The question about the difference between nicotine salts and free base e-liquid resurfaces again and again in the vaping community. A lot of people seem to be confused about their e-liquid choice, nicotine strength, power of their device, PG/VG ratio, and so on. When it comes to choosing e-liquids, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer and it depends on your preference, needs, and former smoking pattern. However, you can always acquire knowledge and calibrate your choice accordingly. Here’s a complete breakdown of the difference between nicotine salts and free-base e-liquids, and how each of them can be utilized optimally.
The Ingredients and Constitution of Nicotine Salts and Free Base E-Liquid
Free-base e-liquids contain a higher PH level and hence feel harsher on the throat. Nic salts, on the other hand, are treated with benzoic acid to remove the harshness of nicotine, and hence they’re much smoother on the throat. Both of them are suited to different needs. Nicotine salts allow its users to vape higher nicotine concentrations with a smoother throat hit and it readily absorbs in the system. Nicotine salts closely mimic the effects of cigarettes; hence they’re mostly preferred by smokers who need a higher dosage of nicotine to satisfy their cravings.
On the other hand, free base e-liquids allow you to vape at lower nicotine concentrations and offer a harsher/stronger throat hit. It helps you maintain a more consistent stream of nicotine in your body and is mostly preferred by users who slowly want to curb their nicotine consumption. Hence there exists a trade-off between higher nicotine levels and stronger throat hits and users can select either of those two as per their needs.
PG and VG Ratios of Nic Salts and Free Base E-Liquids
Both PG and VG are food and perfume grade and used in a variety of food and cosmetic products. VG has a more viscous consistency and therefore requires more surface area with the wick to absorb completely. PG is less viscous and has thinner consistency almost that of water. The coil’s ability to wick i.e. the cotton’s ability to perform the capillary action in order to move juice to the coil to get vaporized depends on the PG/VG ratio.
If you’re using freebase e-liquid, it’s extremely important to strike a balance between PG/VG ratio. If you have a pod device, the 70:30 ratio between PG and VG would destroy your coil, because it would require more surface area with the wick to get absorbed, and that pod devices don’t hold. Hence you’d end up getting dry hits. The thinner the e-liquid, the easier it becomes for your pod device to handle it. High-strength salt nicotine e-liquids usually come in 50:50 ratios for keeping things even.
Nicotine Content – Nic Salts Vs Free Base E-Liquids
As a rule of thumb, remember that nicotine strength is inversely proportional to the power strength of your device. Free base e-liquids with lower nicotine concentrations are mainly used in higher wattage and lower resistance tanks. Whereas, nicotine salts with higher nicotine concentration are mainly used in lower wattage and high resistance tanks. It’s worth noting that efficient nicotine delivery, by and large, depends on the wattage and ohms of your device. The higher the watts and the lower the ohms, the more vapor is produced.
To sum it up, if you are vaping at high watts and low ohms, you can get the equivalent nicotine concentration with lower strength nicotine concentration than if you are vaping with low watts and high ohms. If you are on a search for the nicotine strength that’s apt for you, you must know your device, its wattage, and the coil resistance, before making your decision.
The Vaping Tools for Nic Salts and E-Liquids
Since you can’t use higher wattage with nicotine salts, lower power devices like pods are mostly used with salts, as higher concentration and lower power are linked. You can also use higher concentration free base e-liquids in the pod if the throat hit doesn’t bother you. But generally, higher power devices are apt for free-base, especially sub-ohm devices. You can’t use nicotine salt in a sub-ohm device because higher power would lead to nicotine poisoning or a head rush.
Final Verdict
Now that you have a more complete picture of the workings of nicotine salts and free base e-liquids, you should be able to decide, which of them would suit you the best. In the end, it all boils down to what you want out of your vaping experience and what level of nicotine satisfies your needs
– Strong throat hit, lower nicotine – free base e-liquids
– Smooth throat hit, higher nicotine – nicotine salts
– Bigger clouds, stronger throat hit – free base e-liquids
– Less vapor, more flavor – nicotine salts
Is Cold Turkey a Good Approach to Stop Smoking?
Cold turkey has a pretty low success rate when it comes to smoking-cessation methods/tools. It is effective if you have a very high level of tolerance and self-control, but a lot of people who try going cold turkey relapse within a few days. The reason being succumbing to nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine withdrawal symptoms can be extremely difficult to deal with and can range from mild to severe including headache, irritability, nausea, insomnia, etc.
The most effective way to quit smoking, without battling with nicotine withdrawal symptoms is through Vape. Vaping allows you to transition to a healthier and cleaner alternative to cigarettes that doesn’t cause any sort of harm to your body. Once you quit cigarettes, it also allows you to curb your nicotine intake in an efficient way and you are better able to monitor and regulate your nicotine consumption.
