Vapers tongue is a condition where a vaper loses the ability to taste vape juice, this can happen without warning and can ruin your vaping experience as you won't be able to taste all the exciting flavours in your all day vape. Vapers tongue also known as vapers fatigue, normally lasts for 1-3 days but some people have experienced this lasting for up to two weeks.
Though if this happens to you, don’t panic! If you unfortunately come across this vapers tongue, it's only temporary. Whilst having vapers tongue you will lose the ability to taste the full flavour of your juice but this does not affect nicotine absorption. However, this phenomenon is universal and can be cured in some suitable ways. It's important to learn the causes and what to do to avoid it, or heal it when it happens. As we shall see, there are quite a few things you can do to speed up the return of your tastes buds
How does your tongue taste?
Tongues are remarkable and one of the most talented muscles in your whole body, the tongue is actually made up of 8 muscles. Tongues are normally covered in taste buds and the quantity varies between 2000 to 8000 individual taste buds but some supertasters have up to 10,000, people lucky enough to have this many taste buds tend to go into the career of wine or tea tasting. This is also why sometimes vapers can taste different flavours in e juices that others can't.
All parts of the tongue are capable of tasting a wide range of different flavour groups. There are charts that divide the tongue into different areas that only taste sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes, but that is only done for the sake of simplicity. In reality, every part of the tongue is capable of detecting different tastes.
Your taste buds are primed to test five different tastes:
- Sweetness
- Sourness
- Saltiness
- Bitterness
- Savoury (Umami)
Your body replenishes taste buds by killing off the old ones and re-growing new ones, this cycle can take anything from 10 days to 2 weeks to complete.
What causes vapers tongue?
Vaping the same flavour for too long
It is believed that vaping the same E Liquid for too long can cause vapers tongue, taste buds are remarkable and can pick up on many different flavours but vaping the same flavour can lead to your tongue being unable to distinguish each flavour. It is the same as eating your favourite food, after a while you get very used to the flavour and it starts to taste bland and the flavour is then lost.
A Dirty Device
Maintaining your device is always important as over time it can get pretty dirty. E Liquids tend to leak slightly on occasions and when mixing with dust, dirt or even pocket sand, it tends to turn into a horrid gunk. We always recommend keeping your device clean by taking the tank off and cleaning it down with an antibacterial wipe. Airflows on your device also often get a build up of gunk and this could also reduce the ability to taste the full potential of even the best E Liquids
Dehydration
Dehydration is something you should always avoid. When too much water is lost from the body, its organs, cells, and tissues fail to function as they should, which can lead to dangerous complications. If dehydration isn’t corrected immediately, it could cause shock. It is also another potential cause of vapers tongue, PG and VG in the E Liquid can absorb moisture in one’s mouth and can even cause a thin film to cover the tongue, which can limit the number of flavourings that reach your taste buds.
Blocked Nose
The nose and tongue work better when both are fully operational, it may sound strange but being able to smell food, drinks and E Liquids helps with the taste. Your sense of smell works with your olfactory senses (sense of smell) to determine flavour. If your nose is blocked, it will affect how things taste, particularly with more complex flavours.
Damaged Taste Buds
There are a few ways in which taste buds can be damaged, one of the most known causes of damaged taste buds is smoking. This is also a common reason why people quit smoking, being unable to enjoy your favourite food and drinks because of a smoking habit is very frustrating. Other causes include alcohol, infections, spicy foods, medication and sour foods. Certain illnesses as well can cause a loss of taste, Covid 19 causes you to lose all taste whilst you are infected but your taste is returned and it is not a permanent effect. Though as we have already said, it's nothing to be concerned about as our body replaces taste buds by re-growing new ones once they have died off. Unfortunately, as we get older, they do get weaker and this is perfectly natural.
Illnesses
We've already mentioned blocked noses but there are many different illnesses which can cause a loss of taste, the most common ones being a cold or flu. We are also aware that the Corona-virus also causes people to lose the whole ability to taste anything which can be quite scary. These are not the only illnesses that mess up your vaping experience!
Other illnesses include:
- Injury to the mouth, nose, or head
- Swollen or inflamed gums (gingivitis)
- Vitamin B12 or zinc deficiency
- Alzheimers
Medicines
All medicine comes with an information leaflet that explains important information about the medicine, there is always a list of potential side effects and a very common one is lose of taste. This is also something to consider when vaping, many people may feel like the juice isn't as strong but it could potentially be a side effect from any prescribed medication. If you find that you have lost the sense of taste for a long period of time, we would recommend contacting your GP or doctor to see whether this is normal.
How to Cure Vapers Tongue
I'll repeat again that Vapers tongue is not permanent and therefore there is nothing to worry about. That doesn't mean there's nothing you can do about it. If you are unfortunate enough to experience vapers tongue then we recommend you continue reading as we have some of the best ways to cure vapers tongue.
Drink Water
This will obviously help alleviate dehydration and help to cleanse your palate. This is something that most people do anyway. The body constantly loses water throughout the day, mostly through urine and sweat but also from regular body functions like breathing. Health experts recommend drinking 2 litres of water a day, some experts believe that rather than drinking large amounts in a few sittings, you should sip on water constantly throughout the day, even when you’re not thirsty.
Mouth Wash
This is a bit of an obscure one and we're also not sure if there's any science behind this logic but many vapers believe that mouthwash helps to resolve vapers tongue. We're not saying you should always carry a bottle of Listerine mouthwash but there's no harm in using mouthwash in the morning and evening after brushing your teeth. It is thought that the minty menthol in mouthwash helps to clear your taste buds.
Rinsing Your Nose
We've established that we also need our nose to fully appreciate the taste of foods, drinks and E Liquids and when you have a blocked nose, there's a very simple way to try and fix it. Guidance from the NHS suggests rinsing your nose with a salt water solution can help with loss of smell if the cause is an infection or an allergy.
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
It may sound strange but experts believe that inhaling the scent of fresh coffee beans “resets” your sense of taste. This technique is used by professional wine tasters and perfume samplers. A number of vapers have mentioned this has been a solution for their vapers tongue. By smelling coffee beans, it shifts the receptors in your nose and brain to something completely different. That way, your sense of smell is reset and once again heightened.
When life gives you Lemons, suck them
Sucking on a lemon is very similar to smelling coffee beans, sucking on a lemon is supposed to reset your taste buds. If lemons are a bit too sour for you, try lemon sorbet, many vapers also have a back up bottle of lemon E Liquids on standby in case they need to cleanse their palate.
Menthol E Liquids
We've just mentioned Lemon E Liquids and also minty mouthwash, this would explain why many vapers like using menthol E Liquids. With its strong flavour, mint flavours can help your taste buds rebuild their function. So if you do experience vapers fatigue, why not try vaping Menthol E Liquids for a week.
Change the Flavour
When people start vaping, it normally takes a while to find a flavour they truly love. What generally happens is people only vape this one flavour, and after a while you stop appreciating it. We recommend building up a list of maybe 5-10 flavours and simply changing flavours every week. This simple solution is used by the majority of vapers. With the amount of flavours out there, this should be very simple. We understand that this can become expensive having a large shopping list of E Liquids which is why we suggest always checking out Jumponthevape UK Vape Deals to pick yourself up bargains where possible.
Stop Smoking!
We've talked about the effects of smoking and how it can damage your taste buds, if you smoke and vape then this could be the main reason why you aren't enjoying your favourite E Liquid. Obviously we will always tell people to move away from smoking because of how dangerous it is to us but there's no point in spending money on the best E Liquids if you can't enjoy them.
There’s plenty of ways to cure a vaper's tongue, you don’t need to try them all at once but these techniques are what vapers all try. If the symptoms don’t alleviate after some time and after taking the relevant steps, do consider the possibility that it could be caused by something else and see your doctor to get some further treatment.
