The short answer: nicotine salt is nicotine that has been combined with an acid, which lowers the pH of the liquid and makes a high concentration tolerable in a small, low-power device. Freebase is nicotine in its unmodified alkaline form, which is why it is sold at much lower mg figures for the bigger sub-ohm devices that produce far more vapour per puff.
That single difference in chemistry drives everything else: which device the bottle belongs in, what the mg number on the label actually means, how long a pod lasts, and what you pay per ml. Here is how it works in practice, using the ranges Vapesoko actually stocks.
The chemistry, without the jargon
Nicotine on its own is an alkaline compound. Inhaled at a high concentration, that alkalinity is what produces the scraping sensation at the back of the throat. That sets a practical ceiling on how much freebase nicotine can go into a bottle before it becomes unpleasant to inhale.
Adding an acid, commonly benzoic or lactic acid, forms a nicotine salt. The acid donates a proton to the nicotine molecule and the pH of the finished liquid drops. The nicotine is still nicotine, and the quantity in the bottle is still whatever the label says. What changes is how the vapour feels going in, and that is why a 50mg salt can be inhaled from a small pod while 50mg of freebase in the same pod generally would not be.
It is worth being blunt about what this is not. Lowering the pH changes the harshness of the inhale. It does not reduce the nicotine content, and nothing about the salt form makes the liquid weaker.
Why the two mg numbers do not compare
This is the part most guides get wrong. A 3mg freebase bottle and a 50mg salt bottle are not "weak" and "very strong" versions of the same thing, because they are designed for devices that consume liquid at completely different rates.
Work the arithmetic. If a sub-ohm tank gets through 10ml of 3mg liquid in a day, that is 30mg of nicotine consumed. If a small MTL pod gets through 2ml of 50mg in a day, that is 100mg. Change the assumptions, and the ranking flips again. The mg figure alone tells you nothing useful until you multiply it by how much liquid the device actually uses.
So the correct question is never "how many mg should I buy". It is "what is this device built around", and then "which of the strengths that range is made at fits it". We stock the strengths. The choice is yours to make.
Device pairing, which is the honest basis
Nicotine salts belong in MTL pod kits. These are the small, high-resistance, low-wattage devices with a tight draw. The industry convention is that coils above roughly 0.8 ohm are built for mouth-to-lung use at low power. We do not list a resistance figure for every stocked pod here, so check the pod or coil itself rather than assuming. Stocked kits in this territory include the UWELL Caliburn A3 Pod Kit 520mAh MTL at KSh 4,000, the Geekvape Sonder Q2 Pod Kit 1350mAh 30W at KSh 3,800, the VAPORESSO XROS 5 Pod Kit 1500mAh 30W at KSh 5,200 and the UWELL Caliburn G4 Pod Kit 1300mAh 35W at KSh 5,000.
Freebase belongs in sub-ohm tanks and higher-power mods. These run below 1 ohm, often well below, and push a lot more vapour per puff. That is why the freebase ranges top out at far lower mg figures. Stocked devices at this end include the VOOPOO Drag S3 Pod Mod Kit 3000mAh 60W at KSh 6,200 and the VOOPOO Drag 5 Mod Kit 177W Dual 18650 at KSh 10,000.
Putting a 50mg salt into a sub-ohm tank is the mistake that ends a vaping session early. Putting 3mg freebase into a small MTL pod generally produces a thin, unsatisfying inhale, which tends to lead to chain vaping to compensate.
VG/PG and what it does
VG is the thicker of the two carriers and produces more visible vapour. PG is thinner, carries flavour well, wicks faster into small coils and contributes most of the throat sensation.
FACTS we can stand behind: Ultimate Puff 120ml and Ultimate Juice 120ml are both 70/30 VG/PG. That high-VG ratio is the standard sub-ohm build. We do not have a published VG/PG ratio for the stocked salt ranges, so we are not going to state one. As a general convention, MTL salt liquids are made at or near 50/50, because a thin liquid wicks into a small high-resistance coil more reliably than a thick one. Check the bottle you are buying rather than taking a rule of thumb as fact.
Stocked strengths, for reference only
Nicotine salts
Freebase
- Ultimate Juice 120ml, KSh 2,300: 3mg, 6mg and 12mg, 70/30 VG/PG
- Ultimate Puff 120ml, KSh 2,500: 3mg, 6mg, 12mg and 18mg, 70/30 VG/PG
- Doozy 100ml shortfill, KSh 2,300: 0mg as supplied, 3mg with two 18mg shots, 2.5mg with two 15mg shots
No strength on that list is recommended over another. It is a catalogue, not a prescription.
Cost per ml
Divide the price by the volume, and the picture is clear.
- BAR Salts 10ml: about KSh 70 per ml
- ELFLIQ 10ml: KSh 80 per ml
- Any of the 30ml salts at KSh 2,000: about KSh 67 per ml
- Nasty Juice 60ml: about KSh 33 per ml
- Ultimate Juice 120ml: about KSh 19 per ml
- Ultimate Puff 120ml: about KSh 21 per ml
Freebase looks dramatically cheaper per ml, and it is. Set against that, a sub-ohm tank generally gets through several times the liquid of a small MTL pod over the same period, so the gap at the till is narrower than the per-ml figures suggest.
Coil and pod life
Salts run in low-power coils, which are not being pushed hard, so a pod often lasts reasonably well. Sweetened and heavily flavoured liquids tend to caramelise on the coil and shorten that life regardless of format. Dark, thick liquids generally gunk a coil faster than clear menthols.
Factor replacements into your running cost. A proper cleaning routine helps each pod last longer. A UWELL Caliburn A3 Refillable Pod is KSh 2,500, and VAPORESSO XROS Replacement Mesh Pods come as a four-pack at KSh 2,300. A pod that needs replacing every few weeks changes the maths more than most people expect.
Still weighing the decision to switch from cigarettes? The vaping vs smoking comparison covers cost, smell and nicotine control side by side.
Buying from Vapesoko
We stock every range listed above. Vapesoko is online only. There is a store address on Biashara Street, but there is no in-store shopping and customers cannot visit, so everything goes out for delivery.
- Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Naivasha: next business day
- Rest of Kenya: 1 to 2 business days
- Free Nairobi delivery on orders over KSh 2,000
- Payment: M-Pesa and cash only. No card is required
- Sold to adults of 18 and over. We verify age before dispatch, and our riders may ask for ID on delivery
Last updated: September 2026