“An exotic fusion of pineapple and coconut with champagne infused blueberries.” “Creamy milk chocolate and rich peanut butter flavors.” No, these are not excerpts from the dessert menu at a fancy hotel.They’re some of the latest offerings from the makers of vape pens and e-cigarettes—which are the same thing, more or less.As e-cigs gain traction (sales are expected to soar seventeenfold over the next 15 years), manufacturers are having a heyday concocting flavors that can be inhaled—an estimated 7,000 to date.Public health experts warn of the addictive nicotine in e-cigs and vaping fluids, and their potential to serve as a “gateway” to tobacco, especially for teens.But a new Harvard study instead took a hard look at those tantalizing flavors—and found that a majority, at least of the samples tested, contained chemicals linked to a dangerous lung disease.Researchers at Harvard’s T.H.Chan School of Public Health analyzed various e-cig and vape pen liquids for the presence of three related chemicals—diacetyl, 2,3-pentanedione, and acetoin—that are also used in artificial butter flavorings.

By the turn of the 21st century, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had deemed diacetyl safe to eat, but little was known about what happened when a person inhales it.Then, in the early 2000s, workers at several plants that manufacture microwave popcorn came down with a nasty lung disease after prolonged exposure to the fake-butter fumes.The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated cases of this so-called popcorn lung and later released guidelines for dealing with diacetyl in the workplace, along with a list of foods that contain the chemical.“Current evidence points to diacetyl as one agent that can cause flavorings-related lung disease,” notes the CDC’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.NIOSH says it is uncertain whether the other two compounds pose health risks, but it points out their chemical similarities to diacetyl.Now the popcorn-lung chemicals are turning up in vape pens.The Harvard researchers tested 51 e-cigarette flavorings they deemed appealing to youths—think “Cupcake” and “Alien Blood”—and found diacetyl in 37 of them.

At least one of the three suspect chemicals was present in 47 of the 51 samples.The researchers could not determine conclusively that using an e-cig flavored with these chemicals is harmful.But they pointed out that “the heating, vaporization, and subsequent inhalation” creates “an exposure pathway” similar to that of the microwave popcorn workers.Two of the flavors tested—”menthol” and “tobacco”—do not appear on the OSHA’s list of flavors likely to contain diacetyl.e cigarette european unionSince they landed on the market in 2004, e-cigarettes and vape pens have been dogged by controversy.e cigarette high endFans claim they are far less toxic than regular cigarettes and might even help tobacco smokers quit.e cigarette eroll pas cher

Public health officials counter that it’s too early to know very much about e-cigs’ health effects, especially on young people.(Their use among teens tripled from 2013 to 2014.)At least 43 states have placed age restrictions on the sale or possession of the products.The FDA does not currently regulate e-cigarettes—it has stalled for years in proceeding with proposed rules that would allow it to regulate the devices as tobacco products.But given the new findings, the agency may want to take a closer look at the sweet flavors that make the nicotine go down.It’s hard to imagine, these days, selling a product by calling it synthetic.“A lot of people kind of give you the weird eye,” says Edward Uy, vice president at SQN, the first vaping company to debut liquids with lab-made synthetic nicotine.Every other tobacco product in human history, including virtually every other vaping liquid, makes use of natural nicotine from tobacco plants.But tobacco also happens to be, if anything, the prime example that natural is not necessarily better.

As decades of lawsuits and ads featuring gross black lungs have tanked tobacco’s reputation, one small corner of the vaping industry senses an opening.E-cigarettes vaporize flavored nicotine-infused liquids: no burning tobacco leaves, none of the health impacts of smoke.That nicotine can theoretically come from anywhere.And synthetic nicotine—same molecular formula as the natural version, just as addictive—just might not fall under the Food and Drug Administration’s vaping regulations coming down in August.That’s why Ron Tully started Next Generation Labs, a small company that makes what it calls "tobacco-free nicotine" for vaping liquid companies like SQN.Tully envisions a world in which people use synthetic nicotine the way they drink booze or dab hash oil—without the black cloud of tobacco's reputation hanging over the chemically altered fun.Take it from Tully.He spent over 15 years working in the tobacco industry before getting into lab-made nicotine.Next Generation Labs is not the first to make synthetic nicotine, but it appears to be the first company to target the vaping market.Synthetic nicotine tastes better in vaping liquids, says Tully—as in it tastes like nothing.

The stuff extracted from tobacco may still have a whiff of plant, which creates off-flavors that liquid manufacturers mask with sweeteners and aggressive flavors.It’s not a coincidence that popular flavors are basically candy.The downside of synthetic nicotine is cost.SQN uses Next Generation Labs’ synthetic nicotine in three lines—NKTR, NKTR Sour, and Melt—and Uy says it costs 13 times as much as the readily available natural version.Tobacco plants are, after all, very good at making nicotine, thanks to centuries of breeding for just that purpose.Swiss chemist Amé Pictet synthesized nicotine in a lab for the first time in 1904, but his process—like many others that would come after it—only worked on a small scale.Pictet’s process involved heating a tube until it was red hot.When Tully started Next Generation Labs, a team spent two years figuring out how to scale up the process.The final synthesis involves four major steps and takes about a week, with various steps involving heating and cooling to optimize the reactions.

Tully declined to detail the synthesis—citing pending three patents.Since Next Generation Labs nailed down its synthesis, vaping has become massively popular—enough so that it finally attracted the attention of the FDA.Earlier this year, the agency officially said it would regulate e-cigarettes as “tobacco products.”The agency gets its authority from the Tobacco Control Act, which defines tobacco products as “any product made or derived from tobacco that is intended for human consumption, including any component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product.”Where does that leave synthetic nicotine, which is not derived from tobacco plants but could be a component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product—and is every bit as addictive?Good question, very good question.Tully says he doesn’t think synthetic nicotine should count.He also added, “It’s almost a pointless exercise talking to FDA because they never give you clarity.“ When I asked the FDA the same question about synthetic nicotine’s status as a tobacco product, the agency replied, “These products will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”Given that the FDA has asserted it can regulate even vaping liquids that contain no nicotine though, it does not seem poised to turn a blind eye to synthetic nicotine on technical grounds.

Still, nicotine’s origin gives manufacturers some plausible deniability—if not legally, certainly as a marketing tactic.“We just don’t fit that mold because we’re not trying to sell as tobacco product," says Tully."We have nothing to do with tobacco."Except, of course, that nicotine and tobacco have gone hand in hand for hundreds of years.Carving out that new market for nicotine will require canny messaging.Uy says he’s exploring a trade association for tobacco-free nicotine, rattling off a list of potential members including Coastline, CRFT Labs, and KVASS—all of which have launched liquids with synthetic nicotine and a sleek aesthetic reminiscent of $15 single-source chocolate bars.Don’t expect any Unicorn Puke or Gummi Bear in this club.“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 Uy.More on E-CigsVape Pens and E-Cigs Are Blowing Up.

Like, LiterallyThe War Over Vaping’s Health Risks Is Getting DirtyThe US: E-Cigs Very Bad!The UK: E-Cigs OK!All of Us: Huh?The comparatively clean flavor of synthetic tobacco, which translates to simpler flavors and fewer sweeteners, is part of that appeal.SQN’s first three flavors with synthetic nicotine were mango, guava, and pear.The company has switched completely over to the synthetic stuff now.Over a dozen brands now use Next Generation Lab’s nicotine.Next Generation Lab has also trademarked its synthetic nicotine as Pharmanic, a nod to the pharmaceutical industry’s interest in the substance.Nicotine's buzz comes from its ability to bind to certain receptors in the brain.Pharmaceutical companies are interested in nicotine and its analogues as possible drugs for a range of brain disorders from Parkinson’s to Tourette’s to ADHD.Tully says they’re interested in exploring pharmaceutical partnerships in the future for nicotine or its derivatives.That would, of course, help burnish nicotine’s reputation separate from tobacco.But it could also cut both ways.