How To Choose The Right Nicotine Strength For Your Vape Juice
When making the switch from smoking to vaping, it is important to use the right strength e-liquid. The nicotine content of cigarettes can be very varied, so it can be helpful for new vapers to have e-liquid strength explained.
Having a clear understanding of e-liquid nicotine strength can make the switch to vaping less stressful. We hope that our simple e-liquid strength guide will help you decide what strength e-liquid you should use.
Table of Contents
Understanding Nicotine - Understanding Different Nicotine Strengths
- What's The Difference Between Freebase Nicotine And Nicotine Salts?
- How To Know What Nicotine Strength Is Right For You
- Mouth To Lung And Direct To Lung Vaping
- How To Know If Your Nicotine Strength Is Too High
What Is Nicotine?
Nicotine is one of the chemicals that are found within tobacco products. It's a highly addictive chemical and dependency on nicotine can easily be formed once you start ingesting it into your body.
But contrary to popular belief, nicotine is not one of the toxic nor harmful chemicals which are commonly found in combustible tobacco products such as cigarettes. A lit cigarette is known to produce over 5000 chemicals and at least 50 of these chemicals are toxic and carcinogenic to the body. But nicotine is not included under this umbrella and Cancer Research UK say the following:
"Nicotine is the chemical that makes cigarettes addictive. But it is not responsible for the harmful effects of smoking, and nicotine does not cause cancer. People have safely used nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to stop smoking for many years. Nicotine replacement therapy is prescribed by doctors or is available from pharmacies."
The harmful chemicals in tobacco products are things like tar and carbon monoxide which can lead to contracting diseases such as Cancer or Lung/Heart Disease as well as other lung related problems like COPD.
When opting to switch to vaping, you are freeing yourself from ingesting these toxic chemicals on the regular, while still consuming enough nicotine to manage cravings. Public Health England have said on multiple occassions that "vaping is 95% safer than smoking" which is why many people turn to vaping as a way to quit smoking for good.
What Are The Different E-Liquid Nicotine Strengths Available To Buy?
If you're considering quitting smoking and want to vape as your preferred method of nicotine replacement therapy, then alongside a a vape kit, you're going to need some vape juice to put in it! Knowing and choosing the right nicotine strength for what you need may be confusing when you first start out however, which is why we'll explain all of the different strengths below in detail to give you a clearer understanding.
When you quit smoking, you'll want to use a vape juice that contains nicotine relevant to the amount of cigarette's you'd previously smoked in a day. Your body would have been used to consuming nicotine and with it being an addictive chemical, if you were to suddenly just stop using nicotine or use a nicotine strength vape juice too low for your needs, you may start slipping into nicotine withdrawal and this is something you'll want to avoid!
Below is our guide to the different e-liquid nicotine strengths which are available to buy online and how they correlate to the amount of cigarettes previously smoked in a day:
3mg is recommended to those who previously smoked 5 or less cigarettes a day
6mg is recommended to those who previously smoked around 10 cigarettes a day
12mg is recommended to those who previously smoked up to 15 cigarettes a day
18mg is recommended to those who previously smoked 20 or more cigarettes a day
The above strengths are most related to standard freebase nicotine vape juice like our original range, but there are also some alternative strengths available which are inbetween the above mentioned and these are commonly associated with nicotine salt vape juices like those in our Bar Salts range. But you may be asking what's the difference between the two types of nicotine? Well, let us explain!
What's The Difference Between Freebase Nicotine And Nicotine Salts In Vaping?
Freebase is the name given to the more standard nicotine which is used in vape juices. It was the first type of nicotine used, and continues to be used in near enough all standard vape juices.
However, in the mid 2010's, a new type of nicotine was developed and started being used in vape juices and that was Nicotine Salts. Nicotine Salts are made by using a Freebase nicotine base, but then a weakened acid is added to it to neautralise the pH levels and making it lesser harsher on the throat which is why there's a stark difference in smoothness when vaping a 20mg nicotine salts compared to vaping an 18mg freebase.
Alongside being smoother on the throat, nicotine salts also have a faster nicotine absorption rate which is estimated to be very similar to the absorption rate previously obtained from smoking tobacco products.
This is why many vapers nowadays are turning to using nicotine salts as their preffered vape juice of choice, especially those who previously tried disposable vapes. As we mentioned, there's also nicotine strengths available in nicotine salts that are not obtainable with standard freebase nicotine vape juice:
5mg is recommended to those who previously smoked 5-10 cigarettes a day
10mg is recommended to those who previously smoked around 10-15 cigarettes a day
20mg is recommended to those who previously was a heavy smoker of 20+ cigarettes a day
Picking The Correct Vape Kit For Your Vape Juice
Picking the right strength of vape juice is one of the most important things that you need to get right if you want to have a successful transition from smoking to vaping. But there's also something equally as important to get right, and that is picking the correct vape kit for the vape juice you want to use.
If you're quitting smoking and wanting to use a standard freebase nicotine vape juice, you're going to want to get yourself a vape kit that's suitable for the vape juice you want to use and also be able to replicate a similar sensation that you'd previously got from smoking cigarettes.
The style of vaping that replicates this is called mouth to lung vaping, and we elaborate more on this in the next section of this blog. The devices that are more tailored to MTL vaping are refillable pod vape kits, or pen vape kits. They offer an easy and user friendly approach to vaping without overly complicated features you may not fully understand when first starting out with vaping.
The wattage output of these devices are normally quite low, which is ideal if you're using a higher strength nicotine vape juice, as vaping something like a 20mg nicotine salt at 40 watts of power will more than likely make your head spin!
Eventually, you may start tapering down the nicotine strength of your vape juice as your dependency for nicotine begins to lessen, and when you get to lower strengths such as 6mg or even 3mg, you can then explore the realms of High VG vape juice and Direct to Lung vaping as well.
This is commonly associated with sub-ohm vape kits, which differ from the above mentioned kits as they have variable wattage settings and can be ramped up to higher outputs to create more flavour and bigger vape cloud production as well.
Mouth To Lung Vaping And Direct To Lung Vaping Explained
Mouth to lung vaping is when you draw the vapour from your e-cigarette and inhale it in to your mouth. This then creates a throat hit, which is done by both the PG in your vape juice as well as the nicotine content, and this replicates the same effect you'd previously got from inhaling on a cigarette. The vapour is then exhaled and repeated.
It's arguably the most commonly used technique when it comes to vaping and can be done with any 50/50 vape juice that contains nicotine. Even nicotine free vape juice will give a very minimal throat hit as the 50% PG creates the effect.
Direct to lung vaping is similar to the above, but you essentially bypass the mouth part and just inhale the vapour directly down and exhale it, with no throat hit. DTL vaping is done by using lower strength nicotine vape juice as it creates a bigger throat hit, and if you were using a high nicotine strength, chances are it's going to be a very harsh on your throat and offer a rather unpleasant vaping experience.
How To Know If Your Nicotine Strength Is Too High
When picking the nicotine strength in your vape juice for the first time, you might not get it right and potentially choose a strength that's too high for you. Don't worry, you're not the first person to do this and you certainly won't be the last that's for sure!
There's some tell tale signs that you may have gone too high on the nicotine strength which are;
- Headaches
- Mild Nausea
- Feeling Dizzy/Light Headed
- Coughing/Stingy Throat
These are all symptoms of your nicotine strength being too high, and if you experience them, you'll want to opt to use a strength slightly lower than you initially picked. If these symptoms persist even with a lower nicotine strength, consult a medical professional immediately and refrain from vaping any further.
Written By James Drake
James discovered the world of vaping 7 years ago as an alternative to smoking. Since then, he's become a dedicated enthusiast, experimenting with various e-cigarettes, flavours, and nicotine strengths.
James is committed to sharing his in-depth knowledge to help both new and experienced users make informed decisions about their nicotine alternatives and his blogs are a platform for honest reviews, helpful tips, and discussions.
