OK, so the Solubarome saga goes like this - I hope you're nice and comfy, it's a bit long but it does have pictures...
I'd ordered a few of their flavours before, quite liked the raspberry, so decided to get pretty much one of all their other fruit flavours. When the box turned up, I had a total of 31 SA concentrates and was like a kid in a sweet shop, except one who's allowed to sniff and lick stuff, which I did. I noticed on the Rose Naturelle label it said 'huile de toumesol'. A quick google later, and I now know this stuff has sunflower oil in it. Well, that's no good. We've all heard about diacetyl, acetoin etc. but there is a (small) risk of lipoid pneumonia from vaping oil.
I shoot SA an email in terrible French, asking what the deal is with the oil in the Rose, why it has bits in, do they have an MSDS for it and also why the Peche de Vigne is so neon-coloured.
The reply was:
'you've got the food version, the vapeable one is PG and doesn't have oil, you've put the wrong one in your basket.
The colouring in the peche is natural, it's safe to vape.'
So they didn't respond to the question about MSDS or the bits floating in it, nor did they do a quick check of my order history. I think that says quite a lot. I emailed them back pointing out I made no such error and linking to my order on their very own website. I asked whether perhaps they had sent me the wrong one. The reply came:
'Yes, it's a labelling error, we print the labels on the day of dispatch and mistakes can happen.
But the stock is well separated.'
Hmm, I think to myself, that sounds to me very much like a vendor trying to get out of resending or refunding. So I'll test that no-oil theory by the simple means of dropping some in some water.
The result:
Looks like oil to me. So I did the same test on the Citron Jaune and Mandarin flavours they sent me, with similar results:
Definitely oil. What's going on? I sent them another email with those pics, told them they were mislabelling their products, which is not only a bit illegal but could have potentially very serious health consequences.
No reply.
I do another round of tests on all my SA flavours. Interesting results. 6, possibly 7, of the flavours I have tested positive for oil. Ouch!
Time for another email, as my blood pressure has hit the roof, gone beyond and is possibly now orbiting Mars. I told them about the other flavours and gave them a link to Dr Farsalinos' comments on lipoid pneumonia. The answer was as has been posted above:
"la rose naturel contient de l'absolue naturel de rose qui est grasse, mais le support est le propylène glycol à 95%
et les citrons et oranges contiennes des bases naturelles qui sont grasses mais à 2 % MAXI sur propylène glycol"
roughly translated by me as:
"the rose naturelle contains natural rose absolut which is oil, but it's suspended in 95% PG
And the lemons and oranges contain natural bases which are oil, but only a max of 2% in PG"
So, what, does that mean the Rose is 5% oil? And the citrus ones 2%? If they know about this, why the freak didn't they put this on the label, and why did they lie to me in their previous mails?? My blood pressure has now left the solar system on is its way to a brave new universe.
I emailed them back, saying they're mislabeling, health risks and so on, and I want a refund or resend. Their last email to me was this morning and they've agreed to resend me stuff and, for some reason, print labels in English. I'm going to reply shortly and state very clearly I want no blinkin' oil in anything whatsoever.
So there you have it. There's oil in some Solubarome concentrates, at unknown and varying levels, confirmed (eventually) by the manufacturers themselves, no allegedly about it. Now, the risks of lipoid pneumonia may be small, as I understand it you'd have to be vaping rather large amounts. But what if I'd developed a recipe so luscious, divine and delectable that I'd vaped 10ml of it all day every day for the next 5 years? I don't know, neither do they, but it's a risk I'd like to be able to take with the best knowledge available, and that includes whether it's got smegging oil in it.
My beef with them is they should put it on the label if they're selling it as for vaping, which they are, explicitly. Better yet, not use oil at all. If they can manage to do everything diacetyl-free and get themselves in compliance with whatever EU Directive they're quoting, they can surely do the same for oil. But I don't really trust them now, and won't be buying from them again, personally. All I can do is share my experiences and give you the opportunity to make your own mind up.
The flavours I personally found oil in are:
Citron Jaune
Mandarine
Yuzu
Guava
Pear
Rose Naturelle
Possibly also Biscuit Note
I've heard from other mixery colleagues that there's oil in:
Basil
Lime
Grapefruit
Absinthe
Tested as not containing oil by me:
Orange (Grand Marnier)
Pomme Amour
Strawberry
Lychee
Mango (went cloudy in water)
Melon
Pineapple (fresh)
Cassis
Vanilla
Vanilla Tahiti
Blueberry (Myrtille, although they put menthol in for some reason)
Maple Syrup
Peche de Vigne
Green Tea
Red Grape (although this is grape soda, not natural grape flavour)
Lotus Flower
Bamboo
Chocolate Noir Extreme
Caramel
Raspberry
Crepe
Blackberry
Elderflower
Passionfruit
Sorry for the epic saga-length post
