11mg nicotine - low or medium?

[Starlight]

I've been lurking on this great forum for a couple of weeks and have learnt so much - thank you all for all the great info here!

As a brief intro, I started on e-cigs about a fortnight ago. I have both the dse901, and the Intellicig EVO which I think is brilliant. I've been a 2 pack a day smoker for decades and have tried everything there is to quit but nothing worked. I was astonished to find that the day after starting on the e-cigs, my use of real cigs dropped by half and is now at about 10 a day, and all so painlessly!

I've been trying out various liquids and am a bit confused over those at 11 mg nicotine strength as I'm wanting the lowest nicotine strength as I smoke(d) the lowest of nicotine strength cigarettes at 0.1mg. Some suppliers call the 11 mg liquid "low" (eg: e-cigs.co.uk and Johnson Creek), and some call it "medium" (eg: Janty and Totally Wicked). Whilst others at 6 mg or 8 mg are also called "low".

Am I the only newbie to be confused over these different strengths of "low"?

[RainbowznStarz]

No. And in my opinion 11mg of Nic is medium.

[K-Sound Krew]

I was a camel light smoker for 20 years
I use the Janty med liquid
It is definately more nic then what I was used to

But I like that extra hit of nic I think that's what makes an e-cig almost just as satisfying as an analog

[UkUsa]

I'd also agree that 11mg is a medium. I started with the high carts and juice, think they are 24mg. My latest juice is Med Riskee from puresmoker which is 16mg. I am planning to step down to a low next and see how that works out. I did try the 0mg cart in my starter pack and wasn't too impressed with it.
Maybe after stepping down to low for a while i'll try some 0 mg again but in a flavoured variety.

[Starlight]

Thanks all for your replies to my first post

I think I'm more addicted to the whole physical act of smoking rather than to the nic itself - which is why I love these e-cigs! That may be as I never took tobacco smoke directly into the lungs although I probably still need some nic.

I find that if I have too much 11 mg, my tongue sort of stings and feels prickly and feels as if I've burnt it on boiling soup. If I'm right, from what I've seen on the forum here, that's due to a higher nic content than I'm used to? Or is it a side-effect of starting on e-cigs as I'm not getting any OD symptoms?

But, I did get both 0 mg and 11 mg of some them, so I can mix them 50/50 and get a 5.5 mg nic content - is that right? Or, get some food grade glycerine and mix it 50/50 with the others that I don't have 0 mg flavours for?

[Kate]

Hi Starlight, welcome to the forum. I love your avatar, it's classy

I think 11mg is medium.

My theory about nicotine dosing has changed a bit recently, I'm not convinced that a steady dose, even at low levels, is having any pleasurable effect. The more we are exposed the more tolerant and dependant we become so gradually the dose has to be increased to have the same effect.

However, if we dose like we smoked - zero nic for a while and then occasional spikes of nicotine, then nicotine levels would go from low to high quicker and have more effect.

What I'm going to be doing is vape either low or zero most of the time but have treats occasionally when I would have had a cig. Just a couple of drops of medium does it for me. That way, by not taking a steady ineffective low dose I can get a spike that I can feel the buzz with without taking much of a daily dose at all. That's my theory at the moment anyway

I suggest that you try to find a nic level that is just enough to keep you off tobacco, even if you have to have occasional doses of medium or high. As you get used to vaping you'll manage your dose better and can take more control over reducing it if that's what you plan to do.

[pseudonym]

Hi Starlight, welcome to the forum. I love your avatar, it's classy

I think 11mg is medium.

My theory about nicotine dosing has changed a bit recently, I'm not convinced that a steady dose, even at low levels, is having any pleasurable effect. The more we are exposed the more tolerant and dependant we become so gradually the dose has to be increased to have the same effect.

However, if we dose like we smoked - zero nic for a while and then occasional spikes of nicotine, then nicotine levels would go from low to high quicker and have more effect.

What I'm going to be doing is vape either low or zero most of the time but have treats occasionally when I would have had a cig. Just a couple of drops of medium does it for me. That way, by not taking a steady ineffective low dose I can get a spike that I can feel the buzz with without taking much of a daily dose at all. That's my theory at the moment anyway

I suggest that you try to find a nic level that is just enough to keep you off tobacco, even if you have to have occasional doses of medium or high. As you get used to vaping you'll manage your dose better and can take more control over reducing it if that's what you plan to do.

I was going to try something like this
To start with for say 0ne month, I'd vapour with 18mg ejuice

then I'd mix say 5ml of the 18mg ejuice with 5ml of Glycerin which would give me 10ml of 9mg ejuice, I think! I'd use this for One month

then I'd mix say 5ml of the 18mg ejuice with 10ml of Glycerin which would give me 15ml of 6mg ejuice, I think! I'd use this for One month

After this time I'd use the zero ejuice to vapour.

WELL THAT WAS MY PLAN TILL I READ YOUR POST. I WILL HAVE TO THINK AGAIN. Also I would appreciate if anyone can confirm that the mixes I would try above would be correct.

[Kate]

It's just a theory so far Pseudo, I haven't tried it out much yet. It just makes sense to me to not become accustomed to constant doses but to have spikes for treats when I would have had a cig. Nicotine should be more effective that way and more pleasurable.

Your calculations look correct to me, 18, half of 18 and a third of 18.

[pseudonym]

It's just a theory so far Pseudo, I haven't tried it out much yet. It just makes sense to me to not become accustomed to constant doses but to have spikes for treats when I would have had a cig. Nicotine should be more effective that way and more pleasurable.

Your calculations look correct to me, 18, half of 18 and a third of 18.

Great Thanks Kate. Actually the other night I changed my cart and topped up with the zero nic and puffed away at it from around 6.30pm until I went to bed and I wasn't climbing the wall. I will give your way a try and when I feel uptight I will go for a big hit... I also ordered a penstyle today so I'm looking forward to see if there is any difference in that from my minicig that I have now.

As you may have noticed, in my prevous posts I've been moaning that I've changed batteries/atomiser/cartridges/juice and still not got any vapour. I've been like a demented budgie...going on and on and on about vapour.
Well my Sister comes in the other day, picks up my cig and vapour is pouring out of it like nobodies business...I'm looking at her like she's got two heads and she says "what" guess I wasn't puffing it properly

[Kate]

Lol, I hope you got your sister to show you how it's done There is quite a steep learning curve with these things, it took me a few months to feel like I had a decent technique.

I prefer the bigger devices (except epipes), hopefully the penstyle will be a good one for you. Draw just hard enough to light the battery LED, slow and steady is usually best unless you get a funny switch. Sometimes you have to develop a technique of repeated drawing and blowing slightly in quick succession to get good vapour.