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

[swedishfish]

I gave myself a doozy of a headache the other day DIYing testing juices. I couldn't even think about vaping the rest of the day.

 

[DC2]

I feel sometimes, like I have to remember to vape...

There was a guy here about a year ago who started vaping when he never smoked in the first place.
He started vaping because he had ulcerative colitis an learned that nicotine is good for that condition.

He made a post at one point saying that he had to keep reminding himself to vape.
Apparently, the nicodemon had oil on his hands when he tried to snatch him up and suckle him.

Or something like that.

 

[Gingerzeronic]

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...

This! When I was on analogs, nothing would stop me getting one - walking, freezing cold, spare-changing my purse - nothing! With vaping, not so much.

 

[nodita]

You guys are amazing. Thanks for the support I'm so happy about finding ecigs and really feel this could be a life-changer...

 

[DC2]

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.

Don't forget the ammonia, which was added to cigarettes purposely to create a "crack nicotine" experience.

 

[nodita]

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.

Thanks for the tutorial. Very helpful.
Good point. I never considered that the absorption would vary from cigarette.

 

[nodita]

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!

Thanks for the welcome and the reassurance. I started with 12mg and hope it'll be suitable.

 

[Gingerzeronic]

You guys are amazing. Thanks for the support I'm so happy about finding ecigs and really feel this could be a life-changer...

It has been a life-changer for me. I never thought I'd come this this far, this quick. It's funny, at work I vape with the smokers and one of my best friends instantly ordered an e pipe after seeing me. Another demanded that I provide her with the specs for the exact set-up I bought. We're joking about eventually converting enough people to take the "high ground" - a much nicer outdoor area with shade and tables.

We just might do it.

 

[nodita]

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.

I hear you. I think my worry is that I would up my nicotine tolerance which would make it harder to cut down. I'll pay attention to my body and act accordingly. It' s soo easy to get caught up with a tasty juice... The idea that I can vape enjoyably and still moving toward quitting is a miracle.

 

[swedishfish]

There was a guy here about a year ago who started vaping when he never smoked in the first place.
He started vaping because he had ulcerative colitis an learned that nicotine is good for that condition.

He made a post at one point saying that he had to keep reminding himself to vape.
Apparently, the nicodemon had oil on his hands when he tried to snatch him up and suckle him.

Or something like that.

I had a discussion with the doctor about this. The way he explained it to me, something about cigarettes inhibits whatever it is that causes ulcerative colitis in a person who would otherwise develop ulcerative colitis. If that makes sense.

I've never heard about people starting to smoke to get rid of it. That's interesting. From what I hear it's extremely painful. I know of someone who started smoking again after developing it and it did go away.

 

[nodita]

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.

Mental note. I haven't reached that point yet, so I guess my body's good with my current pace. Yes, without a beginning and end it's impossible to count. Just need to curb my newbie enthusiasm a bit

 

[DC2]

I hear you. I think my worry is that I would up my nicotine tolerance which would make it harder to cut down. I'll pay attention to my body and act accordingly. It' s soo easy to get caught up with a tasty juice... The idea that I can vape enjoyably and still moving toward quitting is a miracle.

It is not entirely unusual to see new people have to move up in nicotine strength to get off the smokes.
And over time, most of them do start dropping down as they feel more comfortable.

What I do not remember EVER seeing is someone who is comforable at a given level have to go up later.
In fact, I would go out on a limb and call it an established fact that nobody has ever increased their nicotine tolerance with e-cigs.

And the sad part is that those who oppose these miracles often site that possibility as one of their main concerns.

But then again, truth and reality are not concepts that interest some of those folks.
They have other agendas that drive them, having nothing to do with public health.

Don't worry, you'll learn what I'm talking about in due time.
For now just enjoy your progress.

 

[nodita]

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.

Sounds like you're making good progress, congrats!! I agree with your philosophy and can definitely see myself enjoying the switch to ecigs then weaning off nic.

 

[nodita]

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

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.[/QUOTE

I appreciate your in-depth response, thanks for being so thorough. I didn't know about the MAOI content in cigarettes, which further reinforces my desire to eliminate them asap. Question though, do you know if the solvents used in the juices have any health effects? From what I understand, the VG/PG isn't burning, but does it change does it become reactive or altered or something when vaporized?

 

[nodita]

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.

Thanks for your insightful answer. Very good to knwo I can alter strengths as I go. I'm at 12mg, but when ready to cut down I won't have to chuck my juices. Good info

 

[nodita]

Don't forget the ammonia, which was added to cigarettes purposely to create a "crack nicotine" experience.

Brutal. How could that even be legal? I'm in Canada so getting ecigs is more difficult than anywhere, meanwhile I can easily access ammonia-laced cancer sticks? How does that make sense? Ridiculous

 

[Samie]

I appreciate your in-depth response, thanks for being so thorough. I didn't know about the MAOI content in cigarettes, which further reinforces my desire to eliminate them asap. Question though, do you know if the solvents used in the juices have any health effects? From what I understand, the VG/PG isn't burning, but does it change does it become reactive or altered or something when vaporized?

From all of my research (i'm not a novice at all, but have done tons of research) THe only thing that may be cause health problems is the nicotine itself. Everything else is used in other everyday products and there have been no know health problems from them. The nicotine acts as a stimulant like caffeine. Several doctors will say that it may cause heart problems, but again no worse than caffeine. There is nothing in them that will cause cancer.

They are much healthier that analogs!!!

 

[nodita]

It is not entirely unusual to see new people have to move up in nicotine strength to get off the smokes.
And over time, most of them do start dropping down as they feel more comfortable.

What I do not remember EVER seeing is someone who is comforable at a given level have to go up later.
In fact, I would go out on a limb and call it an established fact that nobody has ever increased their nicotine tolerance with e-cigs.

And the sad part is that those who oppose these miracles often site that possibility as one of their main concerns.

But then again, truth and reality are not concepts that interest some of those folks.
They have other agendas that drive them, having nothing to do with public health.

Don't worry, you'll learn what I'm talking about in due time.
For now just enjoy your progress.

That's exactly my concern so this is really good to hear

 

[Keekers]

I started vaping sometime around July 2011. I didn't use my ecig too often, surprisingly, and I was a smoker for 13 years! I don't know if it was stress or what but I started vaping almost constantly the past couple of months. I was smoking 18mg and told people who tried my ecig they weren't doing it right when they started coughing and said how strong it was
I was smoking kools before my ecig.

I recently cut down to 11mg and thought I couldn't handle the drop in nicotine. I was so disappointed. But then I got used to it and my 18mg bottles of ejuice are VERY strong! I can see why people coughed.

Like others have said, you'll know when you're done vaping. I can't handle a strong PG mix because it makes my throat very irritated and dry. I'm a vape-a-holic It took me a while to figure things out (and I'm still learning a lot) but the gurus on this forum taught me everything I know!

Ask away and they will answer

I didn't realize how many posts there were on this thread either so hopefully I wasn't too redundant.

 

[Gingerzeronic]

I started vaping sometime around July 2011. I didn't use my ecig too often, surprisingly, and I was a smoker for 13 years! I don't know if it was stress or what but I started vaping almost constantly the past couple of months. I was smoking 18mg and told people who tried my ecig they weren't doing it right when they started coughing and said how strong it was
I was smoking kools before my ecig.

I recently cut down to 11mg and thought I couldn't handle the drop in nicotine. I was so disappointed. But then I got used to it and my 18mg bottles of ejuice are VERY strong! I can see why people coughed.

Like others have said, you'll know when you're done vaping. I can't handle a strong PG mix because it makes my throat very irritated and dry. I'm a vape-a-holic It took me a while to figure things out (and I'm still learning a lot) but the gurus on this forum taught me everything I know!

Ask away and they will answer

I didn't realize how many posts there were on this thread either so hopefully I wasn't too redundant.

You're fine - love the cat.