So you've just started vaping or just looking to get into it, and you've seen the many amazing and varied flavors available on the market. At this point, you may be wondering what is really an E LIQUID. We aim to clarify all useful terms, information and other bits and previews to hopefully get you on the vaping path and eliminate tobacco cigarette smoking.
What is E-LIQUID?
Eternal, at its most basic, consists of four main ingredients: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine and aromas.
Despite the strange sounding names, Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerin are extremely common and generally considered harmless.
They are often abbreviated to PG and VG respectively.
Both PG and VG are types of organic compounds (naturally occurring substances) and appear in a wide variety of products, including cough medicine, toothpaste and asthma inhalers.
They also appear in edible items such as ice cream, whipped dairy products and coffee-based beverages.
What are PG and VG?
Both VG and PG have different properties, and combining them creates what is generally considered to be the optimal basis for nicotine evaporation.
Propylene Glycol is a very thin and flowing liquid that carries the taste very well, and tends to contribute to a large part of the throat heat that is found when wrapping some E-liquid.
Because of its ability to carry the flavor so effectively, the blends used in E LIQUIDS are usually blended with PG before being blended with the other ingredients. It has been known to affect minor allergies in a small number of users, but these tend to be unusual.
Vegetable glycerin, on the other hand, is usually derived from vegetable oil and is quite a viscous liquid, similar to a gel.
It has a naturally sweet taste and when wrapped produces a thick, dense cloud of steam.
Compared to PG, it is much smoother and has no visible throat here when used on its own.
Here is a quick list of the main features of VG and PG:
What are E LIQUID conditions?
Since both PG and VG contain these different properties that work well together, they are almost always found as the main ingredients in E LIQUIDS, in a variety of conditions.
The most common ratios on the market tend to be 50VG and 70VG (which accounts for 50% VG to 50% PG, and 70% VG to 30% PG, respectively).
This ratio determines how thick the E LIQUID will be - the more VG there is, the smoother and thicker the liquid will be, and conversely, the more PG it is, the runners the E LIQUID will be, and the stronger the throat hit.
Generally, thicker liquids with higher VG content would be better suited to more powerful Sub Ohm clearomiser tanks, rather than smaller, non-sub-ohm tanks that would be better suited for a mouth vapor sterilizer.
How is nicotine used?
Nicotine is for many vapers the most important component of E LIQUID. Despite this, it is also an entirely optional part of vaping - there are many, many vapers who have left nicotine and simply like to vaporize for what it is. For those who use nicotine, fluids come in a variety of strengths ranging from 1.5 mg to 18 mg. This strength refers to the amount of nicotine contained in each milliliter (ml) of fluid and can also be considered as a percentage. 18 mg of fluid can be referred to as 1.8% nicotine, 6 mg as 0.6% and so on, so on.