How to Choose the Right Nicotine Level for Your E-Juice

As a new vaper trying to quit smoking, you’re likely bombarded with terminology you can hardly understand: VG, PG, RBAs, mods, and so on. Then there’s the fact that you need to find out which vaping device works for you – no easy task since there are dozens of options out there.

It’s overwhelming.

So much stuff to research but you actually have only one real question: is vaping going to be able to satisfy my nicotine needs?

Well, that’s going to depend on the nicotine level you go for. There’s a lot to choose from here: from 3 and 6 mg all the way up to 24 mg. Also, some e-juice nicotine levels can be as low as 0 mg (no nicotine, definitely not intended for smokers switching to vaping) or as high as 36 mg (rare but intended exclusively for heavy, more than one pack a day smokers).

In recent years, e-liquid manufacturers started experimenting with something called nicotine salts. They are a bit different from regular, freebase nicotine, and the concentration inside a vape juice can go up to around 60 mg/mL (think JUUL pods). We will discuss them in detail after we figure out just why you crave the nicotine in the first place, so read on!

Want to Try Out the Best E-Juice Vaporizers On the Market?

Enjoy any type of nicotine vape with our selection of electronic cigarettes.

0 nic, 3 nic, or 12 nic – levels of nicotine don’t matter because our vape pens do them all!

Click Here to Find Your Vape Juice Today & Relish the Flavors!

Understanding This Guide to Vape Nicotine Levels

First of all, to understand how to satisfy your nicotine dependency and how to pick the right nicotine intensity, you have to understand why you crave nicotine. Nicotine is a very addictive substance. It causes both physical and psychological addiction and nicotine withdrawal symptoms shouldn’t be taken lightly, as every smoker who has ever tried to quit knows.

When you’re switching to vaping, you shouldn’t immediately be concerned with dumping nicotine. This first step is all about exchanging an unhealthy habit for one that’s proven to do less harm to your body. The ultimate goal, of course,  is to get rid of nicotine as well, but that’s not the first step in the process.

Nicotine is expressed in milligrams, in both cigarettes and e-liquids. For the latter, this means the milligram amount (1 in 1000 parts) of a gram. For example, an 9 mg juice contains 9 milligrams of nicotine per 1 milliliter in the bottle. That comes to exactly 135 milligrams of nicotine in a 15 ml bottle of vape juice.

The Difference in Nicotine Delivery Between Cigarettes and Vaping

There’s no way around it – cigarettes are a lot more efficient when it comes to delivering nicotine into your bloodstream. It’s not really surprising – concentration per puff is higher, and smokers take more frequent puffs (there’s no point in wasting a cigarette, right?).

According to a study published in Nature, it takes about 35 minutes of proactive vaping to get the same amount of nicotine into the blood as after 5 minutes of smoking a cigarette (provided that the amount of nicotine in both is equivalent). This study deals with high-end vaping products and new generation mods and tanks such as Smok Alien and Limitless tank.

On the other hand, if you’re using a simple vape pen can take a bit more to get the same results. This doesn’t mean that you should dismiss it entirely – we wholeheartedly recommend V2 to vapers who are trying to cut down on their nicotine consumption, as well as to those who don’t have extreme nicotine cravings in the first place.

To get the same amount of nicotine into your bloodstream as with a cigarette, you would have to vape on a vape juice that has around 50 mg of nicotine. At this moment, you can get to that level only using nic salts, which are a bit more expensive than regular vape juice. High nic regular juice is not available because of several reasons, but primarily because it would be too harsh on the throat.

How to Choose the Nicotine Level That’s Right for You (Regular)

Most new vapers have no idea how vape juice nicotine level affects their likelihood to fully switch to vaping. Without knowing that nicotine delivery is lower with vaping than it is with smoking, it’s no wonder most people start off too low and ultimately, end up smoking again.

A lot of people start with 12 or 18 milligrams, which is ok if you’re a light smoker. If you’re a heavy smoker it’s advisable that you start with 24 mg and work your way down. Remember, the point is to find a way to stick to vaping – reducing nicotine levels is something you should worry about later on.

24 mg/ml – even though this high nicotine level is usually recommended to heavier smokers (2 packs a day) you should consider starting with it if you smoke even one pack. True, it’s a harsher vape but this study from 2014 found that new vapers that start with over 20 mg/ml vape juices have a higher success rate when it comes to smoking cessation and switching. (Note, the cost of vape juices with high nicotine content tends to be a bit higher).

18 mg/ml – most people start with 18 mg and that’s a good starting point. Usually, the nicotine dosage is high enough to satisfy a craving but low enough not to significantly alter the taste of the vape juice (quite important as well). If 18 mg isn’t really working for you, a switch to 24 mg will usually do the trick. Overall, though, this is the sweet spot for most casual cigarette smokers.

12 mg/ml – if you’re a light or social smoker then this is the nicotine level you’re looking for. It’s just enough to satisfy your cravings without impacting the flavor. Most vapers change to 12 mg relatively quickly after switching in an effort to reduce nicotine consumption. If you’re still not satisfied with the throat hit here [and less nicotine will do that], going for a juice with more propylene glycol is your best option to improve on it.

9 mg/ml – this is another step down toward being completely nicotine-free. Most smokers won’t be able to satisfy their nicotine cravings with 9 mg, however, so you should only start with this if you’re a very light smoker.

3 mg/mg – the last step before ditching nicotine completely. Smokers won’t find any satisfaction (nicotine-wise) vaping these vape juices. This is exclusively for established vapers who have cut down drastically or are looking to completely get rid of nicotine.

0 mg/ml – vapers and ex-smokers who have been vaping for a significant amount of time find pleasure in the flavor and huge plumes of vapor, not necessarily in nicotine. They no longer need nicotine but they enjoy vaping and draw pleasure from it.

Nic Salts – High Nic With Less Throat Hit

It’s totally possible that even 24mg/mL e liquid won’t be able to satisfy your cravings. A couple of years ago, you would have no other choice than to make homemade juice according to your own specs [as no commercial e-liquids went above this threshold of regular nicotine in their juices]. Today, you can choose to go with nicotine salts.

To understand what nicotine salt vape juices are, we first have to understand what we mean when we say regular vape juice. Regular e-juice is juice with the addition of freebase nicotine – an unprotonated form of natural nicotine created artificially to boost dependency and addictiveness.

Freebase nicotine is very harsh on the throat because of its high acidity, especially in larger concentrations (exceeding 24mg/mL).

Nicotine salts occur naturally when nicotine bonds with an acid, any acid. In fact, it’s the predominant form of nicotine – freebase nicotine is not available in nature because it’s too volatile. Big tobacco companies decided not to use nicotine salts for two reasons:

• Bioavailability is poor, which means that less of it ends up in our bloodstream.
  

• Nicotine salts are not as addictive as freebase nicotine.

However, in 2015, PAX Labs did some tests and found that they are able to create a nicotine salt that is highly bioavailable. In fact, it’s bioavailability was almost on par with that of combustible cigarettes. That’s because they used benzoic acid, which was previously untested for this purpose. An interesting side-effect of this little experiment was that the subjective throat hit was much lower, meaning that the concentration could be maximized without adversely affecting vapers.

And so, JUUL was born, using a vape juice with a nicotine strength of 56mg/mL. In the meantime, a lot of manufacturers have copied this process, so nicotine salts with high nic concentrations are now available bottled, instead of just in the pod form.

40 mg/mL and up – intended exclusively for heavy smokers who are not interested in vaping for extended periods of time – one puff every hour and they are good to go.

Frequently Asked Questions About E-Juice Nicotine Strengths

#1. Is 20mg of nicotine too much in a vaporizer?

Generally, it’s not. It’s actually what you want to start with if you’re a heavy smoker. Most vaporizers can handle this [provided you’re using an MTL setup and being mindful of how you vape]. So go ahead and use a 20mg juice… just make sure you’re decreasing the strength over time. Also, make sure not to use a higher nicotine strength with a sub-ohm device – that won’t go down well.

#2. Can you even feel 3mg nicotine when vaping?

Light smokers [and vapers who’ve been vaping for a while and have weened themselves off nicotine] report that 3mg nicotine e-juices are usually enough for them. There’s no throat hit there, but it’s usually enough to satisfy those lingering cigarette cravings.

#3. What’s the right level of nicotine in a vape?

The answer – whatever gets you through the day without a regular cigarette! There is no right nicotine level here. Obviously, you don’t want to poison yourself, but vaping 24mg liquid is okay as long as you do it with the aim to gradually lower nicotine levels as time goes by.

#4. What’s the point of vaping with zero nicotine?

Some people keep vaping with zero nicotine e-juices simply because they enjoy the vaping experience. Others do it because they want to keep those psychological nic cravings at bay, and this helps. If you can ditch your vape device as you lower nic levels, do it. If not, you can keep on vaping and simply enjoy the flavors!

Ready to Pick Your E-Liquid Nicotine Strenght?

The nicotine level you opt for will strongly affect how successful you are at switching to vaping. It’s always better to start with a higher dosage than to go back to cigarettes because vaping isn’t fulfilling your nicotine needs. If you feel that 24mg/mL won’t work for you, don’t hesitate to go for nic salts. Your goal right now is to move away from smoking and analog cigarettes. Worrying about how much nicotine you are taking in is only going to mess with your head.

Remember, regardless of the amount of nicotine, you’re now exposed to around 4,000 dangerous chemicals less than you were when you were smoking. Getting your nicotine levels way down (or even completely kicking nicotine) will be easy once you fully adopt vaping!