When your taste suddenly gives up, and you can’t perceive the flavor of your favorite vape juice anymore, it could be a frightening experience.
But this condition is a widespread issue among vapers, and it happens to almost every aggressive vaper at least once in their vaping life.
There are several reasons why this problem could happen, and you can fix each cause yourself without having to consult a doctor.
Although if you experience olfactory fatigue often, you may want to visit a doctor to ensure you don’t have a vitamin deficiency.
I know how annoying and depressing it could feel to lose one of your senses, but with the tips in this article, you’ll be able to remedy your lost sense quickly.
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What is Vaper’s Tongue?
Vaper’s tongue occurs when the chemicals in an e-liquid build on the tongue, and the vaper loses their sense of taste. The tongue becomes numb, and you lose the ability to identify all of the basic tastes. This condition can last for a few hours or up to two weeks.
Although losing your taste can be scary, especially if you’ve just started vaping, you should know that this condition isn’t permanent, and you can cure it yourself in a few days.
What Causes a Vaper’s Tongue? 7 Culprits for Your Loss of Taste
1. Repeated Flavor
When we find the right vape flavor that we oh so love, we want to vape that and nothing else. However, if you consistently vape the same flavor, your taste buds can develop resistance to that flavor.
While chain vaping your favorite flavor is fun, it can numb your olfactory sense, causing vaper’s tongue.
To see if the repeating flavor is the reason you’ve lost your taste, try a new flavor like watermelon, blueberry, or cotton candy. A new vape flavor should bring back your sense of taste.
2. Dehydration
Vaping requires a lot of moisture, and when you chain vape, you’re bound to get dehydrated eventually.
A sign you’re becoming dehydrated is a dry mouth. You may also get a dry mouth from all the mouth breathing you’re doing while vaping. Breathing through your mouth affects your salivary glands and causes you not to produce enough saliva.
I strongly recommend that you sip water while you vape to improve your overall health, prevent bad breath, and keep your taste working as it should.
3. Damaged Taste Buds
Anything done excessively changes the way our body works. Similarly, if you consume spicy foods and vape a lot, this excessiveness eventually harms your taste buds.
If you control your vape time and cut down on your spicy food intake, you can prevent this problem.
4. Stuffy Nose
It’s widely known that the nose is a crucial factor for healthy taste buds. If you’re sick or have a blocked nose, your sense of smell will diminish, and you won’t be able to taste your favorite vape flavors anymore.
5. Smoking
If you’re someone who smokes and vapes regularly, you may lose your taste senses because both these activities put tremendous pressure on your taste and smell senses.
If you quit smoking, your vaping experience and oral hygiene will improve. You’ll also reduce your risk of oral cancer.
6. Stressful Lifestyle
Almost every lifestyle choice comes with stress, which affects the hormones in your body. These kinds of hormonal changes could impact anything in your body—taste buds included!
7. Medications
It’s always a good idea to check with your doctor about the possible side effects of the drugs they’ve prescribed you because vaping could add too much stress to your tongue while using certain medicines.
How to Fix a Vaper’s Tongue? 5 Cures that (Often) Work
Keep in mind that it could take a week or two for your taste buds to start functioning correctly again, but meanwhile, you can follow these tips to speed up your recovery process.
1. Keep Yourself Hydrated
Drinking at least three to four liters of water will not only improve your palate but will also boost your health. If water bores you, try adding some lemon slices.
2. Switch Your E-Liquid
Just as wine tasters use cheese to reset their palate, you also shouldn’t consume the same e-juice again and again without a break.
Try vaping an e-liquid with a different or stronger flavor and taste. Many vapers swear by this quick fix. Menthol flavors, in particular, are a great way to bring your taste back.
Conversely, you can try an unflavored e-juice. E-liquids with an unflavored base don’t have as many chemicals to affect your taste, and they reduce your chances of vaper’s fatigue. Unflavored liquids keep you from having to stop vaping when this condition occurs.
You should take a four week break before going back to your preferred flavor.
3. Maintain Good Oral Health
Try using an alcohol-based mouthwash to help you regain your taste. When you use good oral cleaning practices, the thick coating on your tongue reduces.
Tongue scraping can also help remove the build-up of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, and other ingredients found in vape juice.
Just remember to use a designated tongue scraper only!
4. Try Stronger Flavors
Another easy homemade remedy is sucking on a ripe lemon slice or sipping some strong hot coffee. The robust flavors in these foods and drinks help you reset your senses.
Even pickles, vinegar, chilled carbonated water, or sodas can help restart your olfactory system.
But, if you aren’t a fan of intense flavors, sometimes just smelling something strong, like fresh coffee beans, can bring back your ability to taste. Since your sense of smell and taste are linked, a few whiffs of coffee grounds can help anyone experiencing vaper’s tongue.
5. Rinse and Gargle
Using over-the-counter sinus rinse solutions to clean your nose once every week would not only help you breathe better but could also help fix your loss of smell. Similarly, use medicinal solutions or cold-pressed oils to gargle and ease your throat.
Even if trying these fixes doesn’t bring back your ability to taste, they are safe, hygienic practices with other benefits to your health and happiness.
Wrap Up
If you haven’t experienced the dreaded vaper’s tongue, chances are you might soon. Use the tips shared in this article, like staying hydrated, to avoid becoming a victim yourself.
Furthermore, if you get this condition, remember that it’s not a big deal and will resolve itself within a week or two. Until it does, developing this issue could be an excellent opportunity for you to wean yourself off of vaping for a while, stop smoking altogether, or lay off of that addictive chemical, nicotine.