Nicotine Salts are a fairly new craze in the vaping world. At SVC Labs, we offer both salt nicotine and traditional freebase nicotine in our e-liquid formulations. In this article, we will be covering what the differences are between these nicotine forms, and why you might want to choose one over the other.
What Are Nicotine Salts?
Freebase Nicotine
In order to understand what nicotine salts are, let’s compare them to the alternative form of nicotine: freebase nicotine. Freebase is the purest form of nicotine. It has been around far longer than nicotine salts, so therefore the vast majority of e-liquid brands contain it it. Freebase nicotine is created by adding ammonia to pure nicotine. This is because nicotine by itself would not be very potent in the body at all; nicotine is made up of negatively charged particles which essentially means that, when it enters the body, the particles cannot move across organic membranes very well.
So, we must ‘freebase’ the nicotine in order to make it more effective in the body and increase the bioavailability. (Bioavailability refers to the amount at which the body can absorb the substance). The vast majority of e-liquids on the market contain freebase nicotine.
Nicotine Salts
Nicotine salts are a type of nicotine that is found naturally in the tobacco leaf. Because we find nicotine salts in the tobacco leaf, anyone who has smoked a traditional cigarette will have already experienced them. However, if we were to leave the nicotine from the tobacco leaf in its natural state, we would have to heat it to very high temperatures in order to properly vaporize it in an e-liquid. Additionally, the bioavailability would be lower than that of freebase nicotine. Therefore, we must go through some further modification in order to turn it into a nicotine salt that we can add to our e-liquid – namely, adding benzoic acid.
Adding benzoic acid will: allow the nicotine salt to vaporize at much lower temperatures; allow the body to absorb the nicotine more easily, increasing the bioavailability; and lower the PH level of the nicotine salt in order to produce a smoother throat hit. This smooth throat hit – even at high doses – is the key to why nicotine salts are so desirable.
Vaping Salt Nicotine E-Liquids
Why Choose Nicotine Salts?
When vaping a traditional freebase nicotine e-liquid, most people wouldn’t choose a strength above 18mg. This is because the hit would be too harsh; it would burn the throat, and not be a very pleasant experience! Alternatively, when vaping nicotine salts, they would be able to use an e-liquid with a much higher nicotine strength. People who like to vape a 3mg freebase nicotine would be able to comfortably vape a nicotine salt e-liquid with a strength of up to 50mg.
As mentioned previously, we can find nicotine salts naturally in the tobacco leaf and are therefore you will have experienced them when you smoke a traditional tobacco cigarette. Therefore, using a nicotine salt e-liquid in an e-cigarette will closely mimic the sensation of smoking a traditional cigarette: a soft, smooth throat hit with a high dosage of nicotine. Additionally, the flavour profile can be much stronger and more prominent than that of a freebase nicotine e-liquid. In freebase e-liquids, the nicotine dosage can have an impact on the level of the flavour. With nicotine salts this does not apply, so even at high nicotine doses they will be able to experience a full bodied flavour.
When NOT To Use Nicotine Salts
When using a nicotine salt e-liquid, one must be mindful of the e-cigarette device that they are using. This type of e-liquid is NOT designed for high powered, sub-ohm, mod devices. Instead, one should opt for a lower wattage model; a pod system would be perfect for this.
Additionally, nicotine salts are NOT designed for those who are looking for a nicotine free/ low nicotine e-liquid. If someone is happy vaping a 0mg or 3mg freebase nicotine e-liquid, then it may be too strong for them to opt for a higher dosage of nicotine in a salt e-liquid. They won’t require this high amount of nicotine in order to provide satisfaction, even though the throat hit will be nice and smooth!
Our Nicotine Salt Brand: SOLT+
At SVC Labs, we manufacture and distribute a range of 12 e-liquid flavours for our salt nicotine brand: Solt. This brand offers incredibly bold and satisfying flavour profiles covering the fruit, dessert, menthol, and tobacco flavour ranges. They are available in a choice of a 10mg and 20mg nicotine strength. Our team have expertly blended these e-liquids to provide some of the best and boldest flavours one will ever experience in a vape, and of course they provide a wonderfully smooth throat hit.
Nicotine Salts are the latest evolution in e-liquids providing an overall enhanced vaping experience. Vapers can now enjoy the same delivery advantages even in high nicotine dose e-liquids while using low voltage devices. At SVC Labs, we wanted to bring this revolutionary ingredient to our product offering to provide our customers and our wholesale clients with a brand that simply won’t fail to impress.
