Newbie Q :: How to regulate how much nicotine I'm vaping

[nodita]

Hello ECF community!
I'm a newbie and am loving this site. This is my first post. I made the terrible mistake of buying a 'Smoke for Life' kit when on a business trip in San Antonio and got ripped off. So newbies, if you run into a mall kiosk selling e-cigs, run in the opposite direction. Don't waste you money... don't get ripped off like I did. Seriously, it produced no vapor, tasted like crap and felt awkward to hold.

Luckily this site set me in the right direction. Thank you ECF for the valuable info!

I live in Canada so when I got home immediately set to researching my options. I'm glad to say that my 510 and I have developed a beautiful friendship. I decided to vape to eventually wean myself off of nicotine.

My question is this. How do you know gauge how much you're smoking? I keep getting carried away cause its such a pleasant experience, and there's no way I can tell the analog equivalent. Would you say that for a standard 510 vaping with 12mg juice, that 5 drags equals one analog smoke session?

 

[swedishfish]

Your body is used to nicotine and I think it regulates itself.

Here's a little more about it in the tutorial-
Beginner Tutorial - 2

"However, it is difficult - perhaps impossible - to provide a nicotine strength or liquid volume equivalency between cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, because the nicotine is absorbed less efficiently from e-cigarette vapor than from cigarette smoke, and because there appears to be a variance between the tolerance to nicotine in cigarette smoke and that in vapor (as there is no correlation between the amount people smoked and the e-liquid strength they end up using).

All that can be definitely stated is that an e-cigarette tends to be used for longer per session, and the inhalations are longer - 3 or 4 seconds, as against 1 or 2 seconds with a tobacco cigarette."

The average is about 2/3-5 ml a day. A lot depends on your pv, atty/carts, vaping style.

 

[base234]

God first post and great advice. Don't worry about getting carried away. Your body will tell you when to back off. I started with 18mg and had to move up to 24mg. Welcome to the forum!

 

[dearme]

You don't need to regulate your vaping. New people usually find themselves vaping all the time. It's OK. Chain vaping is also OK if you want to do it. Your body does not absorb all the nic in the eliquid so there is no way to compare it with analogs as a lot of it depends on your vaping/inhaling style, but if you get too much nic, you will know it. It's not usually serious, just lay off for a time to let your body get back to normal. If you regularly overdose on nic, go down to a lower level of eliquid.

 

[TonyTT]

Overdoing it is just a symptom of having something fun and exciting to do. You'll eventually get the hang of how much vaping you're body is comfortable at. I recommend pacing yourself. It's not like smoking where you power through a smoke so you can go back inside. Just take it easy, the nic rush takes a little longer sometimes to come around, so just relax and vape... Welcome to ECF buddy, so glad to see another Ottawa Vaper!...If you ever have any questions or run into any snags, just gimme a pm

 

[swedishfish]

When you have a nicotine craving, vape! It's not immediate like a cigarette though, it's a little slower so pace yourself a bit.

It is weird in the beginning, because there's no beginning and end like a cigarette. You'll figure out your pace pretty quickly. I don't think we've lost any vapers yet!

When I was vaping too much, I got a little headache. I just put it down for awhile.

 

[northwestfarmtn]

I am new to the world of vaping and had similar ??? and found that I just take a puff or 2 whenever i feel the urge to smoke it's different than a cig you can take just one and set it down, if it wasn't enough take another. last night around this time i went through a rough patch where i just puffed and puffed like 10 times. seems you get a feel for it. if you feel you want a smoke ,vape if the feeling doesn't go away vape, if it still doesn't go away well let me just say.... my kitchen is spotless.

 

[Gingerzeronic]

I decided to vape to eventually wean myself off of nicotine.

My question is this. How do you know gauge how much you're smoking? I keep getting carried away cause its such a pleasant experience, and there's no way I can tell the analog equivalent. Would you say that for a standard 510 vaping with 12mg juice, that 5 drags equals one analog smoke session?

Welcome! I'm new here myself. I've found that I vape a lot less than I smoked and I wasn't a big smoker really (a PAD). Two or three hits does it for me. That's the great thing about vaping. With an analog, you feel compelled to smoke the whole thing because you can't really just smoke half and save it (yuk).

It's a different experience.

If you're satisfied with 3 or four hits and then leave it alone for a couple of hours - that's great! The object here for people like you and me is to decrease our interest in analogs and to ultimately decrease our dependence on the nic. I'm so much farther long in this process with vaping than I believed was possible.

 

[swedishfish]

I am new to the world of vaping and had similar ??? and found that I just take a puff or 2 whenever i feel the urge to smoke it's different than a cig you can take just one and set it down, if it wasn't enough take another. last night around this time i went through a rough patch where i just puffed and puffed like 10 times. seems you get a feel for it. if you feel you want a smoke ,vape if the feeling doesn't go away vape, if it still doesn't go away well let me just say.... my kitchen is spotless.

It sounds like you're really doing great!

 

[TonyTT]

Welcome! I'm new here myself. I've found that I vape a lot less than I smoked and I wasn't a big smoker really (a PAD). Two or three hits does it for me. That's the great thing about vaping. With an analog, you feel compelled to smoke the whole thing because you can't really just smoke half and save it (yuk).

It's a different experience.

If you're satisfied with 3 or four hits and then leave it alone for a couple of hours - that's great! The object here for people like you and me is to decrease our interest in analogs and to ultimately decrease our dependence on the nic. I'm so much farther long in this process with vaping than I believed was possible.

I forget to vape sometimes...I promise myself that I'll sit on ECF and just browse the threads and vape. But then because I'm typing, every so often I'll have to look around the blankets on my bed to find my PV...I'll take a puff, and think "k, chain vaping starts now", I'll take a nice puff, and then it's back hidden in the blankets...I feel sometimes, like I have to remember to vape...

 

[elfstone]

Edit: I didn't realize there were so many replies, so what's below is at best redundant.

The shot answer is you can't really know. In fact, there is some debate on this topic, and no truly reliable studies have been made afaik. The problem is that only a portion of the nicotine in the juice makes its way into the vapor and that probably depends on how you vape (atomizer, voltage, etc.). The other problem is that only a part of the nicotine in the vapor makes its way into your blood. Often quoted figures range from 0(!) to 25%. While the 0-ish value is almost certainly incorrect, I do not know of a well established value. It is known from studies on aerosolized nicotine, that most of the absorption is through mucosae (not necessarily in the lung) so your state of hydration and the time you keep the vapor in your mouth may influence absorption as well.

It is fair to say that when vaping you absorb less nicotine than smoking in the same unit of time. Also, the dynamics of blood concentration in relation to vaping is different, i.e. it appears to happen slower and without the abrupt peaks that are blamed in part for the addictiveness of cigarettes. Also, cigarettes contain other substances, most notably acetaldehyde and MAOIs (mono-amine oxydase inhibitors, a class of antidepressants) that augument, apparently, the effects of nicotine on your brain.

All in all, that may mean that (1) e-cigs are not as effective as cigarettes in curbing the so called nicotine cravings, at least not per unit of time spent vaping, and (2) e-cigs are potentially less addictive. At the time, anecdotal experience from vapers gives us some clue as to what nic strength one should try first based on their smoking habits, but for practical purposes you should probably experiment until you find your "sweet spot" and, if you want to, you can try decreasing the nicotine content as the time goes by. Other than that, I'm afraid there is no hard and fast mathematics to relate your personal experience to the nicotine strength in the liquid...

I hope this makes at least a bit of sense.

 

[swedishfish]

Welcome! I'm new here myself. I've found that I vape a lot less than I smoked and I wasn't a big smoker really (a PAD). Two or three hits does it for me. That's the great thing about vaping. With an analog, you feel compelled to smoke the whole thing because you can't really just smoke half and save it (yuk).

It's a different experience.

If you're satisfied with 3 or four hits and then leave it alone for a couple of hours - that's great! The object here for people like you and me is to decrease our interest in analogs and to ultimately decrease our dependence on the nic. I'm so much farther long in this process with vaping than I believed was possible.

That's more or less how I vape. It's not something I planned or anything, just more my vaping style I guess. My mom's an all day puffer on low nic. I use stronger juice and do the 3-4 hits.

Except this time of night. I seem to vape more and vape low nic because of insomnia issues.

 

[Cardslinger]

Hi nodita & welcome to ECF. To answer your question it's all relative. If you chain smoke an analog you will get X amount on nicotine in X amount of time. If you slow smoke that same cig your nic intake will be less. Most folks that start vaping start with 24mg nic mixes. If you start getting headaches or other unpleasent feeling then cut it back to 18 or 12 or whereever you are comfortable. One thing about using high nic juices is that 1 drop of PGA(pure grain alcohol), Vodka, distilled water or 0 nic VG or PG will thin down your juice to lower levels of nic so your not waisting your juices. Make sure you shake well and let it sit for about 10 mins before you try it & if another drop is needed then add it. keep experimenting till you find the right balance for your tastes, then enjoy.
Good luck with your vaping and keep us posted

 

[nodita]

Overdoing it is just a symptom of having something fun and exciting to do. You'll eventually get the hang of how much vaping you're body is comfortable at. I recommend pacing yourself. It's not like smoking where you power through a smoke so you can go back inside. Just take it easy, the nic rush takes a little longer sometimes to come around, so just relax and vape... Welcome to ECF buddy, so glad to see another Ottawa Vaper!...If you ever have any questions or run into any snags, just gimme a pm

Thanks a lot, will do

 

[TonyTT]

300th post....let's hope for super status...*crosses fingers*

 

[swedishfish]

300th post....let's hope for super status...*crosses fingers*

You're super!

 

[Gingerzeronic]

I forget to vape sometimes...I promise myself that I'll sit on ECF and just browse the threads and vape. But then because I'm typing, every so often I'll have to look around the blankets on my bed to find my PV...I'll take a puff, and think "k, chain vaping starts now", I'll take a nice puff, and then it's back hidden in the blankets...I feel sometimes, like I have to remember to vape...

And that's fine. What's fine is whatever level of interest that makes you feel good. Some people want to stay vaping at a low level all the time, some want a maintenance dose of nic and behavior every so often, some want a cessation tool. It's all good.

 

[elfstone]

I forget to vape sometimes...I promise myself that I'll sit on ECF and just browse the threads and vape. But then because I'm typing, every so often I'll have to look around the blankets on my bed to find my PV...I'll take a puff, and think "k, chain vaping starts now", I'll take a nice puff, and then it's back hidden in the blankets...I feel sometimes, like I have to remember to vape...

All I can say from my short experience is that I found myself too lazy to refill a carto and vape, or to get my PV from my car or something, whereas when I smoked I was never ever too tired to go out and buy a pack of cigarettes. I think that says it all for me...

 

[Semiretired]

When I am bored I catch myself chain vaping - it lets me know when enough is enough. When I am busy I forget and vape when I take a moment to think about what I am doing. When I was smoking the craving would hit no matter what I was doing and I needed to take a break to satisfy the craving - vaping is different...

 

[dormouse]

Ecig nic is absorbed differently. You can't really measure how much you are getting nor could you measure how much you got from cigs since much went up in smoke or wasn't smoked all the way to the filter. I just try to rein in my over-vaping by not making it so easy. I do not use passthroughs. And at home I do not leave the ecigs in the same room as me. I put the ecigs in a nearby room so I have to get off my .... and go vape, not next to my computer or anywhere else where I would vape all the time. As long as they are not right next to me, I only get the urge to vape about every 15-20 min, about the same as how often I used to smoke.