This subject is explained in depth here:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ette-vs-e-cigarette-nicotine-equivalency.html
A simple and practical example is that one regular carto (35mm x 9mm, containing ~1ml of liquid) is equal to about 5 or 6 cigarettes. A smoker who consumed 15-20 cigarettes a day will consume 3 cartos a day.
A cigarette contains on average 18mg of nicotine (though this number is falling). When burnt, there is about 1mg of nicotine in the total smoke generated (again, this figure is falling year by year). Thus a cigarette delivers 5% of its nicotine to the smoke, an inefficient process.
The average e-liquid is of 18mg strength and as the average carto contains 1ml, there is 18mg of nicotine in total in the average carto. We don't know how much nicotine is in the vapor, when the e-liquid is converted to vapor, as it has never been reliably measured. Indications are that it is about 50%, which is far more efficient than a cigarette purely in terms of conversion from the solid or liquid phase to the gaseous phase. More importantly, we don't know how much nicotine is contained in the total vapor of a session lasting 12 minutes, which is a rough estimate of the time it would take to get about the same nicotine as there is in the smoke from a cigarette (but obviously we assume it is about 1mg or at least has the same effect as 1mg of nicotine as delivered by a cigarette).
It's important to note these facts:
1. There are no reliable references in the literature for how much nicotine is in vapor, or in the total vapor resulting from 12 minutes of use. Therefore it is impossible to say, "X amount of e-liquid is equal to X number of cigarettes". There is no possible numerical basis for such statements. In addition it is not possible to compare one item in a gas phase (after conversion) with another in a liquid phase (before conversion) as that is an invalid comparison with no relevance to anything; after conversion the nicotine content is not the same as pre-conversion.
2. The efficiency of the nicotine delivery from an e-cigarette is proportionate to the battery power. Devices that use big batteries or high voltages produced by electronic means will deliver more nicotine than small devices, because they deliver more vapor.
3. Not everything is transferred from the e-liquid to the vapor; and not all that is in the e-liquid gets into the vapor. We know this for two reasons:
a. The FDA found small quantities of a contaminant in a sample of e-liquid. It was not detected in the vapor.
b. Numerous informal and unpublished tests of e-liquid and vapor appear to show that about 50% of the nicotine in e-liquid is transferred into the vapor. These tests mainly come in in at the 45% to 55% mark although there are outliers at 10% and 95%. Discarding the outliers and averaging, we get 50% of the nicotine in e-liquid being transferred to the vapor.
Until somebody somewhere pays for a reputable laboratory to run a series of tests that are correctly managed [1] and subsequently published in a reputable journal, we really have no idea how much nicotine is in vapor. The only thing we do know is that it is extremely unlikely to be all of it.
[1] There are numerous published tests of ecig vapor where the results can be immediately discarded as worthless. Photos of the test rig were provided that showed a mini ecig being used, with the device being operated inverted [2], and descriptions of hundreds of puffs being taken from the device while it was inverted. Tests run by persons with zero knowledge of the product and its correct use are worthless. If you wish to test a car you first need to find someone who can drive, not a person from a mountain tribe who has never seen one.
Tests on ecigs need to use modern not obsolete equipment (the current standard device is a mid-size unit with a 510 connector), and the rig cannot oscillate to replicate user management of an ecig (i.e. sometimes vertical with mouthpiece end high, sometimes horizontal), the device needs to be run at a constant 45-degree downward angle with the mouthpiece end high and the battery end low. The puff and interval times need agreement with an expert on the head being used at the time. It needs to be remembered that an ecig is a gravity-fed device where the heating element is partially submerged in liquid.
An ecig cannot be used in the same way as a tobacco cigarette as it doesn't work. If it is accepted that it won't work, and that this is OK in the circumstances, then indeed it can be used in the same way as a regular cigarette. Otherwise, if it is required to produce acceptable results, then it needs to be used in a completely different way to a regular cigarette. Indeed, there are no similarities in use whatsoever apart from the fact both are placed in the mouth.
[2] An ecig is like an electric kettle, it doesn't work well upside down.
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