Exactly how pure is Vector Butane?

I was dying to do some BHO runs the other day, but was stressing because I couldn't easily find this Vector Butane that everyone uses and says is so great because it's 5x filtered or whatever. BernzOmatic 'tane was available at both of the Lowe's within 7 miles of me, but a lot of folks say that's a shit brand and to stay away from it. Additionally, there are those rumors about ethyl mercaptans and that made my last minute search for butane all that more difficult.

So I did my own research and found the Materials Safety Data Sheets on several well known brands butane. As far as I know, companies HAVE to include any hazardous ingredients and their percentages that are in their products in these sheets, including butane, isobutane, ethyl mercaptans, propane, arsenic, etc.

Some people say n,butane is better than isobutane and vice versa, but I tend to believe that for solvent purposes, either does just as good as the other.

Regardless, here's what I found.

Vector Butane:
http://www.vectorkgm.com/catalog/butane/Vector_Gas_MSDS.pdf

SECTION II- Summary of Hazards & Composition
SUBSTANCE: Butane Percent: 60.00
CAS#: 106-87-8 Synonyms: n-Butane, Tetrane
SUBSTANCE: iso-Butane Percent: 29.00
CAS#: 75-28-5 Synonyms: 2-Methylpropane, Trlmethylethane
SUBSTANCE: Propane Percent: 11.00
CAS#: 75-98-6 Synonyms: LPG, Dimethylmethane, Propylhydride
EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE! Keep away from heat, sparks and open flame.

Propane 11%??? I really couldn't believe it, so I searched Ronson to see what their Propane content, and other crappy ingredients were.

Ronson Butane:
http://www.gpsidental.com/uploads/files/Ronson Butane Refill MSDS - May 2000.pdf

Ingredient Name CAS No Contents Health Risk
(class) (R No.)
Butane 106 - 97 - 8 99%
Composition Comments Substances indicating a hazard do so under EC Directives 88/379 & 67/548
Aerosol classified as Flammable

Wow, 99% butane. No Propane, no ethyl mercaptans. But there's a 1% of something not listed that apparently isn't deemed hazardous, but I figured could be some kind of contaminant so I continued my search.

BernzOmatic Butane:
http://www.bernzomatic.com/Portals/8/Resources/msdsSheets/Eng-BF55-Butane-MSDS-082010.pdf

Hazardous Components

N,Butane, volume (CAS #106-97-8) 22%
Isobutane, volume (CAS #75-28-5) 78%

Ok, so I've found a brand that has 100% butane/isobutane and I'm nervous, but feel confident enough to maybe try it. At least get one can and do the mirror test.

But let me just look up Colibri, which used to be the 'flavor of the month' brand of tane back when BHO first started taking off and I know I could get it from a Cigar shop, but it's about 15 minutes further than the bernzO out of my way.

Colibri Butane:
http://www.action-electronics.com/msds/224.pdf

Hazardous Components (Specific Chemical Identity)
Common Name CAS# %
Butane 106-97-8 78%
Propane 74-98-6 22%

Propane again. No thanks. I'm not making BPHO. I guess I used to though when I bought into the 'best brand of butane' hype.


Now, I'm no chemist, but I just don't get the "5x filtered butane" thing. If it's 100% butane, it's 100% butane. If it's not pure butane, it would be 99% butane, and whatever else, like the Ronson, no? Whatever.

So I took my chances on going to Lowes and trying the bernzOmatic 'tane. They were cheap, less than $5 for a 5.5 fl.oz can. Only 3 left so I snatched up all 3.

I got them home and immediately sprayed some on a mirror for a few seconds to make a nice puddle. No smell of sulfur or eggs or anything foul. After evaporation, there was some condensation, and after the mirror warmed back to room temp, the condensation dissipated, leaving only a nice shiny mirror behind. I figured I was safe.

And I was. The shit made some great fucking oil, in fact the best I've ever made I think. Mango Haze oil is nothing less than an amazing gift from heaven, let me tell you.


Just thought I'd share what I found. If I'm wrong in my reasoning and I really fucked up in using that brand, please tell me why and provide proof.

If you already knew this and this was common knowledge, well, I guess I missed that thread.

Very interesting. My buddy and I swear that Vector always has a bad taste on final exhale, and maybe this is why. We use Power 5x and it doesn't seem to have that same problem. I can't find any info on the Power though.

Great post man, really good to see the MSDS on these brands, id love to see a MSDS for the brand DODO, have not found one yet though. Really suprised that vector has so much shit in it!

intresting info i use lucienne but couldn't find the msds if you could find lucienne that'd be cool...

Email or call any company's customer service rep and they'll send you or direct you to their products MSDS.


Great info, Lapides.

Lapides said:

Propane again. No thanks. I'm not making BPHO. I guess I used to though when I bought into the 'best brand of butane' hype.

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N-Butane = C6H10


Propane = C3H8


This is an excerpt from Edenlabs.com :

Propane- There is a little known school of thought in the natural products industry which believes that propane is the ultimate solvent for extracting botanicals. Eden Labs has tested this theory thoroughly and we have come to the conclusion that there is something to it. Although propane cannot be as widely manipulated through temp. and pressure as CO2, it produces very similar results, sometimes better. It has an amazingly small loading ratio 1-4 volumes and it can be recovered quickly. This means much faster production times. It leaves no toxic residues and it is an all natural, organic solvent. The material data safety sheet, MSDS, says it is harmless except for the fact that is flammable. Because it works at relatively low pressures, 80-150 psi, the technology costs much less than a full supercritical CO2 system and can be very competitive in terms of quality and speed of production.

The downsides to propane is that it is highly flammable so precautions such as sparkless rooms with powerful ventilation are a must. The fact that is is not widely understood or accepted can also be an issue.

Butane/IsoButane- In some cases where propane doesn't do the job, butane works better. It has all the pros and cons of propane and requires identical equipment for utilization.

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Great post. Vector should focus on making a better product instead of flashy new tyedye labels. They obviously know the market that's buying all their shit...

I worked supporting a lab that was sourcing herbal extracts for cancer research drugs back in the 80's. I was the OEM Mass Spec field support, in addition to to my other medical imaging design work. LOL everyone in the field wore lot's of hats back in those days!

A mixture of solvents is fine in regards to purity as long as the mixture is formulated to do the job. The degree of purity claimed is rather the percentage of adulterants in each of the separate solvents used to create the mixture.

Laboratory grade solvents are extremely pure vs those sourced just to fuel lighters and stoves. This is the purity and filtering Vector is talking about in describing their product.

You mentioned they BenzOmatic butane was cheap, but it also only holds half the amount Vector or Power does.

Have you done more runs with this? I am curious to try using this instead of Vector or Power.

dont use bernzomatic butane. if u need small cans look for colibri


part of me has always felt vector is alot of marketing, and i wouldn't be surprised if they got some kind of kickback...

dope_roor said:

dont use bernzomatic butane.

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Why? The smell?

As TG notes, Propane works just fine, though it is more water soluble than Butane.

It is also very likely that the butane also contains a smattering of longer carbon chain moleculoes of Pentane, which has five atoms to the butanes four and propanes three.

The contaminant that they are filtering for is paraffin, because it clogs the small orifices of expensive butane lighters. Paraffin is non toxic and the levels measured by Vector in the studies that I have seen was below 15 ppm, or as good as the Near Zero Contaminant rated brands at a maximum of <50PPM.

I personally use 4X Lucienne because of price and availability.

Gray Wolf said:

I personally use 4X Lucienne because of price and availability.

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me too lovin' the new "zero impurities" stamp on the cans but hate the new plastic tips, had one break on me already

dope_roor said:

me too lovin' the new "zero impurities" stamp on the cans but hate the new plastic tips, had one break on me already

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Add me to the club. Should be getting a box in the mail today.

You guys ever use Xikar? Any thoughts on that stuff?

dope_roor said:

me too lovin' the new "zero impurities" stamp on the cans but hate the new plastic tips, had one break on me already

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We get both the plastic and the metal here, depending on the country of origin.

The metal ones are from S. Korea and the plastic ones are from England.

I broke one of the plastic ones too, but only one out of several hundred, and I accidentally put a side load on it while injecting.

The plastic ones actually eliminate the need for an nozzle adapter on some of my columns, which I need with the metal nozzles.

Since we never know from one purchase to the other where that shipment came from, we just smile at the price and use them as they arrive.

Hee, hee, hee, snicker, snark snort, ahwooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!1

good to know the old pros are using lucienne too. $2.50 a can here, idk about a case but im gonna inquire at the smoke shop soon...

oil, huh?

*makes faces*

anyone else use bernzomatic?......cant find any other butane in my area

superslvrhazbin said:

anyone else use bernzomatic?......cant find any other butane in my area

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i would advise against bernzomatic butane as there are many additives

Neon, King, Lucienne are my most common finds. $25 for a 12-pk is my best deal so far, but it's a drive...