I'm interested to hear updates from anyone using vaporizers ( I'm looking at you
@aturtles !)
It's always a pleasure to be looked at.
The reason you haven't heard from me is that my results are also mixed. I kept thinking I'd get a handle on what was going on, come to some conclusions, and then post solid results. But that didn't happen.
But since you asked... here's an interim report.
1. I am frustrated at my vaping hardware tech and reluctant to try new vaping tech until someone here has strongly vouched for it. I had two main problems: A. battery life and B. cartridge fragility with my preferred base.
2. My experiments with varying proportions of PG, VG, distilled water, saline, and MeCbl revealed that some mixtures kill the cartrige without warning -- saline in particular, which most liquid MeCbl has as a base. This became expensive and annoying to troubleshoot. I moved to a higher-end ecig (in-brand), which solved the battery life problem (V2-pro series 3), and was more reliable, but when it came to the cartridge all it did was to change the failure profile -- for a more expensive cartridge. Yes, I could test this, but I have yet to create a test protocol that feels worth the likely cost in time and cartridges to find the exact failure points of which substance. Which leads us to...
2. I moved to all PG for the base, because that was the only base mix that I could be sure wouldn't kill the cartrige. It is indeed reliable in this fashion, however, at high vaping to get 2-3mg inside me (estimating 10 puffs per mg (20MG/ML MeCbl)) I get a mild headache, which I credit to the PG. So that limits my intake a bit, and frankly my taste for vaping in that amount. Maybe half VG half PG would be okay with this cartridge, don't know. I'm a few days to a few weeks from trying that.
3. I changed my inhalation technique. As I reported before, I had trouble with my lungs -- heaviness and ill-ease with using the PG. Comments from
@skwag and
@Freddd got me thinking about how the upper lungs and nasal passages are effective MeCbl absorption areas as well. Once I stopped deep-breathing, the discomfort in my lungs went away completely, even with all PG. Now I inhale, but not deeply, and slowly exhale through my nose. I can feel that being effective.
4. As long as it comes from a reputable source, I am no longer concerned with MeCbl sterility for nose and lungs; unless contaminated, MeCbl doesn't have anything on which to grow nasties. So nevermind that problem.
4. I still vape. I also use tabs and nasal spray, because I am still exploring what is most effective and when, but also because I've had some trouble with my protocol lately (other suppliments) and am less willing to experiement where I don't have to.
Conclusions: I can feel the MeCbl go into my system when I vape. Not always, of course, because sometimes I'm at saturation, when I shouldn't feel it at all. But when I'm not? Yes, I can feel it. Yes, it works and is on the high end of cost effective as far as MeCbl goes, provided you have the base mix right and the vaping tech is reliable. Figuring that out is proving to take more resources than I have right now.
I'm hoping as we go forward someone will come up with some of the answers I have yet to find.