Nicotine tolerance changing

[jhelliwell]

I always said it would never happen to me. I looked on in wonderment at so many threads, people saying they were reducing their nic strength, and I thought Why?

I started off with an eGo/CE4 setup at 18mg, and it wasn't strong enough so I upped it to 24mg. I found 24 a little too strong for my liking so I mixed it down to 21mg which seemed a great level for me for a long while.

When I got the cartotanks, I found them efficient enough that 18mg was plenty.

When I got the kayfun, I had to use 12mg in that, anything higher would blow my head off, the thing is so efficient at delivery. All the juices I buy or mix now are 12mg. Now even if I put the 12mg stuff in my cartotanks, it is plenty strong enough for me. In fact, my yummy DIY strawberry/RY-4 at 12mg just gave me a really nice nicotine rush from the cartotank.

Now my problem is I've got several eliquids in my stash stronger than 18mg, and I can't use the KFL or the carto to vape them, I thought I'd get something more low-end to vape them, so I got a cheap Vivi Nova. I now find 18mg and upwards extremely unpleasant, far too strong. too much headrush and headaches. I'll have to mix them down a bit, that's easy enough.

And there are times when I could do with a really strong vape, like to keep me going if I can't vape often enough, so the strong juices will come in useful.

Oh well, I'm happy that I've inadvertantly reduced my nic, but why am I turning into a nic lightweight? It's just bizarre! I'm actually learning that nic just isn't that addictive. Damn those tobacco companies, they really did mess with us....

So... is this normal?

 

[jersey_emt]

Completely normal. Weaning down off of any drug is easy and painless when done slowly.

 

[Ryedan]

Kinda similar experience for me, but I've been vaping longer than you have and my story has a couple more twists. I started using 18 mg, and it was good for a month. Then I started getting over-nic symptoms when I would chain vape for a bit and moved to 15 mg (mixed 18 & 12). Stayed there for a couple months and started to reduce nic by choice until I was vaping none. After nine months I tried nic again and boy was I sensitive to it! Couldn't go higher than about 8 mg without symptoms. I'm off it again now and am quite happy with that.

 

[Spazmelda]

seems to be normal. Maybe one day we will get scientific elucidation of this phenomenon. I do think it is real, and I don't understand why it happens. Why are so many people able (and sometimes even physiologically obligated) to cut down on nicotine when they get it in the form of vapor.

I mean, switching to a more efficient delivery device like a Kayfun, could be a complete explanation if it weren't for the fact that 18 is now too strong for you even in a carto.

I started at 24 and went down quickly through 18, 16, 14, and then 12. Stayed at 12 for a long time. About a month ago I was making some liquids for someone who vapes 0-6 mg/ml, so I made, oh maybe a total of 20-30 ml worth of 5 mg/ml testers, and vaped through all of them over a few weeks. Around about that time I got a Kayfun and a Kayfun clone and found the 5 mg/ml to be quite sufficient. I was thinking it was due to the Kayfun being more powerful, but switching similar level liquids to a protank was also just fine. 12 doesn't quite blow my head off, but I can definitely feel it. 18 does blow my head off now.

Maybe someday we will know the scientific basis of this. I suspect we are going to continue to find that nicotine, when not combined with cigarette smoke, is just not as addictive as we thought it was for so many years.

 

[CrackerTeg]

I found myself getting the OD of 18mg just recently after vaping for nearly 4 months. I've since ordered some 12mg versions of my juices. It truly is an odd phenomena as I was putting 1 PAD of Marlboro menthols, Camel menthols and Newports for nearly 20 years. How I'm able to step down so quickly is strange to me. A buddy of mine who started vaping a little over a year ago is down to 0 nic and vapes only because he enjoys it. The "addiction" seems to go away once the analog is taken out of the equation. There has to be more reports or studies about this somewhere to show how well of a smoking cessation vaping truly is.

 

[FireDragon1138]

In my 15 year experience with tobacco of all kinds, off and on... e-cigs are simply not as addictive as tobacco. If you vape exclusively, I'm guessing the experience of losing ones tolerance to nicotine would not be uncommon. I've not felt intense cravings from e-Cigs that I had from tobacco.

I recently started using small amounts of smokeless tobacco again (Camel Snus). Even though I cut the portions in half, I still find the Camel Snus gives me far more of a rush and cravings than vaping. I'm guessing this might have something to do with other alkaloids in tobacco, plus issues of pH in the snus (how much of the nicotine is free and quickly absorbed, as a consequence). I might try Skoal Bandits instead or just use nicotine lozenges.

And this stands to reason, too: tobacco products are engineered to be rewarding/addictive above and beyond nicotine.

 

[Hiding]

After a year at 16mg I just cut myself back to 10mg yesterday. I have been getting some craving since, but a few chain vapes and it's all settled.

I was a bit surprised by the cravings. I go some days with out vaping much at all, and wasn't getting cravings on those days

 

[PaulBHC]

I find the craving for a real cig hard to deal with. I'm chain vaping 36mg in a ViVi Nova right now and still wanting a stick. It's probably not the nic level that I'm craving but something else in cigs. I'll be happy when that passes and I can lower the nic.

 

[Spazmelda]

Paul- I'd say just be patient. Don't worry a bit about lowering your nicotine until you feel good and ready to do that. There is no contest, and everyone is different. You are still in the early stages, and while some NEED to lower nic quickly, and some ARE ABLE to lower nic quickly, many others are not. It's important that you do what works for you. This is not pharmaceutical NRT, with a cookie cutter 'program' that everyone is supposed to follow.

 

[Revelene]

Perfectly normal to decrease nic level when getting into more efficient devices.

 

[Ryedan]

I find the craving for a real cig hard to deal with. I'm chain vaping 36mg in a ViVi Nova right now and still wanting a stick. It's probably not the nic level that I'm craving but something else in cigs. I'll be happy when that passes and I can lower the nic.

I see your ECF join date is Jan this year and I assume you just started vaping. It took me a few months to get over cigarettes enough to start lowering my nic level lower than the maximum I could vape comfortably. IMO, don't worry about lowering nicotine yet. The most important thing is to stay off smokes and lose that addiction. Nic is not hurting you as long as you're not overdosing on it.

Vape on!

 

[PaulBHC]

Thanks. Wife and I tried vaping in 2010 for a while. I gave up first. She wanted to get back into it last year and I really want to quit smoking. We bought her a starter kit on Dec 18 and I was so impressed that I went back on the 23rd and bought mine. Tossed out all the old blue foam gear. Since then we got different clearos, more batts, and ordered 2 MVPs.

A couple of cigs a day is better than opening the third pack on Saturday night but I would like to put together more than a day or two of smoke free days.

 

[Recycled Roadkill]

It has occured to me that if I'm vaping with a device that gives me twice the vapor of my evod I would want to lower the nic in my vape by half.

As an example, I started with 18 nic in my evods 4 months ago. Since then I've bought a few mods. My VTR with the iClear30s coil delivers, at least twice the vape and most likely much more, it seems reasonable to assume that I'd need a much lower nic to maintain a particular level in my bloodstream. I'm currently chain vaping at a rate of about 6mg.

There's alot of variables with vaping and I'm trying hard to keep my explanation simple.

What I'm saying is: twice the vape, half the nic.

Am I wrong about this?

 

[Vermonster13]

Been at 36mg for 4+ years. It's what works for me.

 

[AmandaD]

I have a tendency to chain vape 12mg, but I suspect if I upped my nic I would vape less!

 

[Ryedan]

It has occured to me that if I'm vaping with a device that gives me twice the vapor of my evod I would want to lower the nic in my vape by half.

As an example, I started with 18 nic in my evods 4 months ago. Since then I've bought a few mods. My VTR with the iClear30s coil delivers, at least twice the vape and most likely much more, it seems reasonable to assume that I'd need a much lower nic to maintain a particular level in my bloodstream. I'm currently chain vaping at a rate of about 6mg.

There's alot of variables with vaping and I'm trying hard to keep my explanation simple.

What I'm saying is: twice the vape, half the nic.

Am I wrong about this?

IMO you are correct. Doubling the amount of juice vaporized per puff means double the nicotine intake per puff. It should show up as more ml used per day, which is IMO is a better measure. I notice that when I'm using mech mods and RDAs (most of the time these days) I sometimes vape fewer puffs per hour, which tends to bring use back down. That could go the other way though and you could end up with more nic per puff plus more puffs per hour.

Hey, no-one ever said this was going to be simple

 

[Ryedan]

I have a tendency to chain vape 12mg, but I suspect if I upped my nic I would vape less!

Well, the only way to confirm that is to try it. Everyone is different. I vaped a bit more when I was stepping down nicotine. Typically went back to normal in a week or so without much effort from me. If I add nic to my vape I do not vape less.

Everyone's different. Whatever works for people is the right thing for them

 

[MorpheusPA]

Same here! I started at 22 (I DIY so that's easy), and over the last year or so I've drifted slowly down to 5.

Taking a hit off my cousin's 12 mg/ml liquid at Christmas gave me a terrible head rush.

 

[BillyWJ]

seems to be normal. Maybe one day we will get scientific elucidation of this phenomenon. I do think it is real, and I don't understand why it happens. Why are so many people able (and sometimes even physiologically obligated) to cut down on nicotine when they get it in the form of vapor.

I mean, switching to a more efficient delivery device like a Kayfun, could be a complete explanation if it weren't for the fact that 18 is now too strong for you even in a carto.

I started at 24 and went down quickly through 18, 16, 14, and then 12. Stayed at 12 for a long time. About a month ago I was making some liquids for someone who vapes 0-6 mg/ml, so I made, oh maybe a total of 20-30 ml worth of 5 mg/ml testers, and vaped through all of them over a few weeks. Around about that time I got a Kayfun and a Kayfun clone and found the 5 mg/ml to be quite sufficient. I was thinking it was due to the Kayfun being more powerful, but switching similar level liquids to a protank was also just fine. 12 doesn't quite blow my head off, but I can definitely feel it. 18 does blow my head off now.

Maybe someday we will know the scientific basis of this. I suspect we are going to continue to find that nicotine, when not combined with cigarette smoke, is just not as addictive as we thought it was for so many years.

I'm of the same mind on this.

 

[DenimFreak1993]

It's funny cause I started on 18. Worked my way to 15 and jumped back up to 18. Occasionally 24 on the less hitting flavors.