Nicotine safety

[Bertrand]

Freebasing nicotine just means it gets absorbed quicker, making it more addictive. You would think it would also make it harder to overdose on, since you get a more immediate reaction. (But bear in mind we're talking about a few seconds difference here.)

Marlboro was the first brand to start using it, and when their market share jumped, people put it down to their brilliant advertising. Now just about all commercial brands have at least some in it (probably with the exception of boutique brands like Davidoff and Nat Sherman).

[Kate]

Lol, nicotine addicts are junkies, I agree.

I've heard it said that nicotine works faster with smoking, within a few seconds but takes a minute or so when vapourised. How true that is I don't know. That could be something to do with freebase as Bertrand suggests.

Something else at play is the other chemicals in smoke. Vaping doesn't give us chemicals such as harmine so we don't get the same hit. Some of us try to get the hit by increasing our nicotine intake but all that does is increase tolerance.

"... you can become tolerant to nicotine's effects -- you need to use more and more nicotine to reach the same degree of stimulation or relaxation -- and you can see how people would quickly move from smoking one cigarette to a pack a day habit."

HowStuffWorks "How Nicotine Works"

There is no satisfactory alternative to smoking for some people, nothing gives the same effect no matter what the nicotine dose. Ask TBob, he still craves cigs but doses himself up with nicotine from snus, stonewalls, a pipe and esmoking.

Where we are in danger, I think, is when we are unaware of the potential of the nicotine we use, there is no doubt in my mind that liquid nicotine is potent and potentially fatal. To try to replicate cig hits by increasing nic dose is not a logical use of the drug but I think some people do that.

This is a different habit and we should be aware of the amount of nicotine we are prepared to dose ourselves with daily. If we raise our dosage when stopping smoking it doesn't mean we are gaining effect, we are just gaining tolerance.

[BadSeed]

I think you're absolutely right Kate. We have to be very careful with this stuff. Nicotine is very toxic. Too much can be fatal. Vaping doesn't exactly replace smoking and it's not due to the amount of nicotine. It's other stuff in cigarette smoke that we're also missing. Increasing the amount of nicotine ingested doesn't alleviate those cravings, it just causes a higher tolerance of nicotine, which definitely isn't a good thing.

[scrubadub]

Agreed. I also think there should maybe be a bit more emphasis on using caution with high vapour producing devices on these forums. Using high dose juice in something like a 901 I think may be a litle less risky in the short term from an OD point of view. You're getting puffs of a similar volume to a pull on a cigarette and it's easier to tell when you may be pushing the limit of you tolerance.

The recent OD problem seemed to be a chap rapidly graduating from a 901 to a high vapour producer with high strength liquid. Once that's in your system there's not much that can be done other than ride it out. I discovered that myself when I first got my pipe. It's a bit like downing vodka by the shot or by the half pint.

[Kate]

I'll just add a link to the thread I think you're talking about where someone overdosed recently - Worst Headache of my life!!

Poor Jimmy went from low nic (0.5mg) cigs to 36mg juice plus cigs. He got a very bad headache out of it and a trip to the hospital. I guess the device itself made a difference, if it produces high amounts of vapour there's probably more nicotine being inhaled. It was a Screwdriver with a 901 atomiser.

Actually it was that experience that got me thinking that we need to educate ourselves a bit more about the dangers involved in esmoking. That's why I started this thread, I'd like to think we are a community of individuals who make informed decisions.

[scrubadub]

I think that's a good idea Kate and yes that's the thread. I think it was over the course of about 4-5 days he went from being advised to start with a 901 to hitting the screwdriver with 36mg TW. I don't think that's the fault of the device and I didn't want to single it out. I have one and I love it and it really isn't being aimed at newcomers at all. Plus there are other devices that also give plumes of the stuff. However, there's a lot of talk on these boards about more vapour being better and I can see how you could get swept along with all that. I believe Jimmy made a post to this effect on that thread.

Trog has put a notice on his board to newbies about this and is advising they buy a kit with lower strength cartridges if they want the screwdriver which I think is a good move. It could maybe be made a bit clearer on here that more vapour = more nicotine and therefore more potential trouble.

[Kate]

Yeah, I don't think it's a problem with the device either, plumes of low nic vapour would be pretty neat. As disposables start to become more available I wonder if they will get refilled with high nic juice, they billow out clouds of vapour apparently.

Hopefully the message will sink in about taking measured doses and making adjustments for the vapour producing efficiency of devices.

There does seem to be a bit of a culture of higher nic and vapour being better around here. Forums are a bit anarchic so I guess all it's really possible to do is add a voice of reason when you can. Maybe start a thread or a poll to check out attitudes and encourage debate.

[jigtg]

I've heard it said that nicotine works faster with smoking, within a few seconds but takes a minute or so when vapourised. How true that is I don't know. That could be something to do with freebase as Bertrand suggests.

My nic tolerance has gone down so much I get nic high from just a couple puffs of 16mg liquid. And yes, it takes only couple seconds until I feel the hit. For the same reason, I've stopped inhaling vapor. Don't want to get high in middle of the day.. Lungs have huge surface area compaired to mouth which is why inhaling speeds up absorption alot.

[westy]

I purchased the screwdriver last week. first device and bought it included 36mg tw and also some 24 e-liquid. Which ive ebeen smoking happily for the past week or so. Chopping between the two. And ive smoked 15 mil since then so about 2 ml a day. ive had no ill affects nor any of the common symptoms from first trying e-cigs like soar throat etc.

Only side affect is dizziness after a good few drags which I enjoy as we all did we didn’t have a regular smoke for awhile and smoked it too fast leading to feeling a bit woozy. Well these threads have gotten me spooked and a little worried and im actually getting slightly paranoid to say the least. I bought the high end gear and juice because I felt id need the best to get off cigarettes. Which I have done I might add. I haven’t had one since last Monday

so it’s doing something right. But in hindsight I was very naive in buying high strength nic as a first timer. I have just placed an order for some med and low and 0 juices and waiting for them to arrive quickly as I actually don’t want to smoke the high stuff anymore as im getting paranoid that the lower nic concentrates will not suffice and I'll end up either going back to analogues or smoking the high nics forever

I have two bottles here and was wondering where I could get glycerine supplies to cut these with and what’s the best products and what isle and shelf can these products be found on? Never seen any glycerine sold before

cheers

[Kate]

Welcome to the forum Westy.

You can dilute juice with glycerine or propylene glycol. If you don't want to dilute the flavour you can use zero or lower nic eliquid to dilute.

I don't know where you are so can't advise on where to get supplies, you could have a look on this board and see if there's any help there - DIY e-liquid - e-cigarette-forum.com • The place for electronic cigarette reviews, news and chat