Too much nicotine or not enough?

[MischiefManaged]

Okay, first I tried searching the forum and it just shows posts with the keyword nicotine. I've tried manually searching for this topic but there are just too many posts.

I'm trying to figure out if I'm getting too much nicotine or not enough. To test this after vaping and still having the urge to smoke I tried an analogue. I noticed that my craving was sated but I didn't get the nicotine rush that I expected from not smoking for so long. This led me to believe that I am getting enough nicotine. Then again I find I can usually sate the craving by chain vaping. I currently am using an ego with the drip method and 18mg liquid. I think I just haven't found the balance yet. I'm probably using about 1.5ml a day, it's hard to gauge since I'm dripping out of 17 different samplers. Mostly I smoked at work during breaks and on the drive to and from. At home I smoked when I was bored or working on a project. I've been trying to stick to a similar schedule with vaping, but when I'm at home I feel like I'm vaping all the time. Any ideas?

 

[DC2]

What strength are you using?

It sounds like not enough nicotine, and it certainly isn't too much.
If it was too much you'd know it, due to dizziness, nausea, and/or headache.

 

[Rosa]

Here's how you can tell if you are getting enough/too much:

SATISFACTION.

If you vape and rarely if ever crave a smoke, and if you DO smoke it doesn't really make you feel any better than you already felt... then you are doing well with the amount of nic you get from vaping.

If you vape but you think about smoking all the time and eyeball the pack and toss it around and take one out but don't light it... If you wish e-cigs could kill the craving for a cigarette, you probably need to either raise your nic mg's or vape more often (or both).

If you vape and it makes you nauseous, gives you cold sweats and a headache, keeps you up all night jittery and nervous... then you need to lower your nic mg or vape less often (or both).

Good Luck

PS: fwiw, the average person vapes 24mg, 3ml per day.

 

[Phreaker]

What strength are you using?

His post says 18mg / ~1.5ml a day

 

[hittman]

It could be neither. I would assume that you have not been vaping for very long by looking at your join date. It could be that your body is still craving the chemicals that aren't in the liquids but are in the burning tobacco. It could take a while to cleanse your body of the stuff that you get from cigarettes and not from vaping. There are other alkaloids in tobacco besides nicotine that are not in the liquids that some of us still crave. I would give yourself more time. You could try stronger liquids to see if that helps.

 

[DC2]

His post says 18mg / ~1.5ml a day

Oh looks like I missed that.

So I'll change the question then...
How much did you smoke and of what brand?


But seriously, it is sounding like not enough nicotine, and certainly not like too much.

 

[keelalagirl55]

+1 hittman

What you are probably IMO experiencing isn't related to the nicotine at all. There are many other chemicals that are in analog cigs that your body becomes addicted to.....that actually are more addictive than the nicotine itself. That is probably what your body is craving. Hey...there is nothing wrong with vaping all the time If you are worried about the nic content and how much you are vaping, switch to a lower nic content in the evening.

Edit: Anything that your body takes in on a daily basis can become addictive....and withdrawl symptoms will vary dependent on the substance, but an abrupt stop in what the body is used to consuming....well....let's just say the body knows and doth protest Even Exercise......go years exercising everyday and then stop....you can start to have the same anxious type feelings you get when you stop smoking......at least that has been my experience. The human body does not like abrupt change.

 

[MischiefManaged]

It could be neither. I would assume that you have not been vaping for very long by looking at your join date. It could be that your body is still craving the chemicals that aren't in the liquids but are in the burning tobacco. It could take a while to cleanse your body of the stuff that you get from cigarettes and not from vaping. There are other alkaloids in tobacco besides nicotine that are not in the liquids that some of us still crave. I would give yourself more time. You could try stronger liquids to see if that helps.

I started vaping January 11th, 2011. Though after the first week I ran out of carts and was waiting for my liquid so I ended up buying a pack or two. Probably since then I've smoked about 3 packs altogether. The join date is because I've been reading the forums but never really had an interest in posting until I saw this review about JC and wanted to comment.

 

[MischiefManaged]

Oh looks like I missed that.

So I'll change the question then...
How much did you smoke and of what brand?


But seriously, it is sounding like not enough nicotine, and certainly not like too much.

I used to smoke about a pack of Newports a day and when I moved to New York and cigarette prices were double I started smoking 1/2 pack a day.

 

[Rosa]

In my experience the other thing about it is this:

If you are experiencing withdrawal from the other chemicals that they put in cigarettes (likely) then vaping e-liquid that is just slightly higher mg than you need can compensate for some of what you are missing... and then in a month or so you will easily be able to lower the mg back down and still be comfortable.

IMO

 

[Rosa]

My understanding is that Newports and UNFILTERED camel's are among the highest mg nicotine cigarettes.

If the average vaper uses 24mg, 3ml per day and you smoked higher mg nicotine than most of them then it would be reasonable to imagine you might do well with higher mg nicotine.



Nicotine Up Sharply In Many Cigarettes - washingtonpost.com
"In 1998, Newport 100s and unfiltered Camels were tied for highest nicotine yield at 2.9 milligrams. In 2004, Newport had risen to 3.2 milligrams, and five brands measured 3 milligrams or higher."

 

[keelalagirl55]

If you are experiencing withdrawal from the other chemicals that they put in cigarettes (likely) then vaping e-liquid that is just slightly higher mg than you need can compensate for some of what you are missing... and then in a month or so you will easily be able to lower the mg back down and still be comfortable.

well stated I would add though that if that helps, watch how you feel just before bed.....I know if I have too much nic in the evening, I have a tough time getting my body to relax. If you see a change in your sleeping or jitters at night, go high during the day and lower a few hours before you go to bed.

 

[MischiefManaged]

Wow, thanks for the quick answers I didn't expect them so fast. From what you all are saying I think I'm just not getting enough. My fiancée is doing fine but she smoked very casually. I'll try just vaping more often and if that doesn't work I'll buy some higher nic liquid. I'm definitely not have any dizziness or headaches though. I think I'll try what keelalagirl55 said as well. I'd like to eventually get down to around 12mg's.

 

[Rosa]

well stated I would add though that if that helps, watch how you feel just before bed.....I know if I have too much nic in the evening, I have a tough time getting my body to relax. If you see a change in your sleeping or jitters at night, go high during the day and lower a few hours before you go to bed.

agreed.

 

[MischiefManaged]

Okay hears a bit of guess work. Assuming there is about 20 drops in a ml and I'm using 18mg/ml liquid. That would be .9mg a drop, roughly. Right now I'm using about 3-4 drops for what I figured to be my equivalent to a cigarette. So that would be 2.7 to 3.6 mg per "session", about the equivalent to a Newport based on Rosa's post. Assuming then that I should be using about 1.5 to 2 ml per day of 18mg liquid. Which would indicate that I should increase my vaping by at least .5ml to get the equivalent of my Newport habit. I also read somewhere on here that the absorption rate of vaporized nicotine is lower than that of burning nicotine in a cig. Anyone know if that is actually true? If it is, that may account for the difference.

 

[Pur3Rush]

I recommend 24mg. You are simply not getting enough nic. You will definitely know if you are overdoing it. dizziness, headaches, etc. I also recommend getting 18mg too, for a before bed vape. One thing I realized that nobody really talks about is the withdrawl. To a degree it may be what you are experiencing. With vaping, obviously you can replace the nicotine intake of analogs, but you can't replace the 4k carcinogens you are inhaling. I haven't smoked for about 6 weeks, and am still going through tobacco withdrawl. It's my body starting to heal and purge itself of all the crap in my lungs from smoking. This is accompanied by headaches, flu like symptoms, coughing up brown and green stuff. It's pretty bad, but exercising does help speed up the process. It was really bad for about 2 to 3 weeks, and seems to have cleared up. Just a fyi, although unsolicited and graphic. sorry.

Edit. I also smoked Newport analogs and had to start out with 24mg. I have a bottle of 30mg laying around for when I need to absolutely kill the craving.

 

[mlinky]

I smoked pad Kools. Started with 18mg and couldn't quite kick the cigs, and had some wicked headaches. Upped the nic to 24mg and the headaches and cravings went away.

 

[mlinky]

Okay hears a bit of guess work. Assuming there is about 20 drops in a ml and I'm using 18mg/ml liquid. That would be .9mg a drop, roughly. Right now I'm using about 3-4 drops for what I figured to be my equivalent to a cigarette. So that would be 2.7 to 3.6 mg per "session", about the equivalent to a Newport based on Rosa's post. Assuming then that I should be using about 1.5 to 2 ml per day of 18mg liquid. Which would indicate that I should increase my vaping by at least .5ml to get the equivalent of my Newport habit. I also read somewhere on here that the absorption rate of vaporized nicotine is lower than that of burning nicotine in a cig. Anyone know if that is actually true? If it is, that may account for the difference.

You really can't do it that way. Not only does the absorption rate vary from cigarettes, it apparently varies from person to person. Most full flavor smokers end up at 3ml 24mg per day, but the only way to tell what you need is to experiment.

 

[Rosa]

Okay hears a bit of guess work. Assuming there is about 20 drops in a ml and I'm using 18mg/ml liquid. That would be .9mg a drop, roughly. Right now I'm using about 3-4 drops for what I figured to be my equivalent to a cigarette. So that would be 2.7 to 3.6 mg per "session", about the equivalent to a Newport based on Rosa's post. Assuming then that I should be using about 1.5 to 2 ml per day of 18mg liquid. Which would indicate that I should increase my vaping by at least .5ml to get the equivalent of my Newport habit. I also read somewhere on here that the absorption rate of vaporized nicotine is lower than that of burning nicotine in a cig. Anyone know if that is actually true? If it is, that may account for the difference.

It's true, we don't absorb nicotine when we vape in the same way that we absorb it from smoking *(thanks big tobacco for adding the stuff that turns it to freebase).

There were some studies done to try to figure out how much nicotine we are actually absorbing and the highest number that any of them could find was 40%. So if you are using 3.6mg per session, then you are actually only absorbing about 1.5mg.

fwiw: the range of absorption is 10%-40%

 

[Rosa]

If you used 24mg juice and vaped 3ml per day, you'd be getting about 30-40mg per day... equivalent to about 10-13 newport cigarettes.


edit: ROUGHLY EQUIVALENT