What is vaper's tongue and how to avoid it
Ever been vaping your favourite e-liquid when you find you can’t taste it anymore? You may be suffering from vaper's tongue.
One of the most appealing aspects of vaping for beginners is the wide range of flavours available to vapers. From fruit flavoured e-liquids to bakery based vape juices, there’s a flavour for every vaper’s preference.
Once you’ve found the flavour for you, it’s likely you’ll stick to it and always repurchase the same flavour.
But, what happens when you suddenly stop being able to taste your favourite e-liquid? The condition, called vaper's tongue, is a common side effect of vaping and can happen to anyone.
In this article, we’ll explain what vaper's tongue is, how to cure it and how to avoid getting it in the first place. So, read on to find out more about vaper’s tongue.
What is vaper’s tongue?
Vaper’s tongue, also known as Vaper’s fatigue, is a common condition among vaper's, it can come on without warning and disappear just as quick. People suffering from vaper’s tongue will usually experience symptoms for 1 to 3 days, although it can occasionally last up to two weeks.
While vaper’s tongue is harmless and won’t cause any lasting damage, obviously not being able to fully experience the flavour of your chosen e-liquid isn’t ideal.
So, how do you know if you have vaper’s tongue?
Symptoms of vaper’s tongue
The most common symptom of vaper’s tongue is being unable to taste the flavour of your chosen e-liquid.
All vapers will know the instant hit of flavour you usually get from inhaling on your vape, but when vaper’s tongue strikes you lose this sensation and will feel as though you’re just inhaling a flavourless vapour.
Another related symptom of vaper’s tongue is the sensation of having a thick coating on your tongue. It’s thought this coating on the tongue is what stops people from being able to taste the full flavour of their vape juice.
These symptoms aren’t particularly enjoyable, no one likes the feeling of losing your sense of taste, but they shouldn’t impact your nicotine absorption and vapour production.
So, if you’re vaping with nicotine to help you quit smoking, even if you’re suffering from vaper’s tongue, you’ll still get your nicotine hit.
What causes vaper's tongue
To understand why people get vaper’s tongue, it’s important to have an understanding of how our sense of taste works.
We have thousands of taste receptors on our tongues, also known as taste buds. These receptors pick up on the different flavours in our food and communicate the different tastes to our brains.
For these taste receptors to work they need saliva on the tongue. Vaping can lead to a ‘fatigued tongue’ which causes the vaper’s tongue to become dry of saliva. Without saliva, our sense of taste is compromised.
So, if vaping causes dry mouth, this is likely to lead to the lack of taste associated with vaper’s tongue.
How to avoid getting vaper's tongue
While vaper’s tongue is somewhat unpredictable and unavoidable as it happens to most vapers at some time or another, there are some things you can try to help avoid the irritating loss of taste.
Quit smoking for good
We all know by now the damaging effects that smoking has on our health, it’s why many people turn to vaping in the first place. But, if you’re still occasionally smoking cigarettes, this could be having an impact on your taste.
Quitting smoking for good can help to stop the loss of taste that is associated with vaping and will help you to enjoy the taste of your chosen e-liquid fully.
Change your e-liquid flavour
Finding the right vape juice flavour can take time and a lot of trial and error. So, you may be reluctant to switch things up and look for a new flavour. But, to avoid vapers tongue, changing up your e-liquid flavour choice every now and then can be a good idea.
Just as you’d get used to certain smells when you’re around them all the time, you can get used to the same flavour vape juice all the time which can lead to the flavour being weaker.
Taking a break from your usual all-day-vape and trying out a new flavour can refresh your senses and get you back to tasting full flavour. You don’t have to make the switch forever, just for a little while to give your tongue a break from your usual flavour.
Give a menthol flavours a go
If you’re changing up your flavour of e-liquid, it could be a good idea to try a menthol e-liquid.
Menthol flavours are slightly different to regular vape juice flavours as you don’t need your full sense of smell or taste to be able to notice you’re vaping a menthol e-liquid.
The cooling effect of menthol flavours can be noticed even when you can’t fully taste. This could give your taste receptors a refresh and wake them back up as they’re so different from the usual fruity and dessert flavours.
Drink more water
As we’ve already said, vaper’s tongue is usually brought on by having a too dry tongue.
Keeping on top of your hydration levels by upping your water intake can help to avoid dry mouth. Drinking more water isn’t just good for avoiding vaper’s tongue, it’s also one of the best things you can do for your overall health.
Space out your vapes
Just as chain-smoking leads to loss of taste and smell, chain vaping can also have a negative impact on your taste and smell receptors.
If you’re a vaper who uses nicotine in your e-liquid, slightly upping the nicotine levels can help you to space out your vapes. The stronger hit of nicotine should keep your cravings at bay for longer so you don’t need to inhale as regularly.
If you don’t vape with nicotine, or you don’t want to up your nicotine levels, then you’ll need some good old fashioned self-restraint to avoid vaping so often.
Cut back on caffeine and alcohol
While increasing your water consumption is good for hydration and avoiding vaper’s tongue, some drinks can have the opposite effect.
Caffeinated and alcoholic drinks are types of diuretics which means they have a dehydrating effect on the body. This dehydrating effect is why you wake up with a headache and a hangover after drinking too much alcohol.
Being dehydrated will add to the dry mouth effect and can be a contributing factor to vaper’s tongue. Cutting back on or cutting out these types of drinks can help you to avoid vaper’s tongue.
Clean your tongue
As noted above, some sufferers of vaper’s tongue report feeling as though there is a thick coating on their tongues.
Regularly cleaning your tongue can be a way to remove this coating. When you clean your teeth each day, set aside 30 seconds to use the bristles of your toothbrush to scrub at your tongue. This can help to rub away any potential coating that may form and prevent this flavour blocking coating from forming.
Vape unflavoured e-liquids
If you’re suffering from vaper’s tongue, another way to give your tastebuds a break and time to regenerate is to vape unflavoured e-liquid.
This gives your tongue a complete break from any flavours, apart from the subtle sweetness of all e-liquids, but still allows you to get the hit of your vape.
Vaper’s tongue can happen to any vaper, from beginner to experienced. While it can be annoying at the time, it doesn’t pose any health threats and should resolve on its own. But, by following the above advice, you may be able to avoid experiencing vaper’s tongue.
If you need any more advice or assistance, our friendly staff are always on hand to help, contact a member of the team today to see what we can do for you.