Nicsalts - Guess this is up for debate.

[Vapemesilly]

I think nic salts are the spawn of the devil. Created by Juul at high nicotine doses to keep people hooked on the Juul. Not much different than the things big tobacco add to keep people hooked on cigarettes.

I've tried them and I don't like them. After vaping for a few years now I can't see increasing the amount of nicotine I put into my body by using salts. It may help people to quit and more power to them but I'm glad I started vaping and got off the cigs way before salts came around.

 

[stols001]

Did Juul really INVENT nic salts? I did not realize. How fascinating.

I still think there is a touch of fentanyl in there or something from my one puff and like, I vaped nicsalts at a REASONABLE level my first year. My respiratory system was shot,. Lack of throat hit was a boon.

Ain't much that's all good, or all bad. I mean, I could list the "goods" of cigarettes (for ONE for some people, they suppress asthma symptoms, like me. I had mild, rather intermittent asthma as a kid, and smoking sure got rid of that for a while. I think it's back, a bit.

And probably, they suppressed my asthma symptoms in a bad way like I could never take a deep breath or whatever, but I'm just saying...

LOL.
Anna

 

[smacuser]

 

[jeff roberts]

Sorry for the long post. I didn't start out to put all this in, but.....

Nic salts do 2 main things, as compared to freebase. The adjusted pH reduces the harshness, making higher nic content tolerable. It also dramatically increases the speed and efficiency in blood absorption. A third effect is that nicotine, when compounded with acids, is a more shelf stable product.

If you read the patent application by Pax Labs for Juul, you'll see that they tested about a half dozen different acid compound formulations vs. cigarettes, and did a pretty exhaustive study, including testing blood plasma nic levels over time, and satisfaction level surveys of participants. The goal was, of course, to replicate the smoking experience. Their test results showed that benzoate was the most effective acid. Here's their comparison chart of blood plasma nic levels over time. You can see that 4% benzoate (red line) is dramatically faster and higher than freebase (yellow).
View attachment 860773

Some may dismiss this as being overstated marketing by Juul. But Blu has been tested by 3rd parties. They use a lactate formula, and although the results are a little different, the overall curves are similar. Here's their chart (note that the time - x axis, is shorter). The top line is a cigarette, green is 25 mg salt, and yellow is 25 mg freebase.
View attachment 860775

Personally, I don't care for nic salts. I have no doubt that it gets into the bloodstream quicker, as I felt the same effect when making my own juice with nic salts. But a big part of the reason I continue to vape is for the throat hit, and salts remove that. I can see the benefit for those that want the nic, but only want the flavor of non-tobacco juices.

I don't believe nic is any more harmful than caffeine, and has many benefits in moderation. Studies show improved cognitive abilities, antioxidant properties, reduced brain cellular loss, and far lower incidence of Parkinson's Disease. You can look it up yourself, and there are many articles, but this is one of the first I found: Nicotine, the Wonder Drug?

And believe it or not, there's not a single credible study - ever - that proves nicotine without combusted tobacco is addictive at all. I found this link when I first started researching it. Nicotine Propaganda It's a good starting point, but I spent many hours beyond this searching for a conclusive study, and could find none. There were many studies done, but since have been rejected due to faulty methodology. Most found it impossible to get the mice/subjects addicted without the smoking aspect. This study, done in 2010 comes closest to actual proof. It involved genetically mutated mice. And while it showed some addictive markings, it also showed that the mice with modified genes no longer acted naturally in other respects, casting doubt on it being actual proof. And it included this statement comparing nic to other drugs:
"...comparatively miniscule withdrawal, no decreased sensitivity/escalating usage, only fractionally as addictive as opiates, alcohol, ........ As an addictive drug, it seems to stand alone in those respects."
https://www.researchgate.net/profil...588874000000/Changeux-2010-NatRevNeurosci.pdf

I believe this is why so many on this forum can gradually decrease nic, even down to zero, yet still find it difficult to quit vaping entirely. Yes, we're all different, but I know for myself, the act/feeling of inhalation is the strongest "addiction" I have. I've quit many times in my life, and was over the need for nic after a couple of days. But after taking millions of hits off of a cigarette over the decades, that's what my brain is programmed to want the most.

Interesting I never knew all this. There is definitely a lot of propaganda against vaping in general, and I bet cigarettes would be a lot less addicting without all the carcinogens they add.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

Interesting I never knew all this. There is definitely a lot of propaganda against vaping in general, and I bet cigarettes would be a lot less addicting without all the carcinogens they add.

I guess so. But then, something always told me- call it intuition- that it probably wasn't good to be deliberately inhaling burning leaves every day, all day, additives or not.

 

[wheelie]

I see some people think Saltnic is just for JUUL. I bought a 100ml bottle of saltnic and mixed it up at 30mg. I am now vaping a mechanical mod and my Kayfun Lite which I have about ten of them from four or five years ago. I can say one thing forsure, instead of 30ml per day vaping, a 30ml bottle now last me five or six days. So which amount could be more harmful to my lungs. My car windows no longer fog up after 2 or 3 days in winter and have to windex. Kinda nice not being in the duel battery 200 wattage mods with a cloud beast on top. I am a fan now of nicsalts. Gives me a reason to go back to my old dependable vapes that were built to last that I thought I would never use again unless the government banned vaping which never happened in Canada. Nicsalts do have their place. CHEERS!

 

[stols001]

I had something concrete, oh, call it 19 months of straight pneumonia plus like, a laryngeal cancer scare, plus a whole ton of inhalers, steroids, and whatever else, plus my doctors saying, "Dude, my dear, we are about to give you the COPD and the oxygen tank" that told me inhaling burning things (although MJ is just kind of FINE apparently) but yea, I need something a bit more concrete.

You know it's funny I mean, well, I did have all sorts of intuitions it was not good for me but I was also like, "I am tough."

However, the first time I saw some grey, wizened human attached to one of those things and asked what it was I thought, "You know, I could deal with a heart attack, that' EASY, lung cancer is probably doable but a TANK is not."

Stupid creator listening to me although I am infinitely happier and all that.

Nicsalts or not, all gravy to me (I do prefer freebase I think..)

Anna