The subject of what vaping is equivalant to in analog smoking is a subject we have been debating about forever it seems. In some ways it's an unfair comparison since vaping is simply a nicotine inhaling process vs the burning process of an analog. It's actually 2 totally different ways of ingesting nicotine. But for the sake of reference and curiosity (mine included), I really sat down and tried to simplify things for myself and my fellow vapors. Here's what I came up with:
I use to smoke Marlboro Lights which contain .8mg of nicotine. To simplify the calculation, let's just go with 1mg per cigarette. The nicotine advertised for analogs is the actual nicotine absorbed by the body vs our nicotine being a conncentration per ml in the bottle. So when you smoke a Marlboro you actually absorb 1mg of nicotine.
1 Marlboro = 1mg nicotine
1ml of 36mg juice yeilds 36mg of nicotine. But, you can only absorb so much. Research puts the vaping absorbtion amount as little as 10% and as high as 40%. So let's go overboard and say 30% is the best you can do (maybe a VP-PT with a fresh LB atty). By calculation: 1ml of 36mg juice X .30 = 10mg of nicotine.
1ml of 36mg juice = 10 Marlboro
So if you vape 2ml of 36mg juice, you are a pack a day "vaper"!
For reference, I calculate some other juice levels so you can see what you are vaping:
1ml of 11mg juice = about 3 Marlboro
1ml of 16mg juice = about 5 Marlboro
1ml of 18mg juice = about 5 Marlboro
1ml of 24mg juice = about 7 Marlboro