When I vape my DIY juices I get significant irritation and pressure in my ear and throat, particularly on the right side. It's less of a problem with store bought juices.
My blends are generally 50/50 at 12mg.
Could this be a PG sensitivity? Do vendors like Halo and Cuttwood tend to use more or less VG in their blends?
Thanks in advance for your help! Loving this sub.
Edit: thanks everyone - I'll try max pg and lowering nic levels. Seems like drinking more water is a good idea too!
More vendors are going high VG. Higher PG is noted as offering more throat hit.
It could be a PG issue but you might be overflavoring your DIY.
Thanks for the info. I've been following clone recipes mostly, at 15-20% flavor. Would that be considered too high?
It depends what you're putting in. Are you using a calculator that takes into account that 20%PG from flavor and adjusting down the amount of PG you add to arrive at 50%? The nic will add irritation as well, so 12mg +50% PG, yeah, you're at the upper limits for irritation.
PG can be ototoxic from what little I've read here. Check it out.
PG sensitivety relates to throat and lung irritation, so just the generall experience of being ill with influenza or something. I've never heard of it being related to ear pressure and troat.
HOWEVER, I saw someone posted a link to This great article. You should check it out.
I think the PG can cause issues with the ENT system. This has been much discussed for years on ECF (most of the discussions relating to tinnitus which seems to be a common complaint with vaping). I have always had tinnitus but it does seem to get worse on days where I vape heavily. Whether or not this is PG related I don't know.
I made my own juice with 100% VG, some menthol and camphor crystals, and some herbs from my garden. Sage, Basil, and 2 Kinds of Mint.
Tasted great, but gave me the weirdest sore throat, had to ditch the recipe.
I'm thinking it was probably the camphor, I've smoked enough menthol to think that probably wasn't the cause.
People are really quick to label every irritation as a PG allergy. Too quick. It's more likely something else like flavoring (strength and choice) or even something not vaping related. My throat got all jacked up this week, kind of like a throat infection or something. It definitely was not caused by vaping and actually vaping seems to help soothe it.
Also check your build and stuff. It could be a multitude of rda issues such as...
- Not enough airflow
- Too high wattage
- Burnt wick
- Coil gunk burning off
- Dry hit