Vaper’s Tongue and How To Deal With It

One of the many privileges of vaping, instead of smoking, is having so many different e-juice flavors to choose from.  Many vapers love to try a lot of e-juice flavors and then select a few–maybe even a dozen or more–to keep on hand and use on a regular basis.  Of course, one will inevitably develop a favorite–their go-to and comfort e-juice when nothing else seems enticing.  So what happens when you suddenly feel like you don’t like your favorite flavor anymore because it seems suddenly bland?  Or worse, when you feel like your tongue is numb and you can’t taste anything?

Dealing With Vaper’s Tongue

Vaper’s Tongue occurs when you no longer experience the same pleasure through vaping a certain e-juice flavor as you once did or when you lose your sense of taste in general.  In most cases, Vaper’s Tongue is a temporary condition that goes away on its own, but in some rare cases, it can be an indication of a health issue.  Following are some of the most common reasons for Vaper’s Tongue:

• The same e-juice flavor has been vaped too frequently for too long.
• The taste buds have become damaged by smoking, infection, alcohol, sour or spicy food, medications or some other thing.
• Lack of saliva and dry mouth.
• Dehydration.
• Sinus congestion.
• Medicines such as thyroid drugs, captopril, griseofulvin, lithium, procarbazine, or rifampin.
• Stress or anxiety.
• Old e-juice^[1].
• Dirty contacts in your atomizer^[2].

If you are ill or suffering from other non-optimum physical symptoms in addition to Vaper’s Tongue, you should definitely visit your doctor.  However, if you feel like you’ve just lost your taste for your favorite e-juice flavor, try the following:

• Switch to a different e-juice flavor for a little while.
• Use a stronger e-juice flavor.
• Drink lots of water to clear your palate and hydrate.
• Inhale the smell of fresh coffee beans to “reset” your taste buds.
• Suck on a lemon to “reset” your taste buds.
• Use mouthwash.
• Try using a steeped e-juice for a softer, more refined taste.
• Be patient and let your taste buds heal and “reset” on their own.

While it can be immensely helpful to know how to deal with Vaper’s Tongue, another thing to consider is prevention.  It’s quite possible that if you keep trying new e-juice flavors until you have established multiple “favorites”, it will be much harder to overwhelm your taste buds and create Vaper’s Tongue in the first place.

^[1] https://electriccigarettereviewer.com/e-liquid-e-juice-expire-go-bad/

^[2] http://support.vapes.com/588510-How-Do-I-Clean-My-Atomizer