is nicotine addiction real?

[gords1001]

The vaping giraffe: Nicotine addiction: When and why it all started


Interesting post that many of us have personal experience of.

 

[fay69]

The vaping giraffe: Nicotine addiction: When and why it all started


Interesting post that many of us have personal experience of.

Yep - very interesting and certainly does tally up with experience. Happily vape no nic on my dripper for hours or go out with no thought of vaping.
Thanks for that Gords. Was sent an article on addiction this morning but unsure whether to post as not specifically nic.

 

[scrumpox]

Very interesting, but doesn't tally with my personal experience ... I vape more when using low nic juice, I vape less when using high nic juice.
I usually start my day high (which for me means 18mg/ml) and gradually lower so I'm on 6mg/ml before bedtime.
You think this is purely psychological?

 

[gords1001]

I've been pondering that myself scrumpox, I know that as the power of my devices has risen I've had to drop my nic, and I have been thinking that the 3mg I mix is as much placebo as anything - if someone mixed my juice for me and told me it had nic in it, I suspect I wouldn't know if it didn't, but if I mixed at zero I might get antsy. I do know I cant cope with 18mg, its far too much for me now, but then, I use .2 - .3 ohm drippers on my mechs and usually use the gigglebox which is running abour 180watts. Its the flavour that I crave more than anything.

 

[scrumpox]

I've been pondering that myself @scrumpox, I know that as the power of my devices has risen I've had to drop my nic, and I have been thinking that the 3mg I mix is as much placebo as anything - if someone mixed my juice for me and told me it had nic in it, I suspect I wouldn't know if it didn't, but if I mixed at zero I might get antsy. I do know I cant cope with 18mg, its far too much for me now, but then, I use .2 - .3 ohm drippers on my mechs and usually use the gigglebox which is running abour 180watts. Its the flavour that I crave more than anything.

Which seems to suggest that tolerance, addiction and craving are different things.
My experience also suggests that I satisfy a craving, but having a limit on my tolerance to nicotine I have to reduce the nicotine content. This allows me to vape as much as I want. That experience seems to mirror yours.
I believe that I suffer from withdrawal symptoms when I can't vape - but is that explained by craving? The answer would be yes if symptoms go away with vaping on 0 nic. Honestly, I would hit on the 18mg juice at that point.

 

[cheersm8]

Nicotine and vaping certainly is a strange old bird and it's effects seem to vary considerably, from person to person. This leads me to feel that, after long term vaping, and no tobacco, the physical actions of vaping overshadow any real "addictions". Funnily enough, I only seem "addicted to nicotine" while I'm vaping. No "cravings" at all if I'm in a 'can't vape' situation even if it's for several hours.
I've given up even trying to find the answer as to why I can't get along with 0 to low nic juices, but I can manage without vaping during the vapeless times.

 

[Car147]

My experience is similar, I usually vape 14-12mg at present, but can quite easily go a few hours without vaping if the circumstances dictate.

I could never do this without gasping for a fag when smoking.

 

[knome]

Nicotine and vaping certainly is a strange old bird and it's effects seem to vary considerably, from person to person. This leads me to feel that, after long term vaping, and no tobacco, the physical actions of vaping overshadow any real "addictions". Funnily enough, I only seem "addicted to nicotine" while I'm vaping. No "cravings" at all if I'm in a 'can't vape' situation even if it's for several hours.
I've given up even trying to find the answer as to why I can't get along with 0 to low nic juices, but I can manage without vaping during the vapeless times.

I liken it to drinking tea. I can go hours or possibly days without a cup of tea and its caffeine but I couldn't imagine giving up tea for good.

 

[Sarin]

You will indeed struggle to find any research that conclusively states that nicotine is addictive rather than either one or a combination of the other 40+ alkaloids in tobacco. The toxicity of nicotine is under serious doubt after numerous people have failed to commit suicide by drinking a bottle of eliquid when at it's current LD50 they should be well dead. I'm a big believer that smoking is addictive for numerous separate reasons rather than just the nicotine. When i used to smoke i wouldn't dare leave the house without my smokes but since vaping there have been countless times that i've forgotten my gear and just carried on without the sheer panic that having no cigs used to invoke. All my own experiences confer with the theory that nicotine isn't as addictive as currently thought.

 

[steffijade]

Having had a few failed attempts at zero nic, I'm tempted to say that nic addiction is real.

I've tried a few methods for replicating throathit in zero nic juices but not found anything that delivers that same sensation as with nic juice. I think this is partly to blame for my failures with zero nic but there also seems to be an element of lacking satiation when using zero nic.

Last time I tried I lasted about 3/4 weeks iirc but I obviously didn't feel satiated properly because I spent that 3/4 weeks eating like a horse and put on about a stone in weight whilst still vaping with zero nic juice.

I suppose I should really try an experiment... something like using nic patches whilst also vaping zero nic and see if it helps with the lack of satiation.

Either that or find an additive that will offer a throathit that more closely resembles nic (tried strong menthols, vodka and small percentages of chilli pepper juice in past attempts).

Even if I found a combination that worked for me, there'd be no guarantee that it'd work for anyone else though.. we're all individuals with slightly different needs/preferences so a magical cure all probably isn't likely.

After all, if we were all the same then surely traditional NRT would work for everyone or fail for everyone instead of working for a some but not all.