How to not freak out when you have vaper’s tongue and can’t taste your e juices!

There’s nothing more satisfying in a vaper’s day than meticulously setting up your rig, hitting the fire button on your mod, then inhaling that sweet sweet – hey wait a second, WHERE’S THE FLAVOR? After cleaning your tank, and switching out countless cartos/coils, the flavor still isn’t there. So you go all David after the dentist by balling up your fists and yelling towards the heavens “Is this real life?!? Is this going to last forever?!?”

What’s happening? What’s going on?

The problem isn’t with your rig – you probably have vaper’s tongue (okay fine, if you want to be a stickler I know it’s really olfactory fatigue – hold your horses we’ll get to that later)! Before all the hypochondriacs hop into their cars and floor it to the E.R., you should know that vaper’s tongue isn’t fatal, nor is it an eternal condition. It will eventually go away on it’s own after a few days or weeks (yup, I said weeks), but I’ll explain the things you can do to help it go away more quickly and to help prevent it from happening to you again.

Your tongue isn’t really the problem.

Most people refer to this as vaper’s tongue because it seems like you’re tasting the juices with your tongue. The truth of the matter is that it’s actually olfactory fatigue – simply put, your smeller’s got issues that can’t be solved with tissues. Sure, you taste a bit of the vapor with your tongue, but your sense of smell is the primary way you experience the “flavor” of your e juice.

Your nose also does a lot for your sense of taste as well. You know how when you have a stuffy nose, and the food you’re eating tastes muted? The same thing happens with vaper’s tongue, except your nose does a lot more work than your tongue when you’re vaping, so it’s even worse.

Why is this happening to me?

Well, it could be a number of reasons. Almost all new vapers, who recently made the switch from smoking cigarettes to vaping, will get vaper’s tongue. When you smoke cigarettes, your sense of taste and smell aren’t nearly as strong compared to non-smokers. After you quit smoking for a week or two, you might have discovered just how bad cigarettes really smell or noticed just how awesome the foods you normally eat actually taste. When you quit smoking, your brain isn’t used to the huge upgrade to your senses, so it freaks out a bit and over compensates – by turning them way down (or even off).

Vaper’s tongue also happens if you don’t switch juices often enough, so you develop a (temporary) tolerance to the flavor. It’s kind of like when you’re in a really smelly room. At first, the smell hits you like a ton of bricks, but after a minute or so you don’t even notice it. The same thing happens if you chain-vape the same flavor over and over without switching it up.

How do I fix this, and how can I keep it from happening again?!?

1. Take that tampon out of your mouth. The internet is a mean place filled with trolls. There are countless threads where the victims of vaper’s tongue are told to put tampons in their mouths because it’ll “help cleanse your pallet” (it won’t). This is a lie, do not listen to the nasty people.

2. Drink more water. When you vape, most of what you exhale is your own moisture. Sure, there are elements of the components of your e juice in the clouds you’re exhaling, but most of it is water from your body. Vaping probably won’t cause deathly levels of dehydration, but there’s no doubt that vaping locally dehydrates your mouth, throat, sinuses, and lungs. If your mouth and sinuses are dry, they won’t be able to taste/smell the vapor from your e cig very well. Plus, most people are chronically dehydrated anyway. Water is good for you, so drink it up, and kill two birds with one stone!

3. Use good oral hygene. This should go without saying, but it’s true. Beyond brushing your teeth, gargling with a minty mouthwash and chewing on minty gum will help cleanse your pallet, and keep your mouth nice and moist (or if you hate that word, damp) throughout the day.

4. Switch it up, and expand your e juice rotation. Remember how we talked about not having enough e juice variety in your life can cause vaper’s tongue? Make sure that you have a selection of different juices to vape through out the day. It’s best if you have different flavor types in your rotation, like: sweet flavors, sour flavors, and fruity flavors, etc. If you have a variety of different flavors, you won’t develop a tolerance to them as easily.

5. Vape on some menthol e juice. Vaper’s tongue might be strong, but menthol is even stronger! Even if you didn’t like menthol cigarettes, you might actually like some of the menthol flavored e juices out there. Personally, I hated menthol cigs, but I LOVE Vape Dojo’s Black Menthol e juice (black is for blackberry) – I can’t get enough of it. Even with vaper’s tongue, you’ll be able to taste the menthol and get some enjoyment from vaping. It’ll also “wake-up” your senses and reduce the duration, and symptoms, of vaper’s tongue.

6. Huff some coffee grounds. You don’t have to make lines of coffee grounds with a credit card on a mirror, and snort them with a rolled-up dollar bill – simply smelling them should suffice. It’s a fact, coffee helps cleanse the olfactory pallet, that’s why some perfumers keep ground coffee on-hand when smelling different scents in succession.

7. Chew/drink something ginger flavored, or something sour, like a lemon or vinegar. While I haven’t personally had any success taking shots of vinegar or by drinking lemon water, there are a lot of people who have claimed that this is works best for them – so who am I to argue?

But most of all…

Do NOT go back to smoking cigarettes. I know that it’s probably tempting, but if you follow the steps outlined above, you’ll get through this bout of vaper’s tongue in no time, and help prevent it from happening again in the future. You’ve come so far. Why go back to those dead-beat cancer-sticks that’ll only do more harm than good in the long run? Vaper’s tongue will eventually go away, so just be patient. You’ll be able to taste that sweet sweet flavor soon – just give it some time.

Do you have any tips for preventing/getting over the dreaded vaper’s tongue?

If so, we’d love to read about your own remedies in the comments below – as long as there are no tampons (or any other women’s hygiene products) involved.

Disclaimer: No kittehs were harmed or forced to vape PG or nicotine based e juice for the purposes of this article. This is a professional stunt-cat, don’t let your cats do this at home.