Choosing e-liquid strength

8th March 2022

Choosing the correct nicotine strength for your e-liquid is vital to give yourself the best chance to make the switch from smoking to vaping.   This week we are taking a look at how much nicotine is contained in cigarettes and how to choose the best strength for you.

 

How much nicotine does a cigarette contain?

This is a complicated question, and nicotine itself is a complicated topic.  It is true that it is highly addictive but also true that nicotine itself does not pose any significant risk to your physical health.  This week we are talking about nicotine strengths and how to choose one that will work for you.

Information on how much nicotine is contained in traditional cigarettes is often surprisingly lacking in detail.  Most sources agree that it is somewhere between 8mg - 20mg per cigarette, quite a vague figure but representative of the fact that most cigarette manufacturers offer a variety of different products of varying strengths.   Many people wonder how much nicotine is in a cigarette, especially when they decide to try vaping and wish to closely match the amount of nicotine with what they get from smoking, but these numbers will not provide a meaningful answer as they only tell part of the story.

The real question is not how much nicotine a cigarette contains, but how much of that nicotine is actually absorbed while smoking.

How much nicotine do you absorb when you smoke?

The amount of nicotine consumed while smoking is very much dependant on how a person smokes. A large amount of nicotine is simply exhaled and lot burns away between puffs for example.  A person taking frequent, long puffs that holds the smoke in their lungs before exhaling is going to be consuming more nicotine than a person who takes fewer puffs of shorter length. 

Beyond this, not everyone will absorb nicotine at the same rate and even if they did, the effects would still be different from person to person due to factors such as physical size, age and general health. 
 

How do I choose the correct nicotine strength?

Choosing the correct nicotine strength in your e-liquid is a very important step in ensuring that your transition from smoking to vaping will be successful and it’s easy to see that with all of the factors mentioned above, this can be difficult to determine.  With 14 years of experience helping our customers to make the switch, we have an effective way to help you choose a nicotine strength that will work for you.

First of all it is important to know the number of cigarettes (or grams of tobacco if rolling your own) that you smoke per day/week.

Secondly, we need to know what kind of smoker you are – do you smoke steadily throughout the day or is the majority of your smoking limited to only part of the day for example, or is it the case that most of your smoking is done when in social situations?  This question helps to narrow down to which nicotine strength will be most effective for a particular person.

Lastly,  we like to know what kind of cigarettes or tobacco a person smokes – as we have seen in the information above, the difference between brands and strengths can play a big part in how much nicotine a cigarette may contain.
 

E-liquid strengths explained

 

• 3mg (0.3%) nicotine  = 0 – 5 cigarettes per day
• 6mg (0.6%) nicotine  = 5 – 10 cigarettes per day
• 12mg (1.2%) nicotine  = 10 – 15 cigarettes per day
• 18mg (1.8%) nicotine  = 15 – 20 cigarettes per day
• 20mg (2%) nicotine  = 20 + cigarettes per day

 
This strength guide will work for average smokers.

Smokers who smoke considerably more at certain times of the day or week (including those that smoke more socially) may be advised to select one strength higher and simply use the device less often.

Smokers who roll their own often do not know exactly how many cigarettes they smoke per day, and due to them being hand-made, the roll-ups can potentially use more or less tobacco from person to person.  In this case, remember that smoking 50 grams of average strength rolling tobacco per week is approximately equal to smoking 20 ‘full strength’ cigarettes per day. 

A person who smokes more than 20 cigarettes per day will likely need to choose a 20mg 'nicotine salt' e-liquid such as those in our JUICEBAR range.  If the number smoked per day is significantly more than this, a higher powered device would be recommended which will vaporise more e-liquid per puff and more effectively provide the amount of nicotine required.  

Want to know about Nicotine Salts?

 
You can learn all about nicotine salts HERE