Not too long ago, vapers didn’t have many options for E-liquid to use with their electronic cigarettes. If you weren’t into DIY or modding, the choices were limited to cartridges for cigalikes or a few high-PG e-liquids. The options today are almost endless. There are many options available. You can choose from high PG or high VG, nicotine sals or freebase. This is just a small selection of your wide variety of flavours. This variety can be a positive thing in many ways. It allows you to personalize your vaping experience. For someone just starting, this can make it difficult to buy e-juice. Let’s look at different types of vape juice to help you choose the right one for you.
Key terms
It helps to be familiar with the terms you will hear when you vape. You might come across terms like:
- Nicotine Salts: This is an e-juice that contains the nicotine salts found in tobacco leaves. It provides a smoother throat hit. On the other hand, freebase liquid refers to e-liquid that does not contain nicotine salts.
- Hybrid E-liquids: These juices have both nicotine salts as well as freebase nicotine.
- PG – Propylene Glycol. Used to make e-liquid. Thinner than VG, PG provides a stronger throat hit.
- VG: Vegetable Gellycerin.VG is thicker and more palatable than PG. It also has a slightly sweeter taste.
- MTL is mouth to lung.
- Direct to Lung. DTL is direct to the lungs.
Choosing your nicotine strength
You will need to choose the right nicotine strength, regardless of whether you are vaping a basic e-cigarette or a more advanced mod. You need to be aware that vaping will not be satisfying if the nicotine level is too low. Too much nicotine can cause nausea, dizziness, increased heart rate, headaches, and other unpleasant side effects such as nicotine overload. Here’s a general rule:
- If your smoking habit is heavy (e.g. 15-20 cigarettes per day), you might want to consider e-liquids that have more nicotine (upto 2%). This will allow you to satisfy your cravings even if you don’t smoke cigarettes.
- You may smoke less or prefer lighter cigarettes. Smokers who aren’t as heavy can choose e-juices with a lower nicotine content (0.6% to 1.2%). It’s best to start low and then increase as needed.
If the first one doesn’t work, you can always try another nicotine level.
Additional considerations
There are many options and factors you can consider once you have decided on the nicotine strength you want to use. These are some helpful tips to get you started.
- For a strong throat hit, you might enjoy the harshness in the back of your throat: Many people do. You should look for e-juices with a higher PG rating to recreate the throat hit that you might have lost if you quit smoking.
- For a smoother throat hit, try Eliquid: You can choose nicotine salts to smoothen the throat hit and deliver nicotine quicker. You could also consider a higher-VG juice. However, these are more popular among vapers who have more advanced equipment and desire larger, more voluminous clouds.
- Eliquid for cigalikes: There are two options if you want to make your vape cigarette experience more like smoking a traditional cigarettes. A higher-PG liquid will give you a stronger throat hit that is similar to a cigarette. You can also look into pod systems, such as the ePuffer XPOD. These use a mix of nicotine salts with regular e-juice to give you a realistic smoking experience.