Jargon. It’s everywhere, isn’t? And, like it or not, the world of vaping isn’t immune. Whether it’s ohms or mech mods or RDAs, RTAs or RDTAs, vaping manufacturers and retailers, as well as vapers themselves, love nothing more than to use terms and acronyms that mean nothing to the uninitiated.
Let’s not kid ourselves, all this terminology has a danger of being a little off-putting for those on the fence about getting into vaping. Especially as this specialised language isn’t just for vaping equipment alone – because it involves vape liquids as well.
Yes, e-juice jargon doesn’t just cover vape liquids when they’re ideal for sub ohm/ low resistance mods or a cartridge-based JUUL starter kit, when they’re nic salts or capable of being topped up with nicotine shots; no, because such jargon also comes into its own when it concerns the very ingredients in the juice. Namely, the ratio of propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG) in an e-liquid – often referring to whether it’s a 70-30 ratio or, as is becoming increasingly popular, a half-and-half, 50-50 split.
Why the ratio of PG to VG?
Fair dos. If manufacturing and retailing 50-50 e-liquids sounds to you like selling a middle-ground compromise, a mediocre solution or even vape juices that simply aren’t one thing or another, you wouldn’t be the first to think that. And yet, while thinking that is all very well, when relatively new-to-the-game vapers make that judgement, they often don’t consider what PG and VG really are and, therefore, why they’re actually mixed in vape-liquids in different ratios.
So, to address this; let’s consider PG and VG. Now, combined in an e-liquid, the chemicals propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin are the two major ingredients responsible for its base – and it’s in that point where the importance of the ratios can be found.
For, should a vape juice be PG-dominant (say, 70-30 in its favour over VG), its consistency will be pretty runny, it ought to deliver a good, strong flavour (PG’s odourless) and nice throaty, nicotine hit. Yet, if a liquid is VG-dominant, its consistency will be thicker and it should give a subtler throat hit, as well as tasting a tad sweeter on the tongue (VG natural tastes a little sweet) and provide decent vapour, which is why VG-heavy juices are always popular with ‘cloud chasers’.
Is a 50-50 vape worthwhile?
Taking that information into account, then, we can now look at the 50-50 ratio and whether it does offer any true benefits. So, does it? Well, as you’d imagine, it all depends on what an individual vaper wants from their e-juice. Vaping offers so much choice; there’s so much variety to choose from. And, yes, that’s the very reason why there’s so much terminology and so many acronyms and ratios involved in everything to do with vaping. So, while you may like to vape a PG-heavy e-liquid or, conversely, a VG-heavy one, you might – conversely, again – fancy the idea of an e-juice from a vape shop London that’s going to deliver a middle-ground hit; courtesy, then, of a 50-50 PG/ VG mix. Fancy a somewhat throaty nicotine hit, but also some sweetness, as well as decent flavour and a fair volume of vapour? If so, a 50-50 e-liquid might just make your day. Fancy that!
