I used to smoke 22 Marlboro lights 100s. They contain 0.7 mg of nic per cig, which means I was taking in a little more than 15 mg nic a day and, boy, was I addicted.
When I started e-smoking, I got myself medium/low liquids (generally, 11 mg -I have a couple of bottles of high, but I add these by the drops). I use a little more than 1 ml a day, which comes to a little more than 11 mg of nic a day, plus I still allow myself 2-3 real cigarettes a day, which comes to about the same amount of nic I was using before.
However, I had quite a few symptoms of nicotine withdrawal (not major, but unequivocal) when I first started e-smoking, while I was still taking in more real cigs, and I am now obviously significantly less addicted.
I can stay in a meeting for 2 hours, and I am not as uncomfortable as I used to be before (nor I do whip out my e-cig). I can have dinner with friends and not think about a cigarette as soon as I am done, and I used to pack 3 cigs between my morning coffee and getting out for work (in less than 1 hour), and now I wake up, get coffe, vape a bit, and leave without feeling low on nicotine.
So, something is not working out here. Either I completely miscalculated the amount I am vaping (but the liqiud goes down visibly from my bottles), or the nicotine is not what is reported, or I am not absorbing that nicotine in the same manner. I actually have the impression that I inhale more deeply with the e-cig (as it is a smoother draw), so it is not the route, either. Also, some of the people here seem to be taking in massive amounts of nicotine, and they should not be feeling so good (with few exceptions, that seems to be the general trend). I wish there were home-tests for cotinine that we could take, as something is not making sense to me here.... Any idea where I am going wrong?