Botanical Blends and Energy Boosts: The New Wave of Functional Vaping

The vaping market has taken an odd turn over the last few years. Where e-cigarettes used to be relatively universal-utilized products, a new class of vaping products has emerged whose intended uses are more closely related to the general notion of health and wellness; a topic that is not usually linked with those craving methods and products. Often marketed as a way of inhaling a source of vitamins, caffeine, or other botanicals with the aim of achieving a specific effect, these products exist in a space between a traditional vape and a supplement.

What Is Functional Vaping?

Functional vaping refers to vaping products that are intended to be used in a specific manner. Rather than a general vape that is used to satisfy an urge to consume tobacco (or another substance), functional vapes are often infused with ingredients whose intended use is to achieve the effect of using them. These ingredients can include botanicals, essential oils, caffeine, and even ingredients that may otherwise act to produce a certain effect. These ingredients often intend to achieve goals as simple as boosting the user’s energy or focus, helping them to relax, and any effect in between.

This is an incredible shift from the more traditional use of these devices. Instead of their existence as a product more focused on smoking cessation, these devices are often marketed more like a different type of product altogether.

Caffeine as an Ingredient

Caffeine-infused vapes are one of the most common product lines available on the market. The idea is simple enough: rather than consuming caffeine through a traditional source, individuals can rely on an inhalable source of the same compound. Companies such as HealthVape.com often sell vapes that they market as containing high levels of caffeine along with other botanicals — but not tobacco or sugar; ingredients that may otherwise help to increase the clarity and focus of consumers.

The appeal of these caffeine vapes lies in their sheer convenience. Caffeine absorbs within the human body at an incredibly quick speed when individuals vape it, much more so than if they relied on other sources of consumption. A caffeine vape stands as the perfect option for individuals hoping to consume something that will increase their energy levels rapidly that does not have the same calories or sugars as a traditional source of caffeine — such as soda or coffee.

Botanicals with Specific Effects

Caffeine-infused vapes are not the only product to gain traction in the vape product market. Manufacturers have also begun to release products that are infused with different ingredients, including botanical ingredients. The products are often composed of blends of essential oils or other botanicals that may have an effect that is in line with that company’s desired outcome for the product; formulas that intend to boost the clarity of an individual’s thoughts may include products like peppermint or eucalyptus oil, and those who are interested in promoting the relaxation of the user may include ingredients like lavender or chamomile. Other compounds, like passionflower, have also been included for this specific reason.

The reasons these ingredients are included may be arbitrary in certain situations, even if they can appear that way to the untrained eye. Most formulas have been extensively reviewed by those interested in the relationships between different botanicals and their effects on the mind, mood, cognition, stress levels, and much more. The only difference between these forms of inclusion is the delivery system that has been chosen to trigger these well-known effects in the population that uses these products.

Differences from Traditional Use

There may not be many differences between functional vapes and traditional e-cigarette vapes when looking at them with untrained eyes. In practice, however, the differences between these classes of vapes are actually more numerous than they may first appear.

Traditional vapes are utilized as a substitute for traditional cigarettes; traditional cigarettes are used to curb the users’ cravings for tobacco, nicotine, or other active agents. Functional vapes are not marketed to help achieve the same outcome; they are marketed to provide the user with something new that they may not have yet had.

Functional vapes do not contain tobacco-derived products, abstain from containing any active agents even similar to THC and CBD, and the active ingredients that they do contain are much more in line with those seen in traditional dietary supplements rather than other types of manufactured products. This is an interesting observation for those interested in these new classes of products; it indicates the many goals of these devices as opposed to those of traditional e-cigarette vapes.

A Source of Vitamins?

Vitamin-infused vapes are some of the newest, and most controversial, product categories in the health and wellness field. Many of those concerned about the use of vapes as a method of achieving the intake of vitamins may have reason to be concerned; lungs were not necessarily designed to absorb vitamins. There is also no current existing model of understanding that suggests that the conditions under which gases easily absorb into other substances should also be assumed relevant to the absorption of liquids and solids.

Those concerns aside, vitamin-infused vapes are often filled with water-soluble vitamins that are easily introduced into a product that is already composed of liquids. Such examples of these vitamins include B-complex vitamins.

Manufacturers who create vitamin-infused vapes often cite that lungs have an incredibly high surface area and absorb gases rapidly; whether or not this intake process would actually prove effective in allowing people to receive their necessary doses of vitamin is still a point of debate; it may not be necessary to discuss it any further though; users have already created a method of consumption that works for them.

The Target Audience

The audience that functional vapes target may be different than those who tend to use traditional devices. These “new” vapes tend to appeal more to audiences who are highly dedicated to their own health and wellness, and who incorporate many different products that are technically viewed as dietary supplements. These two audiences may not overlap at all; many individuals who have never previously smoked traditional cigarettes may stand as part of this new product’s target audience.

One interesting potential overlap stands between the group that is interested in functional vapes and those who some refer to as “biohackers.” Biohacking refers to the practice in which individuals search for odd and unusual methods of increasing their performance in their daily tasks. Many individuals who may fall into that category may choose to vape a caffeine-infused formula before they begin their workouts, decide to switch to a focus-boosting formula during their work hours, and then decide to switch to a relaxation formula before bed. These devices are becoming one of the many new “tools” that people incorporate into their biohacking communities and ideals.

Quality Control

Functional vaping, as with any product that gains a rapid surge in the population interested in those product types, also faces many of the same issues regarding products with different qualities. Reputable companies include extensive information about their products, formulas, and quality; Consumers can read ingredient lists, see the results of third-party testing practices, and more. The ingredients themselves that companies incorporate into their functional vapes matter much more than manufacturers may think or realize; different ingredients can sometimes feel like random mixtures on the shelves of dietary supplements.

Many acceptable products contain products that have been carefully derived from nature rather than companies that create new ingredients from scratch and incorporate them into their products; companies that decide to create non-accepted products may have to deal with the backlash of those who they expect to use them.

An Integrated Approach

An interesting new avenue that appears to be emerging from the production and use of functional vapes is the incorporation of these devices into an “integrated approach” that combines different devices and tools that some refer to as “strategies” within the biohacking communities or forums. Many individuals may vape a path-specific functional vape during their work hours while also taking pills or using apps that allow them to keep track of different aspects of their health. If these devices remain beneficial and do not lose their positive effects on the health and productivity of those who use them, they may become one mainstay within this relatively new community rather than just another passing fad.