Shvash gas was a lower-quality and cheaper alternative for the gas used in the mini-flamers used to light smoking material. It was often mixed with higher-quality gases to increase the pressure in a flamer's gas reserve.
During the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and reconstituted Sith Empire, the Hutt crime lord Suudaa Nem'ro mined a pocket of shvash gas on Nal Hutta. His rival Voontara Fa'athra mined the same pocket out of an operation in the Rust Yards, though Fa'athra could not refine it to the same degree Nem'ro did.
Shvash gas farming was a major industry on the planet Gelgelar, where it was used for heating and in cooking burners. On Gelgelar, farmers used pumps mounted on repulsor barges to collect the gas from the clouds over the swamps and the reserve pockets beneath the mud. Farmers on Gelgelar sold their pressure tanks of shvash gas to Vleen Argoe at the Shvash Gas Cooperative located at Gelgelar Free Port. Vleen collected the gas into large tanks and sold them to freighter captains who transported the gas to mini-flamer companies such as Blycks.
- Platt's Starport Guide
- Platt's Smugglers Guide