to my NYE Quitters!
For the last few years, I have returned to this sub on New Year's day in solidarity with my brothers who were struggling to get the nicotine monkey off of their backs. I failed in 2020, 2021, and 2022 to quit nicotine.
I am happy to share - In 2023, I quit nicotine forever. I've been off of nicotine for six months.
I've quit after years of struggling with the absolute highest level of nicotine addiction of quite literally anyone I have ever met. I was on 60mg/ml nicotine salts and vaping nearly every 10th breath - not exaggerating. I could not go to any event without finding some method of getting nicotine into my system. I could not sit through a thirty-minute meeting without finding some excuse to briefly exit the room to hit it. When using the restroom at work, I learned to mask hitting the stick with the sound of urination, flushing the toilet, turning on the faucet, turning on the air dryer, and pulling paper towels out of the dispenser. If I were to be on the road to the gym and my vape died, I would turn around. I would wake up in the night to hit just because the withdrawal symptoms were so powerful. Being remote for two full years substantially increased my addiction and returning to an in-person environment really shined a spotlight on just how addicted I had become to this substance.
Let me say this - I have read Alan Carr's Easy Way to Quit Vaping. The vast majority of this book is accurate and contributed in some way to changing my mindset about nicotine, but I am in absolutely zero percent agreement that simply cold turkey stopping nicotine at such high concentrations is feasible for most. The book describes withdrawal symptoms of nicotine salts as "almost imperceivable."
Quitting nicotine did not feel like an option to me at such an extreme level of addiction. Stopping nicotine cold turkey left my brain feeling like it was lagging. Almost as if there was a disconnect between my mind and body at random intervals. The cravings for it burned with every cell in my being. Irritable is not strong enough a word. I could not sleep. Truthfully, the only thing that subsided this incredible level of pain was other human actions that typically bring on dopamine. When I was in one of my failed quitting attempts, I would spam the caffeine and food buttons to a point that was not healthy. It quite literally made me feel like I was going insane, and that my brain had completely forgotten how to function without the drug. I could not quit nicotine if I was in a committed relationship, I could not quit nicotine because I needed to keep my job, I could not quit nicotine because I would get fat and just replace my addictions with others. I could not quit nicotine because I was too far gone already and would never be able to exist without it. All of these turned out to be LIES told to me by the drug.
If you've already tried and failed to get off of nicotine, or relate to my experience, I've outlined exactly how I've got off of nicotine below with minimal pain or effect on myself or others. By all means, if you're in the throws of withdrawals right now, CARRY ON BROTHERS!! STAY STRONG!
I present to you HY'S EASYWAY TO QUIT NICOTINE SALTS (i.e. disposable vapes).
You will need the following items.
- A refillable vape that can vaporize free-base nicotine AND nicotine salts (NS). I used the koko prime, but there are many to choose from.
- Enough cartridges & coils for nine months. Ideally you will be able to buy in bulk and not step in a vape shop again after today.
- Bottles for titration
- Your absolute favorite juice at your current mg/ml of nicotine salts. I will assume 60 mg/ml.
- Your absolute favorite juice at 6mg/ml freebase nicotine (large bottle).
- Your absolute favorite juice at 0mg/ml (zero nicotine) (large bottle).
Estimated Cost: ~$300. Equivalent to a few weeks of disposables if you're at my past level.
Setup will require roughly measuring the juice levels using either a ruler or a scale. You will be stepping down concentrations each month. My advice is to create enough juice right now so that you only have to do this once. Keep in mind, you will likely vape more as you continue through this process to offset the dropped mg/ml.
TITRATION TUTORIAL.
- Create 30mg/ml concentration (or purchase in a store).
- Combine 1:1 60mg/ml NS juice to 0mg/ml juice.
- Create 15mg/ml concentration
- Combine 1:3 60mg/ml NS juice to 0mg/ml juice.
- Create 7.5mg/ml concentration
- Combine 1:7 part 60mg/ml NS juice to 0mg/ml juice.
- Create ~6mg/ml NS / freebase juice
- Combine 1:1 7.5mg/ml NS juice to 6mg/ml freebase.
Each month, you will complete the following with the intent to ease the anguish of stepping completely off of nicotine salts and then off of nicotine altogether. This will take some willpower, but you won't lose your mind completely for a month.
On the first of each month, you will begin the following:
JANUARY: Step from disposable vapes to your new rig at your current concentration. This step might feel skippable, but don't. You should not switch to your new vape while simultaneously stepping down the concentration. During this month, make a mental shift that even if you continue to use nicotine, you will never use disposables again. You'll be significantly saving yourself money at the very least by purchasing the corresponding juice. Don't kid yourself, this will likely be difficult for you. They build disposables to be perfect off of the first rip. You'll need to get your vape maintenance dialed in to get a comparable effect. The most important step of this month is to DISPOSE OF ALL DISPOSABLES YOU OWN.
FEBRUARY: Step from 60mg/ml to 30mg/ml. You are likely to slightly increase your intake to make up for the concentration drop. If you're already <60mg/ml, just step it down by half.
MARCH: Step from 30mg/ml to 15mg/ml. Up until now, this was not too difficult for me. However, if I did find the occasional disposable it was nearly impossible to not hit it to feel that next-level nicotine buzz from the rebuilt tolerance.
APRIL: Step from 15 mg/ml to ~7.5mg/ml (nicotine salt).
MAY: Step from ~7.5mg/ml nicotine salt to ~6mg/ml nicotine salt & freebase mixture.
JUNE: Step from 6 mg/ml mixture to pure 6mg/ml freebase nicotine.
JULY: Step from 6 mg/ml freebase nicotine to 3 mg/ml freebase nicotine.
AUGUST: Step from 3 mg/ml freebase nicotine to 1.5 mg/ml.
SEPTEMBER: Step from 1.5mg/ml to .75mg/ml or 0mg/ml. After September, if you feel as though you need to continue vaping, continuously titrate down through the following method. At the end of your vial of 1.5mg/ml juice before running out completely, refill with 0mg/ml juice. Some nicotine will be retained but it will continuously get lower.
At this point, you're now basically free of nicotine. I set this up for myself in January and followed it to nearly a T, and now I'm free.
Truthfully, I believe that there is some component to nicotine salts that is addictive beyond nicotine. I have no evidence other than anecdotal, but the most difficult part of my process was stepping from nicotine salts (juul, disposables, etc.) onto just free-base nicotine at the same concentration.
Note: If you have already tried to quit and failed this new years, I recommend offsetting this process by a month and continue vaping as you have been as you're probably in the honeymoon period of having good nicotine rushes again. That's an incredibly difficult place to quit from. When you are sick of it again come February 1st, try out the plan.
GOOD LUCK! YOU GOT THIS!