A few nicotine questions

[F-machine]

Has anyone of you experienced bad nicotine? I mean I read or heard these have shelf life? Is that correct? Forgot where I read or watched that. But anyways, as a smoker, I know what nicotine hit feels like first day in the morning everyday for 20 years.

Now as a vaper, my experience is all over the place. I buy 3mg branded juices and TBH, I feel like nothing. There's the throat hit yeah, but the good old cigarette jolt and buzz is not there. I also bought some VG carried nicotine. Normal nics, not nicotine salts, 250mg/ml strength, and I mix them and target 3mg. I mix them with 30%PG and 70%VG and they hit like I took a tumble. Not that I enjoy it but it buzz me up good and I know they work. I bought a new bottle of my go to juice today and same 3mg strength. Again, not a damn hit! So I mixed another 30ml of PG+VG+nics on my own and I'm here typing like I just woke up from a night of drinking. Damn... I feel my hair rising up behind my spines and my head as I inhale the vapors from my mix. Then hits like fire on my throat and sometimes I cannot hold it and cough like a noob.

I am now seriously thinking that this nic I bought is bad. Like gone bad, decayed past shelf like or whatever you call it. I need to ask how do I tell bad nicotine batch from good ones. I have 2 30ml bottles of this stuff and I need to ask if I should buy new ones and throw this away. And may I ask all of you guys and how you experience nicotine on vape? And do you think I need to try nicotine salts?

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

 

[Baditude]

Smoking is a much more efficient way of absorbing nicotine than vaping, so its not surprising that you don't get the "same" kind of quick hit from vaping as you would from smoking a cigarette. 3mg nic strength is pretty darn low to compare it to smoking. You probably need to increase your nic strength.

For e-liquid, the typical nicotine recommendations are generally determined by how much you smoked, and are as follows:

1/2 pack per day or less = 6 mg nicotine
1 ppd = 12 mg
1 1/2 ppd = 18 mg
2 ppd = 24 mg​

Should you choose to use a sub-ohm juice attachment (coil less than 1.0 ohm); drop the above recommendations by half.​

Pure liquid nicotine may or may not have a peppery taste, which probably contributes to that "back of the throat kick". It should be good for up to two years unrefrigerated. The longer that liquid nicotine is exposed to air, the darker the color over time. I've not noticed any decline in potency of 2 year old liquid nic.

I don't have enough experience with Nic Salts to compare it to freebase nicotine. I've only sampled Nic Salts in a vape shop a couple of times. Allegedly it is a higher nicotine strength than freebase, but its been treated to be "smoother" on the inhale, so it may not be what you are seeking if you like that nic hit of a cigarette. Others who may than know more than me about Nic Salts can comment on that opinion.

 

[F-machine]

Thanks mate! What I'm trying to describe is I don't feel much nicotine from the pre-made branded juice I buy. But the mix I make and same 3mg strength, the nics hits like a brick. I mean too strong for me and I do get dizzy from my mix than from the branded juice. Much too strong hit that I think my batch is bad. I mean the nics freebase is bad, not the mix I make. Too strong I can't take 2 hits in a row. I can chain vape on the branded stuff but can't do it on my own mixes.

 

[Baditude]

Thanks mate! What I'm trying to describe is I don't feel much nicotine from the pre-made branded juice I buy. But the mix I make and same 3mg strength, the nics hits like a brick. I mean too strong for me and I do get dizzy from my mix than from the branded juice. Much too strong hit that I think my batch is bad. I mean the nics freebase is bad, not the mix I make. Too strong I can't take 2 hits in a row. I can chain vape on the branded stuff but can't do it on my own mixes.

You get that strong of a nic hit with 3mg DIY juice? I have a hunch that you're mixing it wrong. Are you using a recipe calculator? What Pg/Vg ratio are you mixing? A high Pg ratio can give the effect of throat hit.

 

[F-machine]

You get that strong of a nic hit with 3mg DIY juice? I have a hunch that you're mixing it wrong. Are you using a recipe calculator? What Pg/Vg ratio are you mixing? A high Pg ratio can give the effect of throat hit.

Yeah I also thought I maybe doing something wrong or the strength is wrong. I use steam machine calculator, vape tool app and a normal calculator and everything is turning up the same. I measure by ml using syringe and still... I also tried doing real small batch like convert the ml to drops and still the same. Like 70 drops of VG 30 drops of PG and ONE drop of the nic freebase yet still. I'm not stuck though. I simply add more PG and VG to lessen the hit but I honestly think something is wrong with the nic freebase I have. That's why I am asking how long do they last and if it is possible for those to go bad. I keep them inside a box inside my cabinet and it's quite cold where it's kept.

I just mix it directly 50% of the mix I made and 50% of 0mg VG then it vapes alright. But then the calculations will end up as 1.5mg nics.

 

[Baditude]

I see that you are not in the US. Not sure about the quality of nic you can get in your location. Could well be bad nicotine.

 

[Rossum]

I am now seriously thinking that this nic I bought is bad. Like gone bad, decayed past shelf like or whatever you call it.

That wouldn't make its effects stronger.

I need to ask how do I tell bad nicotine batch from good ones.

Peppery taste and darkening.

There have been a few reports of vendors messing up and shipping nic that's stronger than it's supposed to be (like 200 instead of 100), but if what you got is 250 mg to begin with, how much stronger can it really be?

What does your nic look like and smell like? How would you describe its viscosity?

 

[bombastinator]

3mg is a very low nicotine level. My suspicion is that your homemade method is much stronger than 3ml.

Nicotine’s shelf life varies tremendously according to its storage. Nicotine degrades in the presence of heat or light. Kept in a freezer it can last for years. On a shelf, not so much.

 

[TheTinMan]

There have been a few reports of vendors messing up and shipping nic that's stronger than it's supposed to be (like 200 instead of 100), but if what you got is 250 mg to begin with, how much stronger can it really be?

This would help with knowing what the concentration is

Nicotine Titration Kit

I am not associated with NR, it was just one of the cheaper kits that popped up.

 

[F-machine]

I see that you are not in the US. Not sure about the quality of nic you can get in your location. Could well be bad nicotine.

I agree, my location sucks and may be adding to my troubles. It's a little messy here. No laws are written about vaping afaik, but news are warning users and sellers that nicotine is a drug and importing is illegal. That vaping is not 100% safe. Derp?! They have a program here from the government that if you want to quit smoking, you call a number then get a vaccine for free that is said to make you magically hate smoking. They are pushing hard on that I guess... Anyways, the nics I got are not branded, looks like repacked. The container it came with is the ones you can buy at vape shops for DIY mixes. Amber colored glass container with a dripper, you know.

That wouldn't make its effects stronger.


There have been a few reports of vendors messing up and shipping nic that's stronger than it's supposed to be (like 200 instead of 100), but if what you got is 250 mg to begin with, how much stronger can it really be?

What does your nic look like and smell like? How would you describe its viscosity?

It smells nutty to me. Not even close to peppery IMO. Color is a little darker than Budwieser beer. Like Golden brown, but not as brown as copper. Viscosity is a little thinner than 100% VG. Actually, it's more like PG consistency. I'm seriously thinking it's PG carried and not VG, maybe had a typo and possibly evaporation of the carrying liquid since it's only by text message the seller told me the strength and carrying liquid of this thing. No labels, no receipt, just a text message...

Anyways guys... I don't want this to be a long thread. I'll just look for a new seller because that guy is the first and only seller I tried. It's kinda hard to look around here since you cannot post on open online conversations of the thing you are looking for. There are many online sellers here but they don't post these type of products on online stores. I need to ask them using private messages one by one, and the language barrier... Dang...

 

[SupplyDaddy]

The VG style will be slightly less viscous than straight VG. PG nor VG will evaporate that easily.
BTW, what size bottles are you mixing?