Are Nicotine Salts Right For Me?

Nicotine Salts– What You Need To Know

Many have recently become aware of “nicotine salts,” and the idea that this is just another form of e-liquid. While this is true – the two products are similar – nicotine salts and regular e-liquid are not exactly the same thing.

Over the years there have been heaps of advances and trends within the vaping sphere– Nicotine Salts has in many ways taken the industry by storm. It has been able to address some of the big hurdles for new vapers and given new hope for those that have tried and failed to make the switch to vaping. 

We’ve come a long way from the cheap and cheerful‘’cig-a-likes’’, that in fairness, paved the way, But let’s be honest, didn’t offer a whole lot of satisfaction. We’ve seen pens style vapes, mod style and most recently the surge of the Pod Vape. The popularity of nicotine Salts has coincided nicely with that of pod vapes– mainly because the two products work so well together. 

However it’s not a silver bullet– So are nicotine Salt’s right for you? In this article we’ll take a look at what nicotine salts are and whether are not you should consider giving them a go!

Freebase Nicotine: The Current Standard

Every vape juice up until now has used the traditional form of nicotine known as‘’freebase nicotine’’ mixed with varying percentages of vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol and flavoring’s. It's also what we use in nicotine replacement therapies—like gums, patches, sprays, and lozenges. 

Free base nicotine was developed by the big tobacco in the 60’s after considerable research. They were attempting to find a form of nicotine that would give the smoker the greatest hit of nicotine and therefore the greatest satisfaction. 

Nicotine Salts

So Free base nicotine is effective and does the job then why develop something different? First thing its worth considering exactly what nicotine salts are and how its produced. 

What are Nicotine Salts?

The answer to this lies in chemistry but we don’t want to get too deep on this topic and it’s really not necessary to understand how they can benefit you. 

Put simply nicotine salts are free base nicotine with an acid added….

Ok as we’re here let’s talk a little chemistry. Free base nicotine is inherently alkaline (sits on the right of this scale). By adding an acid such as benzoic acid it move the pH of the juice closer to the center and therefore makes it more neutral. 

This process of adding benzoic acid to free base nicotine and making it more neutral was developed by PAX Labs in the USA and was the juice added to their popular brand of pod vapes– The Juul! 

Sometimes the name causes confusion and people expect the juice to taste salty– this is definitely not the case. In chemistry terms a‘’Salt’’ is any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation.

According to the study titled “Nicotine salts: potentially disruptive or a dead end?” nicotine salts could revolutionize the industry just as much as the invention of the mini-ecig in 2007.

The advent of the powerful vape pens is quite recent, only starting to appear in about 2013. This isn’t entirely surprising, as according to a story from Gizmodo, tobacco companies weren’t even interested in testing this kind of technology.

However, small-scale producers of ejuice were all too willing to pick up where the bigger companies left off. This trend can still be seen today, with the smaller producers coming up with some interesting flavors and production methods.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Ok so now we know the difference between‘’Traditional Nicotine’’ and‘’Salt Nicotine’’. Let’s talk about what this means for you and explore why you might choose to use these products

Advantages

Nicotine salts are quickly becoming very popular with e-cigarette smokers. Most love the high nicotine content in one small vape hit, which as a result makes for a longer lasting vaping session and less refilling of cartridges.

Satisfaction: Salt Nicotine is more bio available– this means that it is more easily absorbed into the blood steam and in this way is really effective at satisfying the user’s nicotine cravings. If you’ve found yourself incessantly vaping on your device then you won’t have have this problem as much with nicotine salts as they really do satisfy– But beware too much nicotine and you can get light headed. 

In other words the vaping experience with vape nicotine salt is way more pleasant.

Smoother nicotine hit: As impressive as the tobacco cigarette-like experience is, it certainly isn’t something which is associated with your health. Nicotine salts found on a whole new harm reduction frontier - one we may not have seen before. So we’ve seen earlier that salt nicotine is less alkaline. Because this nicotine is more neutral it means that there is far less throat hit and it’s a much smoother vape. Especially if you have been vaping high nicotine levels (12mg or higher) you have probably noticed it can become quite harsh on your throat. ECigOz offers Salt Nicotine in 20mg & 30mg and these vape very smoothly. Some may see this as a disadvantage because they enjoy the throat hit… It’s personal preference.

Less flavor impact: Nic Salts really have very little impact in the flavour profile of your juice. You may have noticed that when vaping juices at nicotine levels 18mg and above that the throat hit can somewhat impact on the overall flavor of the juice. With Nic Salts you don’t get this. This makes Nic salts perfect for those previously using high nic juice

Cheaper: Although nicotine salts e liquids are generally more expensive when comparing ml vs.ml. Because these juices are more satisfying to vape and generally used in low power pod style devices, users vape far less juice. View Prices =>

Disadvantages

Too much for some: This is definitely something to consider– Nicotine Salts are NOT suitable for large sub ohm style devices. Any device that is high powered designed for producing clouds is not going to be suitable for nicotine salts. You will find your head spinning if you take a big hit if this stuff. Most Nic Salts come in 20mg (20%) or 30mg (30%) strength. So Nic salts are best used with pod style vape devices or pen style vapes– We’ve included some great options below.  

Lower fun factor: Ok sure we better include this point in here. Some people love the big clouds produced from their Box Mods. If this is how you get your kicks then probably best to stick with low nic free base juice. 

Are Nicotine Salts Right for You?

Nicotine salts are the new hot topic in the vaping world, with more and more ecig companies releasing products where you can control your nicotine level. So since they've become the latest trend, we'll talk about all things nicotine salt – and give an opinion if it's right for you.

It’s basically down to personal preference– For some it’s a No and others it’s a definite Yes. Here are some questions to help guide your thoughts:

• Am I a heavy smoker (one or more packs a day)?
• Do I want a more genuine smoking experience, or am I looking for something new?
• Will I want smooth vapor and high nicotine?
• Do I need a stronger or more subtle nicotine"punch" (buzz)? 
• Is discretion important, or are massive clouds my thing?
• How much money do I initially want to spend?

Basically if you are someone who wants a small compact device and not interested in pumping out killer clouds then nicotine salts are probably for you. 

• If your just quitting cigarettes or recently quit then nicotine salts will better replicate the smoking experience as well as make sure your cravings are satisfied
• You love great flavours and not interested in overpowering throat hit. 
• If your vaping 18mg juice or higer you shoud certainly consider trying Salt nicotine. 

So you’ve decided to try nicotine salts. It’s a big step isn’t it? It means committing to quit smoking, and this time you reckon it will be the last time. Or maybe you aren’t quite sure if they are right for you, or how and why they would be better than the regular juice/ e-liquid that more and more people are using.

If you have any further questions use the live chat to get in touch with someone at ECigOz!!