E liquid is made from 4 ingredients:
Nicotine, flavourings, PG/VG (Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerin)
PG/VG are carriers for the nicotine and flavorings and play a vital part in the entire experience of your vape. Want a smooth vape? Opt for more VG, more flavor? More PG. But let’s look a little deeper into these two important ingredients, and learn more about them.
Updated: 18th March 2020
Propylene Glycol (PG)
PG has been used for 50 plus years in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. It is an ingredient in anti freeze, it is NOT antifreeze.
You can find it by looking for the E number: E1520
It allegedly has 27 calories per teaspoon. But with vaping, PG is the part of the e-liquid that enhances flavour and throat hit. It is quite a runny liquid so high PG e-liquid should be avoided in sub-ohm tanks.
PG is the part of the e-liquid that 4% of the population can be sensitive to; this may take a few weeks for new vapers to notice. So, if you notice any of these symptoms: sore/dry eyes, sore mouth, eczema, nausea or wheezing, you might want to consider a swap to an e-liquid with a higher VG content.
But do check it out with a doctor if you are concerned.
When starting vaping, many experience a dry mouth. This is often relieved by increasing your water intake, and usually subsides after a few weeks as your body becomes used to vaping instead of smoking.
Is vaping safe?
The correct answer is that vaping is less harmful than smoking. There are articles that will state that PG has been used on animals, and in children’s wards to pump medication into the air, with no serious adverse affects noted.
Yet we are entering new territory here with the advent of vaping and we have to accept this. We can though take some comfort from the fact that it appears to be relatively harmless for animals, and that As discussed in this paper:
“there was no evidence of potential for exposures of e-cigarette users to contaminants that are associated with risk to health at a level that would warrant attention if it were an involuntary workplace exposure,”
Though obviously more research in this area is very welcome.
PG is for flavor and throat hit
The more PG the more enhanced the flavor and bigger the throat hit.
New vapers are generally better off with higher PG and nicotine mixes as this more closely mimics the sensations of smoking.
Which tank is best for higher PG mixes?
We suggest the Slider CS Air Vape Tank this tank uses the popular CS 1.5 ohm atomizers. The adjustable airflow allows you to tailor your vaping experience, meaning that for a new user this makes a perfect transitional tank. It is easy to fill and will perform in a way that won’t make vaping feel like a massive learning curve.
Vegetable Glycerin (VG)
VG is a carbohydrate made from plants and is used as a sugar substitute. It is of low toxicity and generally hypo-allergenic. Like PG, it too is found in food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
VG is much thicker than PG. It provides a smoother vape, produces more vapour with less of a throat hit and the sweetness of it tends to mask the flavours. Though some find that because there is more vapour, they feel the flavour lingers slightly longer in the mouth.
Think V for vapour. The more VG, the more vapour.
The heavier VG e liquids are ideal if you prefer sub-ohm vaping or dripping. Sub-ohm tanks generally have larger e liquid flow channels, have adjustable airflow settings and are designed for copious amounts of vapour.
If high VG is used in MTL vape tanks, you can experience dry hits and scorched cotton.
If you decide that the heavier VG e-liquids are for you, then we suggest using either of the following:
Utilising the HW-M 0.15ohm coils, this is an excellent tank for anyone who wants to see plumes of vapour on the exhale. It has huge airflow, sliding top fill and atomizer heads great for huge clouds of vapour and outstanding flavour.
