A few critiques from what I am /reasonably/ sure of...
This got CRAZY long, so please don't think of it as me ranting/raving/being rude/hating on you, or anything like that. It's just when my fingers are on the keyboard, they tend to go and go and go.
Random tangent, I want some of the energizer bunny batteries for my 510.
It's all just friendly discourse. Feel free to agree/disagree/bite my head off at random.
- How strong are the cigarettes you smoke now? (pretty hard to know this. It may not coincide with flavor. )
AFAIK, 'light' and 'extra light' and whatnot have never been really indicative of nicotine content so much as flavor. From what I understand, it was not uncommon for light or extra lights to have more nicotine in them than regular cigarettes by the same brand.
- How quickly do you smoke them?
- Do you exhale through your nose? Do you hold the smoke a long time?
- How long have you been smoking? A pack a day smoker for one day, would require little or 0mg.
I think these are pretty spot on. Not sure on the exhaling through the nose mattering much as far as nicotine levels go, but how fast you smoke them, definitely, as well as how long you hold it in and how long you've been smoking. These are definite factors to take into account.
- How long do you go between smokes? You may be less addicted than you think.
I don't think this is as much of a concern. I think a higher time here simply means the withdrawal effects either don't affect you as much, or you're smoking less analogs per day. I would expect, if we did a survey, for the most part if people were left alone in an area where they could smoke, we would find a pretty strong correlation between number of cigarettes smoked and time between them. The other thing is perhaps there would be 2 categories, those who smoke at regular intervals to maintain, and those who peak and valley for whatever reason (i.e. smoke a lot until they hit their desired peak, then tough out being under-optimal as long as they can until they can't take it any more, and go for the peak again.)
From what I understand of nicotine addiction, it's more likely longevity of the addition to be a factor in things than amount. Someone who's been addicted and regulated to 1mg of nicotine in their system for 10 years is probably quite likely to be just as addicted as someone who was regulated to 20mg of nicotine for 10 years.
This could all be bull-honky, but from what I know it seems like it could potentially be at least on the pathway to the general idea of things.
To me the juice strength should match your cigarette strength. This isn't an apples to apples number BTW. If you smoke light or ultra light you're going to want lower mg juice <= 12mg . If you're into full flavor cigarettes you may prefer 18mg or higher.
again back to the light/ultralight idea. Unless they know for sure their light cig is actually referring to nicotine instead of flavor, it's still a shot in the dark, like it is for the rest of us.
If your juice is too low the cravings don't go away fast enough and you suffer some withdraw. Too high and your head spins. You don't want to increase your addiction either.
Excellent point. Always be aware of your body's responses, especially with something as, well, for lack of better term really, untested, as this.
It's not the addition so much as the tolerance. Addicted is addicted. Though all things being equal, yes, it's much better to have a lower tolerance than a higher one, but if 18mg isn't doing it for you, there's nothing wrong with throwing a drop or two of 24mg on the top of the cart to get through the craving. Tolerances are governed by what you accustom yourself to, not by the maximum or minimum's of the spectrum you're exposed to (though I'm sure there's some instances where this is untrue, I believe it's safe to reasonably say for nicotine in general). If 18mg isn't doing it for you, try a 'shot' of 24mg and see if that makes the 'hunger' go away. Then stay on the 18mg, or try to go lower for your normal vaping even.
It all depends on your goals. Some people (like me) see vaping as a way to manage a planed exit off of nicotine dependence. Others see it as a way to continue the nicotine dependence that they enjoy, without so many of the other known harmful effects of tobacco dependency, at the risk of any unknown effects of vaporizing. And that's not the only factions out there.
I could probably use the 36mg juice but I'd rather suffer a little withdraw than risk increasing my dependancy. My next big order will include some 18mg juice which i'll start to mix in with my 24mg.
Sounds like an awesome plan. If you're okay with the withdrawal symptoms then more power to you.
That's awesome. Me? When I have withdrawal symptoms my productivity hits 0 and nothing gets done. Being a self-employed web developer, nothing getting done means no income, and that's no good at all, which is why up until now, I have not had any real success with giving up analogs.
Thanks to my 510, and you all of you here on ECF providing resources and backup, I think I've finally found something that if nothing else is quite likely to be much safer in the long run, and perhaps might even be able to help me get off of my nicotine dependency for good.
