Could you describe the return of your sense of taste?

[sedition]

I'm trying to figure out a way to pose this question without it sounding stupid..

I'm 2 weeks into vaping and no cigarettes - still not able to get my head around how simple it was to quit with e-cigs. I think some of my sense of taste has returned, but it's hard to describe. I'm hoping you guys might chime in with your experience so I can figure out where I'm at with taste, and perhaps what I might be able to expect from here on out.

For the most part, I can't taste any vapor flavor on the majority of the top surface of my tongue. I get some taste on the tip (the honey taste in Torque 56 in particular), and on the sides of my tongue way back near the back of my mouth. With MBV Hawk Sauce I'm occasionally getting a bit of taste in the back of my throat when I swallow. If I french inhale, I'm able to smell the vapor, Torque 56 particularly. By comparison if I drink coffee, water, soda etc., I can taste it everywhere in my mouth.

Does that sound familiar to anyone, and should I be expecting more taste to return from here on out?

 

[3mg Meniere]

It is more the sense of smell. (Remember that smell and taste are wound up together) When you begin to perceive that the smell of burning tobacco is disgusting, you have had the AHA moment. Don't try to intellectualize it, just enjoy the flavors.

 

[minitater]

It may take more than two weeks for your nose and tongue to return to normal. That's why many folks who quit smoking get fat. After the taste buds recover food tastes much better and they eat more! Now after say a month, if your juice still tastes muted then you might look at what juice you are using.

 

[Trypno]

It took me longer than two weeks before my sense of smell/taste returned, but it was wonderous.

What you could try is a strong tobacco flavor e-liquid. You should be able to taste that just fine, and it'll taste awesome to you because your brain is still used to the flavor of ACTUAL tobacco. I could be wrong about that though lol.

But what I did was use tobacco flavors exclusively to break the habit, then once I started to get sick of the tobacco flavor I started to branch out, that's when I noticed that my taste buds/sense of smell were becoming sensitive again. I still vape tobacco flavors, but I've noticed even my former favorite tobacco flavors just don't quite do it for me.

Matter of fact, a lot of flavors don't quite kick properly for me, I'm not very picky when it comes to food, but it turns out I'm pretty picky when it comes to liquids. I don't like them too sweet, or too tobaccoey, if that makes sense lol. So far I haven't really found that 'OOMPH' flavor for me.

 

[Wickedgt]

I smoked for 39 years and my taste buds were SHOT! I had to salt EVERYTHING... after about 2-3 weeks of vaping, I found I'm not salting anything. Dishes are tasting more flavorful and I'm enjoying the food I eat a lot more. (probably not a good thing!) I need to go on a diet!

 

[Ronald3638]

I've gained weight. The negative side of vaping.
It was subtle change but after a month I noticed that everything just tasted better.

 

[nicetucu]

I noticed a change at around the 3rd or 4th week and by 6 weeks I felt like I had the senses of a 12 year old. My smell was first then taste started to come around.

I guess it's different for everyone.... When you go outside and smell someone smoking and they are a football field away, that's pretty good. In that case wind and other elements were probably involved ha ha. Crazy thing is juice you like/love now may change in a month or two.

 

[readeuler]

It is more the sense of smell. (Remember that smell and taste are wound up together) When you begin to perceive that the smell of burning tobacco is disgusting, you have had the AHA moment. Don't try to intellectualize it, just enjoy the flavors.

I fully agree here! In the past week (3 week mark coming up in two days), I've been able to judge baking time by smell, twice, without even trying. The unmistakable smell of "just right" pretzels, and the smell of hot, but raw, potatoes. It's quite fun, and the effortlessness is really what surprised me.

 

[rsolmn]

I quit analogs 7 months ago and started vaping about two months ago. My taste buds seem the same as when I did smoke I never noticed a difference. However I can taste the difference in eliquids although I am still a newb at this.

 

[Rdo3]

I understand what you mean when you say taste on the tip and sides of your tongue. I could only "taste" on the sides of my tongue the first couple months of vaping and insisted I needed extra flavor shots in my juice which most agree mutes the flavor more, but it worked for me at the time. Now 7 months later I have my senses back (smell/taste) and prefer very lightly flavored juice. I tried my older juice with extra flavor shots recently and it tasted so disgusting to me now I almost vomited!!

 

[PhreakingPanda]

Taste-wise, I haven't really noticed a huge difference, other than the fact that for the first time in approximately 10 years, my taste buds stand up when I eat, drink or vape something sweet or sour. Whilst smoking, this never happened. I could eat the sweetest pie you can imagine and my taste buds never perked. As for smell, however, I can smell things I never used to be able to smell before. I can smell someone smoking a cigarette from probably 30 feet away and it reeks tbh. I can smell people's body odor with ease (not that I wanted to be able to). I work in factories and I can now smell the very subtle stinky smells like the chemicals in the dipping tanks, the fumes from the welders, etcetc. Overall, my sense of smell has improved drastically. This is only after having vaped for however long my sig says I've not smoked cigs. (I think it's like 2 weeks)

 

[emily n portland]

For me, also I noticed more in smell than taste. I guess taste has improved too, but I don't notice it as much.

Probably 3 months in when it really kicked in crazy. I was at the grocery store, and realized the whole produce section smelled AMAZING. When spring hit, walking by any sort of flowers I couldn't believe I had been missing this for years and years. I smell my neighbors BBQ as soon as he lights it up, he grills almost every night...first few times I was trying to figure out what in my apartment was on fire and I start salivating as soon as he puts the steaks on.

(on a less happy note, I also realized one of my co-workers stinks )

 

[sedition]

Thanks for all the replies! I started smoking since before I hit secondary school, so it's going to be an interesting journey rediscovering everything.. I'm just hoping that I don't get turned off some of my favourite foods! It's interesting how your taste senses can be a little like seeing something in peripheral vision and not seeing it by looking directly at it.

 

[TyPie]

I, too, cannot get over how easy it was to stop the stinkies with ecigs!!! I'm still giddy just thinking about it. (In fact, I just hit 500 days, and 10,000 cigarettes avoided.......think I'll take tomorrow off.......heheheh......)

As for sense of taste, someone here already noted that taste was closely related to sense of smell. If you can't smell, you can't taste very well.

Well, all I can say it was really remarkable! My sense of taste went absolutely WILD, with some taste at times, to no taste at all at times, to everything tasting the same, to everything tasting BAD, and on and on and on. This went on for about the first month.

And THEN, things settled down to where I can now taste every little spice, ingredient, flavor and nuance in absolutely EVERYTHING! It really was worth quitting just for the return of the senses of taste and smell alone, not to mention all the other benefits. If you are like me (and I have read many similar accounts right here), your taste buds will go CRAZY for a time while they are healing, rejuvenating and 're-sensitizing'. Then, look out!!! It's great, really. I'm enjoying food (and yes, ejuices) like never before. I didn't realize what I was missing.

Many congrats on quitting!! Enjoy the trip!

 

[Alter]

Improvement in my sense of smell I noticed within the first couple weeks of vaping. My sense of taste was really noticed when I ate a sour gummy and almost sucked my face down my throat. Now 18 months later I can't believe all the smells and tastes I've missed over the last 35 years of smoking.