Besides finding the right device, choosing the right e-liquid can be confusing. Should you use free-base nicotine or salt nicotine? Nicotine Salt; Vegetable Glycerin (VG) or Propylene Glycol (PG); and What Does 0% Mean? Well, don’t worry. I’m going to give you a full explanation of the different liquids, and hopefully save you some of the time and money it would take to figure it out on your own.
The science behind freebase nicotine and salt nicotine is too complicated to go into in this article. But I’ll try to explain it simply. Freebase nicotine is what’s in most traditional e-liquids. It’s the type of nicotine found in cigarettes. Freebase nicotine is the most effective form of nicotine that gets into your bloodstream. Sounds great, right? The only problem is that, at high doses, freebase nicotine can be quite harsh on your throat.
Liquids Electronic is relatively new, and is used with pod systems . It allows you to increase your nicotine levels, without the unwanted throat hit. But beware, we have talked many times about the dangers of nicotine salt, so I do not recommend using it in any way.
Both types have their advantages: nicotine salt devices produce much less vapor and can therefore be used less visibly. Free-base nicotine liquids are better for larger devices and for health, which is great if you’re trying to replace a hookah. Nicotine salt e-liquids should only be used in low-wattage devices, as using them in high-wattage devices can give you a large dose of nicotine, so be careful.
It is better to decide your preferred liquid before purchasing your vaping device to match them with each other.
Most traditional e-liquids contain four ingredients: nicotine, flavoring, vegetable glycerin (VG), and propylene glycol (PG). Most manufacturers use a combination of the two to get the different benefits of each. Often, though, the concentration of one will be higher than the other.
I have compared the properties of both below, assuming they are not mixed. It is worth noting that both PG and VG are considered safe substances according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
To put it simply, PG takes care of the flavor, and VG takes care of the vapor and clouds. PG is less viscous than VG, so it’s easier to handle when refilling and cleaning your tank. The latter absorbs flavor much better, providing a much stronger taste.
The viscosity of PG is higher, which provides much denser vapor clouds. If you’re trying to replace hookah or just want to play with big clouds, a higher level of VG in your liquid will be more suitable for you. Otherwise, the throat hit from VG is not as harsh, allowing for smoother vaping.
So, if you are trying to replace smoking hookah (shisha), and you want to enjoy thick clouds with a nice flavor, the best liquids for you are Direct Lung (DL) liquids with a ratio of 70 VG / 30 PG.
While if you are trying to replace cigarettes, your best option is to use a mouth to lung (MTL) liquid with a 50 VG /50PG ratio. MTL liquids include either freebase nicotine or nicotine salts, and again I do not recommend nicotine salts.
When you see a bottle of e- liquid , you will notice a percentage somewhere on the bottle. Basically, this is the amount of nicotine that the liquid contains. Sometimes, the nicotine level will be expressed as mg/ml. This refers to the number of milligrams of nicotine in each milliliter of liquid. For example,the liquid A 5mg/ml e-liquid contains 5mg of nicotine per ml of liquid. Percentages are just another way of saying this. They show the percentage of nicotine by volume. So, if an e-liquid is 3%, that means the bottle is 97% non-nicotine. It’s pretty easy to convert this to mg/ml. You just multiply that number by ten. So, a 3% nicotine e-liquid contains 3mg of nicotine per ml of liquid.
Now you know the basics. The rest is up to you. Find which one you like best and try different ones until you find the one that works for you.
To learn about the different types of e-cigarettes, you can read the following article: What to Look for in an E-Cigarette.
