1 Month In: Nose Hits & Nicotine

[Whistle_Pig]

Just thought I'd blather on a bit with various observations. Here it is, 4 weeks after my first shipment arrived. Am I off the pyros yet? No. I had 4 packs on hand when I started on the 510, and I've bought 4 more since then, of which I have most of 1 left. I didn't expect to immediately drop tobacco. But I did expect those 1st 4 packs to be my last. Am I giving up? Of course not! I stated early on that e-cigs don't quite scratch the same itch. I haven't any idea what itch that is, since in the past I had good success with the patch in almost quitting. In the evenings, and on weekends, I'm pretty good with my 510. At work ... well that's a different story. I don't think it's just psychological because I'm used to having a smoke as a stress reaction. I go through all the same motions getting up and going outside to vape. Maybe I'll restrict myself to keeping a pack just at the office for a bit. But I will quit.

I'm a bit baffled by the whole nic level thing. I read quite a bit about nic levels before choosing my juice. Of course, generalizations are just that, and not everyone agrees on what nic level is equivalent to "ultra light" -- indeed, there's no way to really quantify that anyway. I can tell you that a Marlboro Ultra-Light isn't even half the smoke an American Spirit is. But how that helps relate to 12mg or 24mg juice? Beats me, because FreedomSmokeUSA sent a free sample of 24mg juice, and I vaped that without even a hint of "too much" sensation. Could be that since I've smoked for 29 years, I just have more tolerance. So I don't know whether the "itch" issue is nic level -- I don't usually vape 24mg for that matter. I'm not terribly worried about this, BTW. Just an observation. A WAG at the nic level for my home-brew mix is 14-18mg. I've never counted the puffs on an American Spirit Ultra-Light, but I'm pretty sure I take fewer puffs "having a smoke" on my 510. That accounts for at least some of it.

Speaking of nicotine uptake, I thought maybe I needed to just get a bigger initial kick. Let me preface this by saying that I've used tobacco in every normal mode devised by man, except as a poultice on a snake bite. Smoked pipes, cigarettes, and cigars. Chewed. And snorted snuff. So I thought maybe if I exhaled through my nose, I'd get that direct absorption through the nasal mucous membranes, of some of what wasn't already absorbed. Well, it didn't give me a sneezing fit, but it did make my nose run. Anyone else try any form of nasal vaping?

Anyone else remember smoking by drawing a mouthful of smoke, but then inhaling it through the nose? Yeah, I tried that too. Didn't seem to have any different effect. Plus it doesn't work well with a moustache.

No trouble with dead attys or battys so far. 510 works great. I'm tempted by the eGo, but my decrepit Volvo needs brakes, and there's a whole list of other things I have to spend money on.

Anyways, I'm actually not a big forum type person. Been online in one form or another since the 1200-baud days, and maybe I'm a bit worn out. But this is a great place. I often don't have a lot to say, but I'm reading a lot. And appreciating all the good info, and the humor too.

TTFN

 

[punkkloser]

try cartomizers, the juice tastes better, the 510 isnt a 3.7 volt device, it should be advertised as a 3.1 device, becuz thats all it puts out, try a 808 batt and some premium carts, which actually run at 3.7

 

[sanfordf]

Part of that missing itch (IMO) is the additional alkaloids not found in the e-juice. As a result, I use about 4-5 pouches of Camel SNUS a week. It helps. It's safer than chew or butts.
Another thing is that vaping is a technique, long slow draws letting the atomizer get warm and do its thing. I pull a 5-7 second draw, mouth hold/inhale it or nose inhale it. It's steam vapor so it does make my nose condense/drip some. I think it is absorbed through the mucus membranes.
I mix my own juice at 25 mg / ml and found that I need to vape about 30-40 hits to equal 1 butts worth of satisfaction. I have read here at ECF that vaping is gonna' be less efficient than cigs. Figures, big tobacco has spent millions of $ to create the most effective nicotine delivering device that modern chemistry can make.

I smoked Camel Hard Packs for 25 years. I now vape 510s and my Tornado's and occasional SNUS for the additional itch.

 

[glennnnnnn]

You may be one of the people that e-cigs isnt the wholy grail nor the whole solution, but dont beat yourself up, and stick with the e-cigs for the times that they do work
One of the benifits of vaping is "harm reduction" and if your smokeing less then thats great
There are plenty of people who also want the alkaliods thing, and Ive read that Snuss can be a big help, and just another tool in the bag

good luck and keep vaping

Glenn

 

[Whistle_Pig]

punkkloser: Thanks for the suggestion, but I rather doubt it's a hardware issue. If I were better off financially, I'd be up for playing with a more variety there, but the 510 seems to be keeping up its end.

As for alkaloids, could be. If I decide I need to continue with some sort of tobacco, it'll likely be snuff. That will be counter to my secondary reason for vaping, which is to save money, but perhaps it would be a trivial expense.

 

[brandon555]

try cartomizers, the juice tastes better, the 510 isnt a 3.7 volt device, it should be advertised as a 3.1 device, becuz thats all it puts out, try a 808 batt and some premium carts, which actually run at 3.7

It doesn't matter if it's not quite 3.7 because Joye 510 attys are usually around 2.2 ohms

Even though a KR8 is a true 3.7 volts cartomizers have a resistance of 3 ohms

They both end up vaping around 4.5 watts

In the end the result is the same.

 

[brandon555]

punkkloser: Thanks for the suggestion, but I rather doubt it's a hardware issue. If I were better off financially, I'd be up for playing with a more variety there, but the 510 seems to be keeping up its end.

As for alkaloids, could be. If I decide I need to continue with some sort of tobacco, it'll likely be snuff. That will be counter to my secondary reason for vaping, which is to save money, but perhaps it would be a trivial expense.

Maybe try some liquids that are made with l-nicotine. Some people find it to be more satisfying like a regular cigarette than the r-nicotine that most liquids are made with.

I know Nhaler carries it but I'm sure other vendors do as well.

 

[Whistle_Pig]

Maybe try some liquids that are made with l-nicotine. Some people find it to be more satisfying like a regular cigarette than the r-nicotine that most liquids are made with.

I know Nhaler carries it but I'm sure other vendors do as well.

I did a bit of searching, and came up with this post by Kurt -- and a few others on that same page, which lead me to believe that l-nicotine is the only economically feasible ingredient. See also Dvap replying to Drew, and see Kurt's comment on the next page.

In any business venture, you seek to differentiate yourself from the competition. You can say things that are true, and have them sound exceptional, even when they aren't. And Drew has backed off from any claims about L-nicotine specifically, at least in the latter thread I linked to -- didn't read all the way through either of them.

Do you have a source for information about r-nicotine used in e-liquid? A search on ECF for the term came back with only 1 post using that term.

 

[bassnut]

I came up with some nicotine info from an Nhaler thread.
I could be wrong but it seems that ALL e-juice is made from natural tobacco sourced "L" nicotine. Please don't use the lower case L (l) because it looks like an "I".
There is a "D" nicotine that's synthetic, cost prohibitive and actually harder to metabolize.
I'm still awaiting clarification on this. I could be wrong.

 

[DVap]

I Just posted this elsewhere.. probably fits here as well:

There are two forms of nicotine, and chemists use different naming systems to indicate the same thing. These multiple naming systems have been annoying me since I took organic chemistry in college back in 1983.

L-nicotine
(-)-nicotine
(S)-nicotine

All three above are used to express the naturally occurring stereoisomer of nicotine in it's isolated form.

D-nicotine
(+)-nicotine
(R)-nicotine

All three above are used to express the non-naturally occurring (synthetic) stereoisoner of nicotine in it's isolated form.

If nicotine is made synthetically with equal amounts of each stereoisomer present, it is referred to as (DL)-nicotine, (RS)-nicotine, or (±)-nicotine.

Production-wise, the naturally occurring (L),(-),(S)-nicotine is what we get and what we use. Purification of this stereoisomer from tobacco is relatively easy and cheap.

Racemic nicotine (DL),(RS),(±)-nicotine, is available in mg quantities for a hefty price.

The purified non-natural stereoisomer (D),(+),(R)-nicotine is typically found only in research settings, and the price is out of this world.

 

[Whistle_Pig]

I Just posted this elsewhere.. probably fits here as well:

There are two forms of nicotine, and chemists use different naming systems to indicate the same thing. These multiple naming systems have been annoying me since I took organic chemistry in college back in 1983.

L-nicotine
(-)-nicotine
(S)-nicotine

<SNIP>

Thanks, DVap. Now I'm going to quote you in the Library Annex <mutter><mutter>Well, I'll link to you, anyway

 

[Whistle_Pig]

Just thought I'd note, for the record, that I smoked my last pyro at about 6AM Thursday.