Although nicotine delivery is the main reason why most individuals smoke, there isn’t much knowledge or information available regarding the amount of nicotine in a cigarette. Nicotine is a complex and intriguing subject, especially in light of how widely reviled it has become by the general population (never mind the fact that cigarettes actually contain a wide variety of worse toxins, including ammonia, tar, carbon monoxide, and many others). While it is true that nicotine is highly addictive—often compared to the addictiveness of cocaine or heroin—it is also true that there is no known major risk that nicotine poses to your physical health.
When they decide to try vaping instead of smoking, many smokers question how much nicotine is in a cigarette. They want to convert the amount of nicotine they get from smoking into a comparable quantity when they vape. However, this is an issue that is difficult to address, in part because cigarette producers typically offer a variety of cigarettes with differing nicotine levels. The nicotine content of your preferred cigarette may range from 7 to 15 mg, but that is not the important factor.
When you smoke, how much nicotine are you ingesting?
The main concern should be how much nicotine you are actually taking in, not how much is in a cigarette. To begin with, you exhale a sizable percentage of this nicotine after you inhale. Additionally, a lot of it just burns off in between puffs. You also hold your hits longer or shorter than the next individual and take more or fewer puffs of each cigarette. Again, this means that we will arrive with an average that isn’t perfect, but we may still guess reasonably.
You probably take in about 1mg of nicotine on average per cigarette that you smoke. Although it might not seem like much, it will more than suffice to sate your appetite. This figure differs from person to person and from cigarette brand to cigarette brand, of course.
Factors that affect how much nicotine is absorbed
As was previously established, not everyone absorbs nicotine similarly or at the same rate. Even if everyone did absorb nicotine at the same rate, the effects would still vary depending on the individual. For instance, the same amount of nicotine may have different effects on a smaller person than a larger person, an older person than a younger person, or a person with different health conditions.
Given all of these factors, it is easy to see why it is difficult to predict how much nicotine you consume when you smoke. We can use what we do know to provide you a starting point for choosing the best vape juice for you, though, as that’s probably why you’re trying to figure out nicotine doses. As a general guideline, if you smoke more than a pack per day, go for an e-liquid containing around 2.4% nicotine, and if you smoke less, look for 1.2%.
