Nic Salts Explained: Strengths, Flavours & Which to Choose
Nicotine salt — nic salt for short — is nicotine in its naturally occurring form, tweaked so it goes down far more smoothly than the freebase nicotine in traditional e-liquid. That smoothness is the whole point: it lets you vape a higher strength without the harsh scratch at the back of the throat, and it gets nicotine into your system quickly, so a craving settles in fewer puffs.
Strength is measured in milligrams per millilitre. In the UK you will mostly see 10mg and 20mg, with the occasional 5mg. As a rough guide: 5mg suits very light or social vapers, 10mg is the comfortable middle ground for most people, and 20mg is aimed at heavier ex-smokers who want a firm hit. If you are switching from a pack-a-day habit, 20mg is usually the sensible starting point; if you find it too strong, step down.
Nic salts are built for low-power gear — pod kits and MTL devices — not big sub-ohm cloud machines. In a high-wattage device a 20mg salt would be uncomfortably harsh, so keep salts with the kind of compact kit they are designed for. The 50/50 VG:PG blend most salts use is exactly right for that.
Flavour is where the fun is. Nic salts come in everything from ice-cold menthol and sharp blue raspberry to sweet-shop bubblegum, tropical fruit mixes and classic tobacco. Because they are cheap and quick to swap, most vapers keep two or three on the go and rotate to avoid flavour fatigue — a phenomenon where your tastebuds stop noticing a flavour you have vaped non-stop.
Not sure where to begin? Pick a fruit you already like, choose 10mg or 20mg based on how heavily you smoked, and take advantage of a multibuy deal to try a few at once. It is a low-cost way to find your all-day flavour.