Extremely weird e-juice experience. Wisdom needed.

[Jason Anonny]

Ok, so I purchased a 50ml bottle of this Ecblend 7 leaf and received it the Monday before last. Its a 50/50 pg vg with 18mg nicotine strength. I have been steeping it for a little over a week; removed the cap the 1st 24hours and left it wrapped in a black shirt in the back of a drawer. After the 1st 24hours I put the cap back on and left it wrapped in the shirt, and in the drawer. I have been shaking it daily as well. When I open the bottle and smell it I get absolutely no smell what so ever, and it is completely clear without even a hint of color through it. I decided to give it the first try last night and have some odd results I would like opinions on. When I inhale I get absolutely no taste or throat hit what so ever. By comparison, I received a couple samples with my order, each had no nicotine at all. The throat hit is exactly the same as the samples I received with no nicotine. Upon exhale, the back of my throat immediately starts burning, almost to the point of making my eyes water. At this point I get an extreme pepper taste, without even the slightest hint of tobacco in it. Let me say that I have been rolling my own filterless cigarettes, using blue Bali Shag since 1995, and smoking over a pack a day, every day of this time-frame. Vapor production is good with this juice. So I know I can handle fairly strong stuff without making me choke, or cough. I quit over a month ago, and have been purchasing cheap no-name e-juices from local tobacco stores, as well as Walmart of all places. All have given me a satisfying throat hit, but most have a very chemically flavor that I don't think tastes like tobacco much. I do understand that there is no way to reproduce that burning taste that comes with smoking cigarettes. That said, I have gotten used to each of these flavors, and grown to like them despite not closely resembling tobacco in my opinion. Because of such odd results, I tried soaking the bottle of 7 leaf in hot water for awhile as Ive seen this suggested numerous times to aid in steeping. It hasn't seemed to make much of a difference. My question is this : Have I not allowed it to steep long enough to bring out some of the flavors? Have I done anything wrong that you can see? I find it odd that I get no throat hit on inhale, but when I exhale my throat immediately starts burning pretty bad; enough to make my throat feel pretty scratchy afterwords. I think this is saying something since I have been rolling my own cigarettes for almost 20 years now. I am open to any suggestions/opinions on this matter as this is quite puzzling to me. For now its wrapped in a dark shirt, in the back of my dark drawer in hopes that I can get some tobacco flavor to come out. On the plus side I haven't smoked a single cigarette for over a month now, which is a pretty big accomplishment for me. Thank you in advance for any wisdom you might be able to impart to me!

 

[waldobeagle]

seems like i read something about a peppery taste and it was mfg oil ? dude i could be wrong on that. i buy from ecblends. properly steeped it's great.. ya say quit day was a month ago. it may be your tongue not the juice. i too was a hvy smoker and i swear it took 3 months to get my taste buds and nose to reset and work again. research vapors tongue and steeping. steeping is a must and there r lots of ideas on how to do it. the basics are mix and breath over and over again. and give it at least a week before u expect any results and it's best at about 2 wks those 50 ml bottle will take a lot longer. i always break mine down to 30 ml bottles for steeping and mechanically shake it ok for what it's worth good luck

 

[Jason Anonny]

Thank you for the advice

 

[Skauth]

Burning in the throat suggests a dry hit more than anything else. I would carefully troubleshoot your device as well.

 

[LAwaters]

Hi Jason! Welcome to ECF! Congratulations on quitting smoking.

Sounds like you hadn't tried this e-liquid before, so you are not sure what the flavor is supposed like. That would make it hard to know if it's a bad batch. Taste buds do change and heal after quitting, so it's not unusual to love a vape flavor, then find it bland or nasty. But it should have some smell. Lack of color isn't necessarily a problem.

Heavy smokers can still cough from vaping. The molecules in vapor are a lot larger than in cig smoke. You may want to search on PG sensitivity and VG sensitivity here on ECF. Your burning throat sounds like it could be a reaction to one of them. Maybe not, but worth looking into.

Different brands ands flavors will have different throat hits too. Then there is vapor's tongue, where you stop being able to detect flavor. If you are used to strong, perfumey, chemical flavors, you might be temporarily unable to taste subtler flavors. Lots of water and taking a break help with that.

If I'm not mistaken, the hot water bath method can mute flavor.

Lastly, it looks like that blend is a naturally extracted tobacco. I recently bought some NET liquids and notice they are very smooth flavors, much more subtle than the bolder flavors I am used to. Compared to the burning TH I get with other brands, the NET Throat hit felt almost missing at first. But definitely no burning pain or pepper taste on exhale. It's a warmer, milder vape that I now really enjoy.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[92GreenYJ]

Yeah even as a noob to this I can't understand buying a bottle that big of something you haven't tried right off the bat. I'm starting with the small 7ml bottles first to find some flavor I like before I buy a bigger bottle of it.

 

[Jason Anonny]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. They are all very helpful. I had considered a possibility of a sensitivity to either pg or vg. I also considered that it could possibly be a considerably warmer vape as well ( though I can't see it being any warmer than smoking filterless cigarettes day in and out for 20 years ) But then again, that's what makes me a noob. All of the encouragement is very much appreciated!

 

[LAwaters]

Thank you for all of the suggestions. They are all very helpful. I had considered a possibility of a sensitivity to either pg or vg. I also considered that it could possibly be a considerably warmer vape as well ( though I can't see it being any warmer than smoking filterless cigarettes day in and out for 20 years ) But then again, that's what makes me a noob. All of the encouragement is very much appreciated!

Especially when you get to the end of a filterless! Hard to get warmer than that! Nothing wrong in being a noob either. There are so many possibilities in the vape world, that it's hard not to be a noob at something.

A warm vape going in is a good thing. But that pepper taste and burning doesn't seem right. Hard to think of wasting 50 ml, but that just sounds painful.

The NETs I got are from Heather's Heavenly Vapes, and they are smooth and taste like tobacco with only slight sweetness. No perfume or chemical taste. They offer $10 sample packs of 4 flavors, 3 ml, 12 mg, 70/30. Might be worth trying a different NET.

 

[Jason Anonny]

They will be my next order. I am used to harsh, believe me (if you've ever tried Bali Shag or drum (which is the same thing with more stems) you know what i'm talking about). I find it weird that it doesn't sting, or scratch going down, only on exhale. Its only been steeping for 8 days, so it could just be that it hasn't been long enough. I haven't given up on it.