Loss of Balance, Lightheadedness, Delayed Effects
Tobacco
Citation: Viladowski. "Loss of Balance, Lightheadedness, Delayed Effects: An Experience with Tobacco (exp118499)". Erowid.org. Sep 10, 2025. erowid.org/exp/118499
| DOSE: |
repeated | buccal | Tobacco | (ground / crushed) |
| oral | Thujone | (tincture) | ||
| smoked | Cannabis |
| BODY WEIGHT: | 200 lb |
The day before yesterday I had taken about 4 portions of basically pasteurized tobacco powder that's inside of a pouch. I'm writing this not really to complain about possible nicotine poisoning, I just thought maybe this experience could be useful to someone else. So I figured I would try to write something about it now while it's still recent before I forget all about it.
So just some context here as far as tobacco goes, I previously wrote an experience with cigarettes I wrote that several years ago, just trying to say that I wasn't necessarily a total novice with tobacco. So basically this past year I switched from vaping occasionally to nicotine pouches, which I didn't even know existed until about a year ago at this point.
Of course I had heard about them for years but never wanted to try it because it seemed somewhat dangerous, in my mind it was the same as chewing tobacco which I also never tried out of fear basically. The past two months or so my nicotine tolerance went up drastically.
The past two months or so my nicotine tolerance went up drastically.
Actually I should explain first, that when I first actually tried a nicotine pouch it was a terrible experience. I was met with the most intense nausea in probably my entire existence. Of course I had taken the directions too literally and when it said leave it in for an hour that's exactly what I did. It took all my effort that time not to puke all over myself. That was my first experience with a nicotine pouch which did not contain tobacco, it was only nicotine.
So about the next day I walked into the convenience store and asked for one with a lower dosage. I had started with the 6mg and I told the guy behind the counter that I just felt sick the whole time. So he agreed that maybe I would have an easier time with the 3 mg.
It was strange actually because once I went down to 3mg I wasn't really feeling very much. Well I should clarify that once I passed those first experiences of debilitating nausea, it did actually get much better eventually.
It's hard to explain exactly. It's not quite like caffeine stimulation. And there's maybe even something to add about Nesbitt's Paradox here, that at a sufficient dose a stimulant can feel like a sedative. But anyway all I'm trying to say is eventually I learned, to my surprise, to actually somewhat enjoy the experience of the nicotine pouches.
After some time my preferred dosage and brand seemed to stop working. So I thought hey I guess I should try a different brand, maybe I just need to switch things up. I remember shortly after that I bought a can of 3mg nicotine pouches from a competitor's brand, actually I had meant to get the 6mg but they only had 3. Basically this other brand just wasn't working for me. It really felt like I was just putting plain paper into my mouth which kind of annoyed me so I threw those away. Next I tried another one of the really popular brands, but the pouch is a lot smaller. And those were available in 4mg and 8mg.
So I started with 4mg, it was really only a slight step up but I enjoyed it a lot actually. And then my friend at the time also was buying the same brand, I think he was buying the 8mg so I figured well maybe the 8mg is better. 8 mg was super intense from what I remember. But unfortunately even the 8mg nicotine pouches stopped working. Or at least not as much as they had before.
So I had a theory that I needed to switch between the two brands because I assumed it would trick my body, since I assumed they were like different recipes. That sort of worked for a bit. And then one day I noticed that the store was selling another brand. I guess I shouldn't specify the brand, it's just a popular brand. So I thought hey, maybe if I change the recipe again, maybe I'll have a better experience. Supposedly it was also 8mg. And so my assumption was I already had developed a tolerance to the 8mg dosage, so I figured this one wasn't going to be that dangerous per say.
So I figured what the heck and bought a can a few days ago. Now actually what happened was when I finally opened up the can I realized it had passed its best by date like 3 weeks before. So I thought darn, what if I'm not getting the full experience if it's already expired. So I thought well, why don't I just go back and buy a fresher one. So I went back to the store and they had one can that was still good, it was set to expire in 2 weeks. So I figured well it's still in that best by time period, so it should be theoretically a better experience.
So I bought it and threw one in, but to my disappointment it seemed actually to be identical to the strength of the one that had expired. Frankly I was slightly disappointed and really just thought I probably wasted my money and now I have more than I know what to do with. So I guess I got a bit cavalier at this point. I mean I was kind of feeling the nicotine, so it was kind of working, it was just wasn't as rapid in its onset and duration. So I thought okay maybe I just have to get used to this.
The night that I'm trying to describe, I was laying in bed and popped in a pouch and, also I had been spitting everything into a cup, because I don't usually swallow any of the saliva. But strangely enough the taste was starting to really grow on me. I like salty things I suppose. And it really started tasting like a salty tea, which I actually started to love the flavor so much that I was swallowing some of that saliva. I think this is probably what messed me up to be honest, as far as I can tell it could be why I felt that I had overdosed afterwards.
But again it was only slightly working, I wasn't totally getting the body feeling that I was expecting. So right after one was done I put another one in right after. I repeated that process and kind of sucking on the pouch slightly to get more of that salty tea flavor, which might have been my biggest mistake probably. I did that a total of 4 times I think. Just 4 pouches in a row. And then suddenly I felt dizzy.
4 pouches in a row. And then suddenly I felt dizzy.
That lasted for a couple minutes and then I figured that was it. So anyway I was preparing to sleep afterwards, and I took a tincture that I've been using for lucid dreaming which has thujone in it. I had dranken some of this tincture the day before and there was nothing out of the ordinary. But as soon as I dropped that tincture into some juice and had a few sips I started having that same lightheaded feeling from the pouch even though by that point I had already spit it out.
Honestly didn't think much of it at the time, I thought I was having a reaction to the thujone even though it was actually a small dose of the tincture. So anyway, went to sleep. Woke up next day having already by this point sworn off the darn pouches, but sometimes in the morning it's when I'm most wanting to have some nicotine. So I figured what the heck. I'll pop a couple in and just get a nice start to the day.
At this point I assumed I still had too much of a tolerance and this was why I was only occasionally feeling lightheaded from it. But this time I tried not to swallow any saliva just in case. So I had my two portions and then I spit them out and rested in bed for a few minutes. I would have stayed in bed but I had to get up and get on with my morning.
I felt fine actually, but while I was talking to my mom I noticed my balance was off and I was feeling kind of spacey. Like that lightheaded feeling again but all throughout my body. At that point I knew I was being affected by something but I wasn't sure. I just thought okay maybe there's still some nicotine in my system but it should go away soon. And sure enough after sitting for a few minutes and drinking some coffee I did feel better and went on with my day.
That was until I was stressed out after dealing with some traffic. I had been driving about an hour before and felt fine. But at this point I was making a lot of stops and trying to rush home so I was kind of stressed out about getting home as soon as possible. Just because I had picked up some dinner and my family was waiting for me so I was on a tight schedule basically. And then all of a sudden while I was sitting in traffic I suddenly got the spacey feeling as if I was experiencing nicotine.
But by this point it was like 5 hours after I had spit out those pouches from that morning. It lasted for a few minutes actually. It kind of scared me because obviously it's not safe for driving. I felt so lightheaded that I had to pull over.
I felt so lightheaded that I had to pull over.
By the time I walked back to my car I was feeling fine so I drove home and everything was normal again. Now the interesting thing is, about 3 hours ago, which was around midnight I was relaxing and smoking a bowl, but right after I smoked I got the same spacey feeling again, which lasted about a minute or two and then disappeared.
So I have a theory about this which might not be accurate, but I wonder if these things are triggering the symptoms of the nicotine. Thujone, stress, cannabis, these all seemed to activate the same feeling of the pouches. So my assumption is that I actually might have overdosed on the nicotine.
The loss of balance and lightheadedness were especially pronounced and just happen to also be symptoms of a nicotine overdose. So anyway, maybe this is helpful to someone. I just hope I don't have any long term damage.
| Exp Year: 2024 | ExpID: 118499 |
| Gender: Male | |
| Age at time of experience: 37 | |
| Published: Sep 10, 2025 | Views: Not Supported |
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| Tobacco (47) : Alone (16), Multi-Day Experience (13), Addiction & Habituation (10), Preparation / Recipes (30), Combinations (3), General (1) | |
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