Sucralose
This is the creme de la creme of sweeteners. Sucralose being 1000x sweeter than sucrose itself, this chemically altered ingredient offers sweetness like no other. Unfortunately there comes a lot of baggage when using this bad boy. So here are the pros and cons of the industries favorite additive.
Pros:
- The sweetest ingredient out of the three. Even using it at 0.25% of a 5% dilution will offer a blast of sweetness that’s hard to ignore.
- Brightens EVERYTHING in your recipe. Alongside adding sweetness to your recipe, this will add brightness, and bring all your main notes forward, with a huge amount of presence.
- Low Muting. Using this at even an extremely high 1 – 2% will result in bring more flavor, instead of muting flavors. Something the others can’t say.
- Hides flaws in recipes. Even if your recipe isn’t perfect, adding sucralose will hide and inconsistencies or flaws that may be present.
Cons:
- Could be dangerous. One of the most worrying things are the health implications that could come of using it. Use at your OWN discretion. There are many who also find irritation when using it.
- A Crutch. It’s very easy to fall into using sucralose in all of your recipes, where regard for natural, inherent sweetness and flavor, might fall behind. Don’t let it become a habit.
- Coil Gunking. Anything over 0.25% will quickly gunk your coils, as the sugar alcohols burn off. If you like “clean” liquids, stay away from sucralose
- Extremely Sweet. Some might hate the amount of sweetness that comes from it. “Sugar Lips” is an effect where its sweetness literally coats the entire mouth.
Stevia
Stevia is a plant based sweetener. With 100x the sweetness of sucrose, it still offers sweetness without the lip puckering intensity of sucralose. It’s also seen as a more stable and “safe” option that, while yet to be proven, could provide relief from those concerned about sucralose
Pros:
- The second sweetest option. While not as intense as sucralose, it’s still certainly sweet and will provide a nice sweetness to your recipes. This might make it even more versatile than sucralose.
- Natural. Not much is known about vaping this compound, but much of the science around it in foods is promising, not showing the same worries that sucralose has provided. Also the fact it comes from a plant will help alleviate some worries from those who want to stay away from chemical compounds.
- Works similar to sucralose. This basically means you could substitute it in recipes that use sucralose, without needing to completely remodel the mix.
Cons:
- Coil Gunking. Unfortunately, the same level of coil gunking occurs with sucralose, maybe even more.
- Muting Issues. If you’re trying to reach the same levels of sweetness that sucralose might provide, you may run into severe muting, that will cover up a lot of the notes provided by the ingredients. Be mindful of your recipe when using Stevia
- Not All Stevia is the same. Some Stevia brands are bitter, and will impart a bad taste in your recipes. I personally enjoy Sweetleaf, but make sure you test your Stevia before committing to buying a large amount. Even then, you could still get a bit of its bitter taste in your mix.
- Still Unknown. We still don’t know the full extent of the health implications that could come of inhaling it. Use at your own discretion.
Erythritol
Erythritol is a different sugar alcohol that acts upon the sweetness receptors of the tongue, in a much, much more subtle way. At 70% of the sweetness of sucrose, this is something that reaches the sweetness of just plain VG.
Cons:
- Not Very Sweet at All. Again, it’s only 70% of the sweetness of sucrose. This makes it only slightly sweeter than plain VG. It unfortunately doesn’t provide much to your recipes in any way, other than a very light, very vauge sweetness.
- Muting. Because it’s so low in sweetness, using it upwards of 1-2% only really provides muting, blanketing flavors, without much benefit.
- Not worth it. I recommend you just skip this. The only real pro I can think of is that its an option for those who want something a touch sweeter than VG.