There are two types of e-liquid, and they’re classified according to the type of nicotine they contain. Freebase nicotine e-liquids contain the freebase form of nicotine, and nicotine salt e-liquids use nicotine in its salt form. Nicotine is a salt before it’s extracted from tobacco leaves; the extraction process involves the use of a solvent that changes the nicotine to a free base. In nicotine salt vape liquids, the nicotine is converted back into a salt via the addition of a mild acid such as benzoic acid.
Compared to freebase nicotine liquids, nic salts usually come in higher nicotine strengths. The nicotine strength of nicotine salt vape juice is usually at least 10 mg/ml and may be as high as 20 mg/ml, which is the highest allowed strength for any vape juice containing nicotine according to the limitations set forth in the Tobacco Products Directive. High-strength nicotine salt vape juice is the type of e-liquid that will get you closest to the nicotine delivery of a tobacco cigarette.
If you’ve ever bought a vape kit and filled your tank or pod with a high-strength freebase nicotine e-liquid, you already have a reasonably good idea of why nicotine salt e-liquids are necessary. Freebase nicotine has an alkaline pH, and it can cause throat irritation in high concentrations. Before nicotine salt vape juice first reached the market, some people would buy their first vape starter kits and would end up disappointed with the experience. With low-strength e-liquid, they’d have trouble controlling their nicotine cravings – and with high-strength e-liquid, they’d find the vapour irritating and unpleasant to inhale.
The benefit of nic salt e-liquid is that the acid added to convert the freebase nicotine into a salt also gives the nicotine a more neutral pH. Because the e-liquid is less alkaline, it gives you a much smoother vape at higher nicotine strengths. Some menthol nic salt e-liquids are so smooth that they produce almost no throat hit at all despite their high nicotine concentrations. That makes nicotine salt vape juice a great choice if you’re new to vaping because new vapers often need higher-nicotine e-liquids in order to keep their cigarette cravings completely satisfied. Nicotine salt is usually the right choice for new vapers looking for e-liquid for their first vape kits.
Although you can find nic salt e-liquid in almost any nicotine strength if you look hard enough, the two most common strengths are 10 mg/ml and 20 mg/ml. If you’re new to vaping, we suggest that you start with the higher strength and see how you feel. If you’ve already switched fully to vaping, though, we suggest using the lower strength because you’ve adjusted to a lower nicotine intake and most likely won’t enjoy an e-liquid with a higher nicotine concentration.
Is it possible that the nicotine strength you’re using isn’t right for you? It turns out that there’s actually a fairly easy way to tell. All that you need to do is listen to your body.
Because nicotine salt e-liquid is so much higher in nicotine than the vast majority of the freebase nicotine e-liquids sold today, it doesn’t typically perform best with the same vaping hardware that freebase nicotine does. The ideal vaping devices for nicotine salt e-liquids are usually pod kits because pod-based vaping devices are lower-power devices that are specifically optimised to perform best with nicotine salts.
The key thing to keep in mind is that, when you use a vape juice with a nicotine strength in the range of 10 mg/ml or higher, you need to use a vaping device designed for the mouth-to-lung inhaling style. You need a device that produces smaller vapour clouds, or you’ll find the experience far too overwhelming and probably won’t enjoy it.
A good way to tell whether your vaping device is appropriate for nicotine salt e-liquid is by looking at the mouthpiece. If the device’s mouthpiece is narrow like the filter of a cigarette, it’s probably appropriate for nicotine salt vape juice. If the mouthpiece is wider – wide enough to fit a ballpoint pen through it, for instance – the device is designed to produce large vapour clouds and probably won’t give you a good experience with nicotine salt e-liquid.
Public Health England estimates that vaping is at least 95 percent less harmful than smoking, and that opinion is backed up by a growing body of studies suggesting that vaping is truly a reduced-harm alternative for people who can’t or won’t stop using nicotine. When you vape, you’re not inhaling smoke or tar – and that’s the major factor that makes the difference between smoking and vaping from a health standpoint.
Although nicotine salt hasn’t been studied for safety to the same extent that vaping in general has, nicotine salt doesn’t differ fundamentally from standard freebase nicotine e-liquid aside from the fact that it contains a mild acid to adjust the pH.
Nicotine salt e-liquid does have a potential health concern in the short term, though, in that its nicotine strength is usually far too high for use with high-power vape mods. The nicotine strength of nicotine salt e-liquid usually starts at about 10 mg/ml, and that makes nicotine overdose a potential concern if you use a vaping device designed for direct-to-lung inhaling. Nicotine salt e-liquids are intended for use in compact vaping devices that produce small vapour clouds, such as pod-based devices and entry-level vape pens. If you feel any discomfort or nausea when vaping, you should stop immediately.
Since nicotine salt e-liquid first hit the market a few years ago, it’s generated a great deal of interest throughout the vaping community. Although nic salts were primarily invented as a more satisfying and enjoyable e-liquid for new vapers to use, plenty of existing vapers are also curious about it. If you are already a vaper and want to try nicotine salt e-liquid, we recommend keeping three things in mind.
If you’re buying e-liquid for your first vaping device, you’ve got a big decision on your hands because you’re not just choosing between nicotine salt and freebase nicotine – you also need to decide what flavour you’re going to buy. Your enjoyment of vaping as a whole will largely depend on how you feel about the e-liquid you’re using, so this is an important choice. If you don’t love your first vape juice, don’t give up on vaping. There are hundreds of different e-liquid flavours on the market today, and you’re certain to find one you love if you keep experimenting.
When you buy nicotine salt e-liquid for the first time, we suggest trying two or three different flavours because that gives you a better chance of finding something you love right from the start.
Naturally, you’ll want at least one of the e-liquid flavours to be one that attempts to mimic the flavour of your preferred type of cigarette – so we suggest trying at least one tobacco or menthol flavour when you buy nicotine salt vape juice for the first time. One of the great things about nicotine salt e-liquid is that, because it provides such a bold and assertive throat hit, you may find that it has a more realistic tobacco flavour than what you’d get with freebase nicotine e-liquid.
Along with a tobacco or menthol e-liquid, we suggest trying one or two sweet flavours when you make your first purchase of nicotine salt vape juice. One of the greatest things about e-liquid is that it’s made with the same flavouring compounds as the ones that are used by beverage, snack and candy makers. While it’s impossible to find an e-liquid that can deliver a truly convincing copy of the flavour of cigarette smoke, the same definitely isn’t true of the sweeter flavours. You can find a vape juice that tastes almost the same as any popular snack or drink you can imagine. While there are plenty of vapers who prefer tobacco and menthol e-liquids, sweeter flavours are far more popular.