How To Choose The Best E-Liquid That’s Right For You

E-liquid, e-juice, or vape juice comes in a wide variety of flavors, sizes, blends, and nicotine levels. The variance in e-liquid can make it daunting for someone new to vaping to figure out what is going to be the best for them. Generally, it is a best practice to decide what flavor you’d like to vape first. Vape flavors can be anything from simple fruit flavors like strawberry or peach all the way up to complex blends that mimic gourmet desserts like banana pudding, or cheesecakes.

Choosing the Best E-Liquid Flavor

Deciding what flavor is best for someone is entirely subjective and there is no right or wrong answer for this. When we consider blends, however, this is where we begin to require an understanding of the device being used, and its limitations. E-liquid blends describe the ratio of vegetable glycerin(VG) to propylene glycol(PG). The most common blends are 70:30, or 50:50 but it is not uncommon to find other blends like 60:40 or even 40:60 blends.

How PG Affects E-Liquid Flavor

PG is a thin liquid often used to carry the concentrated flavor(s) within a vape juice. E-liquids that contain more PG are thinner, and in some cases, can have more flavor. Being that higher PG juices are thinner, this makes them very good choices for smaller pod systems or smaller vape tanks that may not perform as efficiently with thicker e-juice.

How VG Affects E-Liquid Flavor

VG, on the other hand, is used as a dilution agent and the primary source of visible vapor production. VG is what allows the concentrated favors carried by PG to not be excessively intense, and allows nicotine to be diluted to manageable percentages.  Higher VG vape juices will also provide more overall vapor production. E-juices with more VG are great for those who want more vapor production, or those who have vape tanks whose coils would benefit from a thicker e-liquid to prevent the coil from becoming oversaturated.

E-Juice Nicotine Levels

The final, and arguably most important thing to consider when choosing an e-juice is nicotine level. Nicotine comes in two forms. Freebase nicotine, and nicotine salt. Freebase nicotine is harsher, and therefore often used in lower nicotine concentrations. Nicotine salt is a form of nicotine that has been chemically modified to make it smoother, and metabolize quicker compared to freebase. Nicotine salts are often used in higher concentrations and are a better analogy to the nicotine that occurs in tobacco. Much like flavors, nicotine levels are subjective to the individual user. Generally speaking though, it is very common for those using larger more powerful devices to use lower levels of freebase nicotine, and for those using smaller, lower power systems to use higher concentrations of nicotine salt. Nicotine salt is also the most commonly used nicotine type found in prefilled pod systems and disposable vape systems.