Well I must say..... you've come to the right place. I started out with 18 mg nic and had no problems. I have read that if you smoked a lot to start out with a higher nic till you get the cravings down. I didn't have any cravings at all because I just cut down my real smokes and vaped until before I knew it... I was down to one a day. I am still real new, but I have just been so pleased with the whole vaping thing. I had tried so many other things to quit (patches, Chantix, gum etc...) This is the first thing that has worked for me and I hope you give it a good try. I'm too new to be of much help on questions, but got lots of support.