New vaper... nic levels help!

[KroniKlepto]

Hi all.

I switched to vaping after 15+ years as a smoker 2 weeks ago, and I really think I'm doing something wrong with the nic levels. Here's the details:

- smoked a pack a day of Marb lights
- gone through 3 pieces of hardware in the past 2 weeks: first the Luci, then the TW Tornado, now the TW Tornado tank (which is awesome, btw.)
- Started with 18mg, tried going to 15 and 11, and up to 24. After a few hits of the 24, I got the head buzz thing going on, so I went back to 18.
- I originally wanted to vape like I smoked: pretty much every hour, or a half smoke every half hour. Then I tried vaping more often, after reading some advice (I think here) to not try to limit your intake the first few weeks.

In the mornings, I'm usually fine, although most of the time it feels like I'm not getting enough nic. Around mid-morning, I start getting jittery and restless; foot tapping, leg shaking, wanting to pace, etc. I associate this with needing nicotine, so I'll vape (TW Red Label 18mg) (about 10 hits usually, maybe more.) Then, the rest of the day, every time I vape, I get this mild, but annoying itch... everywhere. The jitters really only stop if I vape for 5-10 minutes straight... they return pretty quickly, though. The only time the itchy/jittery stuff stops is after a few beers in the evening.

I bought some VG last night, and tried cutting some 24 down to 18 with it, but, by that point, I had had a few beers... so, I'm not sure if it worked. Didn't have a chance to try the VG out again today, but I figured I would throw it out there and see if anyone else has had something similar.

I have no desire to smoke again, but I really need to figure the nicotine situation out, and want nothing to do with snus, gum, etc. Help?

 

[webbcm127]

if 24 is to high for you stay with the 18 but maybe use the 24 firsthing in the am to get it into your system, and yes try not to limit your vaping intitailly(sp) 5-10 mins of vaping is kinda like smoking a full cig and that would make sense, if its only been a few weeks it sounds like you are still going through the withdrawls of all the bad stuff in cigs, if you can bear with it for a lil while longer they will start to go away and youll do fine. the itch that your talking about could be your blood vessels opening back up and allowing better circulation of your blood....the vessels shrink a little bit after smoking for a while. the vg may help but i dont think thats your main problem, hope this helps a lil bit, have agreat day!-)

 

[dormouse]

Marlboro Lights are .8mg nic each cigarette so 16mg per pack. I was a 1.5 PAD smoker of .9 mg lights and I started on 16-18mg and a fairly wimpy PV, vaping about as much as I smoked. I think 16-18mg is probably the right nicotine for you unless you are going to vape a lot more than you smoked, in which case maybe you should go with lower. Or if you need more just sometimes use 24, or mix 24 and 16-18 to make something in-between?

But nicotine just meets the physical craving, it doesn't give you that ahh I just had a smoke by itself. You need some juice that satisfies your soul. For me that is a combination of reasonable TH (but not so much my tongue or throat get sore) and an aroma/flavor that calms me. At first that aroma was tobacco or tobacco w/ cocoa (my old fave analogs had a really noticable amount of cocoa in them and lots of analogs have cocoa in them). And I found that for me, 70 pg / 30vg juice bases gave a pleasing enough amount of vapor and smoothness without killing the TH too much. But I had to try a lot of flavors to find some that satisfied/calmed me with their aroma and also had good TH. Some tobacco juices are sort of dark and low key and sometimes their TH is not that great. I found I needed ones with some pungency (like FSUSA Desert Ship) or with some high notes (like the sweet oRYental 4).

And BTW - when some people drink they need stronger flavors and/or flavors with more TH.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

I tried starting with 18mg and found that wasn't enough, but I didn't need 24mg all the time. I ended up vaping both strengths for a while. I would use 24mg to get rid of cravings and would use it when I was away from home and couldn't vape whenever I wanted to. I would use the 18mg at home and just vape whenever I felt like I needed to or wanted to. I've been able to wean myself down to vaping 18mg all the time. I'm not sure if this will help you, but I thought I'd throw it in the suggestion pot anyway.

 

[randy giles]

Interesting. I smoked Camel 9 pinks, about a pack a day, maybe a bit more. When I started vaping I got 18mg juice and constantly took in too much nicotine. I'd get headaches, nausea, nervousness, all that. Now I'm mixing my own and am probably in the 10-12 mg range. It is better but still too heavy. Maybe I'm just using it too much.

 

[dormouse]

Everybody vapes differently. Like I rarely vape a full cigarette's worth of drags at one time. I usually have 2-3 drags then set it down. Some people vape lightly, some moderately, some constantly. Some people have strong PV's that vaporize more juice (thus more nicotine) per drag. Some people have small mouths to fill with vapor, some have larger mouths. So even with the exact same juice, different people are going to get more or less nicotine out of it per drag, per hour, etc.

You need to find what feels right to you - we can only give suggestions of what works for smokers who smoked similar strength cigarettes.

 

[KroniKlepto]

Thank you all for the responses. All of the personal experience stories help... I had no idea that switching was so much of a learning curve and adjustment... or that it was going to be so complicated. I went in without really researching it because I had been ready to quit for 2 years, and finally decided to do it. Of course, I make it more difficult for myself by 'proving my strength of will' and carrying a pack of cigs and a lighter the first day. (My wife isn't ready to quit yet, so she ended up with them.) Which reminds me... smokers stink. How did I/we not realize it before?

dormouse - Yeah, I forgot to mention that in my original post... I've got the marlboro flavor, and I recently got coffee flavor to add to the morning vape (not with caffeine added.) Starting tomorrow, that mix is 7 drops 24mg marb, 1 drop VG, and 1 drop coffee flavor... we'll see how that goes. I think the little bit extra nic will help. Also, I'm definitely going to try combining the two strengths.

WomanOfHeart - Thank you, I will try alternating, as well.

While googling around for answers, I found something stating that nicotine helps to metabolize caffeine faster. I normally drink probably 28oz of coffee every morning, and I think that may be complicating things. My reasoning is that if vaping does not deliver the nicotine the same as or as much as cigarettes, then I may need to cut back my coffee intake, as well? Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[lamer]

I noticed that when I started vaping coffee and espresso flavored juices, my want for that second cup of coffee in the morning pretty much disappeared.

Maybe try that in a 18mg?

 

[SecondChance]

Some also have allergies to PG, which can cause an itch..perhaps a bit more VG in the mix would help with that..not sure but might be worth a try.

 

[MrNate]

1/2 PAD Marlboro Menthol Lights smoker. 11mg vaper. I go up to 24mg at night, but vaping 11mg in the morning is even a little too much. I'm definitely hitting my nic limits by 1p.

In my opinion, it doesn't hurt to buy some lower-nic cartos to try out. You can always add higher concentration nic juice, but you can't really go the other way.

 

[KroniKlepto]

I'm definitely hitting my nic limits by 1p.

I haven't thought of it like that... daily nic limits.

I've been vaping straight 22mg all day so far... it's 2pm, and it's much better than yesterday. Due to work, I have to go longer without a vape break (can't inside) this week. The jittery/itchy is still there to a lesser extent, but I'm just going to ride out the 22 all day if I can and see how it goes.

 

[MrNate]

It's not really daily... Nicotine seems to wear off after about an hour. But it's kind of like drinking. You can drink a case of beer over an entire saturday and be fine, but if you try drinking a case of beer over a couple of hours on a friday night, you won't be quite so fine. Just because you have a 3-beer/hr limit doesn't mean you have a 3-beer/day limit.

I cluster vape in the morning with my coffee, just like I used to smoke. Then at night I like to hit the harder stuff, but with less frequency. Take notice of your habits, and get various strengths to experiment with. I may go down to 6mg for the 10a-5p timeframe and see how that does.

I guess my philosophy is that you should give your body what it's craving when it's craving it. Feed the actual nic fits, but when you just want to puff then just puff the light stuff. There's no reason in my mind to keep yourself jacked up on juice all the time. I don't vape 24mg unless I get that, "I want a cigarette" feeling.