I sometimes turn to my old Big Pharma nicotine inhaler just to prevent overdosing from nicotine via alternative devices, including my e-cigs. This morning, I was researching the loss of nicotine strength due to evaporation and came across some Nicotrol Inhaler info (the inhaler has lost its nicotine after 24 hours exposed to the air; probably true for our cartridges, too, and that could explain a lot - making one-day use-and-dispose cartridges all the more practical!).
But I got out the inhaler and looked at it. One research paper on inhalers said, "Tobacco itself may be included in shreds or strip form within the tube as an added flavorant or added source of nicotine providing the end product is not designed to be ignited. The tobacco may be moistened or saturated to provide the volatile required."
Cool. I opened the inhaler, used a nail to push out the spent nicotine cartridge in the tube and stuffed in some pipe tobacco, tamping it down it with the nail head. Then I soaked it with e-liquid at 24mg nicotine strength.
Yuck. It just didn't work out well. The wet tobacco wouldn't hold its shape and shreds soon came out into the inhaler itself. The taste wasn't good and it did NOT add the tobacco flavor I wanted. I cleaned out the mess.
Then I remembered Sannake's saturation method. I poured some melange/Bickford mix into a small candle holder, and dropped in the spent cartridge core. It absorbed the liquid. I shoved it back into the tube using a nail and am happy to report it "smokes" pretty well. No vapor, of course. Just gaseous nicotine. But it tastes great, since there's just enough Bickford in the 24mg fluid to give it a Kahlua hit.
I also use a spent e-cigar cartridge in much this way. Replacement e-cigar cartridges come in screw-on plastic containers connected to a mouthpiece. What a shame to throw those away. So I drilled a small hole in the tip of the plastic container farthest from the mouthpiece and put vanilla flavored e-liquid in the cartridge itself. Draw on it just as if the e-cigar were attached.
I have no idea how much nicotine comes with each inhalation, and I don't care. This tastes great and gives me a "cigarette" to use with my hands in any situation where vapor is not welcome, or for just a break. The vanilla taste is sensational and I have yet to duplicate that with any e-liquid's vapor.