e-liquid - Beginners buyers Guide

So you’ve recently quit smoking and started your vaping journey but you have one little problem and that’s the fact all the e-liquid you’ve tried is not recreating your tobacco smoking experience.

This is something that affects a great many people initially when they make the switch to vaping so please don’t let it put you off because there is a great deal of enjoyment to be found if you persevere, not to mention the improved health benefits.

E Liquid Doesn’t Taste The Same

Firstly be patient because vaping does require a little getting used to.

Secondly your taste buds have been heavily dulled by years or even decades of smoking so it makes perfect sense that a lot of e-juice won’t taste exactly like you’d expect.

In time if you keep off the cigarettes your taste buds will start to recover and you’ll discover that everything tastes better, not just e-juice.

I smoked for over twenty years and it took me at least six months before my taste buds started to return to normal but when they did it made me realise how much smoking had affected me because food started to taste amazing and not like warmed up cardboard.

So Where To Start?

E-liquid - Where do I start?The most important thing is to find yourself an e-liquid that you get on with that you enjoy enough to keep the smoking urge at bay.

Finding that juice isn’t always easy because there is a massive amount of e-juice available these days.

For me I would say it was harder when I quit over three years ago because there wasn’t as big a choice as there is now.

I would advise that if you have a local e-cigarette shop near you then you should go in and ask to try several juices. Most worthwhile shops will give you help and advice and have no problem with you trying flavours so you can find out just what is right for you.

If you don’t have a local shop then it becomes a little harder but the internet is your friend and you can always order online.

Just bear in mind the speed of delivery for online orders varies heavily from vendor to vendor and Royal Mail can’t always be relied on to get your juice to you when you need it.

Typically it’s a good idea to place larger orders when you find a juice you like so you don’t leave yourself in the situation where you might run out.

Of course there are also some of the best vape stores that will get your order to you within 24-48 hours but do bear in mind everyone has bad days and can be overwhelmed with orders at times leading to delays.

I’m Out Of E-Liquid & I Really Need a Smoke

Running out of e-juice can be a real nightmare, I’ve been there!

When it happens it can be disastrous and undo all the progress you have made with vaping.

Whatever you do don’t go out and buy a packet of cigarettes however much you want to.

If you are desperate and it’s late at night then go to a petrol station or a supermarket, most of them sell some e-juice. It won’t be great juice but it will help to keep the cravings at bay until you have time to get something better.

So What is the Best E-Liquid To Choose?

This is highly subjective and will depend a lot on the kind of things you like. If you like sweets then you can find that kind of juice, if you prefer coffee or desserts then you have that option too. The amount of choice that is out there is mind blowing.

A lot of people initially find fruity or drinks flavours to have appeal when they first quit cigarettes so consider giving those a try.

I have known some people who get on very well with bubble gum. Menthol or aniseed vapes also seem very popular among vapers.

The important thing is just to find something you like and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what it is providing it does the job.

We have a quick guide here on some of the best e liquids currently available

Further Reading: Top Rated E-LiquidBest E Liquid and e juice Brands for 2017 in the UK and USA

I Can’t Stand That Flavour So I Won’t Vape It

Keep in mind that just because you might not get on with something as a food or a drink that doesn’t mean you should avoid it entirely when it comes to vaping. As a kid I hated aniseed I couldn’t stand the stuff and if I went anywhere near it I would be sick.

However, on one visit to my local vape shop I tried T-Juice Red Astaire which is mixed berries, cherry, menthol and aniseed. I expected to hate this juice but I loved it. (Ed- I personally found this juice to be ‘just OK’ which is a prime example of how subjective taste is!)

Over time I started to try other juices that included aniseed and I found I really got on with them. I have even tried absinthe flavours and enjoyed them but I won’t ever drink absinthe or anything that contains aniseed like Pernod. Weird isn’t it?

Another drink I hate is Red Bull yet strangely enough as a vape I really enjoyed it. In fact Red Bull e-liquid was one of the juices that kept me off the cigarettes.

My point is don’t dismiss an e-juice purely based on the description because you never know you might actually like it.

I Don’t Like All These Weird Sounding flavours and Would Prefer Tobacco

E Liquid Tobacco FlavorsYou are not alone in that thought since I was very much the same when I first quit smoking. Getting a good tobacco e-juice wasn’t that easy back then, fortunately you have a lot more choice now than I did.

It had been about three months since I packed in the cigarettes but I felt like I was spending way more money on vaping than I ever did on smoking due to not finding flavours that worked for me.

Buying new liquids to try really did feel like a bit of a waste of money but do bear in mind there was some really horrible e-juice available back then.

The truth is I wasn’t ready for fruit flavours and desserts and I simply needed something that tasted of tobacco but most of the tobacco flavours I had already tried tasted like three week old ash and were pretty disgusting.

I found myself at a crisis and I was about to quit vaping and go back to smoking.

Thankfully a new vape shop had opened in my city and I went in to hopefully get some help. The manager was really helpful and advised me to try different vaping gear and he also let me sample several juices until I found something I really liked.

I realised my problem was the quality of the juice I had been buying and that my set up – which was just a standard vape pen and a CE4 clearomizer tank – wasn’t cutting it for me.

I quickly upgraded to a better vape mod and a a better MTL vape tank and with a good supply of nice juice I finally felt I could stick with vaping and enjoy it.

The flavours I finally found (after a lot of testing) that kept me away from cigarettes were Black Note Prelude, Jacvapour Real Tobacco and as of late Bryn’s Special Sauce.

Prelude is a pretty realistic tobacco vape and despite the higher price (compared to other e-liquid) I found it definitely did the job.

I have tried anything and everything in the three years since I quit and while some of the first e-liquids I ever tried aren’t ones I use anymore I appreciate the fact that they kept me vaping rather than admitting defeat and going back to smoking.

Tobacco E-Liquid Recommendations

I do still enjoy a good tobacco vape so I’m going to give you some recommendations. Bear in mind that there are many juices out there and a lot of companies so think of this list as suggestions.

Black Note N.E.T Tobacco E liquid Range

Black Note is a new range of Naturally Extracted Tobacco and one to match El Torro for quality. Many vape reviews even see this as the best tobacco e juice currently available due to how close they have got to the real thing.

Black Note have gone through a process that takes 2 years from selecting the tobacco variety – growing the tobacco – curing the leaf – moistening, stripping and sorting – conditioning and aging – blending the tobacco – naturally extracting – filtering – finally bottling and packaging.

It goes without saying this e cig liquid is not the cheapest (£19.99 /$29.99 per 30ml) but if you are looking for quality and something that resembles real tobacco as you are likely to come by then it’s an investment worth making.


Halo Vapor Co

Hangsen E LiquidsHalo Vapor Co is a UK based brand that have been around since the beginning of vaping in the UK.

They create no fuss flavours that do what they say on the tin.

So if you are looking for well priced Tobacco,  Menthol, fruits and desserts you should check them out.

Halo Vapour Co E Juice Review


Apollo

apollo e liquidsAn American company with a UK website. They do a good range of tobacco juices as well as fruit, drink and dessert flavours.

Their 50/50 Premium range of tobacco juices are quite special and very much like the real thing.

Check out our Apollo 50/50 Premium vape juice review.


Manabush

Manabush e liquidA really great range of juice. The Manabush Nokomis range is different from typical tobacco flavours in the sense that it is mixed with dessert flavours. The tobacco is pretty much the base flavour in the juice and then it is enhanced with other flavours such as coconut, ginger, banana, custard etc.

It might sound weird but they are lovely juices and they are still tobacco vapes at heart. Waxahachie, Omusa, Powwow Sauce and Coyote Coconut are good ones to try to begin with.


Element

Element E LiquidQuite new to the scene Element have become very popular due to their high quality flavours and they do a couple of tobacco juices, one called Element Tobacco and another called 555 Tobacco.

I have only tried the 555 Tobacco and it’s a mix of tobacco, vanilla, caramel and hazelnut. It is quite delicious but it is more of a sweet tobacco vape.


Liberty Flights

While I do like some of Liberty Flights juices I am not keen on their tobaccos. Fortunately they also sell a lot of American guest juices.

Check out the Pipe Sauce guest range since Shire Malt and Long Bottom Leaf are very special and make good tobacco juices for anyone who once used a pipe because the flavouring is very similar.


House of Liquid El Toro

E Liquid El Toro CigarillosEl Toro is one of the closest you will ever get to any e-juice that tastes almost exactly like real tobacco. Using a very complex extraction process House of Liquid juices are quite frankly extremely impressive.

However by the same token they aren’t exactly cheap either but when you see the prices do keep in mind that they are premium juices but you are paying for high quality and for flavours that you won’t necessarily get from any other juice.

Cigarillos, Puros, Eden and Virginia Prime are good ones to start with. The only real downside to these juices is that they tend to gunk up coils so keep in mind that they are suited better for a more advanced vaping setup such as an RDA (Rebuildable Dripping Atomizer or an RTA (Rebuildable Tank Atomizer).

El Toro juice is really something of a luxury considering the price but it is well worth trying if you really want to treat yourself.

My Juice Used To Taste Great But Now It’s Awful

Vapers TongueFirst off it’s not the juice, it’s you.

What happens is that when you vape one juice heavily your taste buds get dulled again in the sense that they get overloaded and shut down for a bit.

In vaping terms this is known as Vaper’s Tongue and it is quite common.

So how do you deal with this?

Well firstly you need to try another juice for a bit preferably something different to make sure you can still taste flavours.

If you can taste the other juice then you should continue to vape that one for a while and periodically try your other juice to see if you can taste it again.

If your taste is completely dulled then there are some options.

  • First: Scrub your tongue.
  • Second: Drink strong coffee since it helps to reset the taste buds.
  • Finally: Get yourself some menthol juice because that will help a lot and you should actually get some taste from it.

In most cases Vaper’s Tongue doesn’t persist more than a few days but it can potentially last as long as a couple of weeks since everyone is different.

The way to prevent this in the future is have a range of three to four juices that you will enjoy and vary which ones you vape so your taste buds don’t get numbed by a single juice.

I have had Vaper’s Tongue on several occasions and I know what a pain it is. When I first quit smoking one of the juices I really got on with made by a company called LiQua and they did a juice called Bright Tobacco which to me tasted very much like Marlboro Lights and I used to indulge heavily in that one until my taste buds grew bored of it.

The sad thing is I can’t vape it anymore because it just seems tasteless to me. Guess I overdid it with that one.

Being determined never to let that situation occur again I make sure I have a very good range of juice I like and I vary which ones I use day to day.

You can check out all of the side effects from vaping you may encounter.

Cheap E Liquid

One Pound E liquidWe don’t all have money to burn and after paying for the high cost of cigarettes some people will understandably be put off by buying 10ml of juice at £5-6.

There are a fair few cheap juice vendors in the UK and don’t assume that just because it’s cheap that means it’s also cheap quality. One Pound E-Liquid, Aerovape and Hangsen are three vendors that spring to mind.

One More Thing

Something else to remember is that while your taste buds are recovering premium e-juice flavours might be something of a waste initially since you may not be able to taste the full flavourings in the juice.

So if you find that’s the case then cheap juice will certainly be better to start with.

Once your palate starts to crave for more complex flavours and tastier ingredients then you can happily try some premium blends.

Choosing The Right Nicotine Strength

e liquid nicotine strengthKeep in mind that buying e-juice in the wrong strength will do you no good at all.

  • If you have been smoking at least 20 cigarettes or more a day then you should be looking at getting juice in 18mg strength.
  • If you smoke less than that then 12mg is the best place to start.
  • For extremely light smokers 6mg is probably ideal but may be too weak for many people.

As you progress with your vaping and you purchase more advanced gear then you can start to drop the nicotine strength of your juice but be careful not to drop too quickly because it takes getting used to and can lead to dissatisfaction.

If you are vaping with a sub ohm vape tank then you will need to drop your nicotine strength or be prepared for a very harsh throat hit!

I vape at 3mg when sub ohm vaping but if you normally vape around 18mg then 6mg may well be enough.

The Right Vaping Setup

Choosing The Right Vape Kit SetupPutting a good juice in a bad vaping set up can lead to all sorts of issues and it’s important that you realise how much it can affect the vaping experience you get.

While I could describe at length all the various options you have it would make this article extremely long or should I say even longer 🙂

Do please read our guides and reviews so you can get a better idea of what would suit you and if you have any questions do please ask.

Must read guides:

Here are some ‘Best Of’ guides where we focus on only the top rated products in each category:

Conclusion

At the end of the day whatever e-liquid you choose to vape that keeps you away from smoking is a good choice.

Here at Ecigclick we aim to give you as much helpful information as possible regarding vaping and we hope this article has been helpful to you.

As always any questions please ask in the comments below.

vaping reviewer
Jamie Campbell

I have been vaping for four years now. I was a 20 a day smoker and a friend of mine encouraged me to give vaping a try. He gifted me with a ego/ce4 set up and some juice and to be fair I found it reasonable but not ideal so I was still also smoking. I went to my local B&M and got some good advice regarding what vaping gear would suit me, as well as finding some juice more to my liking. For a couple of months I used a Vamo V5 but I kept seeing these shiny tube mods and I wondered what they were. After some investigation I discovered they were called mechanical mods and I had to buy my own. From that point I was completely off the cigarettes and quite satisfied with my set up. I eventually moved on the rebuildable devices with my first RDA and RTA. I love vaping and I have no plans to ever stop because there are so many new flavours to discover and a vast amount of different devices with newer technologies to try. While I still own a couple of mechanical mods my preference these days is VW box mods and I really do enjoy a vape with temperature control. I also make my own e-juice as time allows.

I have been vaping for four years now. I was a 20 a day smoker and a friend of mine encouraged me to give vaping a try. He gifted me with a ego/ce4 set up and some juice and to be fair I found it reasonable but not ideal so I was still also smoking. I went to my local B&M and got some good advice regarding what vaping gear would suit me, as well as finding some juice more to my liking. For a couple of months I used a Vamo V5 but I kept seeing these shiny tube mods and I wondered what they were. After some investigation I discovered they were called mechanical mods and I had to buy my own. From that point I was completely off the cigarettes and quite satisfied with my set up. I eventually moved on the rebuildable devices with my first RDA and RTA. I love vaping and I have no plans to ever stop because there are so many new flavours to discover and a vast amount of different devices with newer technologies to try. While I still own a couple of mechanical mods my preference these days is VW box mods and I really do enjoy a vape with temperature control. I also make my own e-juice as time allows.

3 COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here