Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1022507
32 tobaccoasia / Issue 4, 2018 September / October By Thomas Schmid Flavoring specialist Eduardo Berea is the interna- tional sales manager of long-standing US compa- ny Alternative Ingredients, Inc. (AI) and a board member of CORESTA. AI supplies the vaping in- dustry with e-flavor concentrates and nicotine so- lutions (10% concentration in propylene glycol or glycerine, as well as 10:45:45 ratio mixes of nico- tine, propylene glycol, and glycerine, respectively), using pure USP-certified nicotine in the manu- facturing process. The most common nicotine concentrations in e-juices sold to end consumers are 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2% (corresponding to approxi- mately 6, 9, and 12 mg/ml, respectively) for open systems, according to Berea. He says that in terms of price "tobacco-de- rived [i.e. natural] nicotine is more competitive by a 10-fold or so" to synthetic nicotine. But he also extols natural nicotine's better flavor proper- ties, asserting that he "has yet to taste a synthetic Nicotine Suppliers to e-Juice Manufacturers Flavoring industry veteran Eduardo Berea of Alternative Ingredients, and Polish company Chemno- vatic fill in Tobacco Asia on the workings of nicotine manufacturers supplying the e-juice industry. The bases lab at Chemnovatic nicotine with a clean, neutral flavor profile." Berea adds that in terms of existing regulations in the US, it has been argued that because the tobacco act specifically regulates product derived from to- bacco only, synthetic nicotine would not fall under the CPT code. But then again… nicotine is a con- trolled substance anyway, so if synthetic nicotine is not classified as a "tobacco product", it might just as well end up being considered as a "pharma- ceutical product". "And I think that path [would be] much more challenging [with regards to FDA approval]," Berea analyzes. AI typically obtains most its nicotine supplies from either Europe or India. As the company re- quires REACH registration from its vendors, this has limited it to currently only three suppliers. Domestic vendors are used as backups. Ensuring that any nicotine it utilizes in its manufacturing processes complies with either USP or EUP gives