Thinking of trying 18mg.

[Burnaphatone]

So the sample pack I ordered from Halo gave me the option of the mg I wanted and I chose 12mg. Although I get decent throat hit (7/10) and really good vapor, I am thinking of ordering one of the two bottles in my next purchase as 18mg. My question is, what is a suitable amount of nicotine for most of you vapers per day? I read that the mg content is per ml, so a 30ml bottle (at 18mg) essentially has something along the lines of 540mg of nicotine? Am I right in this assumption? I also read that smoking a single analog gives the user about 1mg of nicotine, and I currently go through about 1-2ml per day. Could someone clarify the numbers for me? Thanks.

 

[VaperDan]

You have the numbers right. Though, an analog is 1-2mg. You also want to remember that vaping is kind of hard to compare to smoking analogs. The manner in which you smoke and absorption rates vary. 18mg is not really high. I was a 1/2 pack a day smoker and I find 18mg to be perfect. I wouldn't hesitate to try it out. You can also cut it with some VG, pure grain alcohol (Everclear), or some lower mg juice if you find the content too high.

 

[4door1.8t]

unless you are drinking straight nic i wouldnt worry about it too much. find what suites you and your needs. there are people on here that vape 48mg juice and others that are 0 nic vapers. me personally i got between 36 and 24. one because the TH is the best for me and keeps the cravings away. two because i smoked 2-3 packs a day. you are also right about the 1mg of nicotine in a cig in all reality it is posibly a little higher peding the brand. so for instance with me smokeing 2 PAD before i was getting about 40 mg of nicotine per day. now with vaping if i vape a ml a day im getting about the same amount. if you start to get headaches or nausea or other weird symptoms of too high of a nic level then lower it but try different levels and find your sweet spot. remember youre vaping not smoking so there arent the 4500 chemicals that there are in analogs and nic level is a personal thing. also with the higher nic levels you may find you are vaping less
hope that helped some

 

[wv2win]

Vaping is FAR less efficient in nicotine absorption than smoking. Most new vapers need around 24mg to keep away from analogs when trying to transition to vaping. One report on here stated that vaping 24mg gives you about half the amount of nicotine (absorption) that you would get by smoking regular Marlboro analogs.

 

[ScottinSoCal]

All good points, but you also have to take into account the time you spend sucking on a regular cigarette, vs. the time you spend talking, waving it in the air, ashing, forgetting you're holding it while reading, etc. I smoked Marlboro 100s and assumed I'd need 24 mg just to get by (and seriously considered 30mg). Instead I found 18mg is my happy place.

In other words, I'm not sure that what you smoked before is a precise indicator of what strength you'll need in an e-cig. Try them both and see what works best for you.

 

[banjo]

I think it really varies on your personal nic requirements. I was a heavy smoker for over 55 years, so I started at 36mg, and over a period of 7 months have worked my way down to 18mg, but it is not quite enough, so I'm considering going up to 24mg. You need just a heavy enough hit of nic to keep the cravings at bay. Thanks for the post & good luck to you.

 

[Jenn1181]

I started at 24mg and quickly found the throat hit it produced to be a bit too much. I dropped to the 16-18mg range for awhile and was happy there, but ultimately I switched to 8mg. I can vape as frequently as I want on 8mg and not really have to worry about over doing it. Where I'm at now in my (analog) quit, I'm comfortable on the 8mg.

 

[Burnaphatone]

Thanks for all the info. At worst I was probably a half PAD smoker, about 3-4 packs per week (of Camel Lights) to be honest. The 12mg definitely does the trick, although I find myself vaping more often than I would smoke, but that might just be due to the fact that once you light up an analog, one drag or a full cig its basically an all or nothing thing. I decided to order a 12mg 30ml bottle of my favorite juice and an 18mg 30ml bottle of my second fave, so I can test the differences. Thanks again!

 

[Aaeli]

I was really hesitant to try 18mg as well. I did NOT want to go over 12. Since I finally broke down and did it, I've found that I'm not "chasing the dragon" anymore and feel, overall, more satisfied and end up using my PV a little less.

 

[dormouse]

Most full strength cigarettes contain 1.2 mg of nicotine per cigarette or more. I think lights are usually .7-.9, and ultralights can be down like .5

The mg on ejuice is per ml

Some common starting ejuice nicotine ranges
(for the higher ends of range - some need more to start out, some just need that much)

Full strength smoker - 24mg, may need 30+
Lights smoker - 16-18mg may need 24
Ultralights smoker - 10-12mg may need 16-18

But it really depends on how you smoked, what PV you get (some vaporize more ejuice per puff because they have bigger attys), how you intend to vape.

For me, with my PV (which is a small atty), I chose ejuice nicotine equivalent to one pack of the cigarettes I was smoking and planned to vape the same amount (1.5 packs worth of puffs). If you search on Google for your cigarette brand and the word nicotine you can probably find how much nicotine per cigarette. Mine were .9 which x 20 is 18mg and 18mg ejuice worked out for me.

I did buy a group of nicotine levels as recommended for starting out. Like this (I was a lights smoker):

12mg - bought a small bottle in case 18mg was too strong or for if I vaped more than I smoked
18mg - bought a larger bottle, this is what I thought I needed
24mg - bought a small bottle in case I needed it certain times of day or all the time

As it ended up, I only needed the 18mg but I'll be using the 12mg eventually because I plan to cut my nicotine a bit. When I started out I was using about 1-1.5 ml of ejuice per day. Now I am vaping more and using about 2ml per day so I plan to cut down to 12mg slowly by using up some of my 18 mg while starting to use 12mg for some of my heavier vaping.

In the end it depends on you, how much you vape, how you feel. if you get a headache or rapid heart then you are probably using too much nicotine. If you are still getting cravings then it can be a variety of things like too low nicotine, a juice that doesn't satisfy and relax with its aroma and taste, a juice that makes you feel like you ate, not enough TH - it really depends on the person. For me, it was some TH and a comforting aroma like tobacco or cocoa for the "you just smoked" feeling, along with the nicotine.

 

[Remie]

I was a 1.5 PAD smoker and started vaping at 24mg. Most of the time I'm satisfied with 18mg, however I still vape 24mg when I'm craving that elusive *something*...

I agree - it's all about what satisfies your cravings. I use my PV like a pacifier, it's always in my mouth... I generally vape about 3ml a day (my best guestimate) and I don't worry about it. Whatever keeps me off the stinkies.

It takes a little bit of experimenting to find what works. Good Luck!

 

[mlinky]

dormouse has what I think is the best rule of thumb. I started at 18mg, but couldn't quit cigs until I moved to 24mg. Was a pad Kool smoker. I vape about 3ml/day of 24mg.

 

[lthaver]

solid 3 pack a day smoker, regularly use 36 mg, 24 will do.....for a while

 

[OB1J3D1]

Thanks for all the info. At worst I was probably a half PAD smoker, about 3-4 packs per week (of Camel Lights) to be honest. The 12mg definitely does the trick, although I find myself vaping more often than I would smoke, but that might just be due to the fact that once you light up an analog, one drag or a full cig its basically an all or nothing thing. I decided to order a 12mg 30ml bottle of my favorite juice and an 18mg 30ml bottle of my second fave, so I can test the differences. Thanks again!

Your calculations are correct on the nic levels in an analog and in your juice. But, everyone's tastes / habits vary. Most new vapers tend to do so more than they used to smoke. Mostly for novelty and because you an do it where you couldn't before. So, increased usage is not unusual.

There's nothing wrong with having a variety exploring to find what's best for you. But, if you're not having withdrawl nor craving analogs, I'd go down in nic not up.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[geminimind]

I smoked 1 to 2 PAD and started with 16 and found my sweet spot at 24. Plus I like the fact that vape less.

 

[Pur3Rush]

This is a good questions as many people have no idea what to choose. I was a pack(ish) a day smoker. Sometimes more, and sometimes less. My buddy had a pv before me and started with 18mg. It was too little for me. So I ordered all 24mg juice and two 30mg juice. I didn't want to not satisfy the craving. 24 is perfect. 30mg isn't bad, but since nic is a stimulant I made the bad choice of vaping my strawberry waffle 30mg at 11pm and had horrible sleep. Bad idea. I plan to eventually reduce it to 18mg in the future, but I'm happy with 24now.

 

[teflteacher]

I use my PV like a pacifier, it's always in my mouth...


Oh man! Don't I know the feeling! Sometimes I've got one in each hand!

 

[cyberwolf]

Whatever keeps me off the stinkies.

That right there is what really counts. If you feel that 12mg is not quite satisfying, that might lead you back to analogs. Trying 18mg is a far better choice. I was a PAD smoker and 24mg is what it took to get me off cigarettes, but it was easy to step down to 18mg after only one bottle. Now 12mg is fine. Unless you really notice side effects at 18mg, you should have no worries.

 

[PaulTa07]

Just another chime that you should experiment with the different brands, flavors, and nicotine levels to find what works best for you. If you're unsatisfied, or just curious, move on to something else.

I started with 24mg like most people on here, but ended up moving down to 18mg because I started getting nauseated. 18mg ended up being juuuusssttt right.

 

[Rick07]

I was a pipe smoker for years and started with 16, moved down to 11, then up to 18 which is just right for me. I noticed that the flavor also has a lot to do with it. Some flavors with a nic of 11 is just fine with me and others require an 18.