The Ultimate Guide To Stop Smoking And Start Vaping Succesfully (Part 2/2)

1-    What e-Liquid flavor to stop smoking?

As we don’t buy e-liquids found in shops (we use homemade e-liquids, not made by us though. We just buy them.), we can’t recommend specific brands or e-juices to you. That’s also why, at least for now, you won’t find any on our website.

Still, beside an exact brand and e-liquid flavor, we can give you some good info and tips. Plus, it’s honestly better this way. Because like everything else we’ve talked about in this article, you need to find what works (here tastes) best for you.

We recommend buying 2 flavors.

The first flavor you need to try is, yes, tobacco. “Tobacco” isn’t enough as there are dozens of variations of tobacco flavors. You’ll need to read some descriptions and customers’ reviews to get a better idea of their taste and take one or a couple that sounds good to you.

Just know that the taste won’t be as nasty as a cigarette… but it can get close.

Why tobacco? 

You may think, as you’re trying to stop smoking, that you should distance yourself as much as possible of anything reminding you of it. Well, it’s usually not how it works.

What is true for the method you should use to vape (hopefully, the Mouth To Lung method), is also valid for the e-juice flavor you need to pick up. At first, when you stop smoking and start vaping, you don’t want to make a drastic change. Again, yes, a change is, obviously, necessary but one that is just enough to make you stop smoking. You don’t want to revolutionize everything at once, too quickly (or at all). So, using an e-liquid with a taste that is somewhat reminiscent (it won’t be the same taste) of tobacco will help.

Of course, it’s possible you readjust quicker than other people or that you end up discovering you really prefer other flavors. That you absolutely don’t need tobacco flavored e-liquids to help you stop smoking. Great. But there’s a higher probability you do, so our advice stands. Then, you’ll see and decide what works best for you on your own.

The second flavor is a flavor that you KNOW you will like.

There must be a fruit, dessert or some taste that you prefer over others in your everyday life, right? Pick the one you like the most and go with it. Us, it was coffee (with cream or not) and chocolate. You may prefer a fruit, mint, vanilla, cereals, some nuts, honey… or a combination of some of these. The choice is almost limitless. Pick something you’ll know you’ll enjoy because that’s a taste you already like now.

And, same here, read some reviews to see what people think of some of the different e-juices flavored with the aroma you picked. Do they really taste like they’re supposed to?

So, to make it clear and summarize: why 2 flavors? Because the tobacco one is to keep you in the range of tastes you’re used to and the other one is for you to begin to understand that vaping can offer more than just inhaling some smelly smoke. Vaping can allow you to taste almost any flavor you want. And they can be freaking good!

2-    Free base or Nic Salt e-Liquid?

If you really want to know which you prefer and can purchase several bottles, take one of each in the flavors you chose.

Free base nicotine e-liquids are the ones we’ve used since we decided to stop smoking. It doesn’t imply they’re better. It just means we started with them. And as we’re still satisfied, we’ll keep on vaping them. As the saying goes: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

They work for us and that’s all that matters.

Nic salt e-liquids basically have the same composition except for one added ingredient: Benzoic acid.

That’s one more chemical (and its potential reactions) we prefer to don’t add to our diet. But its purpose, some say benefit, is that it provides a smoother throat hit. This allows to put more nicotine in nic salt e-liquids since they’re less harsh on the throat.

Another property of benzoic acid is that it induces a quicker absorption of the nicotine by the body.

This, in turn, depending on the amount of nicotine, can provide the light headed or nauseous feeling you get sometimes from smoking a cigarette (there is benzoic acid in cigarettes too) after an effort or on an empty stomach. This is called being “nic’d out”, or a “nicotine buzz”.

So, if you don’t mind benzoic acid, absorbing way more nicotine in one drag (nic salt e-liquids contain around 1% to 5-6% –or 10mg/ml to 50-60mg/ml of– nicotine vs. 0 to 2.4% –or 0mg to 24mg– for regular e-liquids), and prioritize this light-headed feeling over the throat hit, maybe nic salt e-liquids are for you.

If you prefer a comparatively (for the same amount of nicotine, of course if there is double or triple the amount in a nic salt e-liquid, you’ll get the same hit than a regular e-juice) more pronounced hit while still getting the nicotine you need, then free base/regular e-liquid it is.

Also, if you like smoking for smoking (the ritual and/or the gesturing, if you will) and think you’d vape about the same regardless of the amount of nicotine inside your e-liquids, we strongly advise you to choose freebase e-liquids.

You may get a sore throat from time to time. This would be an indicator you vape too much. But better that than flooding your body with too high amounts of nicotine without even realizing it. Like you could with highly-concentrated nic salt e-liquids.

By the way, don’t pay attention to vaping device manufacturers’ marketing speech. Sometimes, they may say things like device X or coil Y is “best used with/suited for nic salt e-liquids” or “made for nic salt e-liquids”  but it’s crap (and marketing). A device functioning with nic salt works perfectly with free base e-liquids and vice versa.

3-    What PG/VG Ratio For Your e-Liquid?

Nic salt e-liquids usually have a medium to low percentage of Vegetable Glycerin (VG). Since the Propylene Glycol (PG) provides more throat hit, more PG is needed in nic salt e-liquids to compensate for the weaker hit they produce because of the benzoic acid. This is not always true, though (e.g. Juul pods can contain as much as 6.9% of nicotine –69mgl/ml!– of nocotine, that’s why they can have 70% of VG and a strong hit). It’s a generic rule.

In JUUL pods, for example, there’s more VG (around 70%). It’s because JUUL Labs Inc. wants their device to produce more vapor (Vegetable Glycerin, when vaporized, tends to produce more vapor than Propylene Glycol).  But it seems that they compensate the lower hit strength (due to the use of VG and Benzoic acid) by incorporating even more nicotine -salts- in their e-liquids/pods.

If you’re choosing regular e-liquids, pay attention to the PG/VG ratio.

Too much PG (Propylene Glycol) and you risk having a sore/painful throat after vaping. Too little and the hit may not be strong enough.

Also, MTL coils mostly work best with medium to low VG (Vegetable Glycerin) ratio because VG higher viscosity makes the e-juice thicker. It doesn’t go well with the smaller MTL coils because of less wicking material and smaller holes). It clogs them and can shorten drastically their life expectancy (sugary flavouring does that too).

[NB: JUUL can/could use a higher amount of VG even though their pods have tiny coils because it simply doesn’t care. The pods are disposable and meant to be used only once anyway.]

On the other hand, a too high quantity of Propylene Glycol and your device might leak since PG is thinner.

Generally, a ratio between 70% to 40% of Propylene Glycol is good for MTL devices. But check if the manufacturer gives any indication on the PG/VG ratio best suited for its coils. Also, if it says that it works better with salt nic e-liquids, it might mean that you should avoid putting high VG e-liquids in it.

4-    What Nicotine Level Is Best To Stop Smoking?

This depends on your smoking habit. The rule of thumb is the more you smoke, the higher the level of nicotine you need. Not only because of the total quantity of nicotine your body might need but also for the hit it gives with each puff.

We’d say that if you smoke a pack a day or more, you should go with 18mg/ml for a 50/50 PG/VG freebase e-liquid and 50mg/ml for nic salt e-liquids. Don’t forget that it also depends on the power (setting) your device operates at.

If you smoke less, around 10 cigarettes, 12mg/ml and 25mg/ml should do the trick. But, at first, don’t take less than that because you may still need to feel a decent throat hit, regardless of the number of cigarettes you smoke.

Though, it always depends on the satisfaction and sensation you have. In the end, you are in the best position to know what nicotine level is best suited for you. Plus, it may change. What worked at the beginning maybe too strong later on (even after a couple of weeks). Some e-liquids feel stronger (or weaker) than others too etc…

As for the comparison between salt nic and regular e-juice in terms of hit, 5% salt nic should correspond to a 1.8-2% free base e-liquid.

It may seem a big difference, and it is. You might think that to obtain the same kind of hit, you’d need to absorb a lot more nicotine if you choose a nic salt e-liquid. It’s true but you’ll almost certainly vape less. All in all, it shouldn’t change the total amount of nicotine you absorb by much. [Unless, as we’ve mentioned above, you like the gesturing of smoking as much as you may need nicotine, of course.]