Should You Use Sweeteners in Your DIY E Liquid?

Wed 25 Jan 2017

Using sweeteners such as Ethyl Maltol in both DIY and pre-mixed e liquid is something that divides the vaping community. Sweeteners have been used in e liquid for quite a while now, but have only really started to become prominent, particularly in USA made e liquid, in the past year or so.

With that in mind, we decided to explain the positives and negatives of using sweetener in DIY e liquid.

The Positives

A lot of vapers enjoy sweet flavours. The trend in sweet flavours such as jam, doughnut, ice cream and milkshakes has been growing steadily since vaping began. Ethyl Maltol and others obviously provide this sweetness, usually offering more of the sweet sugar flavour than any flavour concentrate can provide. Also, those into really, really high wattage and tons of airflow will testify that pretty much all of the subtleties in the flavour of an e liquid disappear when vaped at, say, over 150 watts. Adding sweetener to an e liquid that will be vaped at an intense temperature will allow the user to experience a nice sweet sensation when individual flavours are lost in the heat.

The Negatives

Who likes coil gunk? Nobody. This is the main downside to using sweeteners. If you’re using rebuildable atomizers, then changing out your cotton every 20-30ml isn’t such a big deal. However, if you’re using a tank with pre-made coils, then you’re going to get quite annoyed (any quite skint) when you have to chuck them in the bin every day because they’ve gotten all black and nasty. Especially at £3 a pop. Also, using too much sweetener can take away from the overall flavour of a carefully crafted juice.

If you have any questions about using sweeteners in your DIY e liquid, feel free to get in touch at [email protected]

Further reading: Guide to Mixing with Nicotine Shots