Nicotine patch (mg) vs E-Liquid (mg)

[Hightower]

Quick background: smoked 25 years Camel lights, switched 100% vape 4 months ago. e-liquid nic strength has always been 12mg and vape 2ml-3ml daily.

Had to do lots of air travel last week, knew I should not be vaping at certain airports/aircraft so I purchased a 10 pack of nicotine patches with 14mg strength. They were 3 strength of nicotine patches at CVS: 8,14,20mg.

Figured 14mg should do the trick. Boy was I WRONG! After 1 hour on the 14mg patch I was getting nicotine overdose symptoms. I ripped the nicotine patch off and within an hour I felt fine.

Tried another 14mg patch in the hotel after no vaping for at least 1 hour. Same results. Noticed there was a emergency immediate care doctors office close to my hotel, and went there and asked them to properly dispose of these 14 mg patches. They properly disposed them for free.

Purchased 8mg nicotine patches and tried them with no overdose symptoms in over 6 hours wearing the patch.

I've come to the conclusion that if you have to temporary switch to the "patch", use a lower strength patch than your e-liquid.

Side note: nic patches I purchased contained PG as an inactive ingredient. Same with prescription pain patches, PG as inactive ingredient. So FDA approved drugs contain PG.

 

[dragonpuff]

The difference here is in how the nicotine is absorbed. When you put a patch on you have to absorb nicotine through the skin, whereas when you inhale it you absorb it through the lungs. When the method of delivery is different, the dosage is not the same; e.g. 12 mg in one mL does not equal 12 mg in a patch.

It's hard to say what dosage you need when switching to a different method of delivery. It's usually best to go by what is considered low/medium/high dose for that product. If you only vape 12 mg/mL you are on a low dose (maybe not as low as some, but usually right for a light smoker), so you would need the low dose patch.

In my personal experience, I am a formerly heavy smoker on 24 mg/mL. When I was still smoking a pack a day, I tried a high dose patch and after a few hours I was craving cigarettes constantly it seems they don't make the patch in a high enough dose to suit me...