Are vaping essential oils safe? How should I vape? – Such innumerable questions often come into the minds of people nowadays. Vaping essential oil is a well-known way to enjoy the bliss of the oil. But how far is it safe? Can I vape essential oil daily? Or, as people question, can it be taken daily?
Well, the research on vaping essential oil is still going on. Many things are yet to be discovered. The doctors work day and night to find the safety quotient and long-term effects of it on people.
Here, we will try to put every detail regarding the vaping of essential oil and find out the answers to the questions. From the proper oil intake to the safety concerns of vaping it- we will ponder over everything. So, let’s start.
Vaping Essential Oils: What is It?
Essential oil is the special aromatic compound extracted from plants. It is generally made out of distillation either by using steam or cold press. Other methods include expression, solvent extraction, resin tapping, etc. It is often used for aromatherapy.
People inhale it, take it diluting in other things, or sometimes apply it to the skin to treat many health issues. You can find it in multiple products, including perfumes, cosmetics, soaps, and other products. Also, some house cleaning products include this oil.
Essential oil is considered a healthier option than the regular electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) like an e-cigarette. Usually known as diffuser sticks or personal diffusers, aromatic vape pens are used for vaping the oil. The diffusers use a blend of essential oil, water, and vegetable glycerin. Thus, all the components together create a cloud of aromatherapy vapor.
The essential oil vapes sticks or the aromatherapy vape pen-whatever you call it- look like colorful cigarettes made of hard plastics. The fantastic appearance of it often makes people fall for it.
Companies offer different kinds of essential oils and claim that all of them are organic. Whether it is true or not, these products are indeed beneficial in many ways. Some companies blend the essential oil with different kinds of vitamins and supplements, including B12, ginseng, and melatonin, for vaping.
As vaping essential oils is a new invention, we must go through all the details before going for it. In this article, you will find every detail regarding it.
How Does Essential Oil Work: The Science Behind It?
Before we delve into how safe it is, we first must know about its mechanism. As we said, the blend of essential oil, vegetable glycerin, and water are put together inside the vape pen. And it was heated to bring out the vapor.
As adequate research is still not done, we cannot know what comes out when the oil, water, and vegetable glycerin are heated. The chemical components of the vapor are still unknown. So, it is hard to describe the complete science behind it.
However, we know that when it is heated to more than 536°F, acrolein is produced as a vegetable glycerin substance. It is a carcinogenic, respiratory irritant substance.
Now, due to multiple reasons, regulations from FDA or e-cigarettes have not been published yet. We have to wait till then to know the exact components and their amounts in the vapor. Once the delay is over, the vape pen also will be on the list for testing. Once it gets the approval of the FDA, we can be sure about it.
Vaping Essential Oils: Is it Safe?
Well, essential oil vape pens do not contain nicotine. So, they are not as dangerous as nicotine-based products. When you inhale nicotine, multiple things can occur, including lung diseases, lightheadedness, dizziness, etc. If you use it for a long time, it may harm you to a great extent.
It is even seen that nicotine has proved fatal to many. So, as the doctors say, it is always better to go for some healthier alternative than nicotine-based products.
Now, coming to the question, is vaping essential oil safe? The simple answer is yes or no! Confused enough? Let us explain. First of all, all of the vaporizers use heat to vaporize the stuff inside them. So, there is a high chance of the essential oil being turned into a volatile organic compound or VOC, which is toxic to the human body in this process. So, it is risky to vape essential oil.
Moreover, the oils have different categories. Some of them are edible, while some of them are safe to ingest only. Some of them can be inhaled. Some are not safe for children, while some are not safe for pregnant women. The ability to withstand heat is also different for the oils.
Therefore, it is not safe to vape any kind of essential oil you find. You can go for vaping essential oils that are pure and safe to ingest with a low-heat vaping machine. If you are using some oils that are extracted using specific methods, you can water it down with other non-oil carriers and vape it safely. If you are genuinely interested in trying it, follow some tips.
Learn How to Prepare Safe Essential Oils at Home
Many want to prepare essential oil at home. Let us guide you in brief on how to do it. 20% H2O and 75% organic pharmaceutical Grade vegetable glycerin, and 1% of essential oil can be a good ratio to start with. Now let’s come to the vaporizer.
If you are using an adjustable vaporizer, set it to the lowest power setting and the lowest heat setting. Use the highest OHM coil possible. It will help to get a good vaping experience. The duration for heating should be kept under 2-3 seconds.
If you hear it for a long period of time, the oil may taste bad. For the oil types, you can try cold-pressed orange oil for energy or steam-distilled lavender oil. Also, you can use rose oil.
Well, let us warn you here. Most of the oils found over the counter are not exactly suitable for this process. Also, 99% of devices cannot withstand it. So, if you take our suggestion, instead of preparing it at home, try professionally prepared oil.
To ensure safe vaping essential oil, you should not go for those constant trial and error methods of preparing it. If you are a chemist or an oil maker or know the ingredients, you should go for this method.
Final Words: The Takeaway
Aromatherapy is a popular age-old technique used for multiple purposes. Essential oils are the primary ingredients used in it. Although now the process is more advanced with modern vaporizers and diffusers, the procedure is not so simple.
The oils and devices are of multiple varieties and complicated to use. And vaping essential oils is entirely new in the market.
So, it is still under research whether you can include it in aromatherapy or not. Until some concrete evidence for the safety of the vaping essential oils arrives, let’s limit it to a small amount with specialists’ recommendations.