Even After Humidifier Disinfectant Nightmare? Mixing Alcohol and Cola into Vapes with No Way to Know the Risks

An e-cigarette shop in Seoul.

[Many customers buy these.]

Promoting a popular product recently, the clerk says:

[Shop Employee: You can mix alcohol, you can mix beverages, you can mix orange juice. Then it shows the percentage. The nicotine percentage.]

The employee even demonstrates by pouring cola into the device.

[Shop Employee: Smoking it like direct-to-lung vaping, direct-to-lung. You draw it in for a long time. Smoking it like a hookah, so it's less harmful to the human body.]

Marketed with the pitch that users can enjoy "their own recipes," this device works by placing one's mouth on the mouthpiece and inhaling. The built-in e-liquid is heated, and the resulting aerosol is delivered together as it passes through the beverage.

Alcohol, cola, and even caffeine-rich energy drinks can be poured into the device and inhaled.

Nicotine can also be added, but the product sales website only discloses a battery safety confirmation report, with no information regarding its potential harm to the human body.

[Choi Chang-min / Professor, Department of Pulmonology, Asan Medical Center: Even if consuming them orally causes no problems, the lungs are extremely sensitive tissues with numerous blood vessels, so nobody knows what kind of damage might be caused. Inhaling substances like narcotics could also lead to major social problems.]

The device importer claims that the product itself does not contain nicotine, making it safer than liquid e-cigarettes.

However, health authorities maintain that caution is necessary because products advertised as nicotine-free may actually contain nicotine or other unverified chemical substances.

[Nam In-soon / National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee Member (Democratic Party): (Overseas), even if they are nicotine-free, cases where they vaporize and are directly inhaled into the lungs are regulated. I think safety inspections are necessary, but because they are in a legal blind spot....]

Countries such as Canada and the European Union regulate all liquid inhalation products as e-cigarettes, regardless of whether they contain nicotine.

In response to inquiries regarding the safety of the products, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated that products not using nicotine as a raw material cannot be classified as tobacco, and therefore fall outside its jurisdiction.

(Photo: Yonhap News)

Reported by Park Ha-jung | Produced by Lee Seyoung | Camera Filming by Kim Yong-woo | Video Editing by An Yeojin | Design by Kang Yun-jung | VJ by Shin So-young | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.