Which nicotine strength? Work it out from what you smoke now

Your body is used to a certain amount of nicotine, and your first bottle needs to roughly match it. That is the whole trick. Most failed attempts at switching start with someone picking a low strength because it sounds sensible, then wondering why they still want a cigarette after an hour of puffing.

Nicotine is addictive, and matching your current intake is about comfort, not about taking more. You can always step down once vaping feels normal. Tap the answer that matches your habit for a starting strength in both nic salt and freebase.

UK law caps nicotine e-liquid at 20mg per ml, so the scale stops there. Freebase usually comes in 3mg, 6mg, 12mg and 18mg; nic salts in 5mg, 10mg and 20mg. Shortfills are sold at 0mg and become 3mg once you add a nic shot to a 50ml bottle.

A liquid like Vampire Vape Heisenberg covers the full freebase ladder from 0mg to 18mg, which makes it handy for stepping down later without changing flavour. For salts, Large Juice Kiwimelon comes in 5mg, 10mg and 20mg. Whichever you pick, buy one bottle first rather than a multipack, so you can adjust without wasting money.

Strength on the bottle is only half the story. What matters is how much nicotine reaches you per puff, and that depends on how much liquid your coil vaporises. A 1.2 ohm MTL pod sips liquid. A 0.2 ohm sub-ohm coil gulps it.

That is why a cloud vaper on 3mg and a pod vaper on 20mg can both feel satisfied. Use the row for your habit and the column for your kit. If you are not sure which kind of vape you have, our MTL vs DTL guide explains the difference in two minutes.

Your body tells you quickly if you got it wrong. Too strong usually shows up within a few puffs: a harsh catch, a light-headed feeling, sometimes hiccups or a queasy stomach. Put it down, have a glass of water and drop a step next time.

Too weak is sneakier. You puff all day, get through pods far too fast, and still feel like something is missing. That is the classic sign you need to go up. If you are on nic salts and the throat hit is the problem rather than the nicotine, our salts vs freebase guide may solve it without changing strength.

Some vapers stay on one strength for years. Others want to cut their nicotine over time. If that is you, the usual approach is slow and boring, which is exactly why it works: one step at a time, and only when the current step feels easy.

Nicotine is addictive, so expect a few days of wanting more after each drop. If you find yourself puffing far more than before, you have gone too fast; step back up and try again later. There is no prize for speed. Keeping the same flavour while you drop strength helps too, because you are only changing one thing at a time.

Here is a situation that comes up all the time. A new vaper on a pod kit feels like the vape is just not doing anything, despite puffing all evening. What is most likely going on?

Have a think, then tap your answer. The explanation under each option tells you why it is right or wrong, so even a wrong answer teaches you something useful about reading the signals your body gives you in the first week. Those signals are far more reliable than any chart, including ours, so trust them over the label.