Hello all… so this has been an ongoing saga since 2012. I’ve been testing it on and off over the years, but really disciplined myself to do it right over the last 2 months:
When I vape my DIY liquids it seem, my tonsils get really aggravated. I have been to several different ENT’s over the years, and they all say the same thing: My tonsils are bigger than normal (not that they have enlarged, just naturally bigger) and that they are inflamed. This only seems to happen after vaping DIY liquids.
I have tried MTL’s, Cloud chuckers, in between, testing if the coil comp was an issue, testing different resistances, wattage, Salts vs normal nic vs TFN, vaping 100% VG to see if I had a PG sensitivity, Nic anywhere from 0.5 Mg - 6mg on the chuckers (even tried that low with Salts). When I first started vaping, I have an old Ego C, and never had any issues until this suddenly started 6 months into being quit. I have tried all kinds of wicking material from cotton, to eko wool, hemp, etc etc.
I typically get recipes from here (but have in this go around tried some of the premade mixes like DIYor Die’s stuff). I rarely use any one flavor at higher than 3%, and very rarely total combined flavors more than 10%. I have tried with and without flavors, and individual flavors alone.
So, in this current round of testing, I decided to buy store juice from Red Star Vapor. Bought a few different flavors that are all over the flavor spectrum. I vaped them for 2 weeks, very little throat/tonsil irritation (typically if I forgot to hydrate). After that, I started DIYing and testing. Within a week my throat/tonsils starting getting pretty irritated. I tried all the things I listed above and no dramatic difference. Today I went back to the store stuff, and barely in irritation.
Right now I have been vaping the same type of devices, Wotofo Profile M, generally between 30-40 watts (I really can’t handle anything higher, no matter how I wick it it just tastes burnt above 45). I’m running the mesh coils that run about 0.18 ohms. (I have run MTL’s as high as 2.2 ohms in an attempt to mimic an Ego C in the past with no success).
Flavors tend to be the common ones found here (not that it mattered because even unflavored irritated me). I’m pretty sure the store bought flavors run along the same lines as my DIY flavors. The store bought is 10/90, 6 Mg Called Unicorn Dream (tastes like strawberry shortcake to me). I do tend to vape regularly throughout the day, taking minute or two breaks between hits (I also tested seeing if I needed to vape in other ways). I tend to leave the airflow wide open (but have tested in restricted too) and I do take longer drags.
I’m kind of at my wits end here. I don’t understand why my DIY would bother my throat/tonsils so much, but store bought I have very little irritation. Can anyone let me know if they believe I have missed anything in my testing, or if there is an additive in store bought that I don’t know about?
Thanks for reading, and any advice in advance!
