Hey all, I'm at a loss on this one.
Manufacturer Websites/eBay Sellers/Forums/Reviews all seem to be contradictory.
Reading from one source seemed to explain it all perfectly; Benzoate has a pH closest to neutral, Salicylate is more acidic, therefore Benzoate, they say is the smoothest. That makes sense.
After ordering, I found a new seller, I thought I'd re-check the info on the two main types again. I found another website which had the same facts (almost a copy and paste of the original website I ordered from) but they summarised at the bottom Benzoate: Smooth. Salicylate: Ultra smooth. ... Which is the exact opposite of the last site.
I found posts on forums also, about how Salicylate is smoother than Benzoate.
Juul uses Benzoate, Dinner Lady, I believe use Salicylate.
I've even searched YouTube for the answers, hoping there would be a video explaining but there isn't.
There must be someone on here who's tried both and can clarify for me? Thanks in advance!
They are, chemically, very similar. Why one is more irritant than the other is hard to say.
The chemical name of salicylic is 2-hydroxybenzoic acid.
So technically both are benzoic acids, just salicylic has one more OH group.
Looking at both compounds, salicylic has way higher vapor pressure. I' m not sure on this, but it could be that the vapor pressure makes the s.acid disperse better, so its not as concentrated vapor as the benzoic. This is just wild speculation though, i'm a lab tech, not a chemical engineer.
Edit: Also, the pH of our mucus in the throat and nose is about 5.5-6, so it might just be that s.acid is closer to that range than Benzoic. If it's neutral or not doesn't really matter in terms of irritant, the irritating factor of pH is when its way beyond the natural pH of whatever its interfering with. The more similar pH the less irritating.
No idea as to why but anecdotally for me, salicylate is more smooth.
This is good. I need a few more of these replies right here. Thanks for your input Digger, I'm assuming you've tried them both!
Try this thread
Apologies as I admit it's not too clear. I was ideally hoping for a response from someone who's had knowledge on mixing both of these types of salt nicotine and sharing their experiences.
The reason being that there is conflicting information everywhere.
The reason sources contradict each other is that the smoothness/harshness of different nicotine salts is somewhat subjective. Just get small bottles from various vendors to find the one that works best for you.
Are you talkin about the difference between two acids that are added to regular nicotine to make nicotine salts?
I always understood it this way (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)...
Regular (freebase) nicotine is alkaline. Therefore you add acid to it to make the overall pH more neutral (and therefore 'smoother').
If one acid is stronger, you need less of it to neutralize a given amount of alkaline nicotine base.
No, it was a question about nicotine benzoate, and nicotine salicylate, and the practical differences vaping one versus the other.
Aren't these both nicotine salts which you make by adding an acid (benzoate or salicylate) to nicotine (which is alkaline)?
In theory, it shouldn't really matter which acid you use. What matters is how close to neutral (pH=7) the resulting mixture is.
To get to a given pH, you would use less of a stronger acid and more of a weaker acid.
But evidently, it does matter which acids are used, hence the confusion about it all. As the dude said up top, from my understanding of his explanation, is that pH neutral is NOT the goal you're looking to achieve when making the salts.
Regardless, it's not the creating of the salts I'm interested in. It's getting on-hand experience from people who've used both, to explain how they feel these two different chemicals act when vaped.
I have had this same problem! I have been racking my brains trying to find out any papers written on this or info on the net but there isn't anything out there answering this question. I actually ended up buying both B and S nicotine salts.
I did a test between the two by mixing two small batches and comparing them.
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I found that Salicylate is smoother than benzoate. I believe benzoate was the industry standard for old school freebase nicotine, and most nic salts tend to use salicylate, as far as I have read.
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The benzoate gives you that old school harshness, while the salicylate is comparable to what I would consider a smooth nic salt, which further backs my theory the industry standard for nic salts is salicylate
What exactly is your question?
It's 1 million miles from a riddle. It's a question inside a question. Why the fuck are they buying nicotine off of Ebay? How about some love for the dedicated people who have provided and continue to provide empirical and anecdotal information for those who seek it. Reddit has hamstrung us by not providing the ability to provide links to verified and trusted vendors/decent fucking humans who sell nicotine. Here comes a double edged sword. If China ups its game in the world of liquid nicotine distribution. Links will not only be provided, but advertised.