Long term "vapor's tongue"

[NEO_Doc]

Hi all,

First post here...just wanted to reach out to anyone who is new to vaping.

I quit smoking on Sept 3rd and haven't bought a pack of smokes since. A Sunday, 2 weeks later, I woke up thinking "I really want to have a churro" and I went to vape it...nothing. I could not taste that wonderful flavor that I had the day before. I freaked and went online to see the various cures for this 'vapor's tongue' that I was experiencing. I brushed my teeth, rinsed with mouthwash, and still nothing. I went to more drastic measures; I sniffed the aroma of coffee grounds, vaped menthol exclusively, even used my neti pot that I haven't for years...nothing.

Went to the local vape shop and asked for ideas. They suggested the menthol and rinsing with a moisturizing mouthwash as opposed to alcohol. No improvement. No magical cure was working.

I figured that I would have to wait a week. A week passed and I still was having problems tasting anything. Now it wasn't just the churro, but it was the creme brulee, the chocolate doughnut, the slim mints, the everything. I basically could not taste anything vape related. I decided to vape unflavored for awhile, resulting in the nicotine satiation, but left me discouraged.

About two weeks ago (2 months later) I could start tasting again. I can taste everything from the apple pie to the churro to the vanilla to the sugar bear to the creme' brulee to the whole assortment of flavors that I and my girlfriend have. There were times that I thought I was condemned to not taste any of vaping after 25 years of smoking, but I decided to stick to it, and here I am tasting the great flavors that exist.

I suppose this post is just a post of encouragement to those who have quit smoking and have been struck with the realization that they can't taste the vape that they did the day before. There are so many posts about a week or two time frame, not months. I just wanted to post that it will come back, vapor's fatigue is not permanent, to those few that experience this situation for months, not days. Stick to it, be patient, be calm, it will come back.

Glad to be here.

Doc

 

[inspects]

Never had that happen, but nonetheless welcome aboard....

 

[Douggro]

I suppose this post is just a post of encouragement to those who have quit smoking and have been struck with the realization that they can't taste the vape that they did the day before. There are so many posts about a week or two time frame, not months. I just wanted to post that it will come back, vapor's fatigue is not permanent, to those few that experience this situation for months, not days. Stick to it, be patient, be calm, it will come back.

Welcome to ECF, Doc! glad you're here.
I had an experience very much like yours and put up a post a few days celebrating getting back my taste for the Wintermint flavor that I like so much. I literally put it aside for over a month. When it happened, I went on a regular rotation of flavors other than a menthol of some type. Never more than a few tanks of any particular flavor. That seems to have done it for me: time and flavor changes. I just finished my second tank of Wintermint and changed out to Black Honey Tobacco - delish!

AND! Congratulation on giving up the cigs!!

 

[Caterpiller]

I had a very similar experience, but found I loved unflavoured which I now DIY for pennies.

When I do occasionally vape shop bought juice I find the flavours are back, not sure if this is due to giving my taste buds a break, or because I'm now vaping multi-coil builds between 25-60 watts.

It's hard to imagine getting vapors tougue with a high powered dripper

 

[Str8vision]

During my first year of vaping I suffered vapors tongue many times with each occurrence lasting between 4 to 7 days. Like you I tried various remedies but nothing really helped. Finding flavors distinctly different from one another provided some relief, when I'd lose the ability to taste one I'd switch to another but until my sense of taste fully returned even the other flavors were muted. I then began rotating several distinctly different flavors throughout the week and that seemed to alleviate the occurrence of vapors tongue to a great extent. After a year or so I stopped experiencing vapors tongue altogether, it's become a thing of the past and I can now vape whatever I want for as long as I want.

 

[pennysmalls]

I think some of us are just more prone to vapers tongue, I'm one of them. I've been vaping over two years now and still get it. It was really bad when I first started, it would last weeks. Tried everything, nothing worked. The only thing I've found that does it for me sometimes is eating a meal and even then it's usually a temporary fix, it's doesn't last long when I'm in the middle of a bout.

 

[Caterpiller]

I agree that some of us, myself included, seem more prone to VT.

I still wonder if the low watt (7-10 watts) single coil builds I used at that time exacerbated the issue.

Can I ask those that have suffered VT what builds you were vaping?

 

[WharfRat1976]

WATER....DRINK MORE WATER

 

[Caterpiller]

WATER....DRINK MORE WATER

If I drunk any more water I'd drown

 

[Maiar]

I never really had vapers tongue that lasted more than a day until recently. But now I occasionally have a week here and there where nothing tastes right. It's not a lack of flavor per se, just nothing tastes right. Only thing that ever helps now is upping my water intake, or in my case, my diet pepsi intake (it's 99% water so I don't want to hear about it lol). Plus the fizz seems to help get the tongue salivating again.

 

[pennysmalls]

I agree that some of us, myself included, seem more prone to VT.

I still wonder if the low watt (7-10 watts) single coil builds I used at that time exacerbated the issue.

Can I ask those that have suffered VT what builds you were vaping?

Interesting, I'd never considered that. In the beginning when my VT was really bad I was vaping over 1 ohm on a dripper/Provari combo so probably 10 watts or so, max. Now I'm vaping at around 35 watts consistently (.5ohm on a mech) and it's not as bad as it used to be.

 

[Douggro]

I agree that some of us, myself included, seem more prone to VT.

I still wonder if the low watt (7-10 watts) single coil builds I used at that time exacerbated the issue.

Can I ask those that have suffered VT what builds you were vaping?

Hmm.. I hadn't thought of that correlation. I was using ET-S clearos with 1.6Ω coils at 4V, so, 10W. Still use those for my menthols. My other stuff is sub-Ω, but have noticed flavor fatigue with them to a lesser degree. The Wintermint and Black Honey Tobacco are going through the Subtank Mini, RBA with a 1.2Ω coil at ~11W.

WATER....DRINK MORE WATER

I'm drinking more water now than at any time in my life! At least 2-3 liters a day.

 

[Str8vision]

I agree that some of us, myself included, seem more prone to VT.

I still wonder if the low watt (7-10 watts) single coil builds I used at that time exacerbated the issue.

Can I ask those that have suffered VT what builds you were vaping?

In 2012 I was using a protank with 2.4 ohm heads at around 8 - 10 watts "tootlepuffing". These days I use a Goblin built at 0.4 ohms at around 45 watts and lung inhale.

When I stopped experiencing vapors tongue (2013), I was still "tootlepuffing" (mouth to lung inhales), but had switched to using a Kayfun built at 1.2 ohms at around 12 - 15 watts.

 

[Caterpiller]

So from this very small survey, it seems most of us had VT on lower power devices, and less so when we switched to higher power builds.

Hardly scientific, but interesting none the less.

 

[jensy]

Do you know what I found out causes my vapers tongue. Any kind of antacid will give me vapers tongue. Truly wierd in my book so now I won't use them and I never get vapers tongue now.

 

[Hotwire]

I had a very similar experience, but found I loved unflavoured which I now DIY for pennies.

When I do occasionally vape shop bought juice I find the flavours are back, not sure if this is due to giving my taste buds a break, or because I'm now vaping multi-coil builds between 25-60 watts.

It's hard to imagine getting vapors tougue with a high powered dripper

When you vape unflavoured, what VG/PG ratio do you use? Just curious as want to buy some and try it just to see what it's like. I'll probably try it in my Nautilus Mini or subtank nano. Cheers

 

[Hotwire]

I get VT on whatever I use. I use 3 set ups, Ego 650MAH and an evod, Nautilus Mini stock BVC coils about 15W and no higher than 50/50 but usually higher PG and Subtank Nano between 25-35W and 70Vg - MAX VG.

When you have VT you just have VT....

 

[Canadian_Vaper]

I have sinus problems, basically one nostril is open and the other is closed, switches between nostrils, doc said they can drill it out but I opted for not having a drill in my face... anyways back to my story.... My taste buds mute really really easily not just with vaping, It got so bad that after every tank I vaped if I refilled with the same flavor it would mute my buds but if I cut the flavor down to a bit less than half of what people normally put in I get some flavor all the time and I don't have to worry about muting so much...

Moral of the story? Maybe you need a drill in the face? Lmao..

 

[Caterpiller]

When you vape unflavoured, what VG/PG ratio do you use? Just curious as want to buy some and try it just to see what it's like. I'll probably try it in my Nautilus Mini or subtank nano. Cheers

I usually go with 65PG/35VG and 5% Distilled Water (to increase the throat hit), 12mg Nicotine.