Anyone new to vaping may be uncertain about which nicotine strength is best for them. Not only are there so many vape juice flavours out there, but they are available in multiple nicotine strengths. You don’t want to get too much or too little. Here is a vape juice strength guide that hopefully clarifies nicotine content in vaping and how it impacts the overall vape experience.
1. Why Is Vape Juice Strength Important?
Vape juice strength is important only because of the effects of nicotine. Too little nicotine for someone expecting more could mean those cigarette cravings don’t go away. Too much nicotine can mean an overdose requiring medical attention.
Also, if you’ve never smoked cigarettes, you likely won’t want any nicotine in your vape juice.
2. Can You Get Too Much Nicotine In Vape Juice?
Yes, too much nicotine will lead to an overdose. Symptoms of a nicotine overdose include a fast pulse, nausea, headaches, insomnia, and other side effects. The symptoms disappear once the nicotine has moved its way through your system.
As expected, too much nicotine also has an addictive quality, resulting in long-term health consequences.
3. How Is Vape Juice Strength Measured?
Vape juice strength is measured in milligrams per millilitre, expressed as ‘mg/ml.’ There are low-strength nicotine-free e-liquids measured at 0 mg/ml. Then, there are low, medium, and high strength varieties ranging from 3 mg/ml to 20 mg/ml.
Certain brands offer vape juices with even more nicotine, going as high as 42 mg/ml. We recommend restricting oneself to no more than 20 mg/ml. Anything higher is considered an extreme amount of nicotine.
4. What Is Low Strength Vape Juice?
A low vape juice strength is considered 6 mg/ml, or 0.6%, which is suitable for someone smoking 5-10 cigarettes daily. This would make you a moderate or light smoker. If you smoke more than this, you can still start with a low-strength vape juice and see how it goes.
If you’re already using nicotine gum or are chewing tobacco, this is probably where to start. Ideally, limiting nicotine intake to its lowest amount is the goal.
5. Is There Lower Strength Vape Juice?
Individuals who may only be smoking 1-5 cigarettes a day or maybe less won’t need such a high strength even at a low dose. Regular low-strength vape juice can be too much, but there’s very low-strength vape juice you can buy.
The low-strength nicotine vape juice is calculated at 3 mg/ml, or 0.3%. It is worth keeping in mind that you also have 0 mg/ml vape juice strength available that contains no nicotine.
6. What Is Medium Vape Juice Strength?
Medium-strength vape juice is tailored to someone who smokes more like 10-15 cigarettes daily. It is calculated at 12 mg/ml, or 1.2%.
7. What Is High Vape Juice Strength?
There are two types of high-strength vape juice – regular high strength and very high strength. Regular high-strength vape juice is calculated at 18 mg/ml, or 1.8%, and would be appropriate for someone who previously smoked 15-20 cigarettes daily. The extremely high-strength vape juice goes even higher and is calculated at 20 mg/ml, or 2.0%, and is meant for anyone who smokes more than 20 cigarettes daily.
8. How Vape Juice Strength Affects Experience
The strength of your vape juice will have a few different effects on the vaping experience. A higher vape juice nicotine level will mean a harsher taste and throat hit, so be ready. Low strength provides a much smoother hit.
If you enjoy vaping in longer sessions, high-strength vape juice may cause you to get dizzy or nauseous from the nicotine you’re getting. Lower-strength vape juice would arguably suit those occasions better. However, if you vape sparingly during the day, you probably won’t have this issue.
9. How to Adjust Vape Juice Strength
Someone trying to quit cigarettes can often do so successfully by titrating down and adjusting vape strength as they go along.
Start at the correct vape juice strength for the number of cigarettes you smoke, then gradually down to a lower strength over weeks. Hopefully, eventually, you reach 0 mg/ml, at which point there will no longer be any nicotine coming through your vape.
10. Nicotine in a Cigarette vs Vape Juice
You cannot compare nicotine in a cigarette to nicotine in vape juice. They are not absorbed similarly. The nicotine in a cigarette can be anywhere from 4-14 mg. In vaping, the strength measured in mg/ml is not equal to the milligrams from cigarettes.
Be sure to buy the correct strength according to how many cigarettes you smoke to ensure you aren’t overdoing the nicotine, potentially leading to serious complications.