Salt nicotine vape juice is the most popular type of e-liquid on the market today. Developed in the mid-2010s, salt nic revolutionized the vaping industry because it allowed people to use higher nicotine strengths for an experience that was more like smoking than vaping had ever been. Suddenly, millions of people who had failed to switch to vaping before were lining up to give it a second shot.
Salt nic vape juice contains the salt form of nicotine, whereas regular vape juice contains the freebase form.
Compared to regular e-liquid, salt nic juice:
- Usually comes in significantly higher nicotine strengths.
- Is usually intended for smaller vaping devices like pod vapes and disposable vapes.
- Provides a completely satisfying experience in a vaping device that has lower cloud production.
So, what is salt nic juice, and how does it compare to regular e-liquid? In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know.
What’s the Difference Between Salt Nic Vape Juice and Regular?
Nicotine salt and freebase nicotine e-liquids are the same as one another except that salt nic vape juice contains an added acid to adjust the pH.
The difference between salt nic vape juice and regular e-liquid is that nicotine salt juice uses the salt form of nicotine, and regular e-liquid uses the freebase form. All e-liquid starts out with freebase nicotine, though, and it’s converted to nicotine salt with the addition of a mild acid that triggers a chemical change. Benzoic acid is commonly used for this purpose.
Aside from the fact that salt nic e-liquid contains an added acid, there is no difference between the two types of vape juice in terms of their ingredients. All of the other differences come down to the fact that salt nic juice almost always comes in much higher nicotine strengths. That, however, isn’t a requirement. It’s possible to make low-strength vape juice with nicotine salt, but most vape juice brands don’t do that.
Disposable Vapes Always Have Salt Nicotine Vape Juice
Are you shopping for disposable vapes? If so, you don’t have to worry about the choice between salt nic vs. regular e-liquid because disposables always contain nicotine salt.
If you’re using a refillable vape kit, on the other hand, you’ll be choosing your own e-liquid. In this case, it’s important to choose correctly.
Salt Nic Juice Is Designed for Vapes with Smaller Cloud Production
Salt nicotine e-liquid comes in very high nicotine strengths, and that makes it ideal for small vaping devices that have modest cloud production.
If you have or plan to buy a refillable vape, making the right choice between salt nic and regular vape juice is very important. If you choose the wrong e-liquid, you’ll end up with a nicotine strength that’s either much too high or much too low. Either you’ll feel unwell, or you’ll be completely unsatisfied. Either way, your experience won’t be very good.
As we explained above, salt nic juice usually comes in much higher nicotine strengths compared to freebase e-liquid. The highest-strength nicotine salt e-liquids, in fact, have more than 16 times as much nicotine per ml compared to the lowest-strength freebase e-liquids.
With that in mind, salt nicotine juice is only appropriate for the smallest types of vapes like disposable vapes, pod vapes and small vape pens. You wouldn’t want to use nicotine salt e-liquid in a powerful vape mod because the large cloud production of your device would mean that you’d inhale vastly more nicotine per puff than you actually need.
When You Buy Salt Nic Juice, Choosing the Right Nicotine Strength Is Important
With a more powerful vaping device, you should use an e-liquid with a lower nicotine strength. That’s why salt nic e-liquids are almost always available in two strengths.
The next thing to know about buying salt nic vape juice is that it’s almost always available in more than one strength, with one strength containing roughly half as much nicotine per ml as the other.
- Salt nic vape juice usually comes in strengths of either 50 and 25 mg/ml or 40 and 20 mg/ml, depending on the brand.
- Freebase vape juice usually comes in strengths of 6 and 3 mg/ml.
The fact that salt nicotine juice comes in more than one strength gives you the flexibility to customize your experience to suit the power level of your vaping device.
- If you’re using a disposable vape, the choice is usually made for you because most disposables have a nicotine strength of 50 mg/ml. However, low-nicotine vapes do exist for people who want to kick the nic down a notch.
- If you’re using a pod vape, you’ll probably want to start with a nicotine strength of 40-50 mg/ml. Many of the best pod vapes on the market, however, are fairly powerful despite their small size. If you’re using a device with features like adjustable wattage, you might want to try a lower nicotine strength.
Salt Nic Juice Doesn’t Necessarily Deliver a Stronger or Faster Nicotine Hit
Although nicotine salt has a reputation for delivering a stronger nicotine hit, that isn’t actually the case. It’s typically sold in higher nicotine strengths, though, and a higher nicotine strength will create a stronger nicotine hit.
One of the common misconceptions about salt nic juice is that it somehow delivers a stronger or faster nicotine hit compared to regular e-liquid. That, however, isn’t technically the case. It’s true that you may get a stronger nicotine rush when using salt nicotine, but that’s only because the e-liquid’s nicotine strength is higher, and you’re therefore inhaling more nicotine per puff.
Freebase nicotine is actually more bioavailable than nicotine salt. There’s nothing inherently more satisfying about nicotine salt, and any difference that you may feel in terms of the nicotine rush all comes down to the strength of the e-liquid.
Salt nic juice wasn’t invented for the purpose of delivering a more satisfying experience. Instead, it was invented to solve a problem that prevented some users of small vaping devices from switching to vaping at all.
Salt Nic Juice May Reduce Throat Irritation from Vaping
At high nicotine strengths, salt nic e-liquid is noticeably smoother than freebase e-liquid.
The problem that salt nic e-liquid was created to solve was the fact that people who used very small vaping devices couldn’t get enough nicotine to achieve a meaningful level of satisfaction. With small vapes, the practical limit for the nicotine strength was around 18 mg/ml. With strengths higher than that, people would start to complain about overwhelming throat hit and sore throats.
The throat irritation at higher nicotine strengths was a major problem because a nicotine strength of 18 mg/ml is nowhere near what it needs to be in order to produce cigarette-like satisfaction with a very small vape. With the smallest vapes, in fact, the nicotine strength needs to be somewhere in the range of 50 mg/ml in order to even approach the nicotine delivery of a cigarette.
That’s why salt nicotine e-liquid was invented: to enable people to use extremely small vapes and still feel satisfied. Not everyone wants to use a heavy-duty vape mod.
The reason why salt nic juice is less irritating to the throat at high nicotine strengths compared to regular e-liquid is because the acid that converts the freebase nicotine to nicotine salt also makes the nicotine’s pH more neutral. Freebase nicotine is slightly alkaline, and that’s what causes throat irritation at high nicotine concentrations.
If you’re a recent convert to vaping, you don’t have to worry about the potential throat irritation of high-strength freebase e-liquids. That’s because disposable vapes – which are the devices that most new vapers use – always use nicotine salt. If you’re using one of the few higher-strength freebase products that still exist, though – an e-cigarette with pre-filled cartridges purchased from a local convenience store, for instance – you will probably find that switching to salt nic provides a smoother experience.
Salt Nic Juice Can Use Synthetic Nicotine
Both salt nic and freebase e-liquids can use synthetic nicotine. Most vaping products sold in the United States today use tobacco-free nicotine.
When you read online about vape juice online, there’s a good chance that “synthetic nicotine” and “tobacco-free nicotine” are terms that come up now and then. When comparing synthetic nicotine vs. salt nicotine, is there a difference? The answer to that question is “no.”
Synthetic nicotine is nicotine that’s created in laboratory rather than being extracted from tobacco leaves. It’s usually synthesized from niacin, which is also called nicotinic acid and is chemically similar to nicotine. Synthetic nicotine doesn’t feel or taste different from tobacco-derived nicotine, and the vaping industry has adopted it almost universally as a means of completely separating vaping from tobacco.
If the nicotine in a particular e-liquid or other vaping product is synthetic, that has no bearing on whether that e-liquid uses salt nicotine or freebase nicotine. Synthetic nicotine comes in both freebase and salt forms – and since almost all vaping products sold in the United States now use tobacco-free nicotine, it isn’t something that you really need to think about at all.