E-Juice

E-juice and vape liquid in Dubai and the UAE

E-juice is what your device turns into vapour. Four ingredients: propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, flavouring and – in most cases – nicotine. The ratio between the first two, and the form the nicotine takes, decide whether a bottle suits your device and your throat.

Salt nicotine or freebase?

This is the choice that matters most, and getting it wrong is unpleasant rather than dangerous.

• Salt nicotine is nicotine in its naturally occurring salt form. It is smoother at high strengths and absorbs faster, which is why it suits ex-smokers and low-power pod systems. Use it with MTL coils above roughly 0.8 ohm.
• Freebase nicotine is the traditional form. It gives a sharper throat hit and is used at lower strengths, because at high strength it becomes harsh. It suits higher-power sub-ohm devices and DTL coils.

Putting high-strength salt liquid in a sub-ohm DTL device delivers far more nicotine per puff than intended and is genuinely unpleasant. Match the liquid to the coil, not to the flavour you fancy.

PG and VG

Propylene glycol carries flavour and provides throat hit; vegetable glycerine is thicker and produces the visible vapour. A 50/50 blend is thin enough for small MTL pod coils and is the standard for salt nicotine. A 70/30 VG-heavy blend is thicker, produces much more vapour, and needs a sub-ohm coil with wide wick ports – it will starve and burn a small MTL coil. Some people find PG irritating; a higher-VG blend is the usual answer.

Choosing a strength

Broadly: heavier smokers tend to start at higher salt strengths and step down over time; lighter smokers start lower. There is no universal correct number, and the honest answer is that it depends on how much you smoked and how you draw. If a liquid makes you lightheaded it is too strong; if you find yourself vaping constantly without satisfaction it is too weak.

Flavour families

Menthol and ice profiles are the closest analogue to a menthol cigarette and the most common starting point. Fruit is the largest and most forgiving family. Dessert, custard and bakery profiles are rich and satisfying but heavily sweetened, so they shorten coil life. Tobacco profiles rarely taste like a cigarette and are better judged on their own terms.

Brands we carry

Our e-juice range includes Dr Vapes, whose Panther Series is among the best-known ranges in the Gulf; Nasty Juice from Malaysia; Pod Salt, made in the UK by Xyfil; VGOD from California; and Ripe Vapes, whose VCT is one of the most imitated flavour profiles in vaping.

Storage

Keep bottles upright, sealed, out of direct sunlight and away from heat – which in a UAE summer means not in a parked car. Heat and light degrade both flavour and nicotine. Keep them well out of reach of children and pets; nicotine e-liquid is harmful if swallowed.

These products contain nicotine and are for adult smokers only. Sale to under-18s is prohibited under the UAE Government tobacco provisions. For an independent view of the evidence, see the WHO Q&A on e-cigarettes.