Awesome, thanks for all that great help. I am smoking a 50/50 blend right now, but may want to step up to a 60/40 just for more flavoring. At least to try it.
Yep, figuring out what kind of PG/VG you like is a guess and check process too. Right now I have (and enjoy) some juices at 65/35, some at 50/50, and some at 70/30. Which ratio tastes and vapes best to me depends on the vendor and the flavor in question. Two of my favorites from MBV are Sticky Bun and Pumpkin Spice, and I get those at 65/35 with two shots - that's just how they vape best for *me*, on my particular equipment (MVP 2.0 with ARO and Vivi Nova tanks, usually) and as someone who likes punch-you-in-the-face flavors. Someone else might find them way too strong or think 65/35 is too much PG... just how this game goes. One of the awesome things about vaping is how insanely customizable it is, but it also means there's a big learning curve, and the steepest slope of that learning curve is figuring out what *you* like.
What determines if you need more nicotine? I haven't been finding myself to be cranky or haven't fits, so I assume I am OK. What is a downside to smoking with nicotine? I know ecigs are better for you because of the lack of tar, but I don't know how nicotine affects a person. The ultimate goal is to get down to 0mg of nicotine.
My goal is to get down to 0 nic too, but I knew 12 mg wasn't going to cut it when I wound up with my PV basically welded to my face all day. It was killing the urge to smoke, but I felt like I had to keep vaping constantly to *keep* the cravings away. I stepped up to 18, and now I can set the vape gear down long enough to get things done and not constantly be thinking about taking that next hit. Basically, 18mg is what I need to be able to slow down and *enjoy* the vape, if that makes sense. Nowadays, I usually vape 18mg till about the middle of the day, then start cutting whatever is in my tank with 12mg. By evening when I top up the tank again, it's pretty much all 12mg, and I vape that till about an hour before bed, then top up again with 6mg.... so I drop my nic gradually (albeit in inexact amounts) throughout the day. That works for me. Other people who are trying to step down their nic keep a tank of "full strength" (whatever that means to them) and then another tank of lower nic for evenings, and do it that way, till they're vaping the low nic during the day and 0 nic at night.
There's no one way to step down your nic... basically, if you're chainvaping or jonesing for a smoke, your nic is too low (unless you like chainvaping... some people do). If you're getting nausea/sweats/dizziness/a headache, your nic is too high - at least too high for as often as you're vaping it! And if you can vape for a while, set it down, not want a cigarette and not feel sick, your nic is just right. But what qualifies as "just right" for one person will not be the same across the board.
It also depends on what you're using to vape, and what your vaping style is. Dripping will generally require lower nic, as will anything with a lot of battery power or a high end mod. If you've got a job where you can sit and vape all day, you might prefer a lowish nic and hit it often. My mother has a job where she has to get her nic in very quickly (no official smoke breaks, always on the move), so she vapes very high nic, but only for 2-3 minutes every 4-5 hours. Again, there are no real rules, just what works for you. I'm aiming to be down to 0 nic by this time next year, because I want to do it slowly and gradually... some people are able to cut their nic faster, some may need longer. I may be one of those people who needs longer, come to that. We shall see.
But yeah, 0 nic is possible for most people. Just make sure you're smart about it and don't jump down too quickly with no recourse (i.e. don't vape all your 12 and order everything in 6!) The reason you don't want to do that is because if it turns out the 6 isn't strong enough, you might end up back on cigarettes... whereas if you've got some 12 and some 6, you've effectively got 12, 6, and also 9 (if you fill a tank/clearo/carto with half 12 and half 6). With a little more math, you can vape any strength you need between 12 and 6 in your journey downward... and not have to worry about cravings. So basically, when you are ready to start cutting your nic, make sure you've still got some of whatever strength you started with, either still hanging around from an old order, or by tossing one bottle of the old stuff in a new order, so that you have the ability to bump up the nic a little if you need to.
As for the links I posted, I wasn't asking if they were the best (I know how those types of conversations go here!) - but rather as starter flavors. Also I learned about the palette cleansers, which I was wondering yesterday. And you are right, I shouldn't go by what I would normally consume, I was given some Melondade from MBV and I didn't think I'd like it, but I ended up loving it. So it will be hard at first to break that habit.
*I* think they're good starter flavors, but that's because those are the kind of flavors I like to vape anyway. Someone who prefers tobacco vapes probably wouldn't agree.
I had an opportunity to go to a B&M a week or so ago and try out all of Mountain Oak Vapor's line. I'd picked out some before I left the house that sounded like my thing.... and none of them were. They weren't bad, and I'd certainly vape them, but they definitely weren't what I'd reach for first. The one I ended up liking is described as "banana nut" - but I get neither banana nor nut out of it. To me, it tastes more like a sweet cappuccino than anything else! Now, that could be anything from my tastebuds being weird, to the mod I was using to vape it, to the voltage I was vaping it... but it's one I never would have picked on the basis of "banana nut." And that's the other trouble you run into when trying to buy flavors sight unseen... sometimes the description doesn't line up with whatever *you* taste out of it, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. So unless you have a brick and mortar store to visit, you just have to go with your best guess, and try not to be too disappointed if (when) you guess wrong.
Don't forget to steep your MBV juices. Some are good right out of the mail, but most will be much, much better after they've sat for a week or two.
