Nicotine is the addictive chemical in tobacco and vape juice. In vapes, it
generally comes in two forms: Freebase nicotine and Salt nicotine. Producing
freebase Nicotine involves converting nicotine from its naturally occurring
salt form to its purest – or base – form, allowing the same amount of nicotine
to have a higher concentration.
vape, the juice you inhale travels to your lungs. The nicotine travels from the
alveoli in the lungs to the bloodstream where it is distributed throughout your
body, including to your brain. Once in the brain nicotine binds to the
nicotinic receptors of the neurotransmitters, releasing dopamine.
You may have found yourself needing to vape more and more often to get the
same effect that you originally experienced. This can be attributed to the
artificial raising of your body’s baseline nicotine levels by your vape;
commonly referred to as raising your tolerance. The human body has a natural
baseline level, or homeostasis for nicotine in the body. This homeostasis level
is very low, usually attributed to trace amounts found in things we consume
every day. When you vape, the amount of nicotine in your body is raised.
However, instead of permanently staying in your body, it is eventually
processed by the liver and the kidneys. By the time this nicotine has been
processed, your body has adjusted to these higher concentrations of nicotine,
thereby raising the bar for you to be at homeostasis. This requires you to vape
once again to raise your body’s level of nicotine, thus continuing the cycle.
At this point, you may be asking yourself how you even quit in the first
place. It may seem like an impossible task, but that’s why we developed NIX. We
struggled to quit vaping, so we put together a vape and a program to help you
through this process. If you would like to learn more about our program, you
can find more information about it here.