E Liquid VG Explained

A frequently overlooked aspect of vaping are the two base ingredients of any vape liquid; the PG/VG, and how their ratios can dictate which vape kit to get and ultimately what kind of vape experience you will have. We’ve found that many of our new customers have a murky understanding of what these two main ingredients are and what their function is. As a result we often encounter people using the wrong e-liquid with the wrong kit or buying an e-liquid that isn’t going to give them the kind of experience they are after.

It’s important to know as you don’t want to have spent a bunch of money on the wrong kit, or realised you’ve been sold something that is way more powerful than you really need, especially if you are just trying to get off the fags. But don’t worry it’s not complicated at all and once you know, you can shop with confidence.

In this article we’ll delve into what Vegetable Glycerine or VG is, its role in e-liquid and the type of vape experiences it offers.

Vegetable glycerine or VG is derived from vegetable oils and is used globally in food, cosmetic and medicine products. Classed as an alcohol, it is a thick, odourless liquid with a slightly sweet taste. When evaporated vegetable glycerine will create big, dense amounts of vapour. If you’ve ever seen someone blowing a massive cloud of vapour on the high street it was mainly the VG you were seeing in action. That fog machine from your high school disco days, that was VG.

Because of its thicker consistency VG requires more power to turn it into a vapour and as such liquids with a higher concentration of VG are best suited for devices that operate below 0.8ohm - otherwise known as sub-ohm kits and tanks.

These larger sub-ohm kits put out a high amount of power and have much wider mouth pieces. With these increases in power and size, a different method of vaping is required; the direct to lung inhale or DTL.

When you draw on a cigarette, you first draw the smoke into your mouth and then you inhale it. This is called a mouth to lung or MTL style inhale and is what beginner vape pen and pod kits replicate. As the name implies, a direct to lung style vape involves inhaling the vapour directly into your lungs in a deep breath. This method along with the nature of VG will have you exhaling ginormous, dense clouds of warm vapour. It is also worth noting that High VG e-liquids give little to no throat hit.

A good example of a sub-ohm kit is the Drag S Pro Pod Kit By Voopoo.

An ideal kit for newer Sub Ohm vapers. The Drag S Pro pod kit is housed with an exceptional 3000mAh battery offering enough power to last you all day and will give you 5-80W of power to spice up your vaping experience.

The Drag S Pro pod kit comes with 0.15ohm TPP DM1 and 0.3ohm TPP DM4 mesh coils which provide the maximum amount of vape flavour along with a conspicuous amount of vapour on the exhale. We recommend you use high VG e-liquids with a PG concentration of 70 or more to fully optimise the Drag S Pro to its maximum potential.

E-liquids classed as high VG will typically have ratios of 70/30. This means that 70% of the liquid base consists of VG with the remaining 30% being propylene glycol (PG). High VG flavoured e-liquids are most commonly available in 50ml or 100ml ‘shortfill bottles’. Why ‘shortfill’ you may ask? Well the bottles contain no nicotine but have an added 10ml or 20ml of space if you want to add a nicotine shot - shortfill.

These large bottles offer excellent value for money and can last for weeks, with many vapers building a collection of their favourite flavours which they use on rotation. Check out these examples below:

You can also get high VG e-liquid in 10ml bottles. Unlike shortfills, these are pre-mixed with nicotine and are ideal if you want to try out a bunch of different flavours.

When you’re using a higher powered kit and inhaling great big lungfuls of dense vapour, using nic salts or high amounts of nicotine above 6mg is not recommended as the nic hit can be too strong to be enjoyable.