Switching to vaping can be a strange transition from what you are used to with normal combustible tobacco. To help alleviate any of the things that may happen in the first two weeks, we have put together a list of things that you may experience in the first two weeks.

However if you have any doubts about your own health, we always recommend visiting your GP, don’t ever take the risk with your own health.

Nicotine Cravings

For the first week or two after making the switch to vaping, you might find that you still have nicotine cravings.

Maybe you are using the wrong nicotine strength? Nicotine is a vital aspect of vaping, but choosing the right level isn’t always straightforward, because everyone is different- what is right for one person may not satisfy another.

Choosing the right nicotine strength for you is about balancing two things:

• • Too little nicotine won’t satisfy your cravings.
  • Too much nicotine and vaping will feel too harsh on your throat.
  • Too much nicotine will also give you “nicotine rush” which will make you feel light headed, if you experience this lower your mg of nicotine or vape less frequently.

The best advice is to experiment. When you are starting vaping, buy a few e-liquids in different nicotine strengths and try them out. You might find that 12 mg is good for you during the day, but perhaps you need some stronger 18 mg e-liquid to use at other times when your willpower is low?

The first hit of nicotine you get from smoking a cigarette happens fairly quickly and we know that the first nicotine hit happens more slowly when you vape an electronic cigarette. This means that you might need to learn to vape in a different way from smoking; when you vape, you need to take longer, slower puffs from your e-cig to get the most out of it. Smokers tend to take short, hard drags on their cigarettes to get more smoke, but vaping that way is not very effective for getting nicotine into your system. If you find yourself unsatisfied when you try vaping, try changing your puffing style – take deeper, slower puffs and let the vapour linger around your mouth and throat before inhaling. Then when you exhale, try letting some of the vapour out through your nose and see if it makes a difference. The habit of puffing harder to get more nicotine just doesn’t work when you vape.

For the first week or two after making the switch to vaping, you might find that you still have cravings for cigarettes- even if you are using a high nicotine strength e-liquid- and let’s face it; going from smoking a pack a day to smoking no cigarettes at all isn’t easy. Nicotine takes a little longer to enter the bloodstream via vaping than it does via combustible cigarettes, just take your time, take a few extra drags on your vape, your body is adjusting let that happen.

Coughing from vaping

If you have a persistent cough, please visit your GP, do not take the risk with your own health.

Most new vapers report that they cough a lot after starting vaping – don’t worry, this is quite normal and your cough should get better and stop altogether after a few weeks of vaping. So why is it that you seem to cough more than you ever did when you were smoking? Well, there are a few reasons for this:

• • At first, anything new will irritate your lungs and will make you cough- you probably also coughed a lot the first time you smoked a tobacco cigarette? It is because vapour is slightly different from normal tobacco smoke and your throat is not used to it. Most people seem to get used to it after a day or two and are fine with it. It is important that you give it a chance.
  • The moment you quit smoking and start vaping, your lungs will begin a process of getting all of the gunk out and this means coughing – a lot. This process will subside after a while, so stick with it. Drink more water – increasing your water intake will help you to eliminate toxins and speed up the process – it will also prevent dehydration.
  • Many people will tell you that it is the propylene glycol contained in your e-liquid that causes coughing. Most e-liquids are made up of PG (propylene glycol) and VG (vegetable glycerine), part of the reason PG is there is to help give the throat hit you experience when vaping, but it can put some people off. It’s not quite the same as from smoking, and some smokers find it irritating rather than pleasant. Throat hit is all about the balance between propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerine (VG) in your e-liquid. VG is smoother, and many people find they need to use an e-liquid with a higher VG ratio to avoid coughing.
  • If your coughing is still bad after making the switch to vaping, it might be a good idea to visit your GP just to make sure that you don’t have any underlying medical problems.

Dehydration/ Sore Throat/ Dry Throat/ Dry Nose

These symptoms are likely to be caused by the e-liquid ingredient propylene glycol, but they can also be caused by nicotine. PG and VG are both hydroscopic substances, which means that they draw in moisture from their environments- and this includes your mouth and throat when you vape.

PG also contributes to “throat hit”, but if you’re sensitive to PG, this can make vaping unpleasant by giving you a dry throat. VG is smoother, and many people find they need to use an e-liquid with a higher VG ratio to avoid a dry throat and dehydration. These symptoms can also be caused by nicotine. Nicotine is the main ingredient that determines your throat hit, so if your nicotine level is too high, this could mean that vaping gives you a dry throat.

The sensible advice for anyone experiencing dehydration or dry throat is to drink plenty of water- keep a bottle handy, keep sipping from it during the day and also have it next to you when you go to bed at night.

I Keep Getting A Headache And Sometimes I Feel Sick When I Vape.

Headaches and nausea can occur if your body has been taking in too much nicotine – if this happens to you, the best thing to do is to just stop vaping for a little while until the feeling goes away.

It might be because you have chosen an e-liquid that is too high in nicotine or it could simply be that you are vaping too much. Often the most likely cause of headaches is dehydration, so again the best advice is to drink plenty of water to combat this.