Nicotine Confusion

[Spider]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I've found the things that I'd read about nicotine levels fairly confusing.

Of the cigarette packets that i've seen lately, they have said that they contain 0.7mg - 0.9mg of nicotine. Is the the amount that your body absorbs from each cigarette you smoke?

I've read in other posts that each puff of an e-cig is roughly equivalent to half the nicotine of an ordinary cigarette.

If my cartridges say 18mg and I'm not burning most of it away, why are the stated levels so different (even when taking into account how many cigarettes worth a cartridge is).

When I show my e-cig to people they ask me about this all the time and say "Isn't that a lot of nicotine?", but all I can say is that it doesn't feel like it is, but I don't know...

I know it all gets a bit confusing with all the other chemicals and factors involved with smoking ordinary cigarettes but I seem to have had opposite experiences to others with regards to overdose.

I smoke my e-cig pretty much the same as I would an ordinary cigarette, it balances out because if I just need a quick fix, I don't have to smoke a whole cigarette's worth, and if I need a bit more I can have it without lighting up another.

What I found confusing was that I've not had any dizzy, faint, or nauseating effects from using my e-cig all the time - but I've had just one ordinary cigarette since I've had my e-cig (about a week). When I smoked the cigarette I felt REALLY dizzy and faint, and it hit me straight away. Is this the other chemicals? Why do I seem to be having the opposite reaction to others?

Please enlighten me... and again... my apologies if I'm just being thick and missing something obvious.

Spider

[TropicalBob]

It's a fair question when you are unsure how our nicotine is measured. In the e-cig, the measurement is per ml: 24mg per ml, for the strength I use. If you use 16mg per ml liquid, you are getting half as much nicotine PER PUFF as that same puff of a cigarette. So you are not getting more nicotine with the same number of puffs. Or, to put it another way, you can "smoke" your e-cigarette twice as long for the same result you get from a single cigarette.

Lab tests, by the way, show that you absorb 98% of the nicotine inhaled in the vapor. It's just that the vapor contains very little nicotine in the first place.

Like you, I have never overdosed on e-smoking. And I e-smoke almost non-stop.

[jamie]

If you use 16mg per ml liquid, you are getting half as much nicotine PER PUFF as that same puff of a cigarette.

Hey TB, I'm completely lost as to how you (or anyone) came up with that measurement. Is that based on what percent of a ml one drop is and what percent of a drop you supposedly get while taking a puff, or how much liquid is in each cartridge (which cartridge?) or....

Also I understand - could be wrong! - that with American ciggies the general categories for nicotine are:
- ultra light cigs .4mg
- light cigs .5-.7mg
- full flavor .8mg and up

I understand it also depends on which cigs you were smoking, how long and deep the draw on the cig, how long and deep the draw on the ecig, if you covered filter holes on light cigs, etc.

At the moment I'm skeptical of any measurement statement that's supposed to be better than guesswork. 'splain me!

[jimldk]

To Spider.....

Hi..just wanna let you know that what you're experiencing is usually seen as additive inclusion effect from cigarettes...as you know(hope you know) that a traditional ciggies have not only nicotine and tar but also other additives included..but most prominent effect was the presence of Carbon Monoxide..it blends and absorbed rather fast by our lungs tissue and occupies a big chunk of our Haemoglobin in our Red Blood Cell(RBC)....when it hits the brain it sort of asphyxiate the brain producing the sudden rush of blood flow and at the same time depress the neural centres producing the High giddy feel...

Compares that to our e-cig smoking which actually delivers also Oxygen to our blood instead of smoke inhalant and metabolites ...rather greener method to deliver the Nicotine but the dosage of nicotine is way way down on the scale as compared to a real cigarette....each puff of e-smoking will only delivers half of the actual stated dosage...1 ml of e-liquid of highest density(24mg) will actually delivers less than half of the original dose due to Oxidation alone not to mention combustion effects...so I hope it can clear up some doubt...I will explain more later once I am free...

[TropicalBob]

Jame: No guesswork or math. The figures on nicotine content inhaled per puff come from lab tests done in New Zealand by Dr. Murray Laugesen for Ruyan. Half is accurate.

[jamie]

Jame: No guesswork or math. The figures on nicotine content inhaled per puff come from lab tests done in New Zealand by Dr. Murray Laugesen for Ruyan. Half is accurate.

"Half of a cigarette puff" is not a plausible statement unless the ecig automatically adjusts itself based on which cigarettes were formerly smoked by the user, and the way the user smoked those cigarettes.

It could be accurate for some generic average, but not in relation to a specific individual user. Or it could be a maximum.

Also I understand - could be wrong! - that with American ciggies the general categories for nicotine are:
- ultra light cigs .4mg
- light cigs .5-.7mg
- full flavor .8mg and up

I understand it also depends on which cigs you were smoking, how long and deep the draw on the cig, how long and deep the draw on the ecig, if you covered filter holes on light cigs, etc.

[TropicalBob]

You win. Count it as you want to. Factor in all the variables for yourself individually. I'll stick to the lab tests, the same as I do the tests by smoking machines in labs here that compare nicotine levels among various brands. So, for me at least: A standard puff of a 16mg e-cartridge has half the nicotine of a standard puff of a regular commercial cigarette. I don't know how else to calculate it. Nor do I want to.

[jamie]

You win. Count it as you want to.

Ofps, I'm not trying to WIN! However I understand that this isn't one of your issues. You are settled with your products and instead take a particular interest in the Bickfords and all your brewing. Which is great, then I can hit you up for advice when my own Bickford shipment arrives!

[TropicalBob]

You're right about the experiments. My only device using 24mg e-liquid now in the pathetic mini cig ordered long ago from DealExtreme. The other devices are vaporizing combinations of glycerine, tobacco fluid, extract and e-liquid. I have no idea how much nicotine is in the liquid and have said before that e-smoking is not my primary source of nicotine (snus is). So it's not an issue for me, except that it did help me generally understand that I could e-smoke roughly twice as long as regular smoking. As of now, I'm most interested in seeing vapor and tasting a pleasant flavor.

[Spider]

Thanks guys! Especially TB and Dr. Loi, you've been very helpful, I understand a lot better now.

Knowing that one puff of an e-cig is approximately half the nicotine content of one puff of an ordinary cigarette, coupled with the explanation, is a totally satisfactory answer for me. I'm not concerned with semantics, and I'm no scientist.

As always you've been very helpful :-)

Spider