In 1925, chronic cold sufferer Lloyd ‘Spud’ Hughes was struggling with yet another bout. His mother gave him some menthol crystals, which he stuffed in his nicotine tin. The next day he’d created the first menthol cigarette. Nice one, Spud.
What IS menthol?
Menthol is a chemical compound naturally found in peppermint and spearmint plants. It contains anaesthetic and cooling properties, and is widely used to help soothe throat irritations, reduce aches and pains, and as a decongestant for your chest and sinuses.
It was added to cigarettes following Spud’s discovery in the 1920s. As it created a cooling effect on the mouth and throat, it reduced the harshness of cigarettes, and suppressed the coughing reflex, which made inhaling cigarette smoke more tolerable. It became more widespread in the 1950s, and was particularly popular with women and younger people who were looking to avoid feeling the harshness that often came with smoking.
That’s all well and good for cigarettes, but what about vaping?
We might see e-cigarettes and e-liquid as nifty modern inventions, but people were vaping as far back as the 5th century BC. Herodotus, who was dubbed ‘the Father of History’, told of people using hot stones to heat oils and herbs for vaping. The ancient Egyptians, in particular, were well known for their vaping liquids, which were made with fresh herbs. And over 1000 years ago, Irfan Sheik came up with the idea of Shisha, which was introduced to India by his dynasty.
So it’s no surprise that we were keen to start adding different flavours to e-liquids, given people have been flavouring their vapes for millennia.
When the first e-cigarettes were produced in 2007, they were single use with a small battery and limited amount of e-liquid. When the liquid was gone, it was time to bin the e-cig, and there was little in the way of liquid flavours or variation. But there was such demand for this new product that technology soon caught up. Rather than buying the e-cigs complete with some liquid inside, the next logical move was e-cigarettes that could be filled with whatever liquid you wanted. This led to the next generation of e-cigarette: vapes with tanks.
E-cigarettes grew rapidly in popularity, and to keep consumers safe, in 2014 they were added by the EU to the TPD – Tobacco Products Directive. iBreathe had put precautions to keep our customers safe into place years before the TPD added the legislations, as customer safety has always been at the heart of what we do, but this move increased the safety of the industry as a whole.
Is menthol any good for e-cigarettes?
Dr Grodal, associate professor at Boston University, advises the draw isn’t as harsh when smoking menthols. She says the smoother experience allows smokers to take longer draws and inhale more deeply, leading to a more satisfying vape hit.
People describe vaping menthols as ‘mild’, ‘cooling’, ‘refreshing’ and ‘soothing to the throat’ compared to other flavours.
Even as cigarette use falls – which is great news for our health – the use of menthol cigarettes continues to climb. In fact, between 2004 and 2014, the number of young adults smoking non-menthol cigarettes fell from 27% to 14%. But in the same age group, the number of people smoking menthol rose from 13% to 15%.
So it’s clear people love menthol. Vaping menthol can feel fresher, cleaner, and lighter. When you start stopping smoking, it makes sense to go with what feels good. When making the switch, many of our customers choose to keep that characteristic cooling effect and enjoy our range of menthol flavours.
Here at iBreathe, we have a few different types of menthol to suit your taste. From our light and refreshing High PG E-liquid, with smooth menthol flavours and delicate minty aromas, to our signature High VG E-liquid which gives a powerful menthol hit in every vape. Then of course there’s our Classic Menthol, giving you the timeless minty, fresh and cool vape experience.
But I quite like fruit flavours…
Menthol comfortably dominates the market, but fruit flavours have soared in popularity too. That’s why we launched our trademark ICE range. Giving you the best of both, our ICE E-liquids provide the bold flavour of our fruit liquids with the crisp, mint freshness of our menthols, to give you a delicious and smooth vape. Take our iBreathe Cherry Mint Premium E-Liquid, which has the sweetness of juicy cherries with that soothing icy mint blast. Or our Icy Lemon Premium E-liquid, which combines the sharp flavour of natural lemon with the icy tingle of menthol, creating an instant modern classic.
Our in-house team of developers and researchers work tirelessly on our e-liquids, focusing on quality and taste, and our patented formula is such a hit with vapers that we’re now one of the most popular brands in the UK. Check out our full range of flavours and find your favourite here.