Throat Irritation

[Kati]

It started last night and persists this morning. A sore throat. My first thought would normally be that I am at the beginning of a summer cold. However, I just got over a cold virus a few weeks ago so it is unlikely that I would be beginning another. Not impossible, but not likely. The second thought is that it might be connected to my recently having begun vaping. Does vaping cause throat irritation? Are sore throats a common occurrence? Could it be an allergic reaction to the chemicals in e-juice?

An aside: I posted this topic here in the New Members Forum because I am a new member. However, I may be misinterpreting the purpose of NMF by repeatedly posting here rather than somewhere more appropriate. Would someone please clarify this concern for me?

 

[rebelhell49]

It started last night and persists this morning. A sore throat. My first thought would normally be that I am at the beginning of a summer cold. However, I just got over a cold virus a few weeks ago so it is unlikely that I would be beginning another. Not impossible, but not likely. The second thought is that it might be connected to my recently having begun vaping. Does vaping cause throat irritation? Are sore throats a common occurrence? Could it be an allergic reaction to the chemicals in e-juice?

An aside: I posted this topic here in the New Members Forum because I am a new member. However, I may be misinterpreting the purpose of NMF by repeatedly posting here rather than somewhere more appropriate. Would someone please clarify this concern for me?

I am by no means an expert but did have sore throat when I started vaping and have family members who also had sore throats usually it goes away and sometime comes back if You chain vape , have to much pg or too much nicotine in mix

 

[score69]

Yeah, I assume you are/were a smoker?

Vaping can give a 'different' irritation than smoking IME. Several folks I have worked with to switch to vaping complained of throat irritation. You would think that dropping the ciggies and changing to vaping wouldn't cause any issues. I just think it's a different kind of irritation. By the time the ciggies cleared my system, I was 'used' to the irritation from vaping. Didn't even notice it.

Now that said, I usually DTL 3mg freebase juice. Recently I've been MTL 30mg salts and 24mg freebase nic. I've enjoyed the added throat hit from the high nic juices, but had a really bad sore throat the first few days after switching. It went away after a few days, I still get an enjoyable throat hit.

So it could be a matter of you getting used to vaping, or something with your juice. I would think the biggest factor with your juice would probably be the nic level, and how strong that is based on whether you are vaping MLT or DTL (what type of device you are using that nic level with).

Once I got used to vaping, I was fine. I don't really notice it unless I change my nic level to something higher. Then after a few day adjustment, I'm ok again.

That's my personal experience anyways.

 

[Vapemesilly]

It might also be the juice. I've had juices that seemed to irritate my throat. Most do not but sometimes I'll come across a juice that bothers me.

 

[djsvapour]

I have a sore throat. Either it's because I am getting a thing or my throat doesn't like the 18mg I'm using in a 7 or 8 watt pod system.
It'd be great with Nic salts but they make me cough something terrible.

 

[stols001]

Vaping lacks "humectants" and other chemicals in cigarettes that help it SLIIIIDE down your throat. My throat was plenty irritated WHEN I was smoking, but for my first week or so vaping, I pretty much lost my voice entirely.

I did discover I am PG sensitive (one ingredient in vape) so I don't use more than 10% PG in my vape, I vaped high VG for a while before discovering some PG alternatives that I wasn't sensitive to. I will also say I have found vanillas tend to make me hoarse too, for some reason I don't quite understand.

So it could be any number of things, including just general irritation getting started. If you are sensitive to harshness, well I used high VG and nicotine salts, which tend to be less harsh than freebase nicotine. You might have trouble finding the two together in the right nicotine ratio in commercial vape, as many nic salt juices are tailored for high PG and low vapor production but you might get luck if you want to try it. I would up DIY earlier than I might have since it was such a pain for me to "obtain" the juices I needed/wanted.

However, it could just be general detox, too, you MIGHT not need to do much besides wait, hydrate, and well, I anyway drank chamomile lemon and honey beverages they soothed the irritation and helped coat my throat. I did some judicious waiting to see what symptoms would and would not go away during detox before starting elquid experiments.

But yes, you could in fact be having trouble with an ingredient, be it VG/PG ratio, needing nic salts, (maybe) or particular flavoring. If you experiment with some of those and are still having trouble, maybe a different type of setup is in order, or, to muddy the waters further, some folks are sensitive to types of wires, although if you were at/to that point, I'd probably recommend making a plan of attack with some doctor, most typically an allergist etc.

I was able to figure out most of my issues with this board and my PCP (but he vapes) so at least he knew the terminology I was using and whatnot.

Anna

 

[score69]

I have a sore throat. Either it's because I am getting a thing or my throat doesn't like the 18mg I'm using in a 7 or 8 watt pod system.
It'd be great with Nic salts but they make me cough something terrible.

If you just switched to the 18mg freebase, that could be the issue.

When I first used a pod a few weeks back, tried a commercial salt juice and it was practically unvapable after a few hours. Really tore my throat up. Even diluted, it was still harsh. I mixed up some of my own salts using Nic River 'smooth salts' at 30mg and 45mg, and it had some throat hit, but never messed with my throat. I vaped it for 10 days and no throat issues.

Salts for DIY are available in both 'smooth' and 'hit' formualtions depending on where you buy them. In my experience, just because you are buying salts, you can't assume they won't have a significant throat hit. Some of the commerical ejuice manufacturers seem to have smoother salts, and some seem to tailor them to provide more throat hit. Kind of a shame there's no way to know until you try them. If you google, you will see comments about some juices having harsh throat hit, even salts. Depends on who makes the juices.

Since I mostly DIY anyways, making some 30mg using 'smooth' Nic River salts gives a bit of a throat hit, but a hell of a nic dose. For me, no reason to even go that high on the nic, but the throat hit was tolerable. With commercial juices, even salts are unpredictable and can have a significant throat hit. It would be nice to have a rating scale for the larger ejuice manufactures so you knew what to expect from their salts before purchasing.

Freebase nic for me has always been pretty consistent. Things Anna mentioned like changing PG/VG ratio, or even the device you're vaping can have an impact though.

 

[Jebbn]

It took me a while to perfect my vaping technique and to figure out pg/vg levels etc.
When I first started vaping I would be outside in the "smoking corner" vaping and coughing and my family would be inside watching me and laughing. "Are you sure you should be doing that?" etc.
I couldnt believe how I could smoke my first cig at 5-6am and not cough at all but start vaping I was coughing and spluttering.
I dont think vaping dehydrates you but I do think it can give you a very dry mouth and throat. I think drinking water helped me at first get through the initial stages.
Once I stopped using juice with PG and used distilled water instead dryness in the throat and mouth became less of an issue.

 

[Foggy Road]

I have a sore throat. Either it's because I am getting a thing or my throat doesn't like the 18mg I'm using in a 7 or 8 watt pod system.
It'd be great with Nic salts but they make me cough something terrible.

Do you know what the wicking is in your pod? I know some pods use silica. I think I remember reading that back in the day some folks were sensitive to silica?

P.S. I'm vaping 36mg 50/50 at about 6 Watts in my old Aspire clearos. My throat is loving the irritation.

 

[score69]

It took me a while to perfect my vaping technique and to figure out pg/vg levels etc.
When I first started vaping I would be outside in the "smoking corner" vaping and coughing and my family would be inside watching me and laughing. "Are you sure you should be doing that?" etc.
I couldnt believe how I could smoke my first cig at 5-6am and not cough at all but start vaping I was coughing and spluttering.
I dont think vaping dehydrates you but I do think it can give you a very dry mouth and throat. I think drinking water helped me at first get through the initial stages.
Once I stopped using juice with PG and used distilled water instead dryness in the throat and mouth became less of an issue.

Yeah, that reiterates the fact of PG/VG ratios for sure. Probably some of what I experienced when I was recently changing up from DTL to MTL, etc.

I'm used to 3mg 70%VG/30%PG. I vape 20+ mls of this daily DTL and don't even notice any throat hit or soreness.

With my recent MTL, not only am I using 24mg freebase, and 30mg/45mg salts, I was using 50/50 VG/PG base with them. That's a significant increase in the PG levels. Some folks don't think PG adds significant throat hit, but it does for me. And that throat hit ends up really just being throat irritation. Enough of it will cause a sore throat.

After a day or two of using it, I can vape MY smooth 30mg salt all day and while I still notice some throat hit, I get no soreness. I get more throat hit from 24mg freebase than my salts, but no sore throat either. The first few days though, I was sore the following morning. It went away after a couple of days of going back to higher nic using MTL devices.

The commercial 45mg 'salts' I bought though I still consider unvapable to me. Not sure WTH type of salts they are using, lol. I diluted that juice down to 30mg, but it's still much rougher than the 30mg I mixed myself. This is even with the same 50/50 VG/PG ratios.

The juice you are using can play a big role in throat soreness issues for some folks. You usually have to try a bunch to find what you like anyways. At the same time, vaping is 'irritating' to the throat in a different way than smoking. The two folks I've recently converted initially coughed on my 6mg unflavored 70/30 juice. After a few days, they were both fine with it. One of them actually asked me to bump her up a bit.

If you just now started vaping, you may need some adjustment time as well.

Good luck and stick around here. The folks here will help you on your journey.

 

[Baditude]

If you were a smoker, and recently taking up vaping, I bet that smoking caused you to cough or give you a sore throat at first. Over time, your body adjusted and you didn't cough or get the sore throat.

Same with vaping. Its a new "irritant" being exposed to your body and it is reacting to it. Like smoking, your body will adjust and the symptoms should go away with time.

That's not to say that something else vape related could be causing a sore throat. Too high a level of nicotine could cause it. Too much Pg in the e-liquid could cause it. Certain flavors could cause it. Vaping at too high of a wattage setting could cause it. If you are sub-ohming, not being accustomed to that type of vape could cause it. A bad coil could cause it.

Even your draw technique could cause it. Too deep or too hard of a draw could cause it.

 

[djsvapour]

Do you know what the wicking is in your pod? I know some pods use silica. I think I remember reading that back in the day some folks were sensitive to silica

Actually, you might be right. It's a Rofvape PEAS pod system. I have tried to dismantle the pod but so far I am defeated. Thanks! Helpful idea.