of cancer in cigarettes smokers, in addition to the hundreds of harmful chemicals added to the tobacco.

Most of the time nicotine found in E-Juices is extracted from the tobacco plant (sometimes other plants like potatoes, tomatoes, or eggplants. But tobacco is richer in nicotine than these by a considerable amount). This makes it easier for the Food and Drug Administration to lump vaping and cigarettes into the same category and implement strict laws on the smoking alternative.

Another downfall of tobacco plant nicotine extraction, is that E-Juice companies are still contributing to the tobacco industry, keeping it alive and well and in part keeping the cigarette industry afloat as it continues to wreak dangerous effects on its users. For most vapers, it's hard to let that fact go. For me, I find it hard to cope with the idea of this outdated and dangerous means of consuming nicotine still being a leading industry.

I know many independent farmers rely on tobacco farming, but it’s irksome that most E-Juice companies still affiliate themselves with tobacco, and not leave them to the cigarette industry. This would help the FDA to see that vaping is a separate entity, independent from all tobacco use and all tobacco products.

This is why I shop for tobacco free nicotine as much as I possibly can. And you can too by reading this article, I'll be including links to many delicious ones we sell here on EightVape, just click the picture.

What is Tobacco Free Nicotine?

Most of you already know, but when I began vaping I had no idea this innovation had been discovered. And it’s pretty remarkable to look into. It’s amazing how far technology and science has come, and it’s amazing to think that the vaping industry has had a hand in that.

Tobacco free nicotine (TFN) is not extracted from any plant whatsoever. Instead it is man made, or synthetic, and it’s constructed on a micro molecular scale, exactly replicating the nicotine molecule. TFN is just like naturally occurring nicotine in every way and it is not ridiculously more expensive to create than it is to extract.

Ron Tully of Next Generation Labs (a leading lab in developing TFN as well as analogues for the treatment of brain disorders like Parkinson, Alzheimer, ADHD, and epilepsy) explains how initially the cost for a liter of TFN was $125,000, but now it is only $5,000 a liter. Tobacco typically sits at $4,000 a liter. But with the benefit and popularity of TFN, companies can expect great returns to make up for this in rising demands of TFN E-Juices.

Being a veteran of the tobacco industry Tully says TFN, “presents the advantages over natural extract of being odorless, tasteless and is very pure.”

More of Next Generation Lab’s reasoning for pushing TFN to E-Juice companies:

• It is devoid of many of the impurities that tobacco derived nicotine contains, which in some cases could be using kerosene to extract nicotine which may not fully clear out during purification.
• It is virtually tasteless and odorless, providing a pureer flavor and less of a need for added sweeteners of artificial flavors.
• All the while, TFN provides the same biological impact as tobacco derived nicotine.

So why don’t all Vape Juice Companies use TFN?

Knowing quite well what critics of the vaping industry has to say about it as a whole, Tully has developed a marketing strategy to shine TFN in an even more positive light. “We’re looking for companies that are marketing responsibly, don’t use any potential trademark infringement, don’t have cartoons on the outside, exhibit responsibly, and don’t give out free samples,” says Tully, who is a member of SFATA (Smoke Free Alternative Trade Association).

As for the question of should all E-Juices be tobacco free right now, perhaps they should. Or perhaps it’s best they wait. Whether it’s due to wanting to save money or save their skin, most companies now are still cautious to adapt TFN into their recipes due to how it’s unclear how it could affect their already loved products. Many companies implement all new recipes and lines to their existing brand, while others are still tinkering with the flavors they have and its chemical relationship with TFN in terms of flavor, function, and vapor production.

There could be more discoveries ahead and many companies know this, and for a select few others, the future is now.

Can’t E-Juice companies produce their own TFN?

TFN is a patent pending chemical. Even pharmaceutical companies are  looking toward Next Generation Labs and their chemical creation. As nicotine binds to certain receptors in the brain, they are looking at its effects on neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, ADHD, Alzheimer's, and epilepsy. However Next Generation Labs is steps ahead in this venture.

Nicotine is though a chemical with a negative effect on fetuses and children. It also has an effect on regular users, as it is an addictive chemical, synthetic or not.

Science never stops, and it certainly doesn’t stop at vaping. Technology and chemistry come together in this industry more often than not. Many times by vapers themselves, educating themselves on the different results one gets combining different juices with different devices and wattage/voltage settings, and coil combinations and innovations. The vaping world and the world as a whole is endless in possibilities and it’s nice to know that we in the vaping community are a part of it all the time, whether we recognize it or not.