Whether you’ve been vaping for a while and don’t feel like you are getting the same flavour hit that you used to, or you’re using a new e-liquid and it isn’t living up to expectations, there will be changes you can make to your vape to help you get more flavour from it.
1. Check Your E-Liquids
One of the simplest things you can do is to look at the e-liquids that you use.
If you don’t think you’re getting much flavour from an e-liquid, check the PG/VG ratio. If your e-liquid has a high or max VG level, that’s probably the reason you’re not tasting as much as you would expect. VG e-liquids are great when you want big clouds and minimal throat hit, but not as potent for flavour. PG is actually a far better conduit for flavour than VG, so you should look for something with a 50% PG ratio if you want better vape flavours. You’ll find that you’ll have a bigger throat hit, so your e-liquid may not be great for cloud chasing, and you’ll need to use a higher temperature, but you’ll definitely notice an improvement in the flavour.
For long-term vapers, it may be that a stronger e-liquid flavour is needed, or if you’ve become particularly enamoured with a certain flavour you might need to branch out for a while and give your tastebuds time to reset.
You might also want to look at the way you store your e-liquid. It’s best to keep e-liquid stored somewhere dark and cool, to stop the flavours from degrading over time.
If you’re feeling adventurous, you could try steeping new e-liquid to enhance the flavour. Try using a mix of exposing them to air for a week and agitating the juice a few times a day as it steeps. You should see a change in colour, and notice a change in flavour.
2. Change Your Coil
If your favourite e-liquid has lost its usual taste or nothing seems to be giving you the same hit as before, it’s time to change the coil.
People who vape a lot or use high VG e-liquids will find that their coil and wick need changed up to weekly, while less regular vapers might get away with normally changing their coil once a month. As well as reduced flavours, a spent coil will give a dry, hot taste to a vape, may cause your e-cigarette to make a gurgling sound, and could leak e-liquid into the battery unit.
Those who build their own coils and wicks could also look at the materials they use. Japanese organic cotton is proving to be a popular wick choice for vapers who want more e-liquid flavours, while some advanced vapers recommend ceramic wicks. You might even find that using different coil materials help – stainless steel, nickel and titanium could all add a subtly different flavour to your vape.
3. Clean Your Kit
It sounds obvious, but using a clean kit can really help you make the most of your e-liquid flavours. The cleaner and newer your coil, wick or tank are, the better your e-liquid will taste.
Cleaning your tank is easy and shouldn’t take long. You can simply disassemble your kit and rinse the glass part of the atomizer in warm water. Let it air dry, or help it along with clean kitchen towel. Clean your drip tip, if you use one, just in case there’s any dust or old e-liquid on it.
Cleaning the battery connection with kitchen towel or a cotton tip is also important, as it can help maximise vapour production and thus help with flavour.
4. Check Your Equipment
It may be that you need to upgrade what you’re using to get the best from your vape.
For instance, a double-coil setup will give you more flavour than a single coil will. A plastic tank won’t be as good as a glass one. Bottom-coil atomizers will give you a much improved vape experience over older style top-coil ones, and will add to vape flavours.
If you’re an experienced vaper, you could opt to try sub-ohm vaping or making your own rebuildable atomizer to really enhance your vaping and improve e-liquid flavours too.
5. Think About How You Vape
There are lots of little changes you can make to the way you vape which can help maximise vape flavours.
Drinking water before you vape – especially in the morning – can really help your tastebuds. Dehydration can also make e-liquids lose their spark, so it’s important to stay refreshed.
If you have a vape kit with temperature control, wattage control or airflow control, you should try experimenting with these settings to see what works best for your vape and your e-liquid. Different PG/VG ratios will produce better flavours at different temperatures, so try changing the temperature of a vape and noting when it tastes best with a certain e-liquid.
If you’re used to cloud chasing, you may vape with high airflow – which can actually reduce flavours from e-liquids. Try closing off your airflow and seeing if this helps e-liquid flavours.
Finally, if you are experiencing ‘vapers tongue’ and can’t seem to taste much despite making these changes, try drinking lots of water and sucking citrus fruit to cleanse your palate. Summer allergies and the common cold can even cause us to lose some taste sensation, and sometimes unblocking your nose can help with vape flavours!