Month 2 of monitoring my usage...guidance please!

Rachy_B;9118971 said:

In my second month, I've cheated a little. In the first two week, I used 11mg religiously. By the second two weeks I was using 10mg, thinking I could cut down still further. Using 10mg didn't stick around for long though as I thought about using a lower nicotine strength closer to bedtime and DIYd some 4mg coconut flavoured juice for such a moment.

Around the same time as making my 4mg juice, my ecab arrived...

I was very much enjoying my 4mg juice in my ecab on an evening, so much so that I started using it during the day. I knew I would chain-vape when driving, for example, so rather than vaping anything higher, I would use the 4mg in the ecab. At the same time, I realised that if I was happy at 4mg, perhaps I could start using the 8mg Virginia I bought at Christmas which was too low for me.

So, in short, this month I have reduced from 11 to 10 to 8/4. This is quite a jump but not one I'm entirely happy with. For a start, I'm vaping more. Where my mean usage was 1.43ml at 12mg, my mean usage at this new lower mark has shot up to 1.51. While this doesn't sound like a massive problem, it's not going in the right direction. The R squared of this usage is 0.012 which really makes me sound like a drama queen*! A steady, mean or better yet a decreasing one would be ideal. Yesterday, I stuck largely with 4mg and saw my usage shoot up to 3.5ml! I don't think I've EVER used that much in a day! Admittedly, I also managed to get 600 words written and I always smoked more when writing but I do not like this jump.

My nicotine consumption, conversely, has seen a drop overall but an increase during March (although very slight with a R squared of 0.0018). This is in no small part to my using more 4mg, and definitely the 8mg. The R squared for this is 0.1438 overall which is a fantastic number. As I said last month, I'm not expecting a dramatic number here, as long as it's in a downward direction which it is. The reason I don't expect a dramatic number is because it could, and should take a long time to cut down on one's nicotine consumption if it is to be successful. As ever, I thank the big pharma representative at the FDA conference for that little gem!

Another consideration is my use of hardware. My standard set up until the ecab arrived was my 510 batteries and SR cartomisers. With these, I could vape between 0.5 and 2ml a day. With the ecab, I'm wondering if that number is shooting up? Furthermore, when I used an Ego-T, I vaped more but that could have been because I was just trying out ecigs (18 months ago!) and using a nic too low for me to start out on.

As a result, I am left in quite a quandary .. where do I go from here? I'm feeling sticking with the 8mg is a good idea, in no small part because I LOVE the flavour. If only I could DIY it that well! Given I am trying to induce a healthier sleeping pattern, using 4mg in the two hours before bed may also be a good idea. But where does this leave me when I know I vape more when writing?

For those who don't know, I'm a PhD student in the Social Sciences. If I'm not writing, I'm reading. Right now, I'm writing. I have about 10,000 words due by the end of April and a presentation in early May. These aren't just any words. These have to be good words! 10,000 spectacular words, outlining the current literature in my field. I know that when I'm out and about (the exception being alcohol consumption!) or unconscious (again, excepting alcohol!), I use less. Right now, I'm chained to my desk! I could just vape a lot more 4mg when I'm writing but this will push up my consumption which seems counterproductive.

Does anyone have any guidance for this? - Yes, I know I'm over thinking this!x

* R2 greater that 0.5 = strong correlation
R2 greater than 0.3 = medium correlation
R2 greater than 0.1 = weak correlation

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