Can You Mix CBD and Nicotine?

If you’re a smoker who is trying to quit their habit, you’ve probably been researching some of the best ways to go about it. Aside from the most popular replacement methods, such as e-cigarettes or nicotine gum, you may have bumped into studies saying that CBD has been found to reduce cigarette cravings. While it may be helpful, it’s not exactly the same compound as nicotine.

Depending on how long you’ve been smoking cigarettes, you might not feel entirely ready to cut nicotine out of your life altogether, but want to give CBD a shot due to its perceived relaxing and anti-anxiety properties. So can you use CBD and nicotine in tandem, or can this combination be potentially harmful to you? If you found yourself asking these questions on your quitting journey, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll dive into CBD and nicotine interactions to determine if they are safe to use together.

CBD and Nicotine: What Are They?

Before diving head-first into the implications of using nicotine and CBD alongside each other, we’re going to go over the two substances separately, to give you a general idea of what they are and the effects they have on your body.

CBD

CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a compound found in any cannabis plant. However, not all of these plants are suitable for people who only want to reap the benefits of CBD. If you want to smoke CBD flower, you need to make sure that it doesn’t contain any THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) — which is the psychoactive compound responsible for getting marijuana smokers high. As opposed to CBD, which is completely legal in the UK, THC is a controlled substance.

You can also opt for CBD products, such as oils, tinctures, or CBD vape juice, with 100% certainty that it has been isolated from THC during the production process. With the boom in popularity that CBD has recently experienced, you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a reliable store that sells CBD products.

So what exactly are the effects and benefits of CBD? While there are plentiful claims of CBD’s various therapeutic qualities, we’d advise you to take all of that information with a grain of salt. Most of the evidence we have right now is anecdotal, and while some studies that confirm them have come out in recent years, more research needs to be done to affirm the CBD benefits with full certainty. Here are just some of CBD’s potential benefits:

• stress and anxiety alleviation
• mood elevation
• sleep aid
• general relaxation
• increased appetite

Seeing as CBD can help with alleviating anxiety, depression, irritability, and stress, which are some of the most complained about symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, it’s unsurprising that people have found success with managing their tobacco addiction using CBD.

Nicotine

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance. If you’re a smoker (or an ex-smoker), you’re probably more than well aware of that fact. While it does carry some negative health implications on its own, most of the harm caused by nicotine dependence is actually caused by its most popular method of consumption — cigarettes.

When you smoke cigarettes to deliver nicotine into your system, you’re also taking in dozens of carcinogens and other harmful substances while inhaling the burning tobacco smoke. Taking cigarette consumption and the harm it causes out of the equation, you may be surprised at some of the reported benefits of nicotine, which include:

• improved memory and concentration
• improved focus

This is not to say that nicotine is good for you. As we already mentioned, it is highly addictive. In fact, some scientists claim that it is just as hard, or even harder, to quit than heroin! On top of the physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms that come with quitting smoking, continued use of nicotine (including using e-cigarettes, gum, or nicotine patches) carries the following negative side effects, which can intensify with increased nicotine intake:

• increased blood pressure
• appetite loss
• sweating
• headaches
• nausea

When you drop nicotine cold turkey, you’re likely to become highly irritable, stressed out, and even experience depression-like feelings. This is why most smoking cessation plans include cigarette replacements that still contain nicotine to make this process a bit easier on the individual.

Mixing Nicotine and CBD: Is It a Good Idea?

Mixing CBD and nicotine is not advised, although a lot of smokers and ex-smokers are of the opinion that they actually complement each other quite well. Vendors cannot sell products that contain both nicotine and CBD, and while studies on the matter are divisive, we would recommend that you use these substances separately. 

All this doesn’t mean that nicotine and CBD don’t interact with each other at all. There are two primary ways in which CBD affects the nicotine in your body.

Metabolic Inhibition

Your liver has to metabolise nicotine and CBD after ingestion. CBD works as an inhibitor for the liver enzymes that are tasked with metabolising nicotine. On top of that, both compounds are competing for the same metabolic pathway in your body. Because of this, when taken together, nicotine and CBD will get stuck in a traffic jam of sorts in your liver, taking longer to metabolise.

What does this mean for you? Their effects might increase in intensity and last for longer. It might seem desirable at first, as you’ll experience longer cognitive benefits of nicotine and the enhanced relaxing effects of CBD. However, if you take too much, the potential negative effects of nicotine will intensify, too. The compounds could also deteriorate before actually being metabolised, achieving the opposite result — the effects will be less intense and last for a shorter period.

Antagonistic Interaction

Nicotine is a stimulant, whereas CBD is a relaxant. Because of their opposing properties, taking nicotine and CBD may lead to something called antagonistic interaction, which basically reduces the effects of both substances as they counteract each other. If you quit smoking but still use an e-cigarette or a heated tobacco device to ingest nicotine, you may try using CBD to reduce its side effects, such as muscle tension or increased anxiety.

The Verdict

If you’ve stopped taking nicotine to break free of your dependence and are looking for something to help you manage the resulting stress, CBD can help you out with that. If you still continue to take it in via nicotine vape juice, patches, or any other method, you won’t be harmed if you take CBD alongside it. However, you should be cautious of mixing CBD products directly with nicotine or tobacco. 

In fact, thanks to the potentially reduced metabolism rate of nicotine caused by CBD, it may be of help in terms of gradually decreasing the amount of nicotine you ingest until you break free from it once and for all. Due to it being a relaxant, CBD could also help you mitigate the negative effects of nicotine and may also help you relax.

When planning to mix CBD and nicotine, you need to keep in mind that CBD can also affect the effectiveness of certain prescription medications you’re taking because of the way it interacts with your liver enzymes. This is why you should consult with your doctor before taking CBD to rule out any negative drug interactions.

NEAFS: An Alternative Path For Smokers

NEAFS is a new alternative for smokers looking to ditch their cigarette habit. Thanks to the same technology used in popular heated tobacco products, our TEO devices allow you to indulge in the pleasure of having a smoke sans tobacco!

At NEAFS, we use premium plant-derived ingredients to produce our cigarette sticks, which are available in both nicotine and nicotine-free variants. It’s a great, reduced-harm option for smokers who’d like to keep their smoking rituals but eradicate nicotine from their life. Since they don’t contain any nicotine, you can use our nicotine-free sticks in combination with CBD without worrying about any unintended consequences of these compounds interacting with each other.

The Bottom Line

CBD and nicotine substances interact with each other in your body, and if you’re planning to take them together, you should be well aware of exactly how these interactions will affect you. If you’re taking any pharmaceutical drug, you should definitely consult with your doctor first, as CBD can impact the effect of certain medications. When done right, CBD can help you lower the amount of nicotine you’re taking in every day and mitigate its withdrawal effects. 

Finally, you should keep in mind that CBD is still being extensively researched, and we don’t know everything about the substance just yet. So while it’s worth giving a shot, you shouldn’t think of it as a miracle smoking cessation method.