Tobacco-free nicotine (TFN) is nicotine that is created in a laboratory instead of being extracted from tobacco leaves. It is also known as synthetic nicotine. Most of the nicotine that is used in e-liquids was produced by cultivating tobacco and extracting the nicotine from the plant.
While it’s 100% nicotine, there are a few minor variations. Due to the nature of the synthetics of TFN, it is virtually impossible to have any component of a tobacco plant end as TFN’s final product. It can give an improved taste than nicotine derived from tobacco.
ARE THERE TOBACCO-FREE NICOTINE SALTS?
Yes. Nicotine salts are essentially pure nicotine that has been treated to ensure they are more like the nicotine present in tobacco plants. Similar processes could be applied to nicotine extracted from tobacco as well as nicotine from smoking. Therefore, nicotine salts that are tobacco-free exist.
WHY DIDN’T COMPANIES USE TOBACCO-FREE NICOTINE BEFORE?
The most basic reason that vape manufacturers haven’t used synthetic nicotine is because nicotine that is not tobacco-free tends to be more expensive than tobacco-derived nicotine. The technology of creating synthetic nicotine is relatively new. There is not as much infrastructure for creating nicotine from scratch as in comparison to the existing facilities that process tobacco plants.
WHY ARE VAPE COMPANIES SWITCHING TO SYNTHETIC NICOTINE NOW?
Presently in the present, the FDA is currently defining “any product made or derived from tobacco and intended for human consumption, including any component, part, or accessory of a tobacco product” as a tobacco item. The reason that the PMTA regulates electronic mods and cigarettes is because they’re intended to be used in conjunction with vape liquids that contain nicotine extracted from tobacco.
But vape liquids with nicotine that’s not made from tobacco aren’t included in this definition. Although the vape liquids are probably in the FDA authority, they appear to see synthetic nicotine as distinct and as something that should be controlled on the basis of a “case-by-case basis.”