How to Prevent Vaper’s Tongue with Any Type of E-Liquid

Have you ever been vaping for a while, and suddenly realized that you couldn’t taste the e-liquid flavor that was passing through your taste buds?  No, your tongue hasn’t broken.  What you experienced is known in the vaping community a “vaper’s tongue,” and it can be easily explained by science.  Fortunately for you, it’s also pretty easily remedied.  We’ve created a guide to break down why this occurs and what you can do about it.

What is Vaper’s Tongue?

First, let’s explain the science behind vaper’s tongue.  Vaper’s tongue is a state in which you can’t taste the flavor that you’re vaping.  You can feel the vapor going in and out of your mouth, but your taste buds aren’t picking up on anything.

Essentially, vaper’s tongue is another phrase for sensory fatigue.  This occurs when one or more of the senses is overstimulated.  After a while, it becomes exhausted from trying to perceive so much information in a short period of time and takes a break.  This is why you will suddenly stop tasting your e-juice.

Sensory fatigue occurs in many different ways.  For example, if you’re someone who listens to loud music in your headphones, you may have noticed that after a while, you’re not really able to detect what’s happening in the music.  All of the frequencies sound the same and you can’t distinguish one instrument from another.

Or, if you’re a cook, you might have experienced this after spending many hours preparing a dish.  Between smelling the food for a prolonged period of time and tasting it repeatedly, there may have come a point when you suddenly couldn’t taste it anymore.

These are all examples of the same thing.  It’s worth noting that with vaper’s tongue, it’s not just your taste buds that are affected.  Have you ever heard that most of our flavor experience is actually recorded by our noses, not our taste buds?  If you were to hold your nose while eating your favorite food, you wouldn’t taste nearly as much of the flavor profile.

Vaping, as well, affects our sense of smell more than our sense of taste.  So, when we have vaper’s tongue, it’s both our taste buds and olfactory glands that fail on us.

However, it’s worth noting that vaper’s tongue is temporary.  There’s no need to go rush to the hospital as things will usually go back to normal within 24 hours.

What Can Cause Vaper’s Tongue?

Vaper’s tongue can occur for many reasons.  A lot of times, it’s the result of vaping too much in a short period of time.  Constantly vaping a strong e-liquid flavor will exhaust the senses, and they will give up after a while.  Also, vaping a flavor that’s too bold or too sugary can cause vaper’s tongue to occur.

Can Vaper’s Tongue Happen with Any Type of E-Liquid?

Vaper’s tongue can happen no matter what type of vape juice you’re using, because sensory fatigue can occur at any time.  However, there are some factors that make certain vaping styles more conducive to vaper’s tongue than others.


Vaper’s tongue most frequently occurs with freebase nic e-liquids.  This is because typically, the flavor is a lot stronger due to the coils that are used and the output levels of the devices that are compatible with this type of e-juice.  Vaping a freebase nic e-liquid also involves taking way more vapor into your mouth with each hit, which means that you’re going through more flavored e-liquid in a short period of time.  Therefore, your senses are getting a whole lot of information per vaping session.


Vaper’s tongue can still occur with salt nic e-liquid, especially if you’re a chain-vaper or you’re vaping an extremely strong flavor.

Salt Nicotine in Pre-Filled Cartridges

Vaper’s tongue can also happen if you’re using pre-filled juice cartridges with your pod mod device.

How to Prevent Vaper’s Tongue

Now, luckily, there are some simply ways to prevent vaper’s tongue from occurring.

Slow Down

The best way to prevent vaper’s tongue is to monitor how much you vape in a short period of time.  Taking lots of hits without much time between each one will prevent your nose and taste buds from getting a much-needed break from the sensory experience that you’re forcing upon them.  Basically, if you want to avoid vaper’s tongue, stop chain-vaping.

Stick to Simpler Flavors

The more complex an e-liquid flavor, the harder your palate has to work to detect each flavor note that’s in the vape juice.  Therefore, highly complex e-liquid flavors are more likely to give you vaper’s tongue.  To avoid vaper’s tongue, consider going with simpler flavors like single fruits and plain tobaccos.   

Increase Your Nicotine Concentration

If you’re vaping more because you crave a lot of nicotine, consider increasing your nicotine concentration.  This will allow you get the same amount of nicotine without taking so many hits, thus helping you avoid vaper’s tongue.

How to Fix Vaper’s Tongue

Now, let’s discuss the ways to fix vaper’s tongue after it’s occurred.

Wait it Out

The only fail-proof method to stop vaper’s tongue is to wait it out.  After your senses get a long enough break, they’ll reset themselves on their own.  This means being willing to go several hours without vaping or without eating any particularly complex-tasting foods.

Brush Your Teeth

Many vapers swear that brushing their teeth fixes vaper’s tongue immediately.  It’s possible that the strong minty taste of toothpaste shocks the taste buds, allowing them to once again perceive flavor.

Smell Some Coffee

Another popular method is smelling coffee.  Again, this is probably because the smell of coffee is so strong that it forces the senses to wake up again.  We suggest going with coffee grinds in a coffee maker rather than unprepared coffee that’s in a cannister as the former has a stronger aroma.

Lick a Lemon

Lastly, a number of vapers claim that licking a lemon also resets the palate.  Once again, this is likely due to the fact that the sour taste of fresh lemon is shocking to the taste buds.

Don’t Let Vaper’s Tongue Possibly Ruin Your Entire Vaping Experience

Vaper’s tongue is a fairly common occurrence, and it doesn’t mean that something is medically wrong with you.  Still, it can definitely interfere with your ability to enjoy a satisfying vape.  Use this guide to avoid vaper’s tongue, and also to fix it if it does occur.  And, remember that ultimately, it will go away on its own, especially if you’re willing to put down your vaping system for a while until your senses correct themselves.

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