What Are Nicotine Salts?
We're answering everything you ever wanted to know about Nicotine Salts. Read through for a simple to understand explainer on what nic salts are, as well as which vape is best for nicotine salts.
Standard (Freebase) Nicotine
The standard nicotine you will be used to in regular e-liquid is commonly called freebase nicotine. This style of nicotine is not bonded to anything else, so it is quite volatile, meaning it is an easily vaporised form of nicotine.
Often freebase nicotine is much harsher on the throat than nicotine salts. Thus, freebase nicotine levels are generally much lower than in nicotine salts.
Nicotine Salt
Nicotine salt is a more natural state of nicotine - closer to the form of nicotine in tobacco leaf (flue-cured tobacco). It is made up of freebase nicotine bonded with one or more organic compounds to create a more stable molecule.
This more natural makeup of nicotine creates a molecule with a different pH compared to freebase nicotine. pH corresponds to throat hit, so a more neutral pH (as found in nicotine salts) can create less of a throat hit - even at high nicotine levels.
Different salt nicotine solutions may have varying amounts of throat hit at the same strengths - 25mg nicotine salt e-liquid might be super smooth on one flavour, but another flavour with the same strength might have more throat hit.
Benefits of Nicotine Salts:
- Nicotine Absorption: Nicotine is absorbed faster than regular 'freebase nicotine', meaning you get an experience that is more similar to cigarettes but without the tobacco toxins (tar) and without having to vape as often.
- Extended Shelf Life: As the nicotine salt is a more stable molecule, the shelf life for the product is longer than standard freebase nicotine.
- Portability & Convenience: Because nicotine salts allow for higher nicotine levels, devices can be much smaller and compact compared to standard vaping devices whilst still providing an extremely satisfying vape!
Considerations:
- Sub-ohm devices: High-strength (20mg+) nicotine salt products should never be used in conjunction with a 'sub-ohm' device. Using these more powerful devices with high-strength nicotine salt delivers too much nicotine at once and can cause side effects such as headaches, nausea, and an erratic heart rate.
Recommendations:
- Closed system devices: If you're new to nicotine salts, we recommend starting with a closed pod system device. The advantage of closed systems is that pods come pre-filled at an appropriate nicotine strength to match the device's output. You don't need to refill the pod or change any coils. Simply dispose of a pod once it's empty and pop in a new pre-filled pod.
- Recommended closed system device: For the very best nicotine salt devices, check out our recommendations below.
- Open system devices: Open systems (also called refillable pod systems) need to be refilled once empty. The coil may also need to be changed over time, depending on the device. The advantage of open systems is that any freebase nicotine or nicotine salt products can be used with them, meaning a more extensive range of brands and flavours.
- If you'd like to use nicotine salt e-liquid with any of these devices, remember to make sure they have a coil/pod with a resistance of 1 ohm or higher!
Who should use freebase/regular nicotine?
- Users who want less nicotine and mainly flavour
- Sub-ohm Users
- Direct-Lung Vapers
Who should use nicotine salts?
- Pack a day smokers
- People highly dependent on nicotine
- Heavy smokers
- Mouth-To-Lung vapers
What Are Nicotine Salts?
We're answering everything you ever wanted to know about Nicotine Salts. Read through for a simple to understand explainer on what nic salts are, as well as which vape is best for nicotine salts.