Note: this is not a thread about whether Diacetyl, Acetoin or Acetyl Propionyl (DAAP) are safe for vaping or not. You may find good information about that elsewhere. It is about (1) how transparent companies are – do they share information about these ingredients to their customers publicly and about (2) levels of these ingredients in their flavorings, so diketone-concerned vapers can find information they need.
There are two reasons for this post:
(1) to help vapers find basic information about levels of diketones, oils, syrups in flavors of different companies on a single page; it’s easier to find anything and to compare flavors of different manufacturers.
(2) to help make companies become more transparent regarding the use of diketones, oils, sugars, syrups, GMO, aspartame, etc. Some vapers want to avoid those ingredients, so why not give all the info if there’s nothing to hide?
Note: 6 most popular DIY companies are highlighted for easy finding.
Note that any information in this thread is not final; there may be mistakes and when new information is found, then info above will be changed based on new findings. I hope non-transparent companies will soon realize that hiding information about these ingredients is not beneficial for their business.
Note: i am using neutral icon when talking about DAAP levels to avoid dilemma whether those are safe ingredients or not.
RF - Real Flavors
The company is one of the leaders out there in testing and verified amounts of ingredients. Every batch of flavoring is tested!
They are arguably one of the most transparent companies regarding diketones used in their flavors. Lab test reports are provided on their website + something unique - they put a full information about diketones on their bottle labelings!
They don’t use sugar, corn syrup, or HFCS in any flavoring (they use Stevia, Xylitol, Erythritol, and Sucralose).
@Walt_RealFlavors available on this forum; ask him anything
Note: Shown are only flavors with more than 2,000ppm of Acetoin or AP. When checking their website, make sure you check ‘SDS (MSDS) Link’
Info about levels of A/AP on their flavoring pages may be misleading. For some reason they mention approx amount of A/AP in your mix, instead the amount of A/AP in the flavoring like all other manufacturers. This probably isn’t the most customer-friendly information.
Find more info on their website.
TFA/TPA – The Flavor / Perfumer Apprentice
Full disclosure of what’s in their flavorings may help vapers who are allergic to some other ingredients used in flavorings.
No Diacetyl in any of their flavors
Their new DX line contains zero A-AP.
Extremely high levels of A-AP in some of their flavors (Butter, Coconut Extra)
They provide range and not exact numbers (Acetoin <=1%, which could be either 10ppm or 10,000ppm).
Caramel contains corn syrup (more info here)
Note: shown are only flavors with the highest levels of A or AP (over 10,000 ppm = 1%).
You can find more info about each of their flavors here:
http://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/specsheetlist.aspx?cas=600-14-6 – flavors with AP (40+ flavors)
http://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/specsheetlist.aspx?cas=513-86-0 – flavors with A (60+ flavors)
http://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/specsheetlist.aspx - all flavors
FLV – Flavorah
Full documentation about levels of DAAP in their flavors
Additional information about other ingredients such as Butyric Acid, Ethyl Alcohol, etc.
Very low levels of diketones
They do not add Diacetyl or Acetyl Propionyl to any of their products.
Diacetyl in some flavors is formed naturally during the flavor extraction process* (but it still is Diacetyl).
Note: Shown are only flavors with more than 1,000 ppm of A/AP.
FLV flavorings are super concentrates which result in very low amounts of diketones in your mixes (Coconut for example contains 2,800 ppm of Acetoin and 187 of Diacetyl and when you use it at 1% in your mixes, this results in 28 ppm of Acetoin in your vaping liquid = 0.0028% and 2ppm of Diacetyl).
*Acetoin can oxidise into traces of diacetyl under certain conditions (at FLV this was shown during lab testings, but note that it may happen with flavorings of other companies as well). If you are at all concerned about this as yet unquantifiable risk, please select from the other flavourings, but please remember, this isn’t an indication that any one flavouring is more or less “safe” than any other - no long term or comprehensive studies have yet been performed on human ingestion of vaporised food flavourings.
More info about diketons in their flavors: www.flavorah.com/safety/
MBV - Mt. Baker Vapor
Good information about ingredients and possible allergies that each ingredient separately may cause
Full information about oils, acids, acetates, butyrates, aldehydes, etc in their flavorings
No Diacetyl in any of their flavorings
High levels of A-AP in some of their flavorings
No information about ingredients in their Limited Edition concentrates
Listed are all flavors that contain some levels of A/AP.
Full information about ingredients is great news for vapers who are allergic to particular ingredients (they may finally find out what ingredient is causing those allergies).
Mt. Baker Vapor Safety Data Seets are here and their website is here.
WF - Wonder Flavors
Fully transparent info about the amounts of DAAP in their flavorings, but no lab reports
Contrary to nearly all other brands they are completely transparent about levels of Acetaldehydes and Furfural in their flavorings.
There is no Vitamin E Acetate in any of their flavorings. Hopefully more companies will confirm the same soon.
They say all their flavors are GMO free.
No Diacetyl in any of their flavorings
All flavors with more than 2,500ppm (0.25%) of either A or AP are shown above.
The highest amount of Acetyldehide has Passionfruit with 0.0425%. Only 4 flavors have more than 0.25% of Furfural with Sugar Cane with most at 1.4%. You can find more info here (including DAAP levels).
HS - Hangsen
They provide the most transparent lab test reports of all companies. Sadly all these info are found elsewhere and for only the most popular flavors.
All Hangsen flavors are D-AP free
No testing reports provided on their website
Huge company with more than 1000 employees worldwide. 1000+ flavors. More than 4 mio bottles produced every month and a lot of testings.
Other flavors such as French Vanilla Ice Cream or Australian Chocolate don’t contain DAAP.
FA – Flavour Arts
Their flavors don’t contain any sugars, protein, genetic modified ingredients, animal ingredients of any kind, preservatives, sweeteners and colors. Their flavors are all gluten and peanut free.
Their ClearStream and other researches prove that they are one of the most concerned and trusted companies.
All their ‘safe’ flavors are DAAP free
Lab tests reports are finally available for all their flavors, including for ‘unsuitable for vaping’ flavors…
…but sadly the company does not support customers ‘Right-to-know’ (lab tests not published on their official website).
The information on their website is quite confusing and they cannot list their vaping and kitchen flavors separately due to legal reasons (blame regulators, not a company for that). Here is how you can find everything:
FA’s official site is here (all flavorings listed).
Find out which their vaping flavors are here (all D/AP testings are there as well; about 130 flavors).
Any flavors not on that list are NOT suitable for vaping. This includes flavors like Butter, Cream Whipped, Milk, Pandoro, and about 30 other flavors. You can find these flavors here. FA says those flavors are some oil-based flavourings, and some that contain ingredients which are deemed unsuitable for vaping (their researchers are one of the best in the industry, so it is probably cool to avoid those flavorings for vaping).
Update Dec 2017:
FA finally provided some fresh lab test reports; sadly they don’t publish those on their website where customers could find them easily (a big minus; why not show them in a customer-friendly format?).
Lab reports prove that none of their ‘safe’ flavors contain Acetoin (so all those flavors are DAAP free). It seems D-A-AP ingredients can be found only in the following flavors:
Notes:
Butter and Premium Custard have the highest level of Diacetyl among all flavors of the companies above. FA explicitly says these flavors are ‘unsuitable for vaping’, but no doubt some will go crazy about this flavor just because of that.
Premium Custard (Crema Pasticerra; full of D) is not the same as their regular Custard (that one has no diketones).
Some lab test results for some of their flavors are missing (Mozarella, Milk).
CAP – Capella
Capella Flavor Drops use no Sugar, Splenda, Saccharine, Aspartame, Caffeine, Sodium, Potassium Sorbate or Animal ingredients of any kind.
They provide DAAP testing results for most of their flavors in an easy-to-read format, but…
…they provide very limited DAAP information for their v1 flavors
You may want to avoid Super Sweet - more info here
They say ‘Diacetyl has never been used in the production of any of our flavors’.
Quick info about their flavors is here (including DAAP + new flavors + discontinued in Sept 19 flavors)
You can check higher amounts of ingredients in their v1 flavors here (including Butyric Acid and other). Bad news is that they released only information they had to due to legal reasons and not as a useful information for their customers. (why not releasing levels of DAAP in an easy-to-read format for customers; why levels of DAAP are hidden for some flavors; why hiding levels of ingredients below 10.000ppm; absolutely no information about Acetoin levels in any of their v1 flavorings). It is a bad practice and not very customer friendly, but still better than dozens of other manufacturers who are hiding all the information.
VDLV - Vincent Dans Les Vapes
All their flavors are D-A-AP free.
They don’t use food allergens, limonene, coumarin, pulegone, linalool, benzyl benzoate, benzyl cinnamate, alpha and beta thujones, cinnamaldehyde, farnesol, citral, 4-menthoxybenzyl alcohol, 2-benzyliden heptanal.
They don’t use added sugars, parabens, ambrox, gums (xantane, acacia …), mineral or vegetable oils, GMO products, ionized products, food supplements, medicines and active ingredients, preserving preservatives of formaldehyde, acrolein, furfural.
No lab test results on their website
Their website is here.
CKus - CirKus
See VDLV - Vincent Dans Les Vapes above, it is the same company. Their website is here.
1DF - One Drop Flavors
All their flavors are Diacetyl, Acetyl Propionyl or Acetoin free.
They don’t provide any lab test reports.
Walt on this forum. Ask him anything.
One Drop Flavors are a new type of flavorings from their parent company Real Flavors.
Their website is here.
FM – Flavor Monks
They say they don’t use D-A-AP or alcohol in their products!
They don’t use colorants.
They don’t provide any lab test reports.
Their website is here.
LQA – LiQua
All their flavors are DAAP free
They don’t use vitamins, caffeins, coloring and additives that have CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic) properties in unburnt form
They provide maximum levels of all ingredients used in their flavorings (something that no other company does)
More information on their website.
LQ – LiQuid
They say ‘We don’t use ANY flavoring that contain Diacetyl, Acetyl Propionyl or Acetoin’.
They say they don’t use dyes or colorings and they don’t use oil based flavourings.
More information on their website. Some reviews of their flavors can be found here.
AMEA - Aromea
They say ‘All our products are paraben-free, diacetyl-free, ambrox-free, propionyl-free, acetoin-free and ethyl alcohol free’.
They don’t add water, coloring and alcohol in their flavorings.
They don’t provide any lab test reportss.
Their 150 DIY flavors are here and here is their ‘Crazy Up’ and ‘The Beach’ collection.
EF – Euro Flavor
They provide clear information about DAAP levels in their flavorings, COA, SDS
Low levels of diketones in their flavors
DAAP information of some new flavors is missing.
Large majority of their 100+ flavors is DAAP free. Table shows flavors that contain 50+ ppm of D-A-AP
Flavors with a high level of Acetyl Propionyl or Acetoin are currently being reformulated to meet the requirements of the European Union Tobacco Product Directive (EUTPD)
Euro Flavor website; DAAP info
LB – Liquid Barn
Good information about diketones on their website
They also provide information about Ethyl Alcohol and about levels of VG/PG used in each of their flavors
None of their flavors have added Diacetyl.
High level of AP in one flavor (Vanilla Ice Cream 3.5%)
Note: Shown are only flavors with more than 1000 ppm of A/AP.
Find more info about diketones in their flavors here.
NR - Nicotine River
Good information about diketones on their website…
…but no lab reports
None of their flavors contain Diacetyl.
All flavors with more than 2,000ppm (0.2%) of either A or AP are shown above.
OoO – One on One
Full transparency about DAAP levels in their flavorings
None of their 450+ flavors have added Diacetyl.
They say all their flavors are GMO free
Note: Shown are only flavors with more than 10,000 ppm (1%) of A/AP.
Their bestseller Cream (Milky Undertone) contains 2,163 ppm of Acetoin (0.21%), 0 AP
Detailed info about diketones in their flavors can be found here.
FW – Flavor West
Full transparency about DAAP levels in their flavorings
They provide additional info about other ingredients in their flavors, such as Triacetin, Ethanol, artificial coloring
Bad reputation for lying about diacetyl in their flavors a few years ago
They use syrup and fructose in some of their flavors (more info here). Yellow Cake FW is the most notorious; you may want using other brands for yellow cake flavor.
Listed are ONLY flavours with more than 10,000 ppm (>1%) of Acetoin.
You can find more info about flavorings with diketones here.
SIM – Simply Flavor
No added sweeteners, colors, stabilizers or preservatives
They say their flavors contain no Diacetyl, Pentanedione / Acetyl Propionyl or Acetoin’.
They provide MSDS for all their flavors (did not check it out)
More info on their website.
NOTE: i had to split the post due to space limitation.
Info about the most transparent companies is above. Info about less & no transparent companies is in PART II - link below
PART II - less and no transparent companies (INW, CAP, FW, HG and others)
! Great overall info about other ingredients
Sugars, Oils, Corn Syrup, Acids, etc - all flavors of about 10 vendors - check it here. Thx @iVapeDIY
! Sugars, Syrups, etc
Some info on Reddit and Vapingunderground
! Sucralose (SPLENDA)
Good info here (thx @iVapeDIY)
Another here (thx iVapeDIY)
! Furfuryl Alcohol
This is another example why transparency is in every vaper’s interest. Fortunately we have a fully transparent company like TFA to get those info (note: we have no idea IF and at what levels Furfuryl Alcohol is present in flavorings of other companies).
Furfuryl Alcohol is used in these TPA flavors
@Daath’s thread. @Batboy141 says it’s a major risk here. Reddit thread here.
Furfuryl alcohol was added to California’s Proposition 65 list of carcinogens last year Link
! ! ! Butyric Acid
Diketone-free liquids with Butyric Acid may make things more dangerous Link
Good source of information about flavor safety (not about DAAP) is here.
Final thoughts (my opinion below):
We have two types of companies:
(1) those who have nothing to hide and who publicly provide all the information to their customers. Their stance may help make vaping even safer in the future and these companies are beneficial for vaping community in the future.
(2) Those who don’t publicly provide any info about diketones and/or harmful substances used in their flavors (ignoring their customers). If a company can’t find benefits of sharing information with their consumers publicly, then a message is clear = we don’t want any transparency, we don’t want to show what you are vaping, we don’t want to take any responsibility for your vaping our products.
I should explicitly say that i am not a diketone gestapo and this is not i-hate-diketones thread (it is about transparency and about levels of DAAP in their flavorings). Personally, i am using many flavors with diketones and hardly any of my mixes is DAAP free. Overall i’m much more concerned about oils, sugars, syrups, aspartame, artificial flavoring, GMO in my flavorings.
But still i wish companies will soon become more transparent about the ingredients in their flavors and stop hiding things / ignoring their customers. A flavor full of diketones may not be damaging at all, but the attitude of hiding things and non-transparent policy IS always poisonous (not just for individuals, but for the whole industry, for the public opinion, for the regulators, for those who fear, etc, not just in vaping industry, but overall). This ignorance makes me questioning about what are they hiding? Could i trust them and their products if they themselves don’t trust their products enough to speak about them publicly?
How can we help make vaping even safer?
For me, reportings about DAAP levels, oils, sugars, corn syrup, aspartame, GMO are a must and that’s why my ratings will always be 1/5 stars for non-transparent products. I can imagine that when dozens of vapers will do the same, all those companies will be forced to become more transparent due to under-average ratings / lower sells / bad reputation and they will finally stop ignoring their customers.
More importantly, this may make vaping even safer in the future (before Diacetyl fun club attacks this sentence… we all know what garbage was in liquids in the past and how much better it is now; the industry was forced to change; this wouldn’t happen without some transparency and public awareness and we would still be vaping oils, sugars and added Diacetyl, right?). And if it’s even safer and more transparent, then voice of vapers can be heard even more (maybe resulting in less regulations and gaining better public opinion).
Transparency is driving changes, helps finding new and better solutions faster and it is always good for users (not just for vaping, but also for food, chemical and all other industries).
I’m looking forward to any other information about flavors / manufacturers / reports. Also, there’s quite some text and poorly worded information - please inform me about those; together we can make the overall information much more useful. Thx.
Disclaimer: I am is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein. This report and comparisons discussed are intended solely for information purposes. I cannot guarantee the validity of the information found in this thread. The content of any given information or company may be incomplete, recently changed, vandalized or altered.
The content and references to manufacturers, their products or transparency are provided “as is” without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. No written information or advice given will create a warranty and you may not rely on any such information or advice. Any use of this information is at your own risk. If you need specific advice, please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.