What is in Vape Juice?

Vape juice goes by a range of names like e-liquid or e-juice. As for what is in vape juice, the exact ingredients and their ratios can vary by brand, recipe or flavour. However, the standard components found in vape juice are vegetable glycerin, propylene glycol, nicotine, and food-grade flavour compounds.

Vape juice is predominantly vegetable glycerin (VG) and propylene glycol (PG). These two basic ingredients make up approximately 90% of the e-liquid compound. The other approximate 10% of the concoction consists of flavor ingredients and for certain e-liquids, nicotine.

Vape Juice Ingredients

We'll walk through the common ingredients found in regulated vape juices. By the end of this article, you'll know the following:

• What are the main ingredients found in vape juice
• What all the vape juice ingredients are used for
• How all of the vape juice ingredients impact your vaping experience

We'll begin with the two predominant ingredients that account for the highest percentage of the e-juice mixture: vegetable glycerin and propylene glycol.

Vegetable Glycerin — What is VG in Vape Juice?

Vegetable glycerin is also referred to as VG in e-liquid. It is a thick, clear liquid commonly made from processed soybeans or palm trees. It is a humectant — a substance used to preserve moisture — and can often also be found in skincare and beauty products.

VG is often confused with vegetable oil due to its thick texture, but they are not the same. Unlike vegetable oil, VG is water-soluble while oil separates from water.

It is a colorless and odorless liquid. VG has a slightly sweet taste on its own. However, it does not act as a great 'carrier' for flavoring.

What is VG Used for in Vape Juice?

VG comes from the food industry. It has a history of being used as a subtle sweetener and an additive that helps certain food products retain moisture.

In vape juice, VG impacts the amount of vapor produced. Due to how viscous the VG liquid is, it enables vapers to produce thick, dense vapor clouds. Vapers looking to produce maximum vapor will generally lean towards higher amounts of VG in their e-liquid blends. It also causes softer and smoother vape hits.

However, due to this thick consistency, VG can also take longer to saturate the coil of your vape device. This thickness can make it challenging for your vape to wick properly and results in dry hits. Similarly, high VG vape liquid can be harder to clean out of a vape tank.

Propylene Glycol — What is PG in Vape Juice?

Propylene glycol is also referred to as PG in e-juice. PG has a syrup-like texture but is less viscous than VG — it is a little runnier.

Like VG, it is a colorless and odorless liquid with a faintly sweet taste. Propylene glycol (PG) is also often used in the food industry for various purposes, like making cake frosting thicker and easier to spread.

What is PG Used for in Vape Juice?

As for PG's role in e-juice, it is a carrier for flavoring. You'll experience more flavor with high-PG vape juice than with VG.

Higher levels of PG are also associated with a stronger throat hit than VG. This sensation tends to be desirable for people who are quitting cigarettes, as it mimics the feeling of smoking. However, if you are prone to sensitive or sore throats, you might want to steer clear of the throat hit from PG.

As PG is less viscous than the thick consistency found in VG, it is much easier to clean out of your vape tank. But with that said, high-PG e-liquid has also been known to leak once in a while, depending on your vape device.

Flavor Concentrates in E-Liquid

The flavor ingredients found in e-liquids are food-grade. Although they can be either artificial or natural, they are all safe to consume in foods. These ingredients are also found in carbonated beverages and candies to mimic the flavor of another food or drink.

What are Flavoring Concentrates Used for in Vape Juice?

Simply put, they are there to add flavoring to your e-liquid. Typically, these flavor ingredients make up no more than 10% of the vape juice ingredients. Although Vapours Canada does offer a flavorless vape juice, these flavoring concentrates can make vaping a more enjoyable experience.

Nicotine in Vape Juice

Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Although you can buy nicotine-free e-liquids, many vapers opt to include nicotine as one of the ingredients in e-liquid.

Nicotine is a substance known as an alkaloid, a naturally-occurring chemical or organic compound. Interestingly, nicotine acts as both a stimulant and a depressant to the body's central nervous system. This effect is one of the reasons that nicotine is incredibly addictive.

Two types of nicotine are used as vape juice ingredients: freebase nicotine and nicotine salts. Freebase nicotine is more common, especially at a lower nicotine level. Whereas, nicotine salts, or nic salts, are often used to mimic the hit of cigarettes without a harsh taste at a higher nicotine level. If this is your style, check out our range of Salt Gods salt nics.

What is Nicotine Used for in Vape Juice?

The presence of nicotine in e-juice may be helpful when quitting cigarettes. Of course, there are adverse health effects associated with nicotine consumption, such as high blood pressure. However, you can avoid toxic ingredients and other negative substances found in cigarettes like tar by switching from cigarettes to vapes.

Like how people chew gum or wear patches containing nicotine, vaping e-juice with nicotine as one of the vape juice ingredients can help you quit smoking. It can help a person regulate the cravings associated with quitting, especially when used with an e-cigarette device.

Additionally, there is e-liquid available that contains no nicotine at all. This level is often the last step vapers take in quitting nicotine.

What Nicotine Levels are Allowed in Vape Juice?

Nicotine content levels can vary in concentration between e-liquids. In Canada, the maximum concentration of nicotine levels in a vape product is 20mg/mL. The average cigarette contains around 10 to 12mg of nicotine.

There are alternatives if you find the 20mg/mL nicotine level unsatisfying. Although this is the legal limit, vape juices are available that use a combination of salt nicotine and freebase to create a hybrid nicotine blend. This e-liquid blend simulates the effect and throat hit of more substantial nicotine concentrations, although it does not contain a higher nicotine level.

One such e-juice product is STILTH BOLD 50 Pod Packs. They come in various vape juice flavors like Banana Ice, Mango, and Blue Raspberry.

Where to Buy Vape Juice

Health Canada has noted that the ingredients in vape juice are subject to stringent controls through the regulations within the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act and the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act.

Therefore, vape juice should only be purchased through a regulated supplier like Vapours Canada. Otherwise, it might contain seriously harmful ingredients such as vitamin E acetate, which is barred from sale by Health Canada. The resurgence of the medical phenomenon known as 'popcorn lung' is strongly linked to vape fluid containing vitamin E acetate. However, the term originates from workers at a microwave popcorn factory inhaling diacetyl.

Trust Vapours Canada for all your vape juice needs. We are committed to crafting only the highest quality vape juice. Our high-end e-juice is manufactured in an ISO:9001 certified facility and never contains vitamin E acetate, cannabis or any other banned substances. We only use the cleanest ingredients available so you only have the best vape juice experience. It's why we started Vapours Canada in the first place.

Kick the Nic

We have developed our Kick the Nic program to gradually reduce the nicotine level in your e-juices so you can kick your nicotine habit.

We can offer this special program because we manufacture our e-juices in-house. Unlike other brands that only offer set nicotine levels, Vapours Canada can completely customize the nicotine level in your vape juice ingredients.

You can gradually lower the nicotine content at your own pace until your e-liquid ingredients don't contain nicotine at all.

How Do I Choose the Right E-Liquid for Me?

Consider the effect that you would like to have when using your vape. If you prefer smoother hits and dense clouds, then high-VG oil might be a better option. However, if you're more interested in strong flavors, you might be interested in an e-liquid higher in PG.

Thinking about the amounts of VG and PG that you would like is an excellent place to start. Vapours Canada crafts our vape blends in-house so that you can choose your preferred nicotine level and VG/PG balance. We have three standard e-liquid bases for VG and PG balance: 70PG/30VG, equal amounts of PG/VG, and maxed-out VG.

Finally, all you'll have to decide is what flavor you like the best and the amount of nicotine content you would like your juice to contain. However, we know choosing the right juice vape can be challenging. If you have questions, come visit us in store or get in touch online. We'll be more than happy to dive deeper into what is in vape juice, how to choose your vape juices and more!