When many e-cigarette users ask about the nicotine content in a cigarette, it is usually because they want to calculate how much ejuice they should consume. Their idea is to imitate the feeling obtained from cigarettes and get the same nicotine experience as smoking.

Whether smoking or electronic cigarette, its purpose is to obtain nicotine. However, knowing the nicotine content in a cigarette does not necessarily translate into data on the use of electronic cigarettes. This is because the methods of nicotine delivery and the by-products inhaled by e-cigarettes and cigarettes are completely different. Even the same amount of nicotine intake, people cannot get the same experience as smoking.

But nicotine is a complex substance, which can make people excited and relaxed, and has a strong addiction. Pure nicotine is highly toxic. In the process of smoking cigarettes, nicotine can dilate capillaries, thus causing thousands of harmful substances to enter cells during tobacco burning, leading to human diseases. Because of this, nicotine has been the bane of cigarettes for many years.

Although the experience of smoking is different from that of using electronic cigarette to obtain nicotine, users can obtain nicotine satisfaction. Given the toxicity and addiction of nicotine, most users want to know how much nicotine they consume.

Nicotine content in a cigarette

If you pay attention to the cigarette packaging, you will find that the nicotine content marked by the tobacco company on the label is about 1mg. However, how did this content come from? Is it valuable for smokers?
It is worth noting that the nicotine content marked by the tobacco company on the label does not match the actual nicotine content in a cigarette. According to a paper from the Department of Toxicology, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Beili University, Tokyo, Japan, the determination method of this content is based on a smoking device: use a syringe to inhale 32ML every minute until a cigarette is burned. But this measurement method is extremely inaccurate. It does not represent the actual nicotine intake of a cigarette, nor does it represent the actual nicotine content in a cigarette.

The average unlit cigarette contains about one gram of tobacco, which contains about 8.4 mg of nicotine. But the problem is not how many milligrams of nicotine are contained in cigarettes, but how much nicotine is absorbed by the human body. This is a complex problem.

According to the research of Iranian scientists on local cigarettes and imported cigarettes in the Iranian market, it is found that the nicotine content of a cigarette in the local cigarette is 6.17-12.65 mg (the percentage of the weight of each cigarette is 1.23 ± 0.15); The nicotine content of one cigarette in imported cigarettes is 7.17-28.86 mg (1.80 ± 0.25% of the weight of each cigarette).

Nicotine and tobacco content in each cigarette of Iran’s local brands and the percentage of nicotine content Source: National Biotechnology Information Center (NCBI)

Nicotine and tobacco content in each cigarette of imported brands in Iran market and the percentage of nicotine content Source: National Biotechnology Information Center (NCBI)

According to Professor Bernd Mayer from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of Karl Franzen Graz University (Austria), “Smoking will lead to the intake of about 2 mg nicotine, and lead to the average arterial plasma nicotine concentration of about 0.03 mg/l (30 nanograms/ml).”

Therefore, many scientists believe that the nicotine content on the tobacco package label does not help to estimate the nicotine intake of cigarettes, nor can it actually represent the nicotine content of a cigarette. The cigarette product label should indicate the actual nicotine content.

Nicotine content in electronic cigarettes
Nicotine content in electronic cigarette varies greatly according to the formula of ejuice. The nicotine content of bottled ejuice in the general market is 0mg, 3mg/ml, 6mg/ml, 12mg/ml, 18mg/ml and 24mg/ml. The content of ejuice using nicotine salt technology is generally higher. The market often sees ejuice with 5% nicotine content, which is generally labeled as 50mg/ml. Many users often compare the commercial label content with the nicotine content of cigarettes in order to obtain nicotine intake similar to smoking. Businesses also often use this content comparison conversion to make suggestions. However, the suggestions in this way are not scientific and may even mislead users.

Generally speaking, the e-juice with low VG content and smaller smoke volume is suitable for MTL (oral type) electronic cigarettes. This kind of electronic cigarette has low power, but it often requires high nicotine content of e-juice to obtain nicotine intake equivalent to smoking. Early electronic cigarettes were mostly this kind, and smokers often needed 12ml or more of e-juice to get satisfaction.

The e-juice with high VG content has just become popular in recent years. This kind of e-juice often has high VG content and requires high power for atomization. At first, some cigarette oil manufacturers launched it in response to a group of electronic cigarette players’ pursuit of big smoke or their desire to expand the sales volume of cigarette oil and increase the speed of users’ consumption of cigarette oil, which is often used together with high-power equipment. Due to the strong irritation of nicotine, this kind of e-juice suitable for high power often has low nicotine content or no nicotine, such as 0mg/ml, 3mg/ml, 6mg/ml. Users often use the lung smoking (DL) mode, but the actual nicotine intake is not much, and it is mostly suitable for smoke show players or people with low smoking addiction. In fact, the effect of quitting smoking is not very obvious. Many businesses recommend such products to consumers who want to quit smoking when they lack their knowledge, which often causes smokers to be disappointed with electronic cigarettes.

Some recent studies have questioned the high power, high VG and low nicotine content of e-juice. According to the self titration effect of smokers (users) on nicotine, users often need to consume more e-juice to obtain the nicotine content they need in their bodies due to the low nicotine content when ingesting such e-juice. This means that users will inhale more aerosols atomized by PG and VG. However, a study published on Plos ONE in 2017 confirmed that both nicotine free pure PG and pure VG smoke will release hydrocarbon based compounds, such as formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, and may increase exponentially at high temperatures; The amount of hydrocarbon compounds produced by pure VG smoke liquid is higher than that of PG. K., a famous researcher in the field of electronic cigarette Dr. Farsalinos once appealed to electronic cigarette users not to reduce the nicotine content they used, believing that nicotine itself is harmless. Reducing nicotine content may lead to intake of more PG and VG aerosols due to compensation mechanism, which contain harmful substances such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein.

The formaldehyde content exposed by electronic cigarette users who consume 12ml of cigarette liquid per day is higher than that of smokers exposed by a pack of cigarettes per day. Source: K Farsalinos，Vapexpo, 2016

Nicotine salt technology solves some problems of nicotine intake efficiency. Closed electronic cigarettes such as JUUL and RELX that use nicotine salt technology greatly increase the success rate of smokers. The nicotine content of such electronic cigarettes is often relatively high, 5% of which is equivalent to 50mg/ml, and the nicotine content of a 2ml cigarette cartridge can reach 100mg. Many users are worried about this content, but it is actually unnecessary. Like cigarettes, if the nicotine content of a cigarette is calculated as 8mg, the total nicotine content of a pack of cigarettes can reach 160mg. The question is how much nicotine is absorbed by the body. Many scientists believe that the nicotine intake of smokers smoking a cigarette is less than 1mg, which is lower than the nicotine content measured by machine inhalation on the cigarette label. Its loss is mainly in the burning part of cigarettes exposed to the air and the exhaled part of the human body, namely second-hand smoke, which is also the cause of millions of deaths worldwide every year. The electronic cigarette does not produce second-hand smoke, so the nicotine loss in the atomization process is much lower than that in cigarette combustion. Therefore, the nicotine content in cigarettes cannot be compared with that in electronic cigarettes. The nicotine content in cigarettes does not have much reference value for users’ intake of electronic cigarettes. At present, there is not much scientific data on nicotine intake of electronic cigarettes. Users mainly determine the nicotine concentration, intake frequency and consumption of ejuice of electronic cigarettes according to the self titration effect of nicotine. Previously, some scientists said that due to the self titration of nicotine by the human body, users are unlikely to consume excessive nicotine due to smoking. It is suggested that more scientific research should focus on this field.

Nicotine salt improves the transmission efficiency of nicotine, and users will not feel too hot. In the case of less smoke inhalation, users can get nicotine satisfaction. On the one hand, it imitates the nicotine transmission curve and efficiency of cigarettes in the human body, on the other hand, it also reduces the potential risks of traditional electronic cigarettes due to the intake of large amounts of PG and VG aerosols. Many people find that they can get satisfaction and eliminate the desire to smoke by smoking 3-5 mouthfuls when they want to smoke. Therefore, nicotine salt technology is generally considered as a major innovation in the electronic cigarette industry.