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Can You Add Flavoring to a Tobacco-Free Nicotine E-Liquid?
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onTobacco-free nicotine, also known as “TFN”, is becoming quite popular on the vaping market. Still, due to being in its early stages, lots of people don’t know much about it, and may be hesitant to try it. Being synthetically derived nicotine, some vapers could be worried that they’ll need to completely reorganize their entire vaping hobby to accommodate this unique type of ingredient.
Reality is, however, that switching to tobacco-free nicotine changes very little about your vaping routine. TFN behaves identically to tobacco-derived nicotine (TDN). Meaning, the basics of your routine, such as the device you use, your dedication to either freebase or salt-based nicotine, and the potency of nicotine at which you vape will be unaffected.
But, what does switching over to TFN mean for flavor? More specifically, can you add flavoring to an e-juice that already contains TFN?
TFN is Pure, While Tobacco-Derived Nicotine May Not Be
What makes tobacco-free nicotine unique is that it’s completely pure. Nicotine compounds taken from the tobacco plant are more prone to containing impurities than you may think. And, because there is no set of regulations determining purification processes of tobacco-derived nicotine, you could be vaping those impurities without even knowing it.
Many of the impurities that naturally occur in tobacco-derived nicotine are known toxins, which shouldn’t surprise you if you know anything about tobacco in general. Therefore, it goes without saying that these impurities should be avoided.
But, these impurities can also alter the taste of the nicotine. What this means is that companies that use tobacco-derived nicotine in their vape juices may have to compensate for the subtle effects on flavor caused by using this type of compound.
The Relationship Between TFN and Flavor
TFN does have an impact on flavor, but not in the way that you may think. What makes TFN unique is again, it’s 100% pure, while tobacco-derived nicotine is not. Isolating and extracting the nicotine alkaloid is a lot more difficult than many people realize, and it inevitably leaves impurities in the end product, in the form of trace amounts of compounds found within the tobacco plant. This does, ultimately, have an impact on the flavor and aroma of a particular e-liquid.
Because tobacco-free nicotine maintains a 100% purity level, it doesn’t contain even trace amounts of flavor or aroma molecules, thus allowing it to blend with flavoring ingredients without impacting the ultimate flavor profile in any way. This is likely the only difference that you will notice after switching to TFN, as beside this one factor, tobacco-free nicotine behaves just like traditional nicotine in the body.
Adding Flavor to a DIY E-Liquid Made with TFN
First, let’s talk about adding flavoring to a DIY e-liquid base that contains tobacco-free nicotine. If you are a DIY vaper, then you may feel hesitant about switching to TFN, being worried that it will throw off the process of making e-liquids that you worked so hard to memorize. But, the good news is that TFN and tobacco-based nicotine are used interchangeably in e-juice formulas, meaning that no adjustments to your quantities or proportions are necessary.
That being said, you can add flavoring to a TFN DIY e-juice just like you would a more traditional DIY e-juice. The flavoring ingredients are added in the same amounts, and thus, blended using the same methods.
Adding Flavor to an Existing TFN E-Juice Made by a Company
Some of us like to take an existing e-liquid flavor and customize or adjust it using additional flavoring extracts, to make the flavor stronger, more complex or just more suitable to our unique palate. Well, once again, you’re in luck. Again, because of the interchangeable nature of the two types of nicotine, there’s no reason why you can’t add a flavoring ingredient to a pre-made TFN vape juice just like you would one made with tobacco-derived nicotine.
Flavor or No Flavor: The TFN E-Liquid Choice is Yours!
Overall, tobacco-free nicotine is a unique alternative to traditional nicotine, which ultimately doesn’t change the way in which e-liquids are formulated or how they vape. That being said, you can add flavoring to a TFN e-juice, without worrying about having to make adjustments to the proportions to suit this new ingredient. Whether you’re a DIY vaper or someone who likes to customize pre-made e-liquids, adding flavoring is just as easy as it always has been.