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Eliquid is generally made up of 4 key ingredients; PG, VG, flavouring concentrates and nicotine. In this article we’ll explain what each ingredient brings to the table and why the PG/VG mixture is important.

What is PG?

PG (Propylene Glycol) is a safe, clear, flavourless and odourless organic compound used in many industries. It’s used to preserve food and is found in health and beauty products such as toothpastes, shampoo and skin care products. It is also regularly used in medical products such as inhalers and IV drips.

Why is PG used in eliquid?

PG helps to carry the flavour from your eliquid, but it doesn’t produce much vapour. It also helps to give a better ‘throat hit’, this is why new users generally go for a higher PG-to-VG ratio when they first start vaping.

What is VG?

VG (Vegetable Glycerine) is a safe, clear, slightly sweet tasting, natural compound made from plant oils. VG is a lot thicker than PG. VG is also used in quite a broad range of industries, including food, cough medicines, liqueurs and health and beauty products.

Why is VG used in eliquid?

VG gives you the vapour production and results in a smoother ‘hit’. A higher VG-to-PG ratio can reduce the intensity of flavour.

What is flavouring concentrate?

Flavouring concentrates are a highly concentrated mixture of food and drink ingredients to create specific tastes. They are often used to make foods, drinks, cocktails and other edible products.

Why are flavouring concentrates in eliquid?

Well this is pretty self explanatory, but basically if there was no flavouring in the eliquid then it would be tasteless, and that wouldn’t be much fun now, would it?

What is nicotine?

Nicotine is a natural stimulant found in plants. The effects of nicotine on the body are quite similar to caffeine; increasing alertness, concentration, memory and calming effects. Although nicotine was once thought of as a highly addictive substance, new research suggests that it isn’t as addictive as we first thought. The research points to the combination of other chemicals in tobacco cigarettes mixed with nicotine as the reason that smoking is so addictive and hard to quit. Nicotine also has medical benefits and is being used in several new trials to prevent and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, as well as treating acute OCD, major depressive disorder, epilepsy and more.

Why is nicotine used in eliquid?

Although some eliquids are available without nicotine, most do. Nicotine is the main chemical your body is craving when you quit smoking so that’s why it is used in making eliquid.

What’s with all this PG/VG, 30/70, 50/50?

The majority of eliquid is made up of PG and VG and the mixture is important for several reasons. As explained above, PG will give you more flavour and throat hit, while VG will give you more vapour and a smoother hit.

Most new vapers start on 50/50 or close to it, which should give a satisfying throat hit and flavour while giving a visible vapour cloud to appease the mental side of moving away from cigarettes. 50/50 mix eliquids also have a fairly low viscosity (not as thick), which means they are better suited for mouth-to-lung ecig kits where the coils have smaller wicking holes. Our own range of ELQD ECIGS flavours are a 50/50 mixture.

The higher the ratio of VG-to-PG, such as 80/20, the more viscous (thicker) it will be. High VG eliquids are better suited to higher power, sub-ohm kits, which often have large wicking holes in the coil. High VG eliquids are also popular with high powered kits due to them being smoother and easier on the throat.

It’s also worth noting that some people can have a PG intolerance and in this case we could recommend using a high VG or 100% VG eliquid.