Many people consider vaping to be the greatest public health boon in history. Vaping has helped millions quit smoking, something traditional nicotine replacements have not been able do consistently.
Vaping has other benefits as well. Another benefit is also important, but many people don’t consider it: Vaping allows you to control your nicotine intake in a way previously impossible or difficult. It’s nearly impossible to determine how much nicotine is consumed when you smoke because the cigarette companies hide the exact nicotine content of their products. Nicotine replacement products are usually only available in 2 strengths. You can’t reduce your nicotine intake further if you already use the lower strength version.
Vaping offers a wide range of nicotine strengths, ranging from nicotine-free to 50 mg/ml and 20 mg/ml, depending on where you live. The amount of nicotine you consume is completely up to you. Many vaping devices come with built-in puff counters, which makes it easier. You can even reduce the number of puffs you take per day.
This guide is for vapers who want to quit nicotine. This article provides a detailed roadmap to help you work your way from a product geared towards beginners like Elf Bar all the way to being nicotine-free.
First Stage: Use Nicotine at the highest strength available until you quit smoking
You’re likely to begin vaping with a beginner’s device, such as a pod system or disposable vape. This is great because most beginner devices are designed to be used with high-nicotine liquids. When you first switch to vaping, a high-strength liquid will give you the best experience because it allows your ecigarette to mimic nicotine delivery and throat hits of a traditional tobacco cigarette.
The nicotine content of eliquids is limited to 20 mg/ml in the United Kingdom and Europe. In other areas, such as in the United States or Canada, the maximum nicotine strength available varies depending on the product. It is usually around 50mg/ml. Use the strongest nicotine strength in your area until you have completely stopped smoking and become a vaper.
Second Stage: Switching to the next lower Nicotine Strength
After you have completely switched to vaping, and become accustomed to not smoking any tobacco products anymore, you can then move down to the lowest nicotine strength for the product that you are using. It’s easy to switch between two different strengths of nicotine e-liquid or disposable vapes, whether you use a refillable system or disposable vapes. In general, the higher strength contains twice as much nicotine than the lower strength. This means that you will be going from 20 mg/ml down to 10 mg/ml or 50 mg/ml down to 25 mg/ml if you are in Europe and the United Kingdom. It’s a big change, so take your time to adjust before moving on to the next step.
Third Stage: Switching to a Sub-Ohm Mod or Vape Pen
You’ll need to upgrade your vaping equipment to reduce nicotine even further. This will be another huge drop in nicotine strength, but you won’t feel it because you are using a device which produces larger clouds. You won’t notice a difference because you are absorbing more nicotine with each puff. You should buy a vape mod or a sub-ohm pen at this point.
It is important to note that the nicotine strength you should use at this point depends on your hardware. Most vape pens work well with a nicotine concentration of 6 mg/ml. Sub-ohm mods produce large clouds, but they work best when the nicotine strength is 3 mg/ml.
Fourth Stage: Reduce your Nicotine strength to 3 mg/ml
If you haven’t already, you should lower your nicotine strength from 3 mg/ml to 3 mg/ml once you get used to it. If you use a low-power vape and are not satisfied with the experience, switch to a mod that has a 3 mg/ml strength.
A sub-ohm vape mod has two benefits: it produces a bigger cloud and most of them have puff counters built in. You should now use the puff counter on your device to track how often you vape each day. At this point, you do not need to reduce your daily puff count. However, you should be careful to avoid vaping more frequently after switching to 3 mg/ml.
Fifth Stage: Mixing E-Liquids will further reduce your nicotine strength
You probably noticed when you switched to 3 mg/ml that this was the lowest strength of nicotine you could get at your local vape store, aside from nicotine-free. There are very few eliquids with nicotine strengths below 3 mg/ml, but they do exist. You can make your own e-liquid if you want a lower strength of nicotine while still using the flavor you like.
It’s easy to mix two bottles of eliquid, one of which has a nicotine-free formula and the other with a 3 mg/ml strength. The strength of the e-liquid is 1.5 mg/ml. You can use this strength until you are completely used to it. You can then lower the nicotine strength by combining 3 mg/ml e-liquids with nicotine-free liquids in various ratios.
You can reduce your nicotine intake using the mixing method to create e-liquids that have progressively lower nicotine levels. However, you should use the puff counter on your vape mod to gradually decrease the number of times per day you use the device. You’ll still find it helpful to reduce your nicotine intake by just one puff a day.
You can reduce the nicotine in your eliquid by reducing your puff count. Eventually, you will reach a level where you are using very little nicotine and vaping only a few times per day. You can then switch to a nicotine-free eliquid or quit vaping. Congratulations! It’s taken a while, but vaping has helped you quit nicotine.
