What Are Nic Salts?

Nicotine salts are designed to make vaping a comfortable, coughless vaping experience that feels similar to smoking cigarettes. They are also universally used in disposable vape kits, so you may already be familiar with how nicotine salt e-liquid feels. If you want to learn more about nicotine e-liquids, read on because MIST has prepared an easy guide for those asking, “What are nic salts?”

What Is a Nic Salt? 

“Nic salt” is short for nicotine salt. It is an e-liquid type that has, in many instances, replaced traditional freebase nicotine e-liquid.

Initially developed in 2015 and released to widespread acclaim in conjunction with the JUUL vape kit by PAX Labs, nicotine salts dramatically increased the popularity of vaping. The unique chemistry of nic salts carries the same variety of nicotine found in tobacco leaves, which absorbs into the lung faster and delivers a smooth and comfortable vapour hit when they’re used to deliver nicotine.

What Is the Difference Between Freebase Vape Juice and Nic Salts?

When it comes to nic salts vs freebase nicotine, the difference lies in a chemical used to produce nicotine salts, benzoic acid, which is used to lower the PH level of the e-liquid and deliver a smoother vape.

Regular e-liquids made using a traditional freebase nicotine solution have an overall PH of around 8, which puts it into high-alkaline territory. This isn’t a health hazard, but it does result in a harsh throat hit and slightly decreased flavour for your taste buds.

The addition of this acid levels the PH level to 7, the neutral zone between acid and alkaline compounds and results in the purest form of nicotine.

But are nic salt e-liquids better than freebase nicotine? Ultimately, the smoother vaping experience and clearer flavours nic salts offer led to a vast number of new people moving to quit smoking by way of vape kits that use disposable closed-pod systems and disposable vape devices.

Salt vs free-base nicotine formulations resulted in statistically significant higher ratings of appeal, sweetness, and smoothness, and lower ratings of bitterness and harshness.

(Leventhal et al., 2021)

Nic Salts vs Freebase Nicotine E-liquids Comparison Table

What Is the Difference Between Nic Salts and Shortfills?

The main difference between nicotine salt e-liquids and shortfills is size and nicotine strength potential.

As we have covered, nicotine salts are nicotine-infused e-liquids that use benzoic acid for a smoother inhale and richer flavour. Shortfills, on the other hand, are e-liquids sold in larger bottles as a workaround for size restrictions imposed by the Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).

In the UK, It is illegal to sell e-liquid containing nicotine in bottles larger than 10ml in size. Shortfills are larger bottles of e-liquid that contain no nicotine at the point of sale. Shortfills will always have a small amount of free space inside the bottle. For example, a 60ml shortfill bottle will contain 50mls of e-liquid, a 120ml bottle will contain 100mls of e-liquid, and so on.

This free space is left so you can add 10ml bottles of flavourless freebase nicotine solution nic shot, as you are legally permitted to infuse your e-liquid with nicotine once you have purchased it.

Most shortfills are sold with nic shots included, though they are often freebase nicotine shots. Salt nicotine nic shots are available, however.

It should be noted that most shortfills are filled with high-VG e-liquids. These vape juices are distinct from nic salts in that they are vaped direct-to-lung rather than the mouth-to-lung style most nic salts require.

High-VG e-liquids will always produce large clouds and are usually low-strength as the bottles do not have room for more than one or two nicotine shots. 50/50 shortfills designed for MTL vaping are available, however.

Nic Salts vs Shortfills Comparison Table

Can You Use Nic Salts in Any Vape?

No, you can’t use nic salts in any vape. 10ml nic salts are always produced with a VG / PG ratio of 50/50 or with a higher PG content than VG.

This results in a thin e-liquid with minimal vapour production, similar to the amount of smoke produced by a cigarette. Vape kits designed for this e-liquid are known as MTL (mouth-to-lung), describing how you inhale the atomized vapour.

All the best MTL vape kits use coils with resistances of 0.8ohms or higher, which are optimal for absorbing and atomizing nic salts.

Can I Sub-Ohm Nic Salts?

For those asking how to use a nic salt e-liquid in a DTL kit, we’re afraid you usually can’t sub-ohm nic salts. This is because sub-ohm devices use low-resistance coils, usually with ohmages rated between 0.15ohms – 0.6ohms.

These coils are designed to absorb thicker e-liquid, and nic salts are likely to leak through the coil and out of the air inlets on your tank or vape pod when used in place of 100% VG e-liquids and other juices with high VG contents.

Nic salts are also usually produced at relatively high nicotine strengths, which can lead to inhaling too much nicotine when vaped in a DTL vaping style.

As previously mentioned, however, there are nic salt nic shots available for those who wish to use nicotine salts to produce low-strength, high-VG shortfills.

What Is the Best Wattage for Nic Salts?

The best wattage for nic salt e-liquid is between 9W and 15W. This is because the MTL coils (often used in pod kits and starter kits) required for nic salt vaping aren’t capable of handling more power than this without beginning to degrade prematurely.

If using a nic salt shot in a high VG shortfill, then you can go ahead and use the high wattage recommended by your sub-ohm coil, as the nic salts will only make up a small amount of the overall e-liquid volume and will quickly emulsify into the thicker VG vape juice.

What is the Best Coil for Nic Salts? 

The best coil resistance for nic salt e-liquid is 1.2ohms, as this sits firmly in the MTL range. However, any vape coil with a resistance between 0.8ohms and 1.8ohms will be ideally suited for nicotine salt vape liquids. Coils with resistances like these will be designed to absorb and trap thinner 50/50 and high-PG vape liquids, so you won’t have to worry about leaks. These resistances are also aimed at low-wattage outputs, delivering a moderate nic salt vapour you won’t find overwhelming.

What is the Best Nic Salt Juice? 

There’s a vast amount of great-tasting nic salts to choose between. Luckily for you, we’ve sampled most of them and can offer you a selection of what we believe are the best nic salt e-liquids available.

The Best Nic Salts Are:

Need More Help

Thank you for reading this brief answer to the question, “What are nic salts?” If nic salt sounds right for your vape, visit the MIST online vape shop for great deals on nic salts, other tasty e-juices, and the best vapes for nic salts.