E-Liquid vs Nic Salt: What's The Difference and Which Should You Buy?

Where freebase e-liquid provides a more balanced flavour and is the main type of e-liquid associated with vaping, nic salts are created from naturally occurring salts found in tobacco leaves. Nic salts provide a stronger flavour, often associated with disposable vape devices.

In this blog, we will provide guidance on choosing the best e-liquid for your personal preference.

If you enjoy a throat hit, balanced flavour profiles, and a gentler overall nicotine hit, freebase e-liquid is likely best for you.

If you prefer little-to-no throat hit, double-concentrated flavours, and a fast-acting & longer-lasting nicotine hit, you may prefer nic salt e-liquid.

Recent ex-smokers may prefer freebase e-liquid, like our original £1 range, due to it being made to replicate the experience of smoking cigarettes more closely, largely due to the throat hit delivered by freebase nicotine.

Users of disposable vapes, or people who enjoy more flavour impact will enjoy nic salt vape juice due to its enhanced taste, whilst still providing a strong nicotine hit. Despite their typically high nicotine strength, nic salts have a much smoother throat hit, which may or may not be preferable depending on what kind of vaping experience you enjoy.

We've summarised all key differences in the following bulleted list; further on we will explore these differences in more detail.

Freebase e-liquids, like our original £1 range, are typically available in a tapered range of nicotine strengths ranging from 0mg nicotine free through 3mg, 6mg and 12mg up to a maximum of 18mg. The throat hit intensity of these vape juices increases with the nicotine content, as does their ability to satisfy increasingly powerful cravings.

This trade-off may be considered a negative of freebase e-liquid, as those who want a smoother vape may not be able to access the higher nicotine strengths needed due to the intensity of the hit. On the other hand, many vapers (particularly heavier former smokers) value the throat hit as it's a familiarity.

Nic salt e-liquids, like our Bar salts range, are available in 5mg, 10mg, 15mg and 20mg nicotine strengths. The main reason for not following the same increments as freebase vape juice is due to the popularity of disposable vapes, which were mostly available in either 10mg or 20mg nic salt strengths, which meant vapers simply became more familiar with this scale when shopping for nic salts. To a lesser extent, the way nicotine salts interact with our body also contributes to their doses being on a slightly different scale to freebase vape juice.

Nic salt vape juice has little to no throat hit even at the highest strengths available, which offers a unique solution to vapers who seek high-strength craving satisfaction, but do not want a throat hit. As with freebase, the flipside of this positive is that vapers who want the familiarity of a throat hit from their previous smoking habits will not find it when vaping nic salts.

When using nic salts, you'll notice a more immediate nicotine hit due to quicker absorption into the bloodstream when compared to freebase nicotine. This can make nic salt e-liquids feel stronger than freebase examples, even at a lower nicotine strength.

When deciding which product you should buy, rather than objective strength, you should consider whether you prefer a more intense, faster-acting nicotine hit that lasts a little longer, or a gentler freebase nicotine hit that may not last as long but has other potential benefits like a throat hit.

If you prefer high vapour production, high-VG freebase e-liquids are the best option for large clouds. 50-50 e-liquids, freebase or otherwise, simply cannot compete with the vapour production of high-VG products. This is because VG is the ingredient responsible for vapour production, so the higher the VG content, the bigger the clouds.

Nicotine salts typically don't provide a notably large amount of vapour, as they are also mixed to a balanced 50/50 ratio of PG & VG.

Whether freebase e-liquid or nic salts is better for you depends entirely on what you're looking for in your vaping journey. Considering factors mentioned earlier such as throat hit, nicotine strength and flavour, we would suggest trying both freebase 50/50 vape juice and nic salt vape juice yourself to determine what you personally prefer.

At LiQuid, we're proud to offer top quality vape juice at a price that allows you to experiment! We offer freebase e-liquid starting from £1, and nic salts at £2, meaning you can try both and see for yourself which is most efficient and preferable for you.