No products in the cart.
The vaping industry has seen massive innovation in a short amount of time. But how have Nic Salts revolutionized vaping?
For the past few years, nicotine salts (commonly known as nic salts) have been commonly used in e-liquids. Yet they only recently gained traction as a significant innovation in vaping. Just so we are clear upfront, Nicotine Salt contains NO Salt and will not have an impact on your sodium intake.
We’ve carefully crafted this guide to help you gain a deeper understanding of nic salts, so you can make an informed decision about whether they’re right for you.
What’s Freebase Nicotine?
To fully understand nicotine salts, it is best to understand freebase e-juice, the most common alternative form of nicotine.
Since the 1960s, freebase nicotine has been used in cigarettes, nicotine replacement products (such as gum and patches) and e-liquids, which are very popular for vaping. Phillip Morris International (who makes the Marlboro brand) began freebasing nicotine for the purpose of creating a more pure and enjoyable product.
Nicotine is transformed in the freebasing process from the naturally occurring ‘salt’ state to its purest base state. It is popular among vapers because it is a cost-effective way of increasing potency without increasing the dose. Using ammonia (an alkaline) to remove the salt protons, the pH level is raised and the salt is deprotonated (a ‘freebase’ state).
What’s Nicotine Salt?
First, we would like to clarify that it is not made up of sodium chloride, commonly known as table salt. So, your vape juice won’t taste salty, and your sodium intake won’t increase. You might not believe it, but many people think of sodium chloride when they hear the word “salt,” anywhere.
It’s based on chemistry, where salts are formed by chemical reactions that contain both positive (acid) and negative (base) charges.
Nicotine is a salt that occurs in tobacco leaves. Perhaps it’s more important to emphasize that tobacco leaves contain nicotine only in their salt state since it is precisely these nicotine salts that are then chemically modified to form freebase nicotine.
Although nicotine salts have a chemical composition that attracts positively charged particles (protons) so that they can become stable (ionized), their chemical composition is interesting. Our cell membranes make it difficult for ions to reach our body’s nicotine receptors since they have trouble moving through them.
In order for those unmodified nicotine salts to be effective, they would need to be vaped at extremely high temperatures. Regardless of whether that was possible, nicotine’s absorption would still be inferior to that of the freebase. So, nic salts still require a bit of chemical tweaking to make them effective for vaping.
The Significant Difference
In order to replicate the experience of smoking a cigarette as closely as possible, most vapers want to get the same sensation from vaping. To deliver nicotine as efficiently as possible, the delivery must mimic that of a cigarette.
In the past, only freebase nicotine was available in vape juice, and since it has a higher pH value, it is more on the alkaline end of the spectrum, meaning it can be harsh in higher doses.
In some cases, a high amount of freebase nicotine can be too intense for the user to fully enjoy. Due to this, newer vapers often reduce the nicotine content of their e-liquid to help soothe their throats. There aer various types of e-juices available at online vape shops in Canada.
If the nicotine levels are reduced too quickly, there’s a high risk they may relapse back to smoking since they will not be able to satisfy their initial cravings.
Alternatively, they can take more drags from their vape to satisfy their cravings, but that will result in them having to use more e-liquid, which distracts from the cost savings they promised, which can be demotivating. And this has given rise to the popularity of nic salt e-juices around the world.
Conclusion
If you are trying to quit smoking, vaping is one of the best options out there. But for vaping to work, you have to know the different concepts related to it eg. freebase salts, nic salts, pod systems, and more. We hope that now you understand the differences between freebase salts and nic salts and can identify which one is right for you. For more information, contact our experts and we will get right back to you. We carry an extensive collection of e-juices, vaping devices, pod systems, and other hardware for you.