‘Why can’t I taste my vape juice?’
‘Why does my e-liquid taste weird?’
‘Have I lost my sense of taste from vaping?’
If you’ve ever asked any of these questions, you’ve likely experienced the phenomenon known as ‘vaper’s tongue’.
Yes, it sounds gross and scary, but it’s something that most vape enthusiasts experience at some point in their lives. It’s not dangerous or permanent, and it’s easy to resolve the problem.
To help fellow vapers who are experiencing vaper’s tongue or want to take steps to avoid it, we’ve written this guide to tell you everything you need to know about it.
What is vaper’s tongue and what are the symptoms?
Vaper’s tongue is a condition where a vaper temporarily loses their ability to taste vape juice. Often lasting for a few hours at a time, it can sometimes extend to a few days.
Some vapers have noticed a sensation of their tongue being coated in something that blocks their taste buds, preventing them from tasting the flavour of their e-liquid.
Why does vaper’s tongue occur?
Vaping impacting your sense of taste
The first reason that vaper’s tongue can occur is a lack of saliva. Your taste buds cannot work without saliva, but unfortunately vaping can dry this saliva up and make it hard for our taste buds to work correctly. Consequently, vaping too frequently can temporarily limit your sense of taste, which is also known as the gustatory sense.
Your dry mouth might not solely be a result of vaping; it’s a common side effect of many medications and activities such as drinking coffee or alcohol.
Vaping impacting your sense of smell
The issue may also be related to your sense of smell, or in other words, your olfactory sense. There’s a common thing called olfactory fatigue, also known as nose blindness. This is where your nose becomes accustomed to a familiar scent that you are experiencing often. Think about the way that other people’s homes often have a distinct smell, yet you don’t smell your own home. Nose blindness is the reason for this.
If you’ve ever had a cold that blocks your nose, you’ve likely experienced the way that a lost sense of smell also makes it harder to taste your food. In this way, your senses of smell and taste work together to deliver flavour. Olfactory fatigue can contribute to a loss of the sensation of taste if you vape the same e-liquid for a long time.
Cigarette smoking impacting your senses
There’s also evidence that smoking cigarettes can impact your sense of taste, even if you have recently quit. This may help explain why recent smokers might experience vaper’s tongue.
How to avoid vaper’s tongue
Now that we’ve explained the causes of this change to the sense of smell while vaping, you’re probably wondering what you can do to fix or prevent the problem. Here are our best tips to help:
Stay hydrated
Beneficial for your vaping and your health in general, drinking a lot of water can help prevent the issue of vaper’s tongue. Staying hydrated helps your body continue producing saliva which allows your taste buds to work correctly so you can taste your delicious e-liquid. It also helps your body deal with the unpleasant dry mouth sensation that can be caused by frequent vaping.
Stop smoking
Another tip that is both good for your health and your vaping experience, quitting cigarettes is an important step. Although it may take a little time for your sense of taste to return to its former glory, quitting smoking is a good first step.
Avoid alcohol and caffeine
Both alcohol and caffeine contribute to a dry mouth which can exacerbate vaper’s tongue. Experiment with avoiding these substances to find out whether they make a difference to the taste of your vape.
Vape less frequentlyÂ
If the issue persists, another tip is to try to vape less frequently. By increasing the nicotine in your e-liquid, you can get the same nicotine hit without having to take as many puffs of your vape juice.
Try a different e-liquid
Using the same e-liquid for a long time is a sure way to end up with vaper’s tongue. To combat this, make sure that you switch up your e-liquid every now and then. This doesn’t mean you have to stop using your favourite vape juice forever — just take a short break to try something different. For example, if you usually vape sweet flavours, try something with tobacco or coffee flavouring instead to surprise and stimulate your taste buds.
Vape menthol e-liquids
The amazing thing about menthol is that you don’t actually need a sense of taste or smell to enjoy it. Menthol causes that cooling sensation because it activates your body’s thermoreceptors. Thermoreceptors are the sense receptors in our bodies that notice temperature — some thermoreceptors respond to cold and others to hot (these are the ones that allow us to feel the burning sensation when we eat something spicy). Menthol activates the cold ones, allowing us to enjoy that refreshing sensation.
Some of our favourite menthol-flavoured e-liquids include the Riot Squad Menthol juices and the icy concoctions from Ruthless.
Clean your tongue
Cleaning your tongue is another technique that can help vapers recover or maintain their sense of taste. Use a toothbrush or tongue scraper to clean your tongue and find out whether it improves your taste.
Smell something strong
Another fix is to try smelling something powerful to reset your olfactory senses. For example, sniffing some vinegar, lemon, or coffee can work wonders to jolt your senses back into action and help you vape happily again.
What’s the difference between vaper’s tongue and a dry hit?
If your vape starts to taste different, you might wonder whether you are experiencing vaper’s tongue. However, there are other possibilities: your coils and wick may be burnt out or you may have simply run out of e-liquid in the tank.
When your coils burn out, this can lead to a strange or burnt taste from your vape. Often, this horrible taste will occur suddenly and noticeably, unlike vaper’s tongue which is more likely to come on slowly. To deal with dry hits, you’ll need to change your vape’s coils, pods, or add new e-liquid.
An unpleasant taste is often due to a dry hit, while a loss of taste altogether is more likely to be vaper’s tongue. If your vape tastes weird but not burnt, it’s likely to be vaper’s tongue. Try changing your coils or flavour to find out for sure.
Conclusion
Vaper’s tongue is a common complaint among the vaping community. It can be frustrating to find that your favourite e-liquid flavour no longer delights you like it used to, but fortunately it’s unlikely to cause any long-term damage. Just take a break from the flavour for a while and it will be just as amazing as you remember when you return to it.
Our final piece of advice is to pick a few different e-liquid flavours and rotate them frequently. Try to choose e-liquids from different flavour categories, for example one fruity e-liquid, one strong/rich e-liquid, and one menthol-based e-liquid. With a vape kit, it’s easy to refill the tank with a different juice each time you finish it off. Or, with a pod kit, you can fill multiple pods with different flavoured juices and switch them in and out of the vape with ease.
Are you ready to add some new juices into your vaping rotation? Browse our carefully selected range of e-liquids here.
