Difference between PG, VG and nicotine

'owdy vaponopolis,

Looked all over this forum and not really finding the answer I'm looking for, so I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this.

Been vaping for 2-3 months now. I'd been vaping premixed juices in that time, doin pretty good. Just about to start making my own mixes with the stuff I got from HC a week ago (10 days delivery, wow that sure tested my patience). The premixes I had so far are all 18mg nic, since I liked the "red" varieties of cigarettes which would be referred to as 16s, but am realising now that reference to "16" is referring to tar content, not nicotine. So I'm a bit muddled on what level nicotine is in those cigarettes.

From what I've read so far in various places, PG gives the throat hit, VG gives the vapour production.

I know "priming" the throat is a process to go through with ecigs, the first puffs in the morning I have to go easy on or I cough my guts out. At first I had thought this was to do with the PG in the juice. Since I got my HC juices, I'd experimented with a bit more VG in my juice, but it's not helping the throat burn/tickle, so now I'm thinking it's the level of nicotine that burns the throat. I'm finding out that the effects of nicotine from smoking real cigs is not quite the same as with ecigs. With real cigs, I liked the head spin from the nicotine, especially in the mornings - yes I get headaches if I smoked too much, but this is not the same as head spin in case anyone thought that's what I was referring to. With ecigs, the head spin is a lot more delayed. One effect from chain-vaping is something akin to having had speed, kinda strange but nice, didn't think nicotine would do that - anyone else noticed this? Anyway, after a few hours of vaping, the throat hit wears off til I barely feel anything then I take a break, and then after an hour or 2 I start vaping again and I get that throat hit again, sometimes I cough my guts out again. The consistency in my vaping experience isn't great

I got the following unflavoured juices from HC:

100%VG 18mg nic
100%VG 24mg nic
100%PG 18mg nic
100%PG 24mg nic
70/30 PG/VG 18mg nic
70/30 PG/VG 24mg nic
50/50 PG/VG 18mg nic
50/50 PG/VG 24mg nic

The 70/30 ratio strikes me a bit odd, everyone else refers to 60/40. *shrug*

Just ordered some nic-free juice from JuiceWhore. Keen to try that Tia development juice again now I got some nic base, Tia packs a punch in flavour it really does taste like Tia Maria, I love it.

Going to be a long process of experimentation.

Anyway, in the meantime, I'm just wondering what actually makes me cough my guts out. Wanting to compare notes with anyone else who used to smoke 16s cigs, and is a chain-vaper. I'd like to keep the effects of nicotine, but the coughing business after a while of no vaping is putting me off a bit. But, I get the feeling I need to cut down on the nicotine level and just vape more to avoid the coughing. Or, is it really the PG that would be doing this, and I should go 100%VG ?

Nuffin like feeling clueless

 

I find vaping is always and up and down road to follow. One hour in vaping heaven then with the same juice and hardware the experience is not as good and then hopefully back to good again. Never found the coughing a problem though vaping from 12mg through to 18 mg dependent on mood. High nic can give you hiccups and chain vaping too high will get you a headache. Try the following experiment. Get some plain VG and PG (Vapeking is cheap for both) and mix it with some doubler flavour you got from JW. Then vape that for a while and see which one makes you cough. Some people are allergic to PG so that may be the answer. Then when you have find the right base for you order appropriately probably keeping the nicotine at 18 to start with and then cut down to say 12. If you buy premixed 24mg you can add 50/50 premix and VG or PG or a blend (dependent on your earlier experiment) to get to 12mg and saves you some money but will give a less tasty brew. Looking at the unflavoured you have you are ideally placed to vary the nicotine level until you find the right one for you.

Another consideration is you may not have recovered from the harmful effects of smoking yet and your bronchial tissues are still inflamed. If so the coughing will be transitory.

The different effect of nicotine in smoke to vaping is related to the other chemicals in cigarettes that help the nicotine cross the blood/brain barrier in the brain. The uptake of nicotine from ecigs is gradual and less is absorbed. Figures vary and range around the 20 - 30% of the nicotine absorbed from vaping but could be way out on that figure. Anyway less than cigarettes.

 

I was coughing up some truly horrendous stuff in the first two weeks I started vaping. Now, after 10 weeks on 12mg/ml, my cough is non existent (except for the remains of this bastard flu).

 

When you say chain Vaping how many Mls are we talking a day here?

Also set up are you using? I find the Wattage can effect ThroatHit almost as much as Nic strength.

I started off using mostly 80PG 20VG but add as much VG as possible these days. I'm all about the clouds lol

 

I find flavours are more of an irritant than nic.
try a straight PG and nic blend for a day, then same strength but just VG and nic the next day and see if either of those .comse problems.

if the PG was no issue the first day, then perhaps day 2 a 50:50 blend of PG and VG so it will wick easier.

in 2 days you should know if its PG,VG, flavours or nic thats the issue.

 

I noticed that I was coughing hard the first 2 or 3 weeks on the first ecig of the day, alot like i was on the first real cig of the day hehe. The first drag would sort of take my breath away. Must have been the high strenght nicotine, I was using 24mg and 30mg juice. I gave an ego kit and some 24mg juice to a mate at work who chain smokes rollies without any filters and he gave it back .comse it made him cough so bad he couldnt use it he said.

I think after about 2 weeks on the 30mg I dropped to 24mg, then about 2 weeks after that I went to 18mg and the reaction sort of just went away on its own. Nicotine is responsible for airway irritation, so i would say it probably takes your lungs a little time to get used to the higher mg nicotine irritation, especially while your lungs are trying to repair and clean themselves from the old cigarette damage. I found 15mg-18mg on a normal ego setup gave me a good throat hit, without any coughing fits. Since getting my vmax variable voltage I have ordered some 12mg juice and find by upping the volatge a little I can get a similar effect as I was getting from the 18mg juice.
I have read on other forums that you only get about 1.5-2mg of nicotine out of a cigarette, not sure if thats true though.

I would just try a few mixes, give 12mg a go one morning. I find I prefer an 80%PG-20%VG mix. Too much Vg just dulls everything down too much for me and I feel like I have to suck the guts out of it to keep my throat satisfied hehe.