John D. I'm glad 0 nic works for you. Congratulations on getting off the stinkies! And I think your deciding to end this argument with a Vet who is 100% correct with what he is saying is a really good idea as well. Cut your losses. nic=TH,
0 nic=0 TH
How can I cut my "losses", when I haven't lost anything? I have simply stated my own experiences. If your intent is to "disprove" my experiences, it is you who will lose.
When I vape zero-nic menthol PG, I feel a little hit in my throat. I choose to refer to it as a "throat hit". Let's call it a 0.1 on a 10-point scale. It is not "0".
When someone says "I will agree that a few flavors such as menthol will provide a cooling stimualtion in the throat as it did if you smoked menthol cigarettes", can't we just call that some level of "throat hit"? Do we really have to draw a clear line of distinction between a "cooling stimulation of the throat" and a "throat hit"? Isn't it better all around if we just call that a very mild "throat hit"?
Here's the definition of "throat hit" from Hotvapes.com:
"Throat Hit – The sensation one feels in the back of the throat when vaporizing
juice that contains nicotine. Because nicotine is a large contributing factor to throat hit, when a juice that contains zero nicotine is vaporized there is little throat hit".
Exactly what I've been saying. "Little throat hit". "Little" is not "zero". And notice that they say that nicotine is "a" large contributing factor to throat hit, not "the only" factor in throat hit.
Vaping Glossary
Or how about this:
"Although some e-smokers report a reduction in throat hit with the zero nicotine, others actually prefer the smoother taste. Since taste is subjective, we recommend all those interested give the zero nicotine e-liquid a try; you may be pleasantly surprised!"
E-Liquid Now Available In More Flavors With No Nicotine | The Electronic Cigarette & E-Cigarettes by Instead
A
reduction in throat hit. Notice they didn't say an
elimination. (I will say that I'd like to meet the e-smoker who did not report a reduction of throat hit with zero nicotine).
Or this:
"I generally buy zero-nicotine liquid, since what I’m after is the throat sensation. I have purchased low-nicotine when the zero-nicotine version of a flavor I’ve wanted has been out of stock. I haven’t had any trouble going back to zero nicotine when it’s available again.
In fact, I so far haven’t actually finished a bottle of low nicotine – when the zero comes in, I stick the low in a drawer and forget about it until I run out of zero again. Some believe that the "throat hit" effect depends on nicotine levels (the higher the better), but in my experience it depends more on battery charge, atomizer condition and drag technique".
Past Columns Archive
Better email this guy right away and clue him in that he isn't feeling what he thinks he's feeling, and that he'd better boost his nicotine consumption ASAP.
You guys remind me of a little joke my Mom used to say: "You're not happy, you just think you are".
I think it's about time to clarify the definition of just what a "throat hit" is. I think I'm up to speed on what you think a "true throat hit" is, or a "real, true throat hit" (what next, a "really, really true throat hit"?), but wouldn't it just be simply to have just one term - "throat hit" - and acknowledge the obvious; that it's very likely that nicotine isn't the only compound in the world that can impart a sensation to the human throat that might rightly be referred to as a "throat hit"?
Just step up and agree with the very reasonable definitions that I've gleaned from the vaposphere and just shared that make it very clear that there are some very experienced people who seem to feel that the throat hit from zero nicotine juice is not zero, but instead, just as I've been describing; quite low, very subtle, but detectable, and again, non-zero.
You guys have a lot of posts, but I've been smoking just about anything that combusts since the early 60's. My first smoke was dried grapevine, cut to maybe 4" long. Good luck trying to tell me that didn't have a throat hit.
I leave you with my own definition of "throat hit", as I would define it to anyone considering taking up vaping in order to quit cigarettes and knows very little about it:
The term "throat hit" is probably used most often by users of personal vaporizers (PV's - also referred to as "e-cigarettes", a term that is falling out of fashion due to its association of PV's with cigarettes).
In general, it refers to the sensation in the throat that a user gets when using a PV ("vaping").
Many in the vaping community seem to have decided that the only "true" throat hit (see: "True Scotsman fallacy") comes from the sensation that nicotine molecules impart to the throat. Others, like myself, hold that "throat hit" can have a much broader meaning, and can include any sensation caused to the throat that is noticeably different from breathing atmospheric air.
Such a noticeable sensation does occur when vaping nicotine-free proplyene glycol (PG), and to a much lesser extent, vegetable glycerine (VG), the two most common "e-liquids" (juices) used in PV's. These throat sensations are slightly less subtle when certain common flavorings like menthol, mint, or cinnamon are added to zero-nicotine PG or VG.
It is well-established in the vaping community that throat hit is far stronger and far more "cigarette-like" when the liquid being vaped contains nicotine; the higher the concentration, the greater the throat hit. The fact that throat hit is far more pronounced, and far less subtle when nicotine is added has led some people to opine that zero-nicotine liquids impart "no throat hit". Others unwittingly acknowledge that zero-nicotine liquids do impart a throat hit when they state that it is not a "true" throat hit.
While PV's are virtually certain to be far less harmful to the human body than cigarette smoking, it has been well-established that breathing propylene glycol or vegetable glycerine vapor does somewhat irritate tissues in the human respiratory system. For that reason, it might be advantageous to forego, if at all possible, the so-called "true throat hit" associated with vaping e-liquids containing nicotine, in favor of trying to develop an appreciation for the far more subtle throat hit that zero-nicotine e-liquids, particulary PG with the aforementioned flavorings added, can impart. In this way, a PV user will likely be exposed to far fewer harmful substances since vaping will then be more of a choice and less of an addictive habit.
Taking this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it might be wise to wean oneself off of vaping altogether once an addiction to cigarettes in particular, and nicotine in general, has been broken.
***
Lastly, a suggestion to anyone considering using vaping as a means to quit cigarettes. The prevailing strategy seems to be to start on nicotine, then wean yourself off.
How's that working for everyone? (And did everyone believe it when someone in this thread said he vapes nicotine juice for the throat hit, and not because of the nicotine? Does that ring true with what you know about nicotine addiction?)
Suggestion: since the physical addiction to nicotine is overcome in a matter of weeks, consider starting with zero nicotine, and only going back to nicotine if you absolutely have to. It's awfully nice to not freak out if I happen to leave the house without my PV, and to know that I'm not physically dependent on anything except food, air, and water. Nicotine is not harmless, and anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or lying.
: everyone should vape at the lowest nic level that keeps him/her off the analogs, be it even 0
