well, that was stupid...

[wizard10000]

Decided to go back up from 9mg to 18mg this morning because I was still using more juice than I'd like to - and learned it wasn't the nic I was craving, it was the hand-to-mouth thing. I'm hitting the 18mg just as hard as I was the 9mg and my body is definitely not happy.

Now I've gotta go flavor up a batch of 0mg before I get used to this. Oh, well. Live and learn

 

[JLH]

i vape 6-24 mg, all my juices are diffrent strengths but when i vape the 24 im at work and use it for a quick fix, and when im at home having a vaping session i vape 6mg.

 

[wizard10000]

Yeah - I drip 18mg (can't do 24mg any more) when I want a treat but I cut from 18mg to 9mg a bit more than two weeks ago and am still using about a third more juice than I did at the higher strength.

Figured maybe I cut a little too much going to 9mg but when I went back up to 18mg my juice intake didn't slow down at all. Granted I only tried it for a couple of hours but did get a slight nicotine overdose - then came the "what was I thinking" thing

It only took me about ten minutes to whip up a batch of 0mg to cut the 18mg in half and my body's a lot happier now

 

[r77r7r]

I agree Wiz, I was just going to mix for 12 (doing 9 now), but I think it's just mental games. I think I'll just try going for 6.

 

[wizard10000]

I agree Wiz, I was just going to mix for 12 (doing 9 now), but I think it's just mental games. I think I'll just try going for 6.

I think you're absolutely correct - mental games. I cut enough of the 18mg to fill a 50ml bottle, I think after that I'm gonna go to 6 or maybe even 4.5

 

[sidetrack]

I couldn't agree with you more about the hand to mouth habit. I still have not conquered it. It took me about 6 month to get to 6mg. I decided to buy a bottle of one of my favorites (Jr. Mints Daddy) that I had not had in 5 months. My original thought was that I could make smaller batches and just add the few drops of nic I was using to save any waste. When it arrived I was so excited I just opened it and filled a cart and vaped away, 3 days later I realised I had forgotten to add any nic. Not one single withdrawal and I couldn't believe it. I kept waiting for the hammer to drop. What I couldn't do was put the PV down. Still needed that placebo/security blanket. I have now been nic free for 2 months. This just proved to me how I was addicted on so many levels to cigarettes. Go figure. Eight months ago when I started this adventure I would have sworn that the hardest thing to do would be to kick the nic, how wrong was I.

 

[wizard10000]

I think part of what contributed to my own momentary lapse of reason is that a few days ago I gave myself permission to vape higher than 9mg when I remixed all my little bottles of DIY treats at 18mg instead of the same strength as my all-day vape, which is what they had been.

I've been in a 12-step program for 23 years and am still amazed at how my addicted brain can trip me up. Most of the time I catch it before I do something really ignorant and this was a relatively painless lesson, but I have learned that if I give myself permission to do Bad Things it's easier to give myself permission the next time, and so on - that's why at least for me, I can never smoke an analog again.

The last time I quit smoking I got cocky and thought I could smoke one cigarette after 15 months smoke-free and smoked for another ten years. Scary stuff.

I also have to remix the treats back down to 9mg

edit: You know, reading this over I can see where I set myself up to fail. Fortunately it was just a minor screwup

 

[k3vin]

Show me a man who hasn't failed and I will show you a man who doesn't know much.

 

[r77r7r]

@ sidetrack--Good story. I vape unflavored, if I cut the nic it'd be pennies a day for me to vape.

Warmth is comforting, some times I wonder if it's the warm inhalation as much or more than the hand to mouth? At this point I'm not caring about throat hit anymore, but I DO like the good warm vape.

 

[r77r7r]

I think part of what contributed to my own momentary lapse of reason is that a few days ago I gave myself permission to vape higher than 9mg when I remixed all my little bottles of DIY treats at 18mg instead of the same strength as my all-day vape, which is what they had been.

I've been in a 12-step program for 23 years and am still amazed at how my addicted brain can trip me up. Most of the time I catch it before I do something really ignorant and this was a relatively painless lesson, but I have learned that if I give myself permission to do Bad Things it's easier to give myself permission the next time, and so on - that's why at least for me, I can never smoke an analog again.

The last time I quit smoking I got cocky and thought I could smoke one cigarette after 15 months smoke-free and smoked for another ten years. Scary stuff.

I also have to remix the treats back down to 9mg

edit: You know, reading this over I can see where I set myself up to fail. Fortunately it was just a minor screwup

Yeah, I've been 12 stepping for 28yrs now and you make some good points. If you told this to your sponsor, or co-12stepper, they would've just stood there like ' Who you trying to kid" lol.

I had a non smoking doctor ask me after a meeting - why don't you just apply the steps to your smoking problem? Guess I wanted to smoke more than I wanted to quit.

 

[wizard10000]

...If you told this to your sponsor, or co-12stepper, they would've just stood there like ' Who you trying to kid" lol.

I don't tell my sponsor when I'm considering doing something stupid - that'd ruin everything

I had a non smoking doctor ask me after a meeting - why don't you just apply the steps to your smoking problem? Guess I wanted to smoke more than I wanted to quit.

Amazing how we overcomplicate things, ain't it?

 

[TomCatt]

I started out at 16/18mg was going along fine at that level for ~6 months. Then about a month or so ago I had a few days in a row where I couldn't do my usual chain-vaping and after that I noticed the nic hitting me harder. Since then have been mixing at 12 mg. When I started vaping it was to quit smoking, there was no plan to quit nicotine. Right now I believe I'm more addicted to vaping than nic .

Also love the warm vape which is why I only use CE2s

 

[Prettycat191]

When I first started vaping I got all 12 mg juice and kept overdosing lol (reminded me of morning sickness, ugh). I started DIYing with only flavor and vg a few days later and only took about 3 hits of nic juice then chain vaped no nic until I needed another hit. Now that I've started DIY with nic juice I mix at 9.6mg but I've noticed that I still have to switch back and forth (though not overdosing anymore ). I think when I get my new nic in (which should have been here today ) that I'll try 8mg and see how that goes.

 

[chevelle]

Just mixed 30mL worth of 75pg/25vg 0mg Nic for the first time myself. Made various flavors in 5mL bottles out of it. I've been cruisin' along at 6-9mg in my DIY for awhile now and no problemo. Now its time to see if I'm far enough along in the program to go with no nicotine at all. First couple of bottles vape pretty well even without steeping and I've gotten through most of the work day on that alone - Haven't slugged anybody yet and not vaping up a storm either... Beginning to think that - Hey! I can't tell a dime's worth of difference from this Zero Nic to my 6mg stuff. Hand to mouth eh? Think you got something there pardner. Pretty Cool! It seems clear that my 30 year addiction was a whole lot more than just nicotine. I might get through this yet. Don't want to get cocky though...one day at a time.