Think I've Discovered What Causes Vaper's Tongue

[matty007]

Okay so this is my second bout of Vaper's Tongue since I started vaping three months ago, and I think I've discovered (at least for me) what causes it.

So all was fine for the first two and a bit months into my vaping journey. Was getting on great with my T3S heads. However I then decided to rebuild the Kanger heads with Cotton and a Microcoil. Almost got it first time, used the rebuilt head for a night and was vaping very well. Woke up, was still working fine and great flavour. However come the evening I was getting dry hits and most importantly a horrible burnt taste. I stuck this for about half an hour but it didn't go away so decided to take the head apart and make a new coil.

Made a new coil and trimmed the Cotton slightly smaller as I suspected that's what caused the wicking issues. Put the new rebuild in and was met with loads of vapour but virtually no flavour, just a tiny fraction. Something I discovered to be the mysterious 'Vaper's Tongue'. I let my Dad have a vape and he said the flavour was amazing so it was obviously not a problem with the rebuild, but me. I even put in a stock head, and the same thing, but with even less flavour, or rather - absolutely no flavour. The Cotton was giving me a very slight flavour due to it's superior flavour, but the stock silica? Nothing. I brushed my teeth that night and rinsed with mouthwash, I could taste the mouthwash but it was nowhere close to how strong it should have been. That confirmed it.

Originally I chalked this up to my tastebuds repairing themselves from my stinkies habit and although it was annoying it only lasted about 2-3 days. Just woke up one morning and the flavour was back. And boy was it amazing.

So for the next 2-3 weeks all was great again, was getting on wonderfully with my Cotton rebuild and loving it.

However, I then after much reading on the net decided to get an Aspire Nautilus tank. Upon receiving it I was blown away. The vapour production and flavour was superior to even my Microcoil and Cotton TS3. No gurgling issues, dry hits or anything, for about a week.....

I was happily using it one day when I suddenly started getting some burnt hits, very slight burnt taste but still there. I played with the Wattage, even primed the coil all to no avail. Then along with the burnt taste I got a very muted flavour. I chalked this up to a dead head, and put a new one in. But was once again met with virtually no flavour, kept vaping in the hope that the coil hadn't soaked fully yet but the flavour just got more and more muted. Until I could taste virtually nothing again.

Once again I got someone to try it, my mate, and he said it was perfect. Great flavour. So it had to be me again. Switched to my T3S, same result. A very slight but extremely muted flavour. I could just about taste the juice but it was VERY weak to what it should be.

Tried rinsing with Mouthwash and the same thing. Could taste it but gave me none of that burning/tingling feeling like it should.

So here I am a day later and my tastebuds are still very muted, and occasionally nothing at all.

So in my experience I would put my Vaper's Tongue cause down to burnt wick. Whether it kills the tastebuds off for a while or overpowers your tastebuds so everything tastes muted, I'm not sure. But it can't be a coincidence. It's not like I've woke up one morning with no taste. Both times it's occurred during the day when I start getting burnt vapes.

I'm not saying this the the definitive cause in everyone, but it appears to be with me.

Just thought I'd let you all know, and will be interesting to see if anyone has had the same experience.

 

[Fisheeboy]

I do find that interesting.
Fortunately for me I have only suffered from vapors tongue once. It lasted a couple of weeks and then it went away. I still get a fatigued tongue every now and again but a simple rotation of flavors cures that.
However, if what you say is the cause for some others here who suffer from it regularly then perhaps you have helped others to better enjoy their vaping. That's a cool thought right there.

 

[melissa1928]

That is interesting.

I've only had it once, and it wasn't following a burnt coil. It also wasn't as long-lasting as yours -- I was fine the next day. I've had hits from burnt coils without developing VT, too. So I don't think you've found the cause here, although it sure seems to have a correlation for you and might well for other people.

Vaper's tongue isn't really a condition, anyway. It's more of a symptom. There are probably many things which could cause it. It's good to know about your experience, though. Take burnt wicks seriously!

 

[patkin]

You have bitter, salty, sweet and let's say "neutral" buds/receptors and you have to have them all working to taste properly. If you don't keep alternating between them with different juices, one set will get overload from working too hard and basically go "numb" similar to when you burn your tongue but without the sensation.... when you burn your tongue you can't taste with those buds either. Do you ever eat just one food overworking a particular (or more) set? If you did, the same thing as vaper's tongue would happen but you don't do that with foods. You replace the buds/receptors every 10 days but they don't all renew at the same time so vaper's tongue will be gone by then for sure but if you let them rest by using a different set they will wake up from their stupor before they're replaced. So, rule of thumb... variety... alternate juice tastes throughout the say. I vape a smokey, neutral tobacco, a tangy fruit and a sweet desert during the day and don't get vaper's tongue any more. I also experience a dry hit on occassion and it doesn't cause vapor's tongue for me which would be using the "bitter" set of buds.

 

[DC2]

I'd say it's coincidence.

A couple of dry hits shouldn't kill your taste buds.
I get dry hits all the time, but never get vaper's tongue.

On the other hand, maybe it's just me?

 

[DancingHeretik]

I also think dehydration contributes to VT, for me anyway. But, mostly I think patkin is right. Variety.

 

[AndriaD]

I'd say it's coincidence.

A couple of dry hits shouldn't kill your taste buds.
I get dry hits all the time, but never get vaper's tongue.

On the other hand, maybe it's just me?

Same for me; since getting my Sigelei, I've had more dry hits/burnt tastes than you can shake a stick at, leaving me to the conclusion that T3S's were just not made for that kind of powerful device. But they didn't give me vaper's tongue; when I'd put the T3S back on the vv3, the taste was fine.

I've experienced a real case of vaper's tongue only once, and only briefly, and I do think it's a case of "familiarity fatigue"; when I couldn't taste my Virginia, I vaped some Kringle's Curse peppermint, and that woke em up, so the Virginia tasted fine again. I have a couple of other alternates against the possibility of that happening again, but they're sweet, which I usually don't really care for, but the difference in taste does seem to make the sleeping taste buds wake up, if only to protest.

But since that one time, no vaper's tongue, and I change my flavor only once a day -- on first rising in the morning, I vape a cinnamon/apple mixture that has about zero throat hit, because I can't take throat hit first thing in the morning. As soon as that starts tasting bland to me, I know I can handle throat hit, and switch to my Virginia which I then vape all day. The only change I make is that in the evening, after dinner, I switch from my usual 9mg to 6mg, because if I don't, I'm too hyper to want to go to bed, and when I do make myself go to bed, my heart races and pounds most unpleasantly.

However what I do get very often is something maybe more like "vaper's throat" -- I stop feeling the TH, and that drives me nuts, I start turning up the wattage until I get it so high I get the burnt taste again, and have to back off. The only cure I've found for this phenomenon is to either stop vaping for 10-15 mins, or eat some little something; either way, when I vape again after either letting it rest for a while, or after eating, TH comes roaring back.

Andria

 

[Weizenheimer]

5/10 for lack of tldr summary

 

[matty007]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I think In my case this can't be coincidence. Both times it's occurred within 30 minutes of getting burnt hits and putting in a new head. Before the burnt hits, perfect flavour.

I have a menthol juice that I've vaped in an attempt to wake up my tastebuds, does nothing. Sure, I can taste it more than my usual juice but it still doesn't wake them up.

For the first two months of vaping I was using one flavour, Blueberry. Never had a problem with Vaper's Tongue then. But then again I never had burnt hits, and If I did it was only on one inhale or two If I turned the wattage up too high.

My current juice is Deviliclious Vanilla Custard, and yes I'll vape it exclusively for 3-4 days sometimes. But I will go back to my Blueberry. I've never had a fatigue with a flavour before so I don't think that would be the cause now. Especially as it can be in the middle of the day and only happens after some burnt hits.

As people have quite rightly said. There isn't really a definitive cause of Vaper's Tongue, so maybe I should rephrase my thread title. And Vaper's Tongue isn't a condition, more a symptom. I do think like anything however, the causes differ from person to person. And I think in my case it's due to burnt wick.

I just wonder how often it's the cause for other people without them realising.

 

[skoony]

a lot of things can affect taste.humidity,temperature,barometric pressure,and polen count to name a few.
some thing you have eaten or drank.your sense of smell is important also.
these things affect everyone differently.
people tend to forget the single largest component of the vapor we inhale is the air around us
which is constantly changing.may be something in the air around you is offsetting your sense of
smell.
regards
mike

 

[matty007]

5/10 for lack of tldr summary

Sorry about that, I do have a tendency to make long posts. I like to write with a lot of detail.

 

[LucentShadow]

I agree with melissa1928 about this:

Vaper's tongue isn't really a condition, anyway. It's more of a symptom. There are probably many things which could cause it.

I've seen people correlate dehydration or thrush with it, but mostly taste fatigue, which would seem to be taste bud self-defense against over-flavoring or constant barrage of the same flavoring. It would not surprise me if the nasty chemicals that can form during dry hits could cause temporary loss of taste as well.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

My tasted buds don't officially "punch the clock" until noon I think. (Maybe it's the coffee) Then the lazy basterds work for a few hours and take a siesta. In the evenings I wake 'em back up by sipping a diet soda while vaping my ADV tobacco flavor. That works well.

My exhaled vapor smells absolutely glorious to me though. Like a fine cigar/pipe store. I just can't taste the flavor at times. I'm chalking it up to 40 years of smokes and Mrs. Kodiak's cooking.

 

[AndriaD]

I think everyone has hit on some part of it; since it hits you after burnt tastes, maybe it's a case of your sense of taste/smell, not in your tongue or nose but in your *brain* simply going on hiatus after that nasty taste, in pure self-defense -- batten down the hatches boys, there's a powerful funk in the air! Because that really is a horrible taste and smell -- which is funny, considering the stinking burning stuff we used to inhale with great gusto!

Yesterday my husband was cutting the grass, which in the back is NOT grass but the foulest smelling weeds I've ever smelled in my life, and although the doors and windows were all closed, I could still smell that funk from outdoors, and for a minute I thought my vape was doing some new weird thing. I finally determined that the stink wasn't my vape at all, but those nasty weeds, but it sure made my vape taste/smell odd.

Maybe instead of trying to find some *strong* thing to taste or smell, you should try to find something that you love the smell of, I mean REALLY LOVE IT, maybe a rose or a gardenia or some cinnamon or something sweet like that, give your senses some incentive to reawaken. Most people don't really believe it, but taste is actually about 80% smell, maybe even more -- when you have a cold and either can't smell anything, or smell that nasty smell from inside your own sinuses, nothing tastes good, or really has much taste at all -- because you can't smell it properly!

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

5/10 for lack of tldr summary

Sorry about that, I do have a tendency to make long posts. I like to write with a lot of detail.

I was wondering what that shorthand meant -- can you actually puzzle it out? Makes no sense to me at all. I thought your post was quite concise and descriptive of the problem.

Andria

 

[Weizenheimer]

I was wondering what that shorthand meant -- can you actually puzzle it out? Makes no sense to me at all. I thought your post was quite concise and descriptive of the problem.

Andria

Too long didn't read

 

[MikeE87]

lol, I was gonna also post TLDR. I did read it though, because my browser had a small window and I was almost half way through. Interesting post. Yes, I too now believe that burnt cotton does contribute to Vapor's tongue. This happens to me when I burn my cotton too much. Good post, but please try to reduce your story to more of a paraphrase. Too many details...

 

[matty007]

I think everyone has hit on some part of it; since it hits you after burnt tastes, maybe it's a case of your sense of taste/smell, not in your tongue or nose but in your *brain* simply going on hiatus after that nasty taste, in pure self-defense -- batten down the hatches boys, there's a powerful funk in the air! Because that really is a horrible taste and smell -- which is funny, considering the stinking burning stuff we used to inhale with great gusto!

Yesterday my husband was cutting the grass, which in the back is NOT grass but the foulest smelling weeds I've ever smelled in my life, and although the doors and windows were all closed, I could still smell that funk from outdoors, and for a minute I thought my vape was doing some new weird thing. I finally determined that the stink wasn't my vape at all, but those nasty weeds, but it sure made my vape taste/smell odd.

Maybe instead of trying to find some *strong* thing to taste or smell, you should try to find something that you love the smell of, I mean REALLY LOVE IT, maybe a rose or a gardenia or some cinnamon or something sweet like that, give your senses some incentive to reawaken. Most people don't really believe it, but taste is actually about 80% smell, maybe even more -- when you have a cold and either can't smell anything, or smell that nasty smell from inside your own sinuses, nothing tastes good, or really has much taste at all -- because you can't smell it properly!

Andria

Thanks Andria. Yes I have wondered whether smelling something really nice would reawaken my tastebuds. I do love Cinnamon so will try that in a minute. I have also heard that Coffee is supposed to work.

I really do believe the burnt wick just puts my tastebuds to sleep. Be that by the taste or smell. It's too precise to be coincidental.

 

[matty007]

lol, I was gonna also post TLDR. I did read it though, because my browser had a small window and I was almost half way through. Interesting post. Yes, I too now believe that burnt cotton does contribute to Vapor's tongue. This happens to me when I burn my cotton too much. Good post, but please try to reduce your story to more of a paraphrase. Too many details...

Interesting you have had the same experience. Wonder how many people chalk it up to their past analog habit or other factors when it's actually due to a burnt wick.

 

[Iffy]

Sounds like TBRC (taste bud replacement cycle) along with a physiological/psychological protective survival response...