What Are Nic Salts? Nicotine Salts Explained

Almost every disposable vape sold in the UK before the June 2025 ban had nic salt e-liquid inside it.

Prefilled pod kits use nic salts too, so if you have vaped at all in the last three years, you have almost certainly tried nicotine salts already.

Every strength and flavour we sell is in our nic salts range, in 10ml bottles at 5mg, 10mg and 20mg. This guide covers what they are, how to use them and which kits they suit.

What Are Nicotine Salts?

Nicotine salts are a form of nicotine made by combining freebase nicotine with benzoic acid. The acid lowers the pH of the e-liquid, so higher strengths feel smoother and absorb faster in low powered pod kits.

You will also see them called nic salts, salt nic or vape salts. They are all the same thing.

Two forms of nicotine go into the vape juice sold in the UK:

1. Freebase nicotine came first and has been around since the early days of vaping.
2. Nic salts arrived a few years later, when manufacturers started treating freebase nicotine with benzoic acid to change how it behaves.

Freebase nicotine scratches your throat hard at anything above 12mg, but nic salts do not have that problem. The benzoic acid drops the pH low enough that even 20mg feels smooth on the inhale.

Your body picks up nicotine salts faster too, so two or three puffs can settle a craving that freebase might take ten minutes to touch.

The word "salt" confuses a lot of people. Here it is chemistry shorthand for what you get when an acid meets a base. There is no sodium in the bottle and it has nothing to do with table salt. Nicotine plus benzoic acid makes nicotine benzoate, and that is the nic salt in your juice.

How to Use Nic Salts

You need a pod kit or an MTL tank, plus a 10ml bottle of nic salt juice.

Pick replacement coils rated 0.8 ohm or above. Lower resistance coils are made for high VG shortfills, not salts.

1. Fill your pod or tank through the fill port. If the cap gives you trouble, here is how to open the bottle.
2. Leave it five minutes so the cotton inside the coil soaks through fully.
3. Draw on it the way you would pull on a cigarette, mouth to lung, not a big chest inhale.
4. Take a few puffs, then wait five minutes to see how the nicotine strength feels.

Almost every nic salt bottle comes in a 50/50 VG/PG ratio. That thin mix wicks quickly through small pod coils without dry hits. Keep the wattage low, somewhere between 8W and 15W, and let the nicotine do the work instead of chasing clouds.

Standard MTL tanks on box mods work with nic salts too, with the same coil and wattage rules as pod kits.

Picking the Right Nic Salt Strength

Three strengths cover the UK market: 5mg, 10mg and 20mg. The formula stays the same across all three, and only the nicotine concentration changes.

Heavier smokers usually begin with 20mg nic salts, the strongest concentration UK law allows.

Dizziness or a headache after a few puffs means the strength is too high. Vaping all day without ever feeling satisfied means you need to go up a level.

If 20mg feels too strong, 10mg nic salts are the natural next step.

Light and social smokers often settle on 5mg nic salts, which keep the same flavours with a much gentler hit.

Our strengths guide compares 5mg, 10mg and 20mg in more detail.

How Nic Salts Compare to Freebase

The short version: nic salts hit faster and feel smoother, while freebase hits slower and scratches the throat more. Both contain nicotine and both go into the same kits, but they suit different situations.

Pod kit vapers and ex-smokers tend to get on better with nic salts. Anyone using a sub-ohm tank below 0.4 ohm should stick with freebase at 3mg or 6mg, because high strength nic salts through a big coil will make you feel rough.

Our nic salt vs freebase guide has the full side by side if you are still weighing it up.

Is Salt Nic Worse for You Than Regular Vape Juice?

No. There is no evidence that nicotine in its salt form is more harmful than freebase. Both carry the same nicotine, and the salt version simply has benzoic acid added, which lowers the pH so higher strengths feel smoother and absorb faster.

The health picture is about the vapour as a whole, not which form the nicotine takes. The NHS position is that nicotine is addictive, but it is the thousands of other chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause almost all of the harm from smoking.

The one real caveat is behavioural rather than chemical. Because salts stay smooth even at 20mg, it is easy to vape more than you intended, so pick the strength that matches your habit rather than the strongest one on the shelf. UK law caps every e-liquid, salt or freebase, at 20mg/ml. Vaping is not risk free, and if you do not smoke, do not vape.

Bar Salts and Where They Fit

After the disposable ban, brands like ELFLIQ, Lost Mary and SKE Crystal took their disposable recipes and bottled them as 10ml nic salts. Same flavours, same nic salt formula, now in a refillable format.

Third party bar salt brands like Drifter, Riot Squad and Bar Juice 5000 appeared alongside them, with their own takes on popular disposable flavours at a lower price.

All of them use a 50/50 nic salt formula made for refillable vape kits.

The difference between bar salts and nic salts is only the flavour angle. Bar salts copy disposable vape flavours, while regular nic salts cover everything from tobacco and menthol to dessert and fruit.

Which Kits Work with Nic Salts?

Nic salts suit low powered kits with coils of 0.8 ohm and above, which covers almost every refillable pod kit sold in the UK.

Any beginner pod kit from OXVA, Uwell, Vaporesso or Geekvape handles nic salts without any fuss. The low wattage and tight airflow on a pod kit suit 50/50 nic salt juice better than any other setup.

How Nic Salts Are Made

The process starts with freebase nicotine extracted from tobacco leaf. Benzoic acid goes in at a precise ratio and temperature to form the nicotine salt. Get the balance wrong and the mixture crystallises or separates, so the process is tightly controlled.

Every bottle sold legally in the UK must be notified under the UK's e-cigarette rules, with a notification number assigned before sale. The government guidance sets out the rules in full.

Opened bottles keep for about six months in a cool, dark place with the cap screwed tight. Sealed bottles last longer, so check the date printed on the bottle.