Plant-Based Vapes

While specific ingredients in any particular plant-based vape will vary based on the manufacturer, as well as the exact variety or vape flavor within a manufacturer’s lineup, what you'll typically find are botanical extracts or herbs (things like chamomile, lavender, lemongrass, peppermint, and many, many others), flavorings and perhaps spices.

Some vapes, known as “functional vapes,” might contain active ingredients designed to produce some sort of health benefit.

In these vapes, you might find vitamins, amino acids, melatonin, caffeine, or other naturally occurring ingredients that are considered beneficial to your mind or body.

You'll also find a carrier liquid. This liquid will typically comprise a blend of vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol.

Vegetable glycerin is mainly responsible for the vapor cloud you experience when vaping, while propylene glycol is the liquid primarily responsible for the ‘throat hit’ sensation you feel.

Again, while specific ingredients may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, one thing you won't typically find in a plant-based vape is nicotine — which we’re assuming you'd like to avoid.

Plant-based vapes may be vegan, but they're not always vegan. Despite the name, a plant-based vape may contain ingredients that push it out of the strictly vegan category.

Most of the typical ingredients in a plant-based vape — like botanical extracts, herbs, or flavorings derived from plants — would likely be considered vegan.

Even the carriers used in most plant-based vapes that don't contain nicotine — vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol — are derived from plants and would therefore be considered vegan.

However, some manufacturers may use carriers that are not vegan, include flavorings or other ingredients that are not vegan, or use various ingredients derived from animals, which obviously would make them non-vegan.

As always, your best bet is to thoroughly read the list of ingredients for any vape you're considering. Also, look for labels on the brand’s packaging. Most manufacturers are eager to let people know when their products are vegan-friendly.

ARRØ vapes, naturally! Yes, we're biased, but we have good reason to be. Every ARRØ device that leaves our production facility is 100% free of nicotine, vitamin E acetate, diacetyl, formaldehyde, and all of the other nasty ingredients you might find in other brands’ vapes.

That's what's not in an ARRØ. What about what is in an ARRØ?

Here, too, our brand excels. Every ARRØ disposable vape contains only the best plant-based ingredients — from the vegetable-based glycerine that acts as the carrier agent to the fruit extracts we use for flavoring.

For more information, check out our deep-dive on The Best Plant Based Vapes.

While no one can say for sure that any vape — even a plant-powered vape — is always going to be 100% safe for 100% of people, plant-powered vapes are generally considered at least as healthy as any other vape that doesn't contain nicotine.

And they’re almost certainly going to be healthier and better for you than any vape with nicotine. Nicotine is harmful to your body all by itself.

However, even though a vape is derived from plants or botanical ingredients, that doesn’t mean it will be entirely safe for you. Everyone reacts differently.

Given the wide variety of ingredients that can be included in any vape, you will have to do a little bit of light homework to make the best choice for you.

One of the first things you want to consider is the manufacturer’s reputation. Does the brand have plenty of reviews? Has it been around long, or is it completely new to the market?

Is it upfront about the ingredients that it puts in its products? Or does it try to obscure the exact nature of the inputs? These questions can help you determine if a particular vape is safe.

Beyond standard considerations like these, consider any ingredients to which you may be allergic or sensitive.

For example, if you're sensitive to caffeine, and a couple of cups of coffee typically have you bouncing off the walls, a vape that contains caffeine — even if it's plant-based — might be harmful to you personally.

A good general rule of thumb is this: if you can't tolerate a particular ingredient outside of a vape or wouldn’t eat it if put on a plate, you want to avoid it when it's inside a vape.

For more information about health and safety, check out Are Plant-Based Vapes Safe?

No one really knows of any severe side effects that are specific to plant-based vapes that wouldn't also apply to other kinds of vapes as well.

In fact, there are probably a lot fewer — as long as the vape in question is nicotine-free. Nicotine consumption causes an entire set of nasty side effects that apply to it, and it alone, including high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

But assuming the vape in question doesn't contain nicotine, possible general side effects might include standard vape-caused issues like mild throat or lung irritation, which can lead to shortness of breath or coughing.

Also, as mentioned above, you might have specific allergy concerns. You can lessen the potential for these side effects by avoiding any vape that contains a substance that you may be allergic to outside of vaping.

Finally, remember that vaping is still relatively new, so there hasn’t been enough time to study its long-term effects fully.

For more about nic-free vaping, see our article on the Pros and Cons of Vaping without Nicotine.