This is currently the front runner. I like tictacs. A couple of others have mentioned it here & on other threads. Thanks
Smoking tobacco is indeed horrendously harmful. However it is tightly controlled, when bought in this country from legitimate firms (who are tightly regulated), the chances of it being sold to me laced with something not on the EU list of accepted ingredients or at a level that exceeds what is allowed are close to zero. We know what is in tobacco, as bad as it is for us.
Because someone smokes, or is an alcoholic or makes another unhealthy lifestyle choice, that in no way makes their defence of their right to source a safe regulated alternative moot.
Someone trying to give up tobacco has no right to attempt to ensure the alternative she has chosen is safe, seriously?
Asking me who is morally to blame for the Govt of China having such an appalling safety record. That has got nothing to do with me, or my desire to use safe e-liquid sources.
So to your other questions - why am I here? - the same reason as all the other wannabe ex smokers who come here I expect. A decision I'm starting to regret. Pity, because it appears to be a great forum, & most people have been really helpful & informative.
Why don't I use NRT? I don't feel comfortable discussing what medical interventions I have & haven't tried with you.
I have not in any way tried to infringe on those who sell or buy unregulated e-liquid. I have not condemned them in any way. I simply made it clear that I was personally seeking something regulated. And for that, I get you two kicking off at me, in a thread asking for menthol recommendations. And pretty much saying I shouldn't be here by virtue of my wanting to source regulated supplies. I completely understand if you have a beef about the recent threatened legislation to ban e-cigarettes or make it impossible for vendors to operate. I don't support much of what they tried to bring in. Having a go at me won't change anything. Lobbying them might.
Anyway this is clearly going to keep dragging on. It isn't fair on the other users of the forum & as has been rightly pointed out I'm the outsider here. So I'll just bow out of the thread completely.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone especially the Wizmix/EcigWizard ones. Very much appreciated & for the equipment stuff the other day.
First of all, welcome to the forum, secondly though I think you are taking the context of responses a bit too personally and perhaps should step back and look at the wider picture a little. There is no need to think of yourself as an outsider and I am sure that no-one is considering you one either - you put up a thread asking for recommendations which immediately opens the door for discussion on any points you raise but there was an inference that some artisan and gourmet eliquid producers are perhaps substandard in some way. You will find most of the threads on any forum will expand in this way.
Most of the larger chinese brands are full bioscience labs so in that respect they are pretty well regulated to a point, they have all the testing and metering equipment - are they as good as some of the non-regulated UK made brands, as a rule, no.
You mention DEG, well yes we also had the DEG thing in the ecig industry too and when it was discovered by the science bods that work tirelessly on our behalf we worked proactively to ensure that products were free of it, this is ongoing with other chemicals and compounds too. From experience, the more reputable vendors work harder to ensure safety and standards are kept high than in most other industries, we are under the microscope and it benefits no-one to tarnish the good name of vaping when the EU are bent on killing off a thriving growth industry.
That being said, there are no real accessible testing regulations available to most vendors and I am certain that if some were available the majority would volunteer their products. When you are talking about gourmet eliquid you are talking about small batch, often labour of love recipes that are not done on a mass scale that can justify expensive testing or even expensive membership of ECITA (yes it is far too expensive for most small businesses)
Personally speaking I have a background in R&D chemicals, having worked in recipe creation and adjustment for a little while (many years ago). My area of focus was cleaning and maintenance chemicals and the plant I worked in would create huge vats of each batch, thousands of gallons at a time, samples were selected and tested and even then the management complained about how expensive it was to do so. Now as a result of my chem background I am pretty comfortable working with eliquids but am not regulated and unless a law is passed that specifically forbids me producing them without regs OR the testing procedure and process becomes available and commonplace (ie affordable to do so) I will continue to develop flavours for sale and will rely on customer feedback to let others know yay or nay on quality. We as an industry do not have the benefit of long term results in any case, as long as we buy from reputable sources with ingredients that are currently thought to be safe we will not know the results for some time anyway - in any case they are known to be a damn site safer than lit tobacco and the likes of varenicline which are regulated and widely sold.
Not being regulated does not equate in this case to lack of safety or even substandard process or materials, infact there are many of the mass produced brands out there that are pretty much below par flavour and quality wise compared to those who are developing gourmet ranges and you are missing out on a wide variety of incredible juices IMHO.
You also mention that tobacco is tightly controlled. I would like for you to list the additives and ingredients that are put into (for example) the top three brands in the UK if you can. You won't be able to of course because the tobacco companies do not disclose them and as such how can they be controlled or regulated? What they can test for is uniformity in their quality but then again when you have so much money that creating your own industry standard and regulation is a relatively cheap affair - it does help the masses believe that they are getting the absolute best in their known killer product though I suppose. Again back to varenicline, this has been regulated and announced as a safe to use drug - it is far from that in any way, yet still given out to people by the medical profession because Pharma companies PAY doctors to do so.
NRT - 4 chemicals make up an average e-liquid, add another 23 to that same 4 and you have a Nicorette Quickmist. Nicorette are tightly regulated though so inhaling Hydrochloric acid laced eliquid is absolutely safer than the solution without the HCI I guess (sarcasm hat on of course). The inclusion of Dexketoprofen trometamol is probably to counter the effect of the acid which is there to increase throat hit most likely - but so is the Anhydrous Ethanol, so why include all these additional chemicals?
Please do not take this as a dig or attack but merely pointing out that the regulation on Pharma and Tobacco products may mean that it is uniform - but it does not indicate that is is safe or safer than other alternatives.
Back to flavours though:
As has been mentioned, menthol asylum is pretty nice but is one of only a few in the WizMix range that I feel is worth stocking, if you want something with a bit of a difference you could do much worse than T-Juice Red Astaire which is incredible and from a reputable manufacturer. I doubt you would want my new liquid though when it is released next month, due the fact I am not regulated in any way - it is a cooling and sharp citrus menthol with peppermint and I think it is a lovely cool menthol with a zing but not overly cold.
