Why is everyone so high-nicotine crazy?

[DonDaBoomVape]

As Spikey mentions in her excellent New, Updated, Comprehensive Intro to vaping! video (the 4th sticky in this New Members' Forum), lower levels of nicotine would be comparable to most analogs.

My personal experience as a new vaper is that 16 mg (often included in starter kits and a typical default level) is too strong for me. I used to smoke UltaLights (a bit less than a pack a day). I'm very much enjoying the vaping experience and want (and e-cigs enable me) to vape much more frequently than I smoked. I'm ingesting too much nicotine!

I'm finding it difficult, however, to locate 8 mg or 11 mg cartridges (at least at the prices and in the flavors I want). [In my case, it's cartomizers for my KR808D-1.] I'm not criticizing the vendors - they're just responding to user demand.

I recognize that my previous under-a-pack, ultralight usage may be less than average. But even so ... 36 mg!?

Don (a highly experienced vaper - 4 days and counting)
looking forward to qualify for a "signature"

 

[wv2win]

A recent poll indicated that more vapers use 24mg than any other nic level. Ultra lights and less than a pack a day is probably not your typical smoker.

 

[Stormynights]

When I first started I still wanted a cigarette at the lower levels. I finally started using 36 mg. This was what it took to get me off cigarettes. Now I am down to less than 24mg. Our needs are just different. I hope to be down to about 10mg in the next few months. Hopefully I can make it to 0mg on of these days.

 

[hanover fist]

An e-cig gives about half the nic per hit of a cig 16mg=per 1 ml

 

[Juggalo]

I love my nicotine and I want high doese to keep me from constantly puffin

 

[happily]

18mg got me started but 36mg broke the camels hump for me...........I'm leaning more on 24mg now. A 2 pack a day smoker was getting 36mg per day before.

I personally was 3 packs a day...................I would've smoked 4 but just couldn't find the freakin' time. THANK YOU E-CIG.

 

[sheilalynn]

I like the higher nicotine levels because I can cut it with pg/vg and a little flavoring or menthol crystals. I don't vape it at 36mg, only at about 12mg. Makes it go alot further and easier to get exactly the nicotine level you want if you plan on eventually quitting all together.

 

[Jim Davis]

18mg got me started but 36mg broke the camels hump for me...........I'm leaning more on 24mg now. A 2 pack a day smoker was getting 36mg per day before.

I personally was 3 packs a day...................I would've smoked 4 but just couldn't find the freakin' time. THANK YOU E-CIG.

The higher the nic, the more you have when you cut it.

 

[TDM]

The biggest reason above all other for high mg levels is cost. If you buy 30 ml of 8mg juice and 30 ml of 36 mg juice they are the same price. You cut down the 36mg juice to make it 8mg juice you just got 135 ml.

 

[wegster]

As Spikey mentions in her excellent New, Updated, Comprehensive Intro to Vaping! video (the 4th sticky in this New Members' Forum), lower levels of nicotine would be comparable to most analogs.

My personal experience as a new vaper is that 16 mg (often included in starter kits and a typical default level) is too strong for me. I used to smoke UltaLights (a bit less than a pack a day). I'm very much enjoying the vaping experience and want (and e-cigs enable me) to vape much more frequently than I smoked. I'm ingesting too much nicotine!

I recognize that my previous under-a-pack, ultralight usage may be less than average. But even so ... 36 mg!?

Don (a highly experienced vaper - 4 days and counting)
looking forward to qualify for a "signature"

You're making the asumption that absorption rates are identical between analogs and e-cigs, when research would seem to indicate this is *not* the case:
E-cig News: Dr. Laugesen's report on the Ruyan e-cigarette as shown to the Society for Research on Nicotine & Tobacco conference in Dublin April, 2009

In short, you need to intake roughly 72 e-cig drags, or 10x as much on an e-cig, to get the same absorption rate and quantity as an analog, or that's at least one theory.

Listen to what your body is telling you, not a spreadsheet.

And of course, as truck pointed out, higher fluids can also be cut, or have flavoring added, while remaining relatively high nic, or reducing and flavoring it to last longer.

 

[DonDaBoomVape]

I started this thread as something of a rant. What it has turned into (with all your rapid and informative replies) is a learning experience.

I see that:

1. Many vapers were heavier smokers than I (although I was/am indeed addicted).
2. There is a difference of opinion on how to compare vaping nicotine levels with those of analog cigarettes, and their respective impact on the body.

The aha! for me is that I can save money by cutting the 24 or 36 mg carts/fluid with 0 mg fluid.

Although I'm still not clear on how to do that with a new full cartridge ... or how applicable this is to cartomizers (e.g., as in my KR808D-1).

My understanding is that some dripping can be done into the battery end of the cartomizer. Opening that thing up and using tweezers, however, is a bit too much for me (at least at this early stage of my vaping experience).

Thanks to all!

 

[Surf Monkey]

Laugesen's report is a little skewed due to the methods he used. It seems evident that e-smoking doesn't put as much nicotine into the blood as quickly as traditional smoking, but we need to see how blood nicotine levels are effected over a longer period to know for sure. Because it seems to enter more through the mucous membranes in the mouth and sinus cavities, it enters the blood much more slowly than smoke does through the lungs. Over a short period of time you take in less nicotine with vapor, but over a longer period you may get a larger percentage.

Still, the existing research shows that you should expect less than half the amount of nicotine you get from a cigarette drag from a vapor drag.

 

[wegster]

I started this thread as something of a rant. What it has turned into (with all your rapid and informative replies) is a learning experience.

I see that:

1. Many vapers were heavier smokers than I (although I was/am indeed addicted).
2. There is a difference of opinion on how to compare vaping nicotine levels with those of analog cigarettes, and their respective impact on the body.

The aha! for me is that I can save money by cutting the 24 or 36 mg carts/fluid with 0 mg fluid.

Although I'm still not clear on how to do that with a new full cartridge ... or how applicable this is to cartomizers (e.g., as in my KR808D-1).

My understanding is that some dripping can be done into the battery end of the cartomizer. Opening that thing up and using tweezers, however, is a bit too much for me (at least at this early stage of my vaping experience).

Thanks to all!

On refills, buy blank carts, or simply refill the pre-filled once you're done with them. search on 'cart refilling' or better yet, for your specific model. There's at least a video out there for refilling the M series, check that out, and the rest is easy enough to figure out from there, assuming it's not a 2 piece cartomizer unit.

The 2 piece, yes, you can drip into the battery end. search for 'burning cartomizers' if you want more 'fun' reading on the KR carts. I don't use them long, and use greencig carts instead for the most part.

Note that cutting higher nic liquid will also cut the flavor...which may or may not be ok with you, depending on the starting flavor strength, how much you cut, etc..and you can cut with either PG, VG/glycerin/glycerol, or a mixture of both, along with or without distilled water, alcohol, and flavorings. Start simple and just cut with PG (buy some) or a PG/VG mix, and cut just a bit, test the flavor, then read the wealth of info on the DIY e-iquid forum.

 

[wegster]

Laugesen's report is a little skewed due to the methods he used. It seems evident that e-smoking doesn't put as much nicotine into the blood as quickly as traditional smoking, but we need to see how blood nicotine levels are effected over a longer period to know for sure. Because it seems to enter more through the mucous membranes in the mouth and sinus cavities, it enters the blood much more slowly than smoke does through the lungs. Over a short period of time you take in less nicotine with vapor, but over a longer period you may get a larger percentage.

Still, the existing research shows that you should expect less than half the amount of nicotine you get from a cigarette drag from a vapor drag.

Certainly. We don't know *definitively* much, really. But things do seem to point that vaping will give less absorption, whether it's 1/10th, 1/6th (which my recent M201 purchase suggests), or half (not sure where that one came from?), and as you said, it's likely we absorb more via holding in the mouth versus inhaling into the lungs directly like with analogs.

Either way, I wouldn't be terrible concerned over nic 'overdose' from vaping, just listen to your body, and try not to confuse analog withdrawal symptoms (not JUST from nicotine!) with 'omg, e-cigs are BAD!'

 

[Moonlighter]

I started this thread as something of a rant. What it has turned into (with all your rapid and informative replies) is a learning experience.


I see that:

1. Many vapers were heavier smokers than I (although I was/am indeed addicted).
2. There is a difference of opinion on how to compare vaping nicotine levels with those of analog cigarettes, and their respective impact on the body.

The aha! for me is that I can save money by cutting the 24 or 36 mg carts/fluid with 0 mg fluid.

Although I'm still not clear on how to do that with a new full cartridge ... or how applicable this is to cartomizers (e.g., as in my KR808D-1).

My understanding is that some dripping can be done into the battery end of the cartomizer. Opening that thing up and using tweezers, however, is a bit too much for me (at least at this early stage of my vaping experience).

Thanks to all!

Before I even bought my first vaping device I watched all the videos on YouTube about electric cigarettes. I would have never been able to figure everything out so quickly.
I'm sure there's plenty of folks here that could leave links to or send you an email to some of the best ones. (I'm still a toddler to vaping)

 

[sMuCk_fOg]

Inhale deep,deep into my lungs...
No matter what nicotine level.
If my lungs arent completely filled
(as they were when smoking)
I would not be able to keep up with vaping only,
and would definately have to go back to smoking.

I also put NOTHING in my carts and only drip on my atty.

When the liquid starts to reverse wick (or gets sucked)
into my cart , I take it off and clean it out.

 

[MonkeyMonk]

Someone's got a video on cartomizers. I saw it yesterday. they just turned it upside down and dropped one drop over the brass colored metal hole and the little hole sucked it in... Run a search for cartomizers and in one of the first links on the first page you should find a youtube video.

I tried low to zerro nic to start with and could not get off analogs. I was a 3pk/da smoker. I've moved up to 16-24mg. and can go as low as 3 analogs/day now on the higher nic levels. Also, at low nic levels, I'm puff, puff, puff,.... constant.... At higher nic levels, it's 2-3puffs and then a 5-15 minute delay or longer

Further, nic is lost during storage and since we're possibly/ IMHO probably looking at a ban (of at least the juices) a lot of us are storing the higher ones. Then, if they loose 1/3 to 1/2 of their nic value they are still a satisfying substitute for analogs and quite possibly suitable for cutting.

 

[NPerez]

I'm using 24mg juice & I find that 2-5 puffs is equivalent to one entire analog cig as far as satisfaction goes - it's nice to be able to whip out an e-cig, take a few pulls, and feel as if I've just smoked an entire cigarette. I think I'd be using it a lot more with a lower nicotine level, and I wonder if the overall amount of nicotine ingested might be higher that way.

 

[Cancer]

I love my 36mg for LONG nights out at the bar and stressful family events. If you do not like it, Don't buy it! Its amazing how when people do not like/understand something,they call it crazy or far from normal. Im waiting for an Alcoholism Support group to support a ban on any Alcoholic beverage above a wine cooler or beer. First the FDA and now concerned vaping groups Geez

 

[happily]

Certainly. We don't know *definitively* much, really. But things do seem to point that vaping will give less absorption, whether it's 1/10th, 1/6th (which my recent M201 purchase suggests), or half (not sure where that one came from?), and as you said, it's likely we absorb more via holding in the mouth versus inhaling into the lungs directly like with analogs.

Either way, I wouldn't be terrible concerned over nic 'overdose' from vaping, just listen to your body, and try not to confuse analog withdrawal symptoms (not JUST from nicotine!) with 'omg, e-cigs are BAD!'

I agree with this and surf monkey both.......we don't know, but it's the 5 minute part of the study that is suspect and requires more info