Over the past few years, there has been a major change in the vaping industry as all of the world’s top manufacturers have begun manufacturing Tobacco-Free Nicotine (TFN) vape juice.
Also known as synthetic nicotine, TFN differs from the nicotine that was previously used in e-liquid in that it’s synthesized in a laboratory rather than being extracted from tobacco leaves. Although the switch to synthetic nicotine represents a major change for the vaping industry, nothing will change significantly for you as an end user because TFN vape juice tastes and feels essentially the same as e-liquid with tobacco-derived nicotine.
So, what is TFN vape juice, and why has the industry made this change? Let’s get you up to speed.
What Vape Juice Brands Are Using TFN?
In the United States, virtually all major e-liquid brands are using TFN as of 2024. So, when if you go to buy Naked 100 vape flavors, you’ll be getting vape juice with synthetic nicotine. Because a large portion of the world’s vape juice is made in the USA, many of the e-liquids on store shelves in other countries now use TFN as well.
Unless the vape juice that you normally buy is a smaller brand that’s only available locally or regionally, there’s a good chance that you’re already using e-liquid with synthetic nicotine and have been for a while.
How Is TFN Vape Juice Made?
The pathway toward creating synthetic nicotine in a lab has to do with the molecular similarity between niacin – vitamin B3, in other words – and nicotine. That’s right; the difference between a required nutrient and one of the world’s most addictive stimulants only amounts to a handful of atoms.
Niacin, in fact, is also called nicotinic acid. Getting from niacin to nicotine requires exposing it to a few chemical catalysts. The catalysts progressively convert the niacin to ethyl nicotinate, myosmine, nornicotine, and eventually nicotine.
It’s a fairly complicated process, but it’s become less expensive over time because the demand for synthetic nicotine from the vaping and pharmaceutical industries has skyrocketed.
Although many people use the term “TFN” generically to refer to any vape liquid with synthetic nicotine, the truth is that the term is actually trademarked by a company called Next Generation Labs, which developed its technique for synthesizing nicotine in 2015 and later patented it. Although it has been available for nearly a decade at this point, the widespread use of synthetic nicotine is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Why Are Vape Juice Companies Using TFN?
The reason why TFN vape juice has become so common is twofold. Part of the impetus behind the switch is actually symbolic because the independent vaping industry has always wanted to distance itself from the tobacco industry to the furthest extent possible.
The elimination of natural nicotine means that e-liquids with synthetic nicotine contain no tobacco or tobacco derivatives whatsoever. Many e-liquid brands have actually wanted to use tobacco-free nicotine for a long time, but switching over would have been too expensive because the price for synthetic nicotine was too high. Now that the production methods have been refined, e-liquid brands have been able to make the switch with essentially no price hit to consumers.
The other reason for the switch to synthetic nicotine is that doing so may ease certain regulatory challenges for the vaping industry – particularly in the United States. In the US, the regulatory authorities treat all products with natural nicotine in exactly the same way. In other words, vaping products are essentially the same as cigarettes from the government’s point of view.
It was the industry’s hope that the switch to synthetic nicotine would provide the impetus for the government to develop separate regulations that would be more favorable toward reduced-harm products.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Congress slipped verbiage into the 2022 Omnibus Bill that granted the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate all nicotine products, regardless of the nicotine’s source.
It is common for regulators to add these types of provisions to omnibus bills because doing so allows for the immediate passage of potentially controversial laws without debate. Omnibus bills must pass because they provide the funding that allows the federal government to operate.
Nevertheless, the industry’s switch to synthetic nicotine was already complete by that time, and the use of tobacco-free nicotine still has a chance to help foster a friendlier regulatory environment in other nations.
Does TFN Feel or Taste Different from Natural Nicotine?
In practice, synthetic nicotine doesn’t feel or taste different from natural nicotine. Some e-liquid companies have advertised tobacco-free nicotine as a purer product that’s free from trace tobacco-derived contaminants and has a better flavor as a result. While those statements may technically be true, it’s important to remember that the naturally derived nicotine e-liquid companies used before the advent of synthetic nicotine was made for pharmaceutical use and was already over 99 percent pure.
If anything, you might notice that TFN vape juice has a slightly cleaner flavor. Because most e-liquids are so strongly flavored already, though, it’s more likely that you won’t notice a difference at all if you switch from an e-liquid with tobacco-derived nicotine to one with synthetic nicotine. In fact, it’s likely that your favorite vape juice brand has made the transition already, and you didn’t even realize it.
TFN Vape Juice Is the Vaping Industry’s Future
As of 2024, virtually every mainstream bottled e-liquid sold in the United States uses tobacco-free nicotine. Although the convenience store e-cigarettes produced by tobacco companies are still using tobacco-derived nicotine, it’s clear at this point that synthetic nicotine is the way forward for the independent vaping industry and that the industry isn’t ever going back.
For you, the switch to TFN vape juice isn’t going to change anything because your e-liquid is going to taste and feel the same as it did before. As we mentioned above, it’s likely that your favorite vape juice brand already made the jump to synthetic nicotine long ago. For the independent vaping industry, though, tobacco-free nicotine represents the severing of the last connection linking vaping to the tobacco products of the past.
