How to use nic salts: a beginner’s guide
Only got a minute?
- A nic salt feels smoother than freebase at the same number. 20mg salt goes down comfortably in a pod kit where 20mg freebase would make you cough.
- They are made for small, low-power kits. Think a refillable pod at 10W to 18W with a coil of roughly 0.6Ω to 1.2Ω, drawn mouth to lung.
- Pick 5mg to 10mg for a light habit, 10mg for moderate, 10mg to 20mg for heavy. 20mg/ml is the legal ceiling in the UK and nicotine bottles are capped at 10ml.
- Puff gently and less often. 20mg is a strength to draw on slowly, giving each puff time before the next.
- Vaping Products Duty starts on 1 October 2026 at £2.20 per 10ml plus VAT, charged on salts and freebase alike.
How a nic salt feels compared with freebase in a pod kit
Fill a pod kit with 20mg nic salt and take a slow mouth-to-lung draw, and the first thing you notice is what does not happen: there is no scratch at the back of the throat and no urge to cough. Fill the same pod with 18mg freebase and the difference is immediate. The vapour feels sharper, the throat hit lands harder, and most people cannot take a full draw without pulling a face. That is the whole reason nic salt exists. It lets a small, low-power device carry a high strength in a way that feels comfortable rather than punishing.
The other thing to know is pace. Manufacturers formulate salts to be noticed sooner after a puff than freebase at the same strength, which is why the advice throughout this guide is to take one gentle draw and then wait, rather than puffing on a pod the way you would on a 3mg shortfill. The chemistry behind both effects, the benzoic acid and the lower pH, is covered properly in our nic salts vs e-liquids guide. Here we are only interested in what it feels like in your hand and in your throat.
Freebase nicotine
Firmer throat hit, builds more gradually. Usually 3mg to 18mg. Built for bigger kits and bigger clouds, and sold in 10ml bottles and shortfills alike.
Nic salt
Smooth at high strength. Usually 5mg to 20mg. Built for pods and small MTL tanks.
One myth worth killing straight away: nic salts are not stronger than freebase at the same number. 20mg is 20mg. What changes is how comfortable that 20mg feels going down.
Nic salt or freebase, side by side
| Nic salt | Freebase | |
|---|---|---|
| Throat hit | Smooth, even at 20mg | Firm, sharp above 12mg |
| Typical strengths | 5mg, 10mg and 20mg | 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, 18mg |
| Bottle formats | 10ml only | 10ml, or 0mg shortfill plus a nic shot |
| Vapour | Modest, discreet | More, especially at 70/30 |
| Right kit | Pod kits, MTL tanks, 10W to 18W | Anything, including sub-ohm and mods |
| Best for | Pod kit users who want a higher strength | Cloud chasers and low strength vapers |
Neither is better. They answer different questions, and plenty of people keep one of each on the go.
Choosing your strength
This is the decision that makes or breaks the first week. Too low and it feels weak. Too high and you will know about it within the first few puffs.
20mg/ml
UK legal maximum strength
10ml
legal maximum bottle size with nicotine
2ml
legal maximum pod or tank capacity
| Habit | Freebase | Nic salt |
|---|---|---|
| Social, under 5 a day | 3mg | 5mg |
| Light, 5 to 10 a day | 6mg | 5mg to 10mg |
| Moderate, 10 to 15 a day | 10mg to 12mg | 10mg |
| Heavy, 15 to 20 a day | 12mg to 18mg | 10mg to 20mg |
| Very heavy, 20 plus a day | 18mg | 20mg |
The table matches the one in our guide to how much nicotine you should vape, which walks through it properly. If you are genuinely unsure, start at 10mg. It is easier to move up than to sit through a day feeling green. Where a row gives a range, start at the bottom of it. You may still see references online to salt strengths above the 20mg limit or to 100ml salt bottles. Neither is legal here.
The kit nic salts need
Salts and hardware are a package deal. Put 20mg salt in a big sub-ohm tank and you will inhale far more nicotine per puff than you meant to, and it will be unpleasant. The device you want is small, low powered and restricted.
Look for a coil of roughly 0.6Ω to 1.2Ω, a power output somewhere between about 10W and 18W (a 0.8Ω coil at 12W to 16W is normal, not weak), a tight airflow and a mouth-to-lung draw that feels like pulling on a straw. That describes almost every refillable pod kit on the market. If the words mouth to lung are new to you, our guide to MTL and DTL inhalation styles is the place to start.
Kits that suit salts well include the Vaporesso Xros 4 Mini with its 1000mAh battery and auto-draw, the Uwell Caliburn G2 at 750mAh with a side-slider airflow, the pocket-sized Aspire Gotek X at 650mAh, and the Oxva Xlim Pro 2 at 1300mAh if you want the longest run between charges. All four use a 2ml refillable pod. The Xros 4 Mini, Gotek X and Xlim Pro 2 have the coil built into the pod, so you replace the whole pod every one to three weeks; the Caliburn G2 takes a separate replaceable coil inside its pod. Whichever you pick, charge it with the USB-C cable supplied with the kit, plugged into a standard low-output USB plug or a computer port. Avoid fast-charge bricks, which can push more current than a small kit is designed for, and do not charge unattended overnight. For a wider shortlist see which pod kit works best with nic salt e-liquids.
A note if you are coming from single-use vapes: those were banned across the UK on 1 June 2025 and are no longer sold. What replaced them are rechargeable prefilled pod kits, which work the same way from the user’s side but take a replaceable pod. Most prefilled pods are 20mg, though some ranges offer 10mg; if you switch from a prefilled kit to a refillable one, match the strength printed on the pod you were using.
Using them properly, step by step
- 1
Prime the coil before you fill. Put four or five drops straight onto the wicking holes so the cotton is wet, then fill the pod. Skipping this is how people burn a coil on their first day.
- 2
Let it stand for five minutes. Nic salts are usually a 50/50 blend and wick quickly, but five minutes upright costs nothing and saves the coil.
- 3
Take a long, slow, gentle draw. Two to three seconds, mouth to lung, the way you would on a cigarette. A hard fast pull floods the coil and gives you liquid in the mouth.
- 4
Wait before the next one. Give it thirty seconds. 20mg is a strength to puff slowly, not the way you would a 3mg shortfill.
- 5
Top the pod up before it empties. Never vape a pod down to the last few drops, and store the bottle upright somewhere cool and dark between refills.
Expect a 10ml bottle to last most people somewhere between three days and a week. Wondering how that translates into puffs? We did the maths in how many puffs are in a 10ml nic salt.
Flavours worth starting with
Bar-style fruit and menthol blends dominate the salt category. A few that consistently sell:
Keep It 100 Range 10ml Nic Salt Pack of 10 is the sensible first order. Ten bottles across the range means you find your flavour without committing to one, and at 10ml to 15ml a week for a typical pod-kit user, ten bottles covers you for several weeks.
Strawberry Cherry Raspberry by Bar Juice 5000 is the classic red fruit blend and about as safe a first pick as exists. The rest of the Bar Juice 5000 range runs the same way, from menthols to tropical blends.
Blueberry Sour Raspberry by Elfliq is the benchmark blueberry salt, sharp and sweet at once. If berries are your thing, the ELUX range is the other place to look.
Blue Razz Gummy Bear by Hayati Pro Max covers the sweet shop end. Just remember that heavily sweetened flavours shorten coil life, so budget for a coil change more often. There are more suggestions in our top nic salt e-liquids guide.
Cost, duty and buying sensibly
Salts only come in 10ml bottles, so the way to bring the cost per ml down is to buy multipacks rather than singles. That is the whole reason ten-packs exist.
The Vaping Products Duty starts on 1 October 2026 at £2.20 per 10ml plus VAT, which is £2.64 of tax on every 10ml of liquid, salt or freebase, nicotine or not. Pre-duty stock is on sale until 31 March 2027. Every £1 you spend also earns 1.8 reward points, and 75 points comes back as £1 off.
Everything a pod kit needs
Pick a strength, pick a pod kit, get started
Free UK delivery over £15, 1.8 reward points on every £1 and 20,000+ five-star reviews. New here? Register at checkout for 10% off your first order.
Quick answers
Can I use nic salts in any device?
No. Keep them to low-wattage pod kits and MTL tanks with coils of roughly 0.6Ω to 1.2Ω. In a sub-ohm tank a 20mg salt delivers far more nicotine per puff than intended and tastes unpleasant with it.
Are nic salts stronger than normal e-liquid?
Not at the same mg. The difference is that a salt stays comfortable at strengths where freebase would feel harsh, because the lower pH takes the edge off the throat hit. 20mg salt and 20mg freebase contain identical nicotine.
How long does a 10ml bottle last?
Three to seven days for an average user, and a typical pod-kit vaper gets through 10ml to 15ml a week. A light vaper on 10mg may stretch a bottle a little further; a heavy vaper will get through one faster.
Can I buy nic salts in a 100ml bottle?
Not with nicotine in them. UK law caps any nicotine-containing bottle at 10ml. A 100ml bottle is always a 0mg shortfill that you add a nic shot to yourself, and shortfills are made for bigger kits rather than pods.
I feel lightheaded on 20mg. What should I do?
Put it down for a bit. Next time, either space your puffs out or try a lower strength from the table above. If you feel unwell, speak to a pharmacist.
