Does 0% nicotine help?

[wishingwell]

Hi, I was smoking for over 10 years and managed to stop for 6 years before picking up the nasty habit again.

Went cold turkey the last time and struggled for 6 months before kicking the habit totally.
Was extremely moody and everything seemed to get on my nerves and lost my temper frequently.

Feeling guilty for picking up again for the past year, I am looking at vaping to ease the transition to a full stop eventually.

Should I just go for 0% nicotine flavored juices? or slowly reduce?

Any advice from your experiences much appreciated.

This forum rocks!

 

[Animeguy]

try zero nic. if its not for you, then get some 18-24 mg nic juice and slowly cut down.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

I began in Sept. 2011 on 36 mg. I'm now down to 8 mg. Hopefully will be finished with vaping by Sept. 2012 BUT am not holding myself to that date. I've yet to research it but plan on having some non- vaping activity to ease myself after I'm finished. Already purposely going out for 2 hours on end without my PV and it's not as bad as most would think.
Starting on 0 mg wouldn't be my choice as the true health hazard is not so much the nicotine but the act of inhaling combustibles and all the other chems in analogs.
Good Luck.

 

[elfstone]

Hi, wishingwell, and welcome!

I don't know the answer to your question, but here's the deal: vaping is not a method to quit smoking. It is a technological answer to the problem that smoking tobacco causes major health problems due to known and as-of-yet unknown chemicals in burned tobacco smoke. There are reasons to believe that replacing smoking with vaping is a good choice. That's it.

A lot of vapers were able to stop smoking cigarettes and fully switch to vaping. There is overwhelming anectodal evidence and emerging scientific data that this is the case. There is less evidence that people manage to achieve "complete abstinence" through a stepwise reduction in the nicotine vaped. There are no long term studies on the difference in health effects between vaping and smoking, or between vaping and not doing either. But there is no known reason for concern that vaping has any ill effects; it's common sense to believe there might potentially be some, but there is no evidence or suggestion as to anything major.

Bottom line is that we don't really know how vaping works to help quitting cigarette smoking, and why it seems to work so much better that traditional nicotine replacement (we have an idea - there is sufficient pleasure derived from the act, and sufficient ritual to replace the one associated with smoking). Hence, I for one cannot tell you if the nicotine in vaping is a key element. It might not be - yet a lot of people (myself included) found that they needed some nicotine; that nicotine, apart from keeping away cravings, actually works at helping concentration and memory. Funny...

My personal conclusion is that the risk eliminated by avoiding cigarette smoke is by several orders of magnitude greater than what a little nicotine in my vape poses.

Take this with the proverbial grain of salt, and maybe do more research on your own, then decide what to do. Regardless of how you do it, eliminating cigarette smoking is one of the most important things you can do for your continued health and well being - but you know all that bla-bla-bla...

 

[wishingwell]

I began in Sept. 2011 on 36 mg. I'm now down to 8 mg. Hopefully will be finished with vaping by Sept. 2012 BUT am not holding myself to that date. I've yet to research it but plan on having some non- vaping activity to ease myself after I'm finished. Already purposely going out for 2 hours on end without my PV and it's not as bad as most would think.
Starting on 0 mg wouldn't be my choice as the true health hazard is not so much the nicotine but the act of inhaling combustibles and all the other chems in analogs.
Good Luck.

Thanks for sharing.
I was asking about 0% because I may enjoy doing something but do not wish to do it because I need to but because I want
to.

Will the act of vaping without nicotine help to ease?
Just want to know if I should just start off with 0% so that I will not be so reliant on anything.
Not sure if I am making any sense here...

 

[sidetrack]

Just keep in mind that smoking is more than just the nicotine dependency. The hand to mouth habit can pull you back to smoking as well. I was floored when I finally got to zero nic about 9 months ago and still needed the visual cloud of vapor and the hand to mouth motion to keep from going nuts. I thought it was all about the nicotine...how wrong was I! I chose to give up nicotine the slow drawn out way to avoid any withdrawal symptoms...it was effortless and worked for me, YMMV. To me it's kinda like the 20 lb. I gained..didn't put it on overnight and I won't be able to take it off overnight. I'm at about 14-15 mo. now and find I can go longer and longer between vapes. I hope to someday give it up but not in any real hurry.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

You're welcome. If you are smoking now you are addicted to nicotine and the alkoids. Scientists, in a study, found it takes 6- 12 months for the brain to "rewire" itself after someone quits smoking. As another poster noted you could try 0 nic. Gio to the pharmacy and buy some PG and VG both USP/ Foo9d Grade, mix them up and vape. Should cost under $10 for about 250 ml (not sure about U.S. prices) if it works then great, if not then you haven't wasted a great deal of $$. If you are happy with the 0 nic then you can buy flavoring and you're good to go.

 

[yzer]

Wishingwell, how many cigarettes are you smoking per day? Are they strong unfiltered cigarettes, filtered, light or superlight low tar cigarettes?

 

[grandmato5]

I would suggest trying the slowly reduce method. First get comfortable with no smoking and vaping only at what ever level of nic it takes to accomplish this for you then then take steps to reduce your nicotine level in increments to eventually being comfortable with zero nic. After being at zero for a while you can determine if you wish to continue vaping at zero OR give up vaping entirely. Dont give yourself a strick time frame for accomplishing this but go with the flow and let your own body be your guide.

For myself, when I decided to reduce my nicotine levels I did so by spending part of my day with a higher nic level and other parts of my day on the lower lever I wished to move down to. After a week or two of doing this I was able to make the lower level my all day vape for another couple of weeks before again moving slowly down to all day at a lower level.

Good Luck

 

[wishingwell]

Hi, wishingwell, and welcome!

I don't know the answer to your question, but here's the deal: vaping is not a method to quit smoking. It is a technological answer to the problem that smoking tobacco causes major health problems due to known and as-of-yet unknown chemicals in burned tobacco smoke. There are reasons to believe that replacing smoking with vaping is a good choice. That's it.

A lot of vapers were able to stop smoking cigarettes and fully switch to vaping. There is overwhelming anectodal evidence and emerging scientific data that this is the case. There is less evidence that people manage to achieve "complete abstinence" through a stepwise reduction in the nicotine vaped. There are no long term studies on the difference in health effects between vaping and smoking, or between vaping and not doing either. But there is no known reason for concern that vaping has any ill effects; it's common sense to believe there might potentially be some, but there is no evidence or suggestion as to anything major.

Bottom line is that we don't really know how vaping works to help quitting cigarette smoking, and why it seems to work so much better that traditional nicotine replacement (we have an idea - there is sufficient pleasure derived from the act, and sufficient ritual to replace the one associated with smoking). Hence, I for one cannot tell you if the nicotine in vaping is a key element. It might not be - yet a lot of people (myself included) found that they needed some nicotine; that nicotine, apart from keeping away cravings, actually works at helping concentration and memory. Funny...

My personal conclusion is that the risk eliminated by avoiding cigarette smoke is by several orders of magnitude greater than what a little nicotine in my vape poses.

Take this with the proverbial grain of salt, and maybe do more research on your own, then decide what to do. Regardless of how you do it, eliminating cigarette smoking is one of the most important things you can do for your continued health and well being - but you know all that bla-bla-bla...

Good info there Elfstone, I have already decided vaping is the way to go for me.
Nicotine really works at helping concentration and memory? Wow, maybe that will explain why I seem to be dumber than usual after I quitted, not forgetting fatter too! I understand it is not a method for quitting ciggies. To me, a lot of it is mental. I am just hoping that it will help me somewhat with the withdrawal symptoms.

 

[wishingwell]

Wishingwell, how many cigarettes are you smoking per day? Are they strong unfiltered cigarettes, filtered, light or superlight low tar cigarettes?

Around 10-15 sticks a day - filtered, 9MG TAR AND 0.7MG Nicotine

 

[legion13]

i personally had to go a high nicotine level to quit the analogs, i tried the lower level options but without the throat hit it didn't do it for me. i like the other posts that say start high and cut back on the nic level as you go.
good luck!

 

[yzer]

I smoked 1.5 packs a day at .8mg nicotine per cigarette.

I was down to 4-8 cigarettes per day plus vaping the week before I quit smoking entirely and switched to vaping 2ml of 24mg nicotine juice per day. I still felt withdrawals for the first several days.

I know you have a hard time finding nicotine e-liquid in Singapore. I'm not sure that vaping straight glycerine USP (or similar) with no nicotine would be of any help compared to quitting smoking cold turkey with no vaping.

 

[Stopfakn]

try zero nic. if its not for you, then get some 18-24 mg nic juice and slowly cut down.

I agree. That what I did

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-6

 

[DownOnTheFarm]

Congrats on looking in to vaping!

Give it a try. If it doesn't work for you, you can likely pass it on to someone else it could help make a world of difference.

I'd recommend starting with a small amount of juice (maybe 30 mls) in a couple flavors and strengths. Don't buy too much before you settle on what you like. Also, keep in mind that you can reduce the nic level by mixing with lower/no nic juice. Or, you can raise it with stronger juice (or pure nic, though this is generally better suited to more experienced vapers).

Vaping is highly subjective. Be aware that it may take a while to find your perfect "sweet spot", but if you like it when you first try it, you should be sufficiently motivated to stay the course. The gradual reduction works for lots of folks, as does keeping some high-nic for stressful/tempting times. Good luck!

 

[wishingwell]

This is a whole lot of useful tips guys, really appreciate everyone sharing.

I hope this thread will help someone else who is new to vaping and would like to embark on the journey towards a smokefree life via vaping route as well.

Can't reply to all individually but many thanks for everyone for your advice.

I am off for my smokes now....hopefully can get my hands on a basic kit asap.

Cheers and have a great day/evening!

 

[DedTV]

If you smoke 2 packs or more a day, start with 24+mg nic.
If you smoke around a pack a day, go for 18mg.
If you smoke less, go for 6-12mg.
If the only part of quitting smoking that is hard is the oral fixation, then do 0 nic.

Once you get off the cigs, step down the nic whenever you feel comfortable doing so.

 

[Ratchet]

I would start with a higher nic content, maybe 18 or 24. Once you get used to vaping, slowly cut down the nic if you want. Starting with 0 nic may or may not work for you, my money is on "it won't". If you are smoking regular cigis then you are already pretty much addicted to nic, going to zero nic up front would probably be like going cold-turkey into nic withdrawal. The only thing you'd keep is the "hand-to-mouth motion which would have not been enough for me. At about 1.5 packs/day, I started at 18-24 mg almost 3 months ago, so far, I didn't decrease yet, tried some 8 mg juice once, that was too far too fast, didn't make it a full day on that strenght. Went back to 18 and staying there for now, sometimes 24, depending on where I get my juice from. Easiest way to decrease is probably to mix your own.......

 

[SlightlyAmused]

I was smoking around a pack a day and when I had no nic I would get really edgy. Personally, I would recommend people coming from a habit of roughly a pack a day to start vaping around 18mg.

http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2000-15775-054 Thats my reason to continue to use nicotine among some other studies on its benefits. However, if you are that determined on getting rid of nicotine then I would recommend starting with 18mg and slowly working your way down to zero. Don't rush yourself.

 

[bnrkwest]

I agree start with a bit higher then gradually lower your nic. I started at 12 nic, I had some 24 nic just incase I had a nic fit, now I am at 6-7 nic and vape some 3 and zero as well at night. It is amazing how fast you can really reduce the level. Good luck! bnrk