Nicotine salt and e-liquid bottle on the white table

What is Nicotine Salt? Leave a comment

 

Salt nicotine e-liquids and what it is exactly? If you were looking around for some new e-liquid, you are probably aware of the term nicotine salt. We are going to explain it in this post.

 


 

Nicotine salt has been around for a while now, and it started getting popular a few months back. If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone. Salt nicotine is a new and much more effective way of delivering nicotine into your body. You can have a much higher strength of nicotine, and it will not feel as strong as regular nicotine in e-liquids. In other words, you vape using higher nicotine strengths without that roughness in the throat that most people dislike. Salt nicotine is naturally formed in leaves tobacco, and it’s much more stable than standard base nicotine. It took quite a few years to perfect salt nicotine for vaping.

Moreover, you’re going to spend much less. There’s more nicotine, so you don’t feel like vaping so often. Many prefer that lightheaded feeling they get from smoking so much, but you don’t want to vape from sunup to sundown. With nicotine salts, you don’t have to.

Tobacco leave white background

What Is Freebase Nicotine?

The nicotine found in vape juice is called freebase nicotine. It’s a method of consumption that tobacco companies have used since the 1960s. Freebase means that the nicotine used is in pure form when compared to other nicotine alternatives. Also, when the freebase nicotine gets heated, it’s more potent. Your lungs and brain can absorb it faster but not in the most efficient way. Phillip Morris, the company that owns Marlboro, for example, found this method and realized you could manipulate the nicotine’s pH levels. That way, you get a bigger kick from the nicotine and don’t have to increase the dose. This means cigarettes are more addictive. You need to know how freebase nicotine works to understand nicotine salt.

The nicotine in tobacco has the same chemical make-up as nicotine salt. Salt is made from positive and negative charges. The chemical nature of nicotine is the weak base with mostly negative charged particles. Since it’s a base, it must find positive charges to get stabilized and ionized.  Nicotine from the tobacco leaves isn’t the best way to get it into the body because the ions can’t get vaporized easily. Freebasing helps with that. Phillip Morris found out that you can de-protonate nicotine and remove the positive charge. That allows it to go to a free state where it travels through the body quickly. In a sense, freebase nicotine makes it more available to the brain and lungs for potency. However, most people wonder why smokers prefer nicotine salts if freebase nicotine is actually more potent.

 

Salt in wooden bowl

 

What is nicotine salt?

Nicotine salt is the natural state where nicotine is in the leaves. It’s more stable and isn’t as volatile as its freebase form. Nic salt requires a higher temperature to vaporize, which means the ions don’t go through the body’s nicotine receptors as easily. Therefore, it’s not the best way to get nicotine into the body. That said, Pax Labs found a new way to use nicotine salt in the vaping method. You can make higher levels of nicotine easier to use and get it into the body fast with e-cigarettes. The goal was to mimic smoking cigarettes as much as possible, and it appears to be working.

How does that work then? The secret ingredient for nic salt is benzoic acid. Benzoic acid serves multiple purposes. First of all, salt nicotine vaporizes in a much lower temperature, whilst lowering its pH levels and as a result, provides a much smoother throat hit. It also creates a chemical reaction that allows it to be a little bit more absorbable compared to regular nicotine. Mainly, you can have much higher strengths of nicotine to get that same cigarette rush of nicotine. For example, the 20mg/ml is similar to 12mg/ml, in terms of a throat hit, but it feels much smoother.

 

What is the difference between e-liquid and nicotine salts?

There is a difference between nicotine salt and freebase nicotine from the vaping perspective. One is that there is more harshness in freebase nicotine because of the higher nicotine levels. Freebase versions have high pH levels, and that affects alkalinity. Therefore, the e-liquid is going to taste harsher as you continue vaping. Nicotine salt has lower alkalinity levels because of the benzoic acid.

Consequently, you get a smoother hit from nic salt e-liquids at the back of the throat. In a sense, you can vape with salt nicotine at 20mg levels, and it is more bearable. The other difference has to do with the fact that they travel through the body differently. Nicotine salt is known not to be a great way to deliver that nicotine. However, laboratories figured out how to make it even more effective than the freebase nicotine. Since benzoic acid is added to it, the nicotine is more available and gets distributed faster to the lungs.

 

Difference between freebase, nicotine salt and cigarettes

 

Nicotine salt for a sub-ohm tank?

You have to realize that high nicotine salt content operates best in a low-watt device. In fact, you shouldn’t use high-powered e-cigarettes or sub-ohm tanks when you’re using salt nicotine. If you choose to use a sub-ohm to vape your salt nicotine at a 20mg level, you’re going to get way too much nicotine at once, and it could be highly unpleasant.

You can find two styles e-cigarettes perfect for nicotine salt. Nic salts are designed to be utilized with pod-style systems or starter kits. This is required because there’s more nicotine absorbed, and it can’t be vaporized at such high temperatures. Therefore, you get the vapour whenever you inhale it. Most people like them and feel that they are quite user-friendly. If you’ve never used a vaporizer, you’re going to find the transition to be smoother. Plus, you don’t have a large initial investment to figure out how these high-tech devices work.

 

 

Innokin Kroma-R 80W Mod kit with Zlide tank in black colour on the table

 

Is Nicotine Salt E-Liquid Salty?

No, nicotine salt e-liquid doesn’t taste salty at all. Though you may think it might be from the name, it’s referring to the form that your nicotine takes. Salt nicotine isn’t going to impact the added flavours as much as other forms of nicotine, so you get a more pronounced flavour.

 

What strength nic salt should I use?

New vapers usually wonder about nicotine strength and which one to get. Well, it all depends on your smoking habits. Regular e-liquids come in nicotine strengths of zero nicotine, 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, and the highest 18mg. By the way, we have a separate post about nicotine level guidance for freebase e-liquids. From the other side, nic salt e-liquids are available in two nic strength, 10mg and 20mg. For instance, if you are vaping 20mg of salt nicotine, which sounds like a lot of nicotine, but only for its freebased viewpoint.

As mentioned, nic salts provide a much smoother throat hits, compare to regular freebase e-liquids. For example, If you only smoke socially, such as ten cigarettes a day or if you vape regular e-liquids somewhere between 3mg and 6mg of freebase, an e-juice with a salt nic strength of 10mg should be the best for you. While those who smoke a pack a day might want a higher dose. Now that you know a bit more about nicotine salt, you can decide if it is right for you. As you might know, e-cigarettes are as much as 95% less harmful than smoking cigarettes, and with nicotine salt e-liquids, it can be even more pleasant.

 

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