Today we are going to debunk five myths about one of our favorite things: menthol.
Before we talk about myths about menthol, let's talk about what menthol is. And menthol is an organic compound that's typically derived from certain vegetables and plants, the oil plants like corn, mint, peppermint, and others. So it's sort of like peppermint oil, but it's an extract so it's kind of concentrated, it comes in it's like raw, like pure state as a crystal.
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In vaping, typically it'll be in a solution typically of like PG got it which also makes it and then it dissolves into that solution. It can be made synthetically or derived from those oils, but most of it now these days is synthetically made.
There's no evidence that that happens at all. It says this myth has been around for a while and is also associated with closed flavors, but it's not true. There are some reasons that specifically menthol cigarettes might be worse than regular ones, which is just not true.
Yes, menthol is a crystal at first—but then it is put into a solution. So the only way it's going to crystallize again is if you break that solution, which you would have to add more menthol in so that the menthol concentration is greater than its solvent amount in the solution.
That said, when you introduce it to your lungs, which are a moist environment is going to become even more dilute and therefore is even less likely to go back to a crystal.
Learn more about menthol vape liquid and it's pros and cons.
So this myth likely came from a 2014 study where rats were given up to 40 milligrams of pure menthol per kilogram of weight every day for 45 days. For human being that works out to 3800 milligrams of pure menthol a day. For cough drops that’s about 22 bagfuls.
For 45 days, when the mice were given this much, there was a very slight decrease in certain kinds of sperm counts, but none of these changes were statistically significant. So basically, if you drown yourself and menthol like if you drink a liter of straight pure mental every single day for 45 days, your sperm might die. So that’s debunked.
This is definitely another one of those myths that comes from the usage cough drops and whatnot for certain singers or others taking it because the menthol sort of cools and it sort of numbs your throat. So it makes it feel good.
In lower doses, it can relieve irritation because it has that cooling numbing kind of equality. So specifically like singers who potentially are singing they've got kind of like a hoarse throat or something it can kind of like help them push through. Yeah, it can help in those situations.
It doesn't do anything magical. If you know you've got a scratchy throat or something, it can kind of numb your throat and the mental vapors will open up your nasal and your sinus passages to help you breathe more so that you can get more airflow which can kind of help you to help you project. So it will, in certain ways kind of alleviate assist you in performing.
This was more of a conspiracy theory. Apparently, there have been rumors floating around the cool brand of menthol cigarettes are secretly owned by KKK, but again there's no evidence to support this. The rumor seems to have arisen out of the statistical fact that the vast majority of menthol cigarette smokers are people of color—and so it might be people are thinking like “Oh, the KKK secretly trying to like, you know, hook African American people on cigarettes to take them out and kill them.” That’s some deep-state craziness.
Simply put, menthol is an additive. That means you have a normal cigarette with all of the normal bad cigarette stuff in it. And then you add menthol to it. You're basically taking a cigarette, and then just dipping it in an extra thing. Menthol actually is a very mild anesthetic.
According to a study published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmacology, there have been higher lung cancer rates found in smokers of menthol cigarettes. And studies have shown that it's most likely because of the numbing effects of menthol, which allow the smoker to inhale deeper and longer than with a regular cigarette thereby getting more carcinogens into your lungs.
