What is the difference between nicotine salt and freebase?
Freebase nicotine is nicotine in its unbound chemical form. Nicotine salt is nicotine chemically combined with an acid, commonly benzoic acid, to form a salt. Neither term is defined in Canadian law — both describe a chemical formulation, and Canada’s 20 mg/mL nicotine cap applies identically to either one. Among 1,871 e-liquid bottle listings, 961 name nicotine salt, 158 name freebase and 752 name neither, last checked October 15, 2026.
What do the two terms mean chemically?
Freebase nicotine is nicotine in its unbound base form. Nicotine salt is made by reacting that same nicotine with an acid, commonly benzoic acid, to form a different chemical compound, a salt. E-liquid manufacturers formulate with one or the other, and label the bottle accordingly; both contain nicotine, at whatever concentration the label states.
Neither “nicotine salt” nor “freebase” is a term Canadian law defines. They are industry trade terms, used here only as the catalogue’s own listings use them.
Does the law cap salt and freebase nicotine differently?
No. Canada caps the nicotine concentration of any vaping substance at 20 mg/mL under the Nicotine Concentration in Vaping Products Regulations (SOR/2021-123), regardless of its chemical formulation. A nicotine-salt bottle and a freebase bottle are both capped at the identical figure — see nicotine strength: what mg/mL and percentages mean for how that cap and the mg/mL unit itself work.
What strengths does the catalogue show for each?
Most e-liquid listings do not name either term in their title. Of 1,871 e-liquid bottle listings, 752 name neither “salt” nor “freebase”, last checked October 15, 2026. The median strength below covers only the listings, of each type, that also state a parseable strength — it says nothing about anything other than the number printed on the label.
| Title states | Listings | States a strength | Median strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicotine salt | 961 | 401 | 20 mg/mL |
| Freebase | 158 | 88 | 3 mg/mL |
| Neither named | 752 | 404 | 20 mg/mL |
Broken down by exact stated strength, among e-liquid bottle listings naming a type and stating a strength that parses to a plausible figure:
| Strength | Nicotine salt | Freebase |
|---|---|---|
| 0 mg/mL | 2 | 10 |
| 3 mg/mL | 0 | 46 |
| 6 mg/mL | 3 | 18 |
| 10 mg/mL | 38 | 0 |
| 12 mg/mL | 31 | 12 |
| 20 mg/mL | 326 | 0 |
How these numbers were built
A listing is classified as nicotine salt or freebase from its own title text alone — the words a store used to describe the product, not an inference from its strength or price — and scoped to E-Liquid listings whose title does not read like a pod, disposable or device, the same wording test e-liquid bottle sizes: cost per millilitre by size uses to keep a mis-filed pod out of its table, so a prefilled pod or disposable that happens to also say “salt” is never counted here. That table also needs a price, a stated bottle size of at least 10 mL, and at least 25 listings at that size, so its per-size counts add up to fewer listings than the totals here. Every qualifying listing contributes to the counts above whether or not it also states a strength; the median mg/mL for each type is computed only from the ones that do state a parseable strength.
Current e-liquid listings themselves are in the e-liquid catalogue.