Pathway · 02
Nicotine strength.
How to pick mg, when salt nic makes sense over freebase, and what to do if you're coughing.
The number on the bottle is the single biggest driver of how a pull feels and how the nicotine lands. Too high feels harsh and rushes you. Too low feels muted and you reach for the kit more often. This pathway walks through how to pick a milligram that fits your actual habit, and when to step up or down.
Who this is for
If your pull feels too sharp, too soft, or you are not sure what number to buy in the first place.
What you will learn
- How to read milligram numbers and what they correspond to in cigarette terms.
- The strength that matches an ex-smoker, a casual vaper, or someone on a small pod kit.
- Why salt nicotine at 20 mg lands differently than freebase at 20 mg.
- What stepping the strength down by one tier actually feels like.
- When coughing is a strength issue versus an airflow or kit issue.
Start here
Nicotine Strength Guide
There's no perfect number for everyone. There's usually a sensible place to start. What matters is your old smoking habit, the kind of device you're using, and whether the bottle is salt nic or freebase.
4 min read
Start here, in order
9 guides · ~61 min- 01Understanding Nicotine StrengthA plain-English guide to mg numbers, why salt nic at 20 mg feels nothing like freebase at 20 mg, and how to dial in a strength that satisfies without leaving you chain-vaping or coughing.11 min read
- 02Nicotine Strength GuideThere's no perfect number for everyone. There's usually a sensible place to start. What matters is your old smoking habit, the kind of device you're using, and whether the bottle is salt nic or freebase.4 min read
Go deeper
- Complete Beginner Vape GuideA plain-English walkthrough of what to buy, what strength to pick, what the parts do, and what most new vapers get wrong on day one. Twenty minutes of reading saves you two months of trial and error.
- Disposable AlternativesIf you like disposables, this isn't a guide to talk you out of them. It's a walkthrough of what a refillable changes, what stays the same, and the exact starter pairings the team uses for people making the switch.
- Salt Nic vs FreebaseSame nicotine molecule, two different chemistries. One feels gentle at high strength. The other has more throat hit but works better at low mg. Knowing which is which turns picking a bottle into a one-step decision.
- What Vape Feels Closest to Smoking?If you've smoked for years and you're trying to switch, the question isn't which vape is best. It's which one feels close enough that you'll actually stick with it. This is what we usually point people toward, and why.
- Why Am I Coughing When I Vape?Coughing happens to a lot of people switching from cigarettes. Usually it's nicotine that's too strong, a device that's too cloudy, or pulling on it like you're hitting a smoke. None of those mean vaping won't work for you. This walks through the usual causes and what to try next.
- Why Does My Vape Feel Harsh?A pull that feels too sharp is one of the most common things new vapers report at the counter, and the fix is usually a small adjustment rather than a new device. Strength on the bottle, ratio in the bottle, how hard you pull, the airflow on the kit, and the age of the pod all push the feel in different directions. This guide walks through the variables in order, from the easiest to check to the most often overlooked.
- Why Does My Vape Feel Too Weak?A vape that feels too soft is almost always a setting away from being right. Strength on the bottle, salt versus freebase, airflow on the kit, how the device is powered, and the age of the pod all push the feel in different directions. This guide walks the variables in the order most beginners run into them. One adjustment at a time is enough to find the cadence the kit was meant to deliver.
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Common questions
Quick answers on this topic.
- What strength should I start at?
- If you came from a pack-a-day cigarette habit or a 20 mg disposable, start at 20 mg salt nicotine. Half a pack or a 10 mg disposable, start at 10 mg. Less than that, start at 5 mg. Most new vapers settle in the 10 to 20 mg range within their first week. If a strength feels too sharp, step down a tier on the next bottle; if it feels too soft, step up.
- How do I tell if I'm at the wrong strength?
- Too high feels sharp on the throat and rushes you to put the kit down between pulls. Too low feels muted, and you reach for the kit more often than you would expect. The right strength is the one where you pull less often than a cigarette and the kit feels neither sharp nor empty. Most people land there inside the first two weeks once they have tried one strength up or down from their starting bottle.
- Can I mix strengths in the same pod?
- Yes, with a clean rule: same nicotine type, no mid-fill experimenting until the pod is empty. The cleanest way is to mix in a small empty bottle first and pour the result into the pod after you have tasted a few millilitres. Filling a pod directly from a 10 mg bottle and topping up with a 20 mg bottle makes the strength hard to predict and harder to repeat next time. The mix-flavours guide covers this in more depth.