Vaping to Quit? 5 Ways to Reduce Your Nicotine Intake

Moving from smoking cigarettes daily to strictly vaping instead is an enormous achievement, but it’s only the start. Once you’re comfortable with vaping, you can start trying different ways to reduce your nicotine intake. It takes time to kick the habit, but we want to help get you there. From switching to Sub-Ohm salts to gradually moving down to lower levels, here are 5 ways that will help you reduce your nicotine intake.

1. Work Your Way Down
Freebase E-Liquid is sold with a variety of nicotine levels, generally starting from 24mg as the highest, followed by 18mg, 12mg, 6mg, 3mg, and finally 0mg (nicotine-free). When first switching to vaping, you should go for a nicotine level appropriate for how many cigarettes you smoke, with most full-time smokers starting at the highest (24mg).

Once you’ve made the full transition to vaping, you can set a timeline of when you’ll move down nicotine levels, until you’re at 0mg. The time it will take to get to a nicotine-free life can be a quick and easy process for some, and long and slow for others. Though it relies on self-control and commitment, this is one of the easiest ways to reduce your nicotine intake. Gradually lowering nicotine levels is a more realistic goal to achieve, and it’ll only get easier with time.

2. Switch to a Sub-Ohm Device
There are two kinds of device that take E-Liquid. Pre-filled and replaceable pod systems use nicotine salts, whereas Sub-Ohm devices are the bigger, bulkier vapes that use freebase E-Liquid. Sub-Ohm vapes produce more vapour, leading to a harsher throat hit. This means that if you move to a Sub-Ohm device, you can get the desired effects of the nicotine, while also reducing the level by up to half.

Sub-Ohm devices also offer shortfilled 0mg E-Liquids, with space for you to add flavourless nicotine yourself. As with the first point, you can start by adding your desired level of nicotine and gradually reducing the amount you’re adding over time, letting you pick your own pace.

Sub-Ohm salts are another great reason to go for a Sub-Ohm device, as you can vape delicious flavours with a lower nicotine concentration without using the low-wattage devices usually required for vaping nicotine salts.

3. No Vape Day
This will be difficult to jump into right away, so once you’re comfortable with your device and have transitioned completely from smoking cigarettes, try taking a day off from vaping. Even if it starts with just leaving your vape behind when you go to work for the day. It’s important to identify the situations that trigger your nicotine addiction. Try only having your vape on hand when you need it most.

Trying out a vape-free day is ideal alongside the previously mentioned suggestions, but don’t be disappointed if you don’t make it through the whole day—it’s about taking the right steps for you. This process can be slow, but it is effective in limiting the dependence you have on nicotine.

4. Play With Flavours
Nicotine isn’t the only element of vaping that can deliver that strong throat-hit sought after by vapers and smokers. Some of the harsher tobacco flavours can deliver a throat hit similar to that of a cigarette. By vaping a harsher tobacco flavour, with a lower nicotine level, you can achieve the same feeling that a high nicotine fruit-flavoured E-liquid delivers. It’s all about trial and error here; try different E-liquids, and see what flavours can deliver a feeling close to the nicotine throat-hit you’re after.

If you manage to find a flavour strong enough, you should be able to move down nicotine levels quicker than with weaker flavours.

5. Diluting E-Liquid
Rather than purchasing shortfilled E-Liquid and adding the nicotine yourself, you can try buying a nicotine E-Liquid, and a 0mg nicotine-free E-Liquid (both in the same flavour) and play around with dilution by mixing them together. Start with only the nicotine, and once you’re ready to start cutting down, you can start topping up your device with the 0mg liquid—you can play around with the ratio until you find a good level.

Once you feel confident with the ratio you’re at, start diluting slightly more, and over time you can keep repeating the process until you’re vaping 0mg.