Generally, most vapers tend to prioritise one thing a little more than the other when it comes to flavour and vapour. There’s nothing stopping you from having a nice balance of both, but if you really want to crank up the flavour dial and get as much out of your vape juice as possible there are a few things you can do. This list isn’t exhaustive but will give you a good start on your flavour chasing journey.
High PG e-liquid
Vape liquids are made up of three ingredients (four, if you include nicotine). The two main ones are propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerine (VG) the third is flavouring. PG serves to carry the flavour of your vape juice, it’s a thinner consistency and gives more of a throat hit. VG is in there to give you the actual vapour, when you combine the two in different ratios you get different effects. For flavour chasing, usually a 50:50 VG/PG ratio is about perfect. You’ll get great flavour, a moderate throat hit and enough vapour to be satisfying without filling your whole room with clouds.
Some brands and juices have more flavour concentrate than others, trial and error usually help you figure out which ones do. If high PG isn’t your thing, brands like Twelve Monkeys and Dinner Lady have some exceptional offerings ranging from 60:40 to an 80:20 ratio. You can still have a mild throat hit and get a great taste from your vape even with a higher VG level. You’ll just need to adjust your tank and wattage settings accordingly. The general rule: the higher the VG level, the lower the resistance and higher the wattage you need.
Mouth to lung vaping
Rather than using a direct to lung vaping style, trying mouth to lung will give you a double flavour impact. Drawing vapour into your mouth first, holding it there then inhaling into your lungs means you get the flavour notes on both the inhale and exhale. Direct to lung tends to not have as much flavour impact until you exhale.
Like with high PG liquids, you’ll want to use a higher Ohm coil. Look for one that’s 1 Ohm or more. These coils and tanks are lower powered, making them perfect for e-liquids with a higher PG level. Like we said, PG carries more flavour than VG but it also vaporises at a lower temperature. The added bonus of this is you can use less power so your battery will last longer too.
Narrow drip tip
Even the smallest things can enhance your experience with vaping, right down to that little piece of Delrin on top of your vape. The purpose of the drip tip (aside from keeping your mouth away from metal that can get a bit warm) is to help funnel vapour from your vape into your lungs. A wider bore drip tip will give more vapour and slightly less flavour. A narrower one will condense the vapour a little more, giving less cloud and more flavour.
Plenty of tanks have been designed for this exact purpose, one fan favourite is the Aspire Nautilus range of tanks. They’re suitable for both sub Ohm and mouth to lung vaping meaning you can switch between flavour chasing and cloud chasing.
Less air flow
More air flow equals more vapour and therefore, less flavour. To combat this, close your airflow vents down. Tanks with bottom airflow are best for this and the ideal method is to close it down gradually. Different juices will have a different “sweet spot” for optimal flavour as far as air flow goes. The reason for this is that, as you reduce air flow, it’ll also make the vapour warmer. Too hot and it’ll be uncomfortable and can start to burn your coil quite quickly, too cool and you’ll get big fluffy clouds but not as much flavour.
Less nicotine
Nicotine doesn’t have any flavour added to it in the form of a nic shot, but in e-liquid in high doses it’ll have a slightly peppery and bitter flavour. Nicotine free juice is obviously an option but if you prefer vaping with it, there are two solutions here:
Lower your nicotine level if you use freebase nicotine. The less nicotine there is in your juice, the more the flavourings that have been added will come to life. Typically a 3mg or 6mg strength will still allow for great flavour pay off. If you need a higher nicotine than this and are using a mouth to lung device, you next best bet is nic salts.
Nic salts are a newer format of nicotine that has a bunch of benefits for high-nic users. For a start, it delivers a nic hit super quickly as it’s more readily absorbed by the body. When it comes to the benefits for flavour chasing though, it carries that higher dose but has less throat hit and flavour isn’t affected either.
