Getting to the bottom of poor tasting vape aftertases; the nicotine? or just bad juice?

[Xuda]

So I've been vaping for six months or so and something that has kind of buggered me is this strange after taste that I get from a plethora of liquids. I know what a dry hit is (had plenty in my experience with mechs and rba's) and I'm familiar with how all types of vapes (atty's and tanks, rba's, etc) operate, so this is more of a peculiar nuisance than anything really.

Anyways, when vaping many liquids (especially house blends at vape shops.. you know, the standard fare "watermelon" or "cherry" flavors) with nicotine, I get a strange aftertaste. It's very difficult to describe, something like a "bitterness" or "spicyness" that coats my mouth and hangs around just intensely enough to be noticable. I haven't taken a vape hit in ten minutes, and its still vaguely there. That's how nasty it is. I'd almost compare it to drinking cough syrup and still tasting that nasty, artificial flavor, the only diiference being that with vape it's just a dry, warm, disgusting feeling. I doubt I have an allergy because premium flavors taste wonderful, especially on an rba.

So then, I'm smart enough to realize that these are just crappy liquids and I probably shouldn't bother with them in the first place, but given that it's been such a widespread problem I'd really like to get to the bottom of what causes this. I'm currently vaping on an atlantis with a 50W mod (usually dialed to 35-40W) and although it gives pretty clean flavor, the aftertaste is still pretty present in my mouth. When I purchase ejuice or make my own DIY juice, I'd love to know what causes this gross sensation so I know what to avoid. I hate buying 30ml bottles because sub ohm coils suck through a tank like a diesel engine, and there's really no justification to spend 40-60 bucks a week on ejuice. No way man.

Any thoughts? could it be the nicotine somehow interacting with my mouth or something? I'm tempted to say it's some low quality ingredient that these local vape shops use in their lower end liquids...

 

[AndriaD]

It sounds kinda like the taste of nicotine itself; maybe those particular juices don't use enough flavoring to mask that taste.

I DIY, and generally use 25%-35% flavoring, so it's not an issue, but I know some folks try to do the "minimal flavoring" thing for some odd reason, and might just not be using enough flavoring to mask the taste of nicotine.

Is it any particular brand that you notice this with, more than others? Might be their choice of PG/VG.

To know if it's the nicotine you're tasting, vape some unflavored with just nicotine, see if that's the taste you're getting on the aftertaste.

Andria

ETA: if it's the nicotine and you find it really disagreeable, I know VapersTek has some very, very "clean" nicotine, with little to no taste at all.

 

[jseah]

It could be the quality of the nicotine they are using. I have heard that low quality nicotine will have a strong peppery taste to it. I once bought some "house juice" from Beyond Vape. Tasted the testers in store (0 mg) and they tasted great. Bought some bottles in 12 mg and when I got home the taste was so peppery it gave me a burning feeling in my throat. No matter what I did to cut it down (tried mixing it with lower nic juices that I liked), the taste was just too peppery. This has caused me to shy away from cheaper juices and stick with high end juices. Although I just got some cheaper juices from ITC Vapes and tried it and it doesn't have that pepper taste, so just because it is inexpensive doesn't mean that it will be bad.

 

[Xuda]

It could be the quality of the nicotine they are using. I have heard that low quality nicotine will have a strong peppery taste to it. I once bought some "house juice" from Beyond Vape. Tasted the testers in store (0 mg) and they tasted great. Bought some bottles in 12 mg and when I got home the taste was so peppery it gave me a burning feeling in my throat. No matter what I did to cut it down (tried mixing it with lower nic juices that I liked), the taste was just too peppery. This has caused me to shy away from cheaper juices and stick with high end juices. Although I just got some cheaper juices from ITC Vapes and tried it and it doesn't have that pepper taste, so just because it is inexpensive doesn't mean that it will be bad.

Yep, that's exactly what it is. Peppery is a good word for it. I'm vaping a house blend watermelon in 8 mg (came free with my last tank purchase, only reason why I haven't thrown it out) and it doesn't taste fruity at all. I'm only tasting a vague spicy/pepperyness. I'm perplexed because vaping with no nicotine seems a little pointless, but the nic makes the juice taste (quite frankly) horrible :/

EDIT: maybe the atlantis burns too hot and distorts the flavor (this liquid is probably 50/50 vg/pg) so I dunno, maybe higher VG with 3mg nicotine will fix it. I guess I'm gonna have to look for ejuice with a more potent fruity flavor to it. My buddy vapes raspberry lemonade and it's great

 

[AndriaD]

Yep, that's exactly what it is. Peppery is a good word for it. I'm vaping a house blend watermelon in 8 mg (came free with my last tank purchase, only reason why I haven't thrown it out) and it doesn't taste fruity at all. I'm only tasting a vague spicy/pepperyness. I'm perplexed because vaping with no nicotine seems a little pointless, but the nic makes the juice taste (quite frankly) horrible :/

You might find that very clean nicotine from VapersTek much more to your liking. If you don't want to go "full-on" DIY, you could just buy your pre-made juice in 0mg, and add your own nic to it.

Andria

 

[Baditude]

Could be the quality of nicotine used.

Could be the quality of the flavoring abstracts.

Have you tried e-liquids with only all-natural, all-organic flavorings? (ie. Dripeez, Virgin Vapors, VapeRite)

 

[Xuda]

It could be the quality of the nicotine they are using. I have heard that low quality nicotine will have a strong peppery taste to it. I once bought some "house juice" from Beyond Vape. Tasted the testers in store (0 mg) and they tasted great. Bought some bottles in 12 mg and when I got home the taste was so peppery it gave me a burning feeling in my throat. No matter what I did to cut it down (tried mixing it with lower nic juices that I liked), the taste was just too peppery. This has caused me to shy away from cheaper juices and stick with high end juices. Although I just got some cheaper juices from ITC Vapes and tried it and it doesn't have that pepper taste, so just because it is inexpensive doesn't mean that it will be bad.

You might find that very clean nicotine from VapersTek much more to your liking. If you don't want to go "full-on" DIY, you could just buy your pre-made juice in 0mg, and add your own nic to it.

Andria

I suppose I'll pick up some USP vegetable glycerin from walmart and a little distilled water and maybe throw some banana or berry extract in there, my friends have done it and it makes a pretty mild tasting vape, nothing to complain about. Maybe a 3-4% nic level tops, if I even put it in my own juice at all, because the atlantis puts out a lot of vape and any nic level higher might make you a little light headed unless yoo're a stim junkie or something lol. Once had a friend in class who vaped 18mg on his Kanger subtank, couldn't belive it

 

[AndriaD]

I suppose I'll pick up some USP vegetable glycerin from walmart and a little distilled water and maybe throw some banana or berry extract in there, my friends have done it and it makes a pretty mild tasting vape, nothing to complain about. Maybe a 3-4% nic level tops, if I even put it in my own juice at all, because the atlantis puts out a lot of vape and any nic level higher might make you a little light headed unless yoo're a stim junkie or something lol. Once had a friend in class who vaped 18mg on his Kanger subtank, couldn't belive it

I don't know anything about it personally because I haven't tried it, but there's a current thread about Walmart VG with a frowny face next to it... I suspect their VG is of no better quality than the rest of the stuff they sell -- good enough for some purposes, but for vaping... maybe not. A good drugstore might be a better source. I get mine from amazon, "Nature's Oil" brand name; very inexpensive, $3.97/16oz, very inoffensive taste.

Andria

(this may be one of the downsides of recovering our senses of taste and smell. )

 

[k702]

Have you been experiencing this aftertaste with a certain nic level?

 

[AndriaD]

One other thing... you mentioned "extracts"... like the cooking kind? Those would not be good to vape at all; they're meant for cooking, and have other things in them that just flavor, like sugar, which will make a black stinking mess of your coils. You need the pure flavors rather than extracts.

Andria

 

[Xuda]

One other thing... you mentioned "extracts"... like the cooking kind? Those would not be good to vape at all; they're meant for cooking, and have other things in them that just flavor, like sugar, which will make a black stinking mess of your coils. You need the pure flavors rather than extracts.

Andria

no no they just market it as extracts but they contain a certain level of flavoring/vg/pg etc

 

[Xuda]

Have you been experiencing this aftertaste with a certain nic level?

depends on the juice and the setup you're vaping on. I've even gotten bad taste with 8mg, depending on whether it's being vaped on a subohm or a standard 1.2/1.5/1.8+ coil head

 

[jseah]

Yep, that's exactly what it is. Peppery is a good word for it. I'm vaping a house blend watermelon in 8 mg (came free with my last tank purchase, only reason why I haven't thrown it out) and it doesn't taste fruity at all. I'm only tasting a vague spicy/pepperyness. I'm perplexed because vaping with no nicotine seems a little pointless, but the nic makes the juice taste (quite frankly) horrible :/

EDIT: maybe the atlantis burns too hot and distorts the flavor (this liquid is probably 50/50 vg/pg) so I dunno, maybe higher VG with 3mg nicotine will fix it. I guess I'm gonna have to look for ejuice with a more potent fruity flavor to it. My buddy vapes raspberry lemonade and it's great

That depends on the coil you're using in your Atlantis. With subohm coils, there is a pretty fine line between going from a tasty vape to a burnt taste. With the 0.5 ohm coil in the Atlantis, I've found my sweet spot to be around 30-35 watts. With the 0.3 ohm coil in the Atlantis 2, it's between 50 and 60 watts. I can do 70 watts with the 0.3 ohm coil, but the vape gets warmer and I can hit it for only a few seconds. If I try to take a massive hit, then the tail end starts to taste a bit burnt.

Some also complain that the Atlantis mutes the flavor of juice much more compared to the Subtank line. I have both and don't really notice much of a difference. In my experience, the Atlantis vapes much smoother while the Subtank hits harder because it vapes a lot warmer. Like going from 0-60 in 6 seconds as compared to 3 seconds. Either way you will get there, but the Subtank will get you there sooner. Comparing the Atlantis 1 with a 0.5 ohm coil and the Subtank with a 0.5 ohm coil, to me the Subtank vapes at 25 watts the same as the Atlantis at 35 watts.

I use 6 mg juices now that I subohm, but one brand that I find is super fruity tasting is Ruthless. I like Rise, which is a mango, lychee and dragonfruit mix, and Jungle Fever, which is mango, pineapple, and citrus. Don't go with the versions "on ice" as it adds menthol and the menthol they use is really strong and overpowers the fruit taste. I have the Rise On Ice and I mix it 50/50 with the regular Rise and it tones down the menthol. You still taste the cooling from the menthol, but at least now you can also taste the mango as well. Rise is 60VG/40PG while Jungle Fever is 90VG/10PG (although I think they thin out the Jungle Fever with distilled water since it is still fairly watery and free flowing).

I just received some juice from ITC Vapes and the one I've tried so far is the Mimosa (70VG/30PG), which is supposed to be orange and champagne. Don't really taste the champagne, but the orange is fairly sweet and strong, so it tastes like you're vaping orange juice. The ITC Vapes juices are supposed to recommend steeping, although I just got it in the mail today, ran the bottle under warm water and shook the heck out of it and let it sit for a couple of hours with the cap off. After that, shook it some more and loaded up a tank. Tastes pretty darn good to me as is.

 

[dhood]

I've spent hundreds on juices online. Almost all of them have an "aftertaste" that I just don't like. I had heard of people talking about a pepper taste but that wasn't it. Still isn't. I finally got some Cloud Sauce from MFS as a toss in with a grab bag and I can DEFINITELY taste the pepper on the exhale. So I finally understand what others were talking about. However, that is not the aftertaste I get with other juices. I can't explain it, it's just there. To me, almost everything I've ordered from ITC, MBV, Vapewild, and Fuzion all have that weird aftertaste. I'm almost tempted to re-order some of the juices I've tried in 0 nic just to add my own and see if it's the juice or the nic.

 

[k702]

depends on the juice and the setup you're vaping on. I've even gotten bad taste with 8mg, depending on whether it's being vaped on a subohm or a standard 1.2/1.5/1.8+ coil head

so when you're vaping on the higher resistance coils you're not getting the flavor? How many juices have you bought with the peppery aftertaste if you had to guesstimate? How many different vendors?

You may simply have a sense of taste/smell that is particularly sensitive to the peppery aroma of nicotine. My girlfriend is similar, I mix low mg strengths for her and build high resistances for her atomizers. It seems to have helped. At least she doesn't complain about it anymore.