Unflavored fluid, newbness, and other questions

[xen]

Hello all,

I saw the CBC news story on e-cigarettes (is it just me, or is this name sort of lame?) the other night. I have to admit my first reaction was a bit of professional cynicism: "Oh, here we go. Next stop is a brave new world where everyone in every corporate geo-state runs around inhaling various fun and frightening substances from little electronic narcotic dispensers. Soylent green is people, dammit!"

I went back to bodyboarding around the web. After a few minutes I thought: "Hmm, well I wonder how it works. After all, those other NRTs kinda work, except for the oral fixation / psychological bit".

With a few moments of Googling I saw the magic word: V-A-P-E. I've used vaporizers in the past as they're popular with health conscious people who occasionally inhale other 'aromatic herbs'. I remember the sensation being a little tiny bit like actually smoking. Now my curiosity has been piqued!

Anyway I found Rusty's series of reviews, and this fantastic little community, and by the wee hours found myself whipping out the charge card and plonking down for what seems like a well rounded kit from PureSmoker. Heck at $10 a pack for decent quality ammonia free smokes up here in Canada, these things are more than affordable!

That's my newb story. Ultimately I'm interested in quitting nicotine, but unlike other addictions and habits I haven't been able to kick this one yet. All in good time.

Now for the questions:

- Isn't anyone selling propylene glycol and nicotine solution without flavoring? It seems like it would be a trivial (although mildly dangerous) thing to mix up. I understand from reading up on the health effects of these vaporizers that the largest unknown is the effect of inhaling the various chemicals used in flavouring. Seems like a minor issue at first, but more of an issue in the long term.

- All the flavorings out there seem to be variations on tobacco, mint, or something sweet. Of these mint is the only one that seems appealing to me. Anyone else who isn't big on sweets and would eventually like to free themselves of tobacco find something they like?

- Thanks to all the posters here for creating such a great little knowledgebase. It's been unbelievably helpful as a starting point but ... Some of the posts about '36mg/ml juice' and deepening nicotine addiction are a bit disturbing. I realise that there's a bias because a lot of posters are enthusiasts, and as a heavy smoker I certainly can't say there's anything wrong with that other than I found it discouraging. Has anyone used these eCig things to successfully ween themselves off of nicotine?

Thanks again, and sorry about the long post (although I suspect it's OK in the company of other mildly obsessive nicotine addicts

[katink]

Hi Xen,

There is tasteless liquid too (though not many sell it). You can use that and putyour own flavouring in of whatever kind you prefer.

There are also tastes that aren't tobacco-tastes and aren't sweet tastes either. Not all too many, but they are around for who searches. Fennet is one I love - mix of liquorice and aniseed. Then there are green tea, black tea, panax/ginseng, cloves, partypuff and powerpuff, and some more I can't come up with right now.

As to the nicotine... there is a remarkable difference between countries, apparantly... just today there were gasps, on a dutch forum, that 24 mg even existed... that just isn't sold there, anyone using that is a real 'special case' for all others (imagine the shock when I told them that 36 mg existed also...).

As for weening off: sure, that happens too... again a lot more in many european countries then it seems to happen in usa and uk (where it certainly also does happen though). I very gradualy went down from 18 to 11 myself (and plan to continue, if and when my body tells me I am ready for it, down to perhaps 3 mg... at that stage I expect to have the good effects and not the possibly bad, of nicotine - plus going to zero from there, if really mandated, can't be all too hard then - don't know if or when I will be making that though, and not too bothered about getting there either; that's the best way to succeed for me ) Mind you I was a heavy smoker too - 2 to 3 packs a day. So yes, going down in nicotine strength is entirely possible - at least for many.

Oh and we are just in the process of trying to find new words for our new-found habit, so that 'lame' word might become history one of these days.

Enjoy yourself on the forum - loads of stuff more to find, down there in the basement of time, also

[Kate]

Hi Xen, welcome to the forum.

Katink has answered everything very well but I'd just like to add that I agree that esmoking, ecigs and ecigarettes are kind of lame

I'm hoping that something like smazing will catch on

[xen]

Hello Katink, Kate

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Fennet? Anise flavor sounds perfect! Who sells such a thing (I imagine it'll be hard to come by in north america where licorice is about as popular as marmite)

Great to hear that people do successfully reduce their nicotine intake (and congratulations on cutting down!). The one thing that does seem a bit dodgy about the marketing of these things is the 'guilt free fix'. 36mg x 2ml daily is definitely not healthy by any stretch.

e-ProductNames suck. They were getting old at the height of the .com bubble, and for anyone who lived through the bubble years over here only induce cringes. Imagine a company marketing 'sub-prime financing! everything must go!' in this day and age...

I decided I'll refer to it as a 'nicotine vaporiser' if I get to the point where I use this thing in public.

Ergh ... anticipation ... building ...

Cheers!

[spyderuk]

Welcome aboard Xen.

Smokers will have different needs for nicotine, some will be higher than others which is obvious. 36mg liquid can also be cut with pg/vg but this would also dilute the flavours somewhat. Have a look through the diy liquid posts when you can pull yourself away from researching the other posts around here.

Depending on how much you used to smoke would determine where about you should start on nictine strength with your vapouriser. If you have the urge to smoke at certain times, first thing in the morning, after meals etc, then a higher nic juice may help you through those spikes. I also plan on reducing my nic intake and currently I use 14-18mg juice. 14mg mostly with 18mg for those times when I feel the need. I also have some 11mg juice ready to drop down too and I find I vape it on an evening in.

I used to roll my own and go through around 20 per day.

Flavourless juice is available and there have been a couple of posts around it recently.

Will we be seeing 40mg juice soon?

When you first get your device you may feel as though you are hitting it constantly, (new toy syndrome). I hope you ordered that USB passthrough battery too.

Good luck with your new 'nicotine vaporiser'

[wjmcspirit]

So can we make juice without nicotine, or buy it?

[Walrus]

Originally Posted by wjmcspirit

So can we make juice without nicotine, or buy it?

Most certainly. Here's a thread I started on the subject:

Do you like money? Why everyone *should* DIY.

[Generic]

Hi!

JuicyLiquid dot com has unflavored in both PG and VG formulations. I've found them to be fast shipping, good prices, and VERY professional.

I'm stocking up on both high and low nic. unflavored and experimenting with flavors. Lor-Ann (flavor/oil company) is about 45 minuts from home so I have the world of flavors virtually at my fingertips. Surprizingly they have a retail store right at the plant and they are really friendly and accmodationg.

I'm also experimenting and trying to find the "right" nic level for me. I'm vaping to get off coffin nails and started out at 18mg. Not enough. I got ahold of 36mg and huffed and puffed and before I knew it the room was spinning, I was turning green, and feeling like IU did when I swiped a Salem from Mom in 1974 lol!

I guess my sweet spot must be around 24-26mg.

Take care all!

-Generic