Well, after a few days, both Chu and I ended up with a sore throat - again!
Not as bad as last time, but still there.
We also heard from a few other who also abandoned water due to the harshness.
So, for now, we are puffing 50/50 PG/VG with 6mg/mL nicotine. I ordered some nicotine salts and more 50/50 PG/VG since what we have was stolen from Elliot at the Farm.
Even with slightly sore throats, when we puff on the PG/VG stuff, it's almost soothing rather than irritating... So we are starting to conclude that maybe water in e-liquid for vaping is just a bad idea all around. It might be healthy, but if we're any indication, it's not easy!
We're gonna try
nic salts, which only come in 50/50 PG/VG. But that means we have more experimenting ahead since we could mix it like so:
- 2 x 10mL nicotine salt (50/50 PG/VG)
- 50 mL VG
That would give 70mL of 6mg at 85% VG, 15% PG.
And variations thereof (point being, we could still minimize propylene glycol if desired/possible)
It's possible the alkaline nicotine is just too harsh for both of us, so we'll see how the nic salts work.
Incidentally, the French web site where I bought the nic salts has a lovely explanation of "nicotine base" vs "nicotine salts". It appears there is no magic involved. It's basically just nicotine (which is very alkaline) and either they plop it in a bottle and you get "nicotine base", or they add benzoic acid to pH balance it, and that's what they call "nicotine salts".
That's what the Frenchy site claims, anyway.
So technically, our pH-balanced solution with Vit C should be as gentle as "nicotine salts", but maybe not... Benzoic acid vs ascorbic acid?? Maybe it's not JUST about the pH.
Anyway, just wanted to give a heads up in case some of you out there are experimenting and having similar issues!