There are many things to love about vaping. The rush of nicotine after a hit with its relaxing waves. The feeling of the vapor in your lungs. And last but not least, the flavor of the delicious vape juice you are enjoying now.

But what happens if you can’t taste your vape juice anymore? Did something happen to your tongue? Is your sense of taste altered forever from vaping? 

It’s okay; you can relax — it’s not serious. It’s a fairly common occurrence for people who vape, known as vaper’s tongue. 

Vaper’s tongue is an interesting phenomenon that you might want to avoid so you can keep your sense of taste for vape juice. Here is a look at what vaper’s tongue is and what you can do to prevent it from happening in the first place.

What Is Vaper’s Tongue?

Vaper’s tongue is a phenomenon that impacts the tongues of frequent vapers. When a vaper gets vaper’s tongue, they will no longer be able to taste their vape juice. 

This phenomenon does not impact your ability to absorb nicotine or other substances in your vape; it merely prevents you from enjoying the flavor. That said, the flavor is a critical element of the vaping experience, so it’s less than ideal.

While it might sound kind of crazy, vaper’s tongue impacts most vapers at some point in their lives. It can last for a couple of hours or a few days or weeks, which can be a long time to go without tasting your vape.

How Does Taste Work?

Your sense of taste is very closely correlated to your sense of smell, and they work together to provide you with the full experience of tasting. Each person has thousands of taste buds, not just on their tongue. Your taste buds exist across your tongue, the roof of your mouth, and even parts of your throat.

These taste buds are first stimulated and activated by the scents and aromas of our foods. These smells enter our noses and give our brains the warning bell that food is on the way. 

From there, the taste buds take over, and with the help of saliva, the flavorful components of your food and drinks can interact with your taste buds and provide you with the full flavor of your food.

While many elements play a role in taste, taste buds are the undisputed flavor kings. Each taste bud contains a collection of cells, which regenerate and replace themselves, so you’re always tasting fresh. 

How Does Vaper’s Tongue Inhibit Taste?

Depending on who you ask about vaper’s tongue, you might get wildly inaccurate understandings of how the condition prevents you from fully tasting. If you’ve ever heard that vaping can leave a coating on your tongue that prevents you from tasting, you’ve learned incorrectly.

The reality is much simpler. As mentioned earlier, saliva plays a critical role in your perception of taste. Your taste buds need saliva to perceive flavors, and the dry mouth that sometimes accompanies vaping is the culprit.

Frequent vaping use can leave you with a dry mouth, completely blocking your ability to taste or decreasing your flavor perception. Luckily, vaper’s tongue is not permanent, nor is it serious. 

How To Avoid Vaper’s Tongue: Eight Tips

Avoiding vaper’s tongue is easy and simple, so make sure that you learn these tips to help prevent dry mouth from affecting your sense of taste the next time you have an issue with vaper’s tongue.

1. Stay Hydrated

The first and foremost tip to help prevent vaper’s tongue is to stay hydrated. If your vaper’s tongue is truly being caused by dry mouth, then your most efficient and effective solution is consuming more water. 

Make sure you consume at least the recommended daily intake and consider drinking more if your mouth still feels dry.

2. Use Dry Mouth Aids

Dozens of over-the-counter medications and remedies can also help you with your dry mouth symptoms. Many of these products can relieve your dry mouth, from lozenges to gels, from toothpaste to rinses. 

3. Take a Vape Break

While perhaps not the advice you were hoping for, taking a longer break from vaping can help you overcome vaper’s tongue and prevent episodes. Whether you take longer breaks from vaping or more frequent but shorter breaks from vaping, you can make a difference in your taste perception.

4. Avoid Diuretics

Diuretics are substances that can increase your urine production and can lead to dehydration. Obviously, when you are trying to combat dry mouth and a lack of saliva, diuretics are less than helpful. 

Common diuretics are coffee, sodas, and alcohol — taking a step away from these drinks when dealing with vaper’s tongue can help your sense of taste return.

5. Switch Up Vape Flavors

If you think that dry mouth is not the only cause of your vaper’s tongue, you may also suffer from flavor fatigue. Flavor fatigue occurs when you vape the same flavor repeatedly, which can diminish your ability to perceive it as strongly. 

The same phenomenon occurs with scents as well. Even if you have one flavor that stands head and shoulders above the rest, you should swap it out now and again to give your taste buds a break. It’s better to taste your favorite flavors strongly, even if it’s less often. 

6. Try a Tongue Scraper

While it may not help with all of your vaper’s tongue symptoms, if you feel like you are developing a film on your tongue, a tongue scraper can help. Tongue scrapers deeply clean your tongue, which can help improve your perception of flavor. 

You can also simply brush your tongue with a toothbrush and toothpaste to keep it completely clean. 

7. Use Menthol Flavored Vapes

While you may not be able to taste your regular flavors as strongly when dealing with vaper’s tongue, you can usually still perceive menthol and other cooling flavors. This is because you don’t sense menthol through your taste buds; it uses a totally different method.

Menthol and mentholated vape flavors activate thermoreceptors, neurons that communicate with your brain about temperature changes. 

Menthol doesn’t just taste cool; it quite literally tells your brain that it is feeling cool, which is why you can often feel the menthol cool all over your face.

8. Quit Smoking Cigarettes

Finally, you might notice that your sense of smell is diminished if you are a cigarette smoker. If you have just quit smoking cigarettes and moved to vapes (or are still smoking cigarettes), it may be worth a break to see if it makes a difference in your perception of flavor. 

What If It’s Not Vaper’s Tongue?

If you have tried all of these tips and tricks, and are still suffering from poor taste reception, you might be struggling with a different issue entirely. Many things can cause a diminished sense of smell or taste. 

If your vaper’s tongue lasts for a week or longer without improvement, you should consider seeing a doctor to find the source of your problem. Marijuana use and many prescription drugs can cause dry mouth, and your doctor or dentist can help you find the right solution.

Vaper’s Tongue: Round Up

Vaper’s tongue may sound like a gross disease, but it is much less severe and much more common than you thought. Vaper’s tongue is a condition where you can no longer taste your vape juice, or your sense of taste is diminished. 

Luckily, there are many tricks and methods that you can use to prevent vaper’s tongue and help get your sense of taste back when it does happen.

The key is to stay hydrated, as dry mouth will be the biggest cause of your lack of taste. Beyond that, things like taking a vape break, changing flavors, and cleaning your tongue can improve your sense of taste.

If you are looking for high-quality vapes, check out what we offer at California Honey Vapes. From disposables to rechargeable batteries, we’ve got everything you need to have the vape experience you deserve. 

And don’t forget to keep checking out our blog for more guides, tips, tricks, and vaping news to stay in the know with the vaping world. 

Sources: 

How does our sense of taste work? | InformedHealth.org - NCBI

Dry mouth - Symptoms and causes | Mayo Clinic

Interventions for the treatment of xerostomia: A randomized controlled clinical trial | PMC