Johnson Creek Enterprises Report

Please note: some portions of this docu-
ment have been blacked out to protect con-

fidential information that does not affect
the results or interpretation of the testing.
Thank you for your understanding.
-Johnson Creek Enterprises, LLC
Characterization of Liquid “Smoke Juice” for

Electronic Cigarettes
prepared for
Johnson Creek Enterprises

Johnson Creek, WI
© Alliance Technologies, LLC 2009

www.alliancetechgroup.com
info@alliancetechgroup.com
732.355.1234 (ph)
Alliance Technologies, LLC
1 Deer Park Drive, Suite D
Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852
732.355.1234 (ph) / 438.8265 (fx)
15 July 2009
Client: Johnson Creek Enterprises
320 N Watertown St. Suite F
Johnson Creek, WI 53038
Requestor: Robert Kieckbush
Study: Characterization of Liquid “Smoke Juice” for Electronic

Cigarettes
LIMS #: 20090187
SUMMARY
A liquid “smoke juice” formulation used in electronic cigarettes was tested by gas
chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to identify the ingredients in the
mixture and their relative concentrations. In addition, vapor produced from an
electronic cigarette containing this smoke juice was assayed to compare the
relative smoke composition to that of the liquid.
EXPERIMENTAL
One sample of smoke juice and some blank cartridges were submitted for these
experiments. The smoke juice and vapors generated from the cartridges infused
with this smoke juice were characterized by gas chromatography mass
spectrometry. The samples were designated as follows:
Table I: Sample Designations

LIMS # Client ID Description
20090187-01 Blank Mini "103" Premium Cartridges Johnson Creek Cartridges
20090187-02 Original smoke juice 15 ml Johnson Creek Smoke Juice
A Liberty Stix brand “smokeless nicotine mist cigarette” (Figure 1) was used as per
the product instructions to produce the nicotine mist or vapor while 2 dilutions of
the smoke juice were prepared in order to estimate the ingredients of the juice or
collected vapors.
To capture the vapor emitted from an assembled Liberty Stix cigarette containing
the Johnson Creek smoke juice, a 40ml evacuated gastight vial was used to draw
R20090187 Smoke Juice.doc CONFIDENTIAL 2 of 6

732.355.1234 (ph) / 438.8265 (fx)

air through the Liberty Stix device and into the vial. The white vapor produced
was captured and diluted with a solvent prior to GC-‐MS analysis.
Each of the prepared samples was characterized on a Shimadzu 2010S GC-‐MS

instrument equipped with a ZB-‐5HT (Phenomenex) high temperature capillary
column. Observed peaks were identified based on spectral matches with
commercial MS libraries. Relative concentrations were estimated from the peak
areas.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION

A Total Ion Chromatogram (TIC) of a 1:100 diluted sample of the smoke juice
(20090187-‐01) is shown in Figure 2. Since the concentration of propylene glycol
(the first large peak) was significantly higher than the other ingredients, a second
dilution was prepared to quantify the propylene glycol. Figure 3 shows the 1:1000
diluted sample overlaid with a 0.1% propylene glycol standard. Spectral library
matches identified 3 ingredients – propylene glycol, glycerin, and nicotine – with
retention times of about 3 minutes, 7 minutes and 11 minutes respectively.
The captured vapor dissolved in solvent resulted in the chromatogram shown in

(Figure 4). Since the concentrations of glycerin and nicotine were much smaller
than the propylene glycol and even more dilute in the vapors compared to the
liquid smoke juice, single ion monitoring (SIM) was used to enhance the signal of
each ingredient and estimate their relative concentrations (Figure 5).
Table II summarizes the estimated relative % of each ingredient in the smoke

liquid and the extracted vapors. This analysis assumed that all of the volatile
components were observed in the GC-‐MS analysis and that the sensitivity of the
detector to each compound was similar.
General hazard and toxicity data were taken from published literature and a
report titled
MSDS
information for each material is provided at the end of this report. Online
resources for additional safety or toxicity information can be found for the 3
ingredients here:
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?sid=24898528#safety
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?sid=24895092
http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?sid=24862741
or on Toxnet (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/index.html).

732.355.1234 (ph) / 438.8265 (fx)
Figure 1: Smoke Juice Sample & Cartridge with Electronic Cigarette
Figure 2: TIC of Smoke Juice (1:100 dilution)

20090187-02
TIC of 20090187-02 1:100 dilution
9000000
8000000
7000000
6000000
5000000
Intensity
4000000
3000000
2000000
1000000
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Retention Time (min)

732.355.1234 (ph) / 438.8265 (fx)
Figure 3: TIC of Smoke Juice (1:1000 dilution) vs. 0.1% Propylene Glycol Standard
TIC of 20090187-02 1:1000 dilution vs. 0.1% Propylene Glycol standard
600000 20090187-02
0.1% Propylene Glycol
500000
400000
Intensity
300000
200000
100000
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Figure 4: TIC of Captured Vapor from Johnson Creek Smoke Juice

TIC of Captured Vapors 20090187-01
600000
500000
400000
Intensity
300000
200000
100000
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Retention time (min)

732.355.1234 (ph) / 438.8265 (fx)

Figure 5: Composite SIM Chromatogram of Captured Vapor from Johnson Creek Smoke Juice.
TIC and SIM of Captured Vapors Propylene Glycol
Glycerin
100000
Nicotine
90000
80000
70000
60000
Intensity
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Table II: TIC Peak Report for Sample 20090187-‐01

% in Smoke Juice % in Vapors
# Name CAS No. Comments*
(Peak Area %) (Peak Area %)
Not currently recognized as
giving any health hazards.
Suspected respiratory toxicant,
Propylene
1 99.1 57-‐55-‐6 suspected skin or sense organ
Glycol
toxicant, suspected
neurotoxicant and
immunotoxicant
2 Glycerin 0.46 56-‐81-‐5 Non-‐hazardous
R23 = Toxic by inhalation

R24 = Toxic in contact with skin
R25 = Toxic if swallowed
R51/53 = Toxic to aquatic
3 Nicotine 0.44 23950-‐04-‐01
organisms, may cause long-‐
term adverse effects in the
aquatic environment.
Poison – may be fatal if inhaled
*cf. report

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Please note: some portions of this docu-

ment have been blacked out to protect con-

Characterization of Liquid “Smoke Juice” for

Johnson Creek Enterprises

© Alliance Technologies, LLC 2009

Requestor: Robert Kieckbush

Study: Characterization of Liquid “Smoke Juice” for Electronic

Table I: Sample Designations

20090187-01 Blank Mini "103" Premium Cartridges Johnson Creek Cartridges

20090187-02 Original smoke juice 15 ml Johnson Creek Smoke Juice

R20090187 Smoke Juice.doc CONFIDENTIAL 2 of 6

Each of the prepared samples was characterized on a Shimadzu 2010S GC-‐MS

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

The captured vapor dissolved in solvent resulted in the chromatogram shown in

Table II summarizes the estimated relative % of each ingredient in the smoke

R20090187 Smoke Juice.doc CONFIDENTIAL 3 of 6

Figure 1: Smoke Juice Sample & Cartridge with Electronic Cigarette

Figure 2: TIC of Smoke Juice (1:100 dilution)

Retention Time (min)

R20090187 Smoke Juice.doc CONFIDENTIAL 4 of 6

Retention Time (min)

Figure 4: TIC of Captured Vapor from Johnson Creek Smoke Juice

Retention time (min)

R20090187 Smoke Juice.doc CONFIDENTIAL 5 of 6

Retention Time (min)

Table II: TIC Peak Report for Sample 20090187-‐01

2 Glycerin 0.46 56-‐81-‐5 Non-‐hazardous

R23 = Toxic by inhalation

R20090187 Smoke Juice.doc CONFIDENTIAL 6 of 6

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