What Are VG And PG?

What Is VG?

VG is short for Vegetable Glycerine, and it’s a thick, colourless liquid that comes from vegetable oils like coconut, palm, and soy. It has a mild sweet flavour to it, which is why it’s used in many foods as a sweetener.

In fact, VG has many uses in food, including as a thickener and a preservative to help keep food fresh – for example, you’ll find VG in lots of things on supermarket shelves, like ice cream, cereal, and even toothpaste.

Why Is VG Used In E-Liquid?

VG appears in liquid as it’s good at creating vapour and this means you'll have something to inhale and exhale – which is vital for replicating the effect of a cigarette. The more VG an e-liquid contains, the more vapour it will produce, this means e-liquids with a high VG content create a lot of vapour.

VG is also capable of carrying nicotine and flavourings, the other two ingredients in your e-liquid, but not quite as capable as PG.

What Is PG?

PG, or Propylene Glycol, is a clear, thin liquid that has a wide range of applications in both food and medicine. It’s used as a thickener, preservative, and flavour enhancer. You can find it in products such as cake mixes, mayonnaise, and even asthma inhalers.

Why Is PG Used In E-Liquid?

PG is used in e-liquids as it’s better at carrying nicotine and flavourings than VG alone. In fact, both nicotine and flavouring are typically suspended in PG and add to the overall concentration of PG in your e-liquid.

PG also produces a small amount of vapour compared to VG. The higher an e-liquid’s PG concentration, the less vapour it will produce. PG is also better at creating the sensation known as throat hit (the feeling on the back of the throat when you inhale vapour that's similar to the same feeling when you inhale smoke from a cigarette).

Why Do E-Liquids Use Both VG And PG?

It’s rare to find an e-liquid that uses 100% VG or 100% PG. Manufacturers will use a combination of the two so they can get the best of both worlds, they want to make e-liquids that can create vapour and bond with flavourings and nicotine.

They can also use different levels of each, which means they can create an e-liquid that’s thicker or thinner and produces more or less vapour – to suit different vaping styles and different types of kit.

The recorded amount of each ingredient in e-liquid is known as its VG/PG concentration. It’s listed as two percentages that always add up to 100, for example, 70% VG and 30% PG.

Why Does Picking The Right Concentration Matter?

The VG/PG concentration of your e-liquid greatly affects its consistency (how thick it is) and the amount of vapour it produces – so it’s important to pick the right one.

E-liquids with higher VG concentrations are thicker and create a larger amount of vapour. As they're so thick they need more power to vaporise, and should be used with coils that feature larger wicking holes that allow the liquid to be more effectively absorbed.

On the other hand, e-liquids with higher PG concentrations are much thinner and produce a small amount of vapour. Their thin consistency means they can be heated up into vapour with less power, and they should be used with coils that feature smaller wicking holes.

Why does this matter? Well, using a thick, high VG e-liquid in an MTL kit can quickly burn the coil out as the cotton can’t absorb enough e-liquid at a fast enough rate. Likewise, you’ll run into problems using a higher PG e-liquid in a sub ohm kit, as the thinner e-liquid rushes through the larger wicking holes and floods the coil causing it to spit and leak.

Which VG/PG Concentration Is Right For You?

Not sure about your vaping style? Check out our guide to Mouth to Lung and Direct To Lung vaping.

50/50 E-Liquids

50/50 e-liquids are the most popular option as they feel most like a cigarette in terms of vapour production and ideal for MTL kits. This popularity has led to the creation of huge amounts of 50/50 e-liquids, in a range of fruit, menthol, ice, tobacco, dessert, and confectionery flavours in 0-20mg nicotine strengths. They are easily the most common type of e-liquid and you’ll find 50/50 e-liquids that use freebase, salt nicotine, or even a hybrid of the two

High PG E-Liquids

These thinner e-liquids are also designed with MTL kits in mind. There the liquid of choice for vapers who are looking for slightly less vapour and a slightly stronger throat hit. They're not quite as common as 50/50 e-liquids, and while we do offer a range of flavours and strengths it's nowhere near as expansive as our 50/50 collection.

High VG E-Liquids

High VG e-liquids, that’s anything that contains 70% VG or more, are great for DTL vaping because they produce a large amount of vapour. We recommend using them with sub ohm kits as they’re more powerful and will use coils with larger wicking holes.

You can find high VG e-liquid in 10ml bottles however a lot of vapers prefer them as shortfills (large, underfilled bottled of 0mg e-liquid) because sub ohm kits have a tendency to get through e-liquid a lot faster than small, less powerful MTL vapes Check out our guide to shortfills to find out more.