Help calculating nicotine intake please

[smokeyjoeshideout]

Hello,

I used to smoke cigarettes for years, then stoped for years, then started for a year, then moved to vaping. That was 6 years ago. I want/need to stop, but I need to workout how much nicotine I'm taking now.

I think I've been reducing but I'm not sure because I've changed from 10ml bottles with nicotine to 100ml 0% and separate nicotine.

Could someone tell me from the following figures please?

At the moment I am going through a 100ml bottle a week of 0% juice. I add to that between 1 and 1.5 bottles (10ml each) of 18mg/ml nicotine. Let's call it 1.5 bottles, so 15ml.

So my calculations are:

100ml of 0% juice
plus 15ml of 18mg/ml

Total juice with nicotine is 115ml

The nicotine is 18mg per ml, so 15ml of that = 15ml * 18mg/ml = 270mg of nicotine

Then 270mg of nicotine divided by 115ml = 2.34mg/ml

Is this correct?

If so, and I'm doing 115ml in around 7 days, that's around 16ml a day.

16ml at 2.34 mg/ml = 37.5mg of nicotine

The cigarettes I used to smoke were 1.2mg a cigarette. So does that mean I'm vaping the equivalent of around 31 cigarettes a day?

Or have I done this totally wrong?

Thanks for any help. I have tried online calculators and so on but I'm not sure and need to work this out so I can work out how best to stop.

 

[MrDJ]

Hi @smokeyjoeshideout and welcome to the planet.

the easiest way to explain it is:
100ml zero nic bottles usually come with 80ml of zero juice so enough room to add 2 x 18mg nic shots.
adding the 2 nic shots will make the final mix of 100ml at 3mg strength.
as you are using one and a half bottles of nic then your final strength will be under 3mg.

on a good day i can easily get through 30-50ml using 50-60watts and ive been doing this for around 6 years at 3mg.

 

[hack400]

Hello @smokeyjoeshideout and welcome to POTV.

Your calculations are correct, but I think you've overcomplicated things. You're going through 1.5 bottles of 18mg nic per week. You correctly calculate that as 270mg of nicotine (1.5 * 180). Now you can just divide that by 7 to work out your daily intake. 270/7 = 38.5 mg / day.

As far as what is that equivalent to, not sure I can give you a good answer. Most answers I see for nic content of a cigarette range from 8 - 20mg, with the average being 12mg. But how much of that nic makes it from the cigarette.

I think your nic intake is quite low though. I go through about 40ml a day, but my nic level is much lower (0.72mg), so about 28mg a day. I know at one point I was going through twice that with higher nic juice.

If you want to reduce your nic intake just try dropping the amount you add and see how you get on.

Good luck!

 

[Crispycritters]

Cigarettes don't list nicotine levels on the packages because the nicotine levels in tobacco leaf can vary from plant to plant and in different parts of the leaf. I think you will find it is the tar levels rather than nicotine content that is quoted on cigarette packets.

If you wish to monitor the amount you are vaping I would gauge it by how much juice you actually vape in a week - if you consistently vape a 100ml shortfill of juice and 15mg of nic and want to reduce this I would try to stick to a 100ml shortfill but slowly reduce the amount of nic. If you still vape a single 100ml shortfill a week using this method I would continue to reduce the nic content by small amounts - if you lower nic but find yourself vaping more juice then don't lower the nic any further and try to stay around this level until you are content with this level of nic before attempting any further nicotine reduction.

One thing to consider is although you are still using nicotine by vaping, you are not constantly inhaling tar or many of the carcogenic toxins from tobacco leaf. Although it is obviously healthier to be totally free of nicotine, inhaling nicotine by itself isn't particularly harmful compared to burning leaf - it is the tar and toxin levels contained in tobacco that cause the health problems rather than the nicotine.

 

[Simon G]

yup, you are way over complicating things ... 10 - 15ml of 18mg a week is pretty low, whatever way you cut it is irrelevant.

You are vaping less than 2ml of 18mg a day, which isn't a lot really. I consume 2 or 3x that a day.

 

[smokeyjoeshideout]

Hi @smokeyjoeshideout and welcome to the planet.

the easiest way to explain it is:
100ml zero nic bottles usually come with 80ml of zero juice so enough room to add 2 x 18mg nic shots.
adding the 2 nic shots will make the final mix of 100ml at 3mg strength.
as you are using one and a half bottles of nic then your final strength will be under 3mg.

on a good day i can easily get through 30-50ml using 50-60watts and ive been doing this for around 6 years at 3mg.

yes, thanks re the 100ml and gap. I was using 120ml bottles until last week (out of stock) and know that was 100ml liquid and "20ml gap" so only just started using the 100ml and hadn't thought of that. so I've actually upped my nicotine this week!

 

[smokeyjoeshideout]

Hello @smokeyjoeshideout and welcome to POTV.

Your calculations are correct, but I think you've overcomplicated things. You're going through 1.5 bottles of 18mg nic per week. You correctly calculate that as 270mg of nicotine (1.5 * 180). Now you can just divide that by 7 to work out your daily intake. 270/7 = 38.5 mg / day.

As far as what is that equivalent to, not sure I can give you a good answer. Most answers I see for nic content of a cigarette range from 8 - 20mg, with the average being 12mg. But how much of that nic makes it from the cigarette.

I think your nic intake is quite low though. I go through about 40ml a day, but my nic level is much lower (0.72mg), so about 28mg a day. I know at one point I was going through twice that with higher nic juice.

If you want to reduce your nic intake just try dropping the amount you add and see how you get on.

Good luck!

Yes, of course I am overcomplicating it - doh! thanks

 

[smokeyjoeshideout]

Cigarettes don't list nicotine levels on the packages because the nicotine levels in tobacco leaf can vary from plant to plant and in different parts of the leaf. I think you will find it is the tar levels rather than nicotine content that is quoted on cigarette packets.

If you wish to monitor the amount you are vaping I would gauge it by how much juice you actually vape in a week - if you consistently vape a 100ml shortfill of juice and 15mg of nic and want to reduce this I would try to stick to a 100ml shortfill but slowly reduce the amount of nic. If you still vape a single 100ml shortfill a week using this method I would continue to reduce the nic content by small amounts - if you lower nic but find yourself vaping more juice then don't lower the nic any further and try to stay around this level until you are content with this level of nic before attempting any further nicotine reduction.

One thing to consider is although you are still using nicotine by vaping, you are not constantly inhaling tar or many of the carcogenic toxins from tobacco leaf. Although it is obviously healthier to be totally free of nicotine, inhaling nicotine by itself isn't particularly harmful compared to burning leaf - it is the tar and toxin levels contained in tobacco that cause the health problems rather than the nicotine.

In the UK they do list them. This is the brand I used to smoke

• 10 mg Tar
• 0.9 mg Nicotine
• 10 mg Carbon Monoxide

I had read 1.2 earlier but this is from a supermarket listing of ingredients.

But yes, I realise it's safer and in fact there's evidence nicotine is good for you in some ways, but I have chest problems and it's unfair on my family too to live with the vape when I really don't need to.

Thanks

 

[smokeyjoeshideout]

yup, you are way over complicating things ... 10 - 15ml of 18mg a week is pretty low, whatever way you cut it is irrelevant.

You are vaping less than 2ml of 18mg a day, which isn't a lot really. I consume 2 or 3x that a day.

Absolutely. Not got my head screwed on today

But 15ml of 18mg/ml is still 270mg of nictone isn't it?

I've just posted a correction - my old cigs are 0.9mg a cigarette. So doesn't that work out as 300 cigs a week, or 42 a day? (In purely a nicotine sense).

If so, that doesn't seem like pretty low? Speaking from an addiction point of view. I used to smoke 40 a day when I stopped the first time (for several years), and ended up again doing that when I restarted...

 

[Mr Ripple]

I like @Simon G 's answer the most.

16ml at 2.34 mg/ml = 37.5mg of nicotine

Isn't there a decimal place missing somewhere which would make it 1.8mg and not 18mg so it would actually be 3.75mg day?