All You Need To Know About E-Liquids

Have you ever wondered why vaping has become so popular? While quitting smoking is a major factor, there is more to that. Vaping not only offers you nicotine with less toxins but also offers you a variety of flavours, which make your experience pleasant. In this guide, we will look into the ingredients of e-liquids, their different varieties, and how to choose the right one for a relaxing experience.

E-Liquid Ingredients

An e-liquid is usually made up of four major ingredients and these are Nicotine, Propylene Glycol (PG), Vegetable Glycerine (VG), and Flavouring Substances. Let us learn more about them one by one.

Nicotine

Nicotine is one of the most controversial ingredients that has been wrongly associated with the harmful effects of tobacco combustion. Many people think that nicotine causes cancer, but in actual it is the tar and other chemicals in cigarette combustion that cause it. However, nicotine is a highly addictive substance, which makes it difficult to quit smoking.

When you stop smoking abruptly or switch to vaping with nicotine-free e-liquids, your brain, which is a nicotine addict, will push you to go back to smoking. That is why, the ‘cold turkey’ method often fails in the long term. Therefore, it is recommended to use e-liquids with the same nicotine strength as you were smoking and then gradually decrease it.

Propylene Glycol

Propylene glycol is an organic compound that is both colourless and odourless with a faintly sweet taste. It has low viscosity, which makes it thin, and it is approved for human ingestion. It can be found as an additive in many food items like ice creams, soft drinks, dressings, cake mixes, food colouring etc. along with cosmetics like facewash, lotions, ointments, etc.

In an e-liquid, PG is used to carry the flavour and since it is thin, it absorbs heat much faster, which makes the vape ready to use when you switch it on. Since it is tasteless and odourless, it does not interfere with the actual flavour of the vape. It is thin; therefore, it creates a less build-up and grime on the heating coil and also the smoke cloud is small and less dense.

Vegetable Glycerine

Vegetable glycerine is a clear and thick liquid that is extracted from plant oils, typically palm trees or soybeans. Although they may look alike, but it is different from vegetable oil. It has a slight sweet aftertaste and is often used as a sweetener in food items. It is often found in lotions, soaps, skin creams, etc. and food products like cheese, yoghurt, jellies, etc.

VG is thicker than PG, and it is good for vapers looking to make dense smoke clouds. Since it is slightly sweet naturally, it may make the flavour of the vape a little dull and overpower it with a sweet taste. It is soft and smooth on the throat. However, a major downside of VG is its thickness that results in the gradual accumulation of grime on the heating coil.

Flavouring Concentrates

Flavouring concentrates are a combination of natural and artificial flavourings that replicate the taste of a fruit, food, or drink. Since natural flavouring is lost when an e-liquid is heated, artificial flavouring is more preferred. These flavours are approved food grade concentrates found in cakes, candies, fizzy drinks, and other processed food items with flavouring.

Some of the most widely used artificial concentrates are Vanillin, which gives the sweet and creamy smell of Vanilla, Ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which gives the flavour of berries, Hexenyl Acetate, which has the aroma of leaves and grassy odour, Methyl cyclopentenolone, which smells like maple syrup or coffee and Limonene, which will remind you of citrus fruits.  

Types Of E-Liquids

E-liquids come in different ratios of PG & VG, which is the main differentiator among their many types. For example, an e-liquid bottle marked as VG 70/30 has 70% VG and 30% PG. This ratio will determine crucial factors like throat hit, cloud density, flavour intensity, grime build-up, etc. If you are a seasoned vaper, you might have an idea about these ratios but if you are not, let us look into them.

PG E-Liquids

PG e-liquids typically start around 70% PG and are focused on simulating smoking. They are capable of offering high levels of nicotine and are best suited to people who have switched from smoking recently. These are intense, will give you a throat hit and are not for creating dense smoke clouds. So, if you have any throat irritation or allergy, it is not for you.

VG E-Liquids

VG e-liquids start around 60% VG and can go up to 90% VG. They are thick and create dense smoke clouds. Since these e-liquids produce substantial vapour, less nicotine is required for achieving satisfaction. These e-liquids work best with atomizers having sub-ohm resistance. The flavour is often suppressed due to high VG and you might not feel it sometimes.

50/50 E-Liquids

50/50 e-liquids, as the name suggests, are a combination of 50% PG and 50% VG. As a result, they have the best of both worlds. They have adequate flavour, will give a decent throat hit and produce more vapour than PG e-liquids. They are ideal for all mild to medium smokers and the best part is they can be used in almost every device with any coil resistance.

Short Fill E-Liquids

Short fill e-liquids are nicotine free e-liquids that are filled up to 80% of their capacity, hence the name short-fill. A space is left in the bottle to add nicotine using a shot. Due to the new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) regulations, nicotine e-liquids cannot be sold in bottles of more than 10 ml. Hence, short fills are used to sell nicotine free e-liquids in larger bottles.

Choosing The Right E-Liquid

Choosing the right e-liquid depends on two major factors, the device that you are using and how much you were smoking before switching to vaping. If you have a device with more than 1Ω resistance, you cannot use VG e-liquids as they are thick and require high temperatures that is delivered by sub-ohm devices. For a normal device with over 1Ω resistance, both PG and 50/50 e-liquids are a good option.

Based on your smoking habits and nicotine strengths, below are our recommendations.

Mild Smoker – VG, PG and 50/50 e-liquids but with a low nicotine strength up to 6 mg.

Medium Smoker – PG and 50/50 e-liquids with a nicotine strength up to 12 mg.

Heavy Smoker – PG e-liquids, as they are the only one that support high nicotine strength.

Choose Your Flavour And Enjoy

We hope that this guide has given you enough information about e-liquids that will help you to choose the right e-liquid for your kit that meets your nicotine requirement. Now, the only thing that you need is to choose the flavour of your e-liquid. Whether you like menthol, apple, vanilla, orange, strawberry, or spearmint, small sample packs of each flavour are ideal to begin with.