How Long Does Nicotine Stay In Your System (Blood, Hair, Saliva, Urine)

How long does it take for nicotine to get out of your system? Nicotine content is present in all the tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis, pipes, hookah, cigars, and smokeless tobacco. If you are a tobacco consumer then definitely you have a question, how long does nicotine stay in your system? The answer depends on the source of your nicotine, how much you smoke, your age and your body metabolism rate. So the time varies from person to person to take for nicotine to leave the body.

As everyone knows, consuming tobacco in any form is bad for your health. It is the leading cause for many types of cancer. Even smokeless tobacco is also harmful with high nicotine content. NICOTINE IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE.

A study conducted by National Cancer Institute shows that the nicotine stays in the blood longer for those who consume smokeless tobacco than for smokers (1)

Nicotine content in Cigarette: 8 to 20 mg (1-2 mg is absorbed when smoking)

Nicotine content in Cigars: 70 times as much nicotine as cigarettes

Nicotine content in Bidis: 21.2 mg/g (2)

If you are a smokeless tobacco user, then check this article to know the nicotine content in the leading smokeless tobacco products.

How Nicotine Affects Your System?

For an every puff of a cigarette, Nicotine is added to your lungs, which is absorbed by your blood. Soon, within 10 seconds after that, nicotine reaches your brain. It gives immense pleasure for you to few seconds and makes you addictive. So you are addicted to tobacco products whenever you got tensed.

But this form of short-term pleasure doesn’t give you permanent relief. Further, this causes harm to your system.

After nicotine is absorbed by your blood, it stimulates the adrenal glands to release the hormone called epinephrine. This hormone further stimulates the nervous system and increases your BP, heart beat rate and respiration.

If you consume smokeless tobacco, nicotine is absorbed into the body through the skin.

Studies proved that the additional components in tobacco such as acetaldehyde induce the nicotine’s effects on the brain. (3)

Not only nicotine but also the components of tobacco (carbon monoxide, tar, cyanide, formaldehyde, and ammonia) are harmful to your health.

Liver detoxification is necessary to remove all these toxins from your liver. Try these herbs to remove toxins from your liver .

How Long Does Nicotine Stay In Your System?

The answer depends on the source of your nicotine, how much you smoke, your age and your body metabolism rate. So it varies from person to person.

Second-hand smoke (Passive smokers) can stay in your system for much longer than active smoke

The second-hand smokers are more vulnerable when compared to active smokers. Nicotine can stay much longer in the second-hand smoker’s body than the active smokers. (4)

Before I proceed with the detailed view of how long does nicotine stay in your system, just see the outline of its presence.

How long does nicotine stay in your blood?

The nicotine can stay in your blood for about 1-3 days after smoking. (5)

How long does nicotine stay in your urine?

15-20 days after smoking.

How long does nicotine stay in your hair?

1-3 Months after smoking.

How long does nicotine stay in your saliva?

10 hours – 4 days after smoking.

How long does nicotine stay in the breastfeeding infant?

10 hours after smoking.

Studies reveal that (6,7,8) nicotine transfers from smoking mother to the infant while feeding milk. Even though it is in less amount, it is under consideration.

The short interval between smoking and breastfeeding leads to higher absorption of nicotine to the infant (9). After 2 hours of smoking, nicotine concentration level is reduced by half. Finally, it takes 10 hours to leave your system. However, for regular smokers, it takes 24 hours to leave the system completely. (8)

The traces of nicotine could be found in the urine and the blood of the infants. So it is advised that if you are feeding your baby, clear your nicotine from your system before the next feeding.

Also, nicotine reduces milk production and leads to baby colic. Sometimes babies refuse to feed mother’s milk. Heavy smoking (20 cigarettes per day) leads to abdominal cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea in babies.

Nicotine Drug Test

Does nicotine show up on a drug test?

The amount of nicotine presence in your system is identified with the help of any kind of nicotine drug tests such as blood, saliva, urine or hair. The nicotine drug test is also called as tobacco drug test.

1. Nicotine Blood test

Nicotine is metabolized into cotinine by the liver. Usually, the nicotine stays in your system for 1-3 days and for cotinine, it takes 1-10 days to leave your system.

Nicotine blood test is one of the initial methods to get a clear idea about the nicotine presence. You can easily find out how long does nicotine stay in blood by this test.

A blood sample is taken from your body and it’s tested for nicotine and cotinine presence. You can get the results as soon as possible without any delay.

If nicotine presence is detected, your health care provider will give you suggestions to remove nicotine from your body. You can also detoxify your liver at home with the naturally available herbs.

2. Nicotine Saliva Test

Nicotine saliva test is the most accurate test carried out to test the presence of nicotine. A clean cotton swab is used to take the saliva sample from your mouth and it is tested in a lab. Usually, saliva stays in your body around 10 hours – 4 days after you smoking.

This test is used primarily in the insurance companies to check the nicotine level. Saliva kits are also available in pharmacy to check the level of nicotine. Usually, parents use this kit to check their kid’s smoking habit.

You can easily determine how long does nicotine stay in your system by this test.

3. Nicotine Urine Test

Nicotine urine test is the most widely used test to check the presence of nicotine/cotinine. In this test, a sample urine is collected and tested in the lab to check the nicotine level in your body. The general method of testing is passing a test strip through the urine.

Most of the harmful toxins expelled from your body via urine. So sometimes toxins stay in the urine for a longer time. So, how long does nicotine stay in urine? Even for chain and passive smokers, cotinine should be in the urine for 10-20 days.

4. Nicotine Hair test

Due to the longer halftime, cotinine test is more accurate than nicotine. After metabolism, cotinine intercalates into the hair. This test is more expensive and rarely used to detect nicotine toxicity in the body.

Several strands of hair are plucked and tested to check nicotine concentration and no special preparation is needed prior to the test.

How long does it take for nicotine to get out of your system? Usually, nicotine stays 1-3 Months after smoking and for chain smokers, it may extend up to 1 year.

Sources of Nicotine

Nicotine is predominantly present in Tobacco. Other than tobacco, it is present in Green Tomatoes, Eggplant, Cauliflower, Potato and Green pepper in lower quantities.

How to Get Nicotine Out of Your System: 8 Fast Ways

Flushing out of nicotine from your body needs detoxification process. So that your liver can easily remove the toxins.

I already covered the foods to detox the liver and the herbs for liver cleansing. Follow the below methods to get nicotine out of your system fast.

1. Drink Plenty of Water

Water is essential for your body to be hydrated. If your body is hydrated, your liver can easily remove the toxins (including nicotine) out of your body. Drinking a lot of water can flush out nicotine poisoning.

2. Drink Pine Needle Tea

Too much nicotine is not good for your health. A tea made from the pine needles can help to ease your throat and also good for your lung’s health. This tea will reduce the tobacco poisoning symptoms.

3. Increase Bile Production

Your liver uses bile as a way to get rid of all kinds of waste products (including nicotine and cotinine) through the secretion of bile. So bile production plays a vital role in liver detoxification mechanism.

• Chew your foods well.
• Don’t take processed or canned foods.
• Take the herb Chanca piedra.
• Go organic
• Avoid Alcohol
• Avoid large doses of iron
• Avoid Drugs

4. Take Antioxidants

Antioxidants are helpful in liver detoxification mechanism. So it is necessary for you to flush out the toxins [10]. Some of the antioxidant rich foods are Dark chocolate, blueberries, Cranberries, kidney beans, Pecans, elderberries, Grapes, Nuts, red berries, and sweet potato.

5. Increase Your Metabolism Rate

Increase your metabolism rate to flush out the nicotine from your system. Here I give some ways to boost up your metabolism rate.

• Eat spicy foods
• Take proteins
• Consume vitamin C rich foods
• Sleep well at night
• Use coconut oil in your daily food.
• Drink green tea
• Take organic foods

6. Eat Spinach

Spinach is loaded with folic acid. Folic acid in your body makes the taste of tobacco repulsive.

7. Do Exercises 

Exercises can boost your body metabolism and helps to burn up the nicotine. It can flush out the nicotine from your body through sweating. Even simple physical movements and cardio workouts will give you good results.

8. Finally, Quit The Usage of Tobacco Products

If you didn’t quit the consumption of tobacco, how the nicotine content in the tobacco will be expelled from your body?

The overall process is wasted. Again nicotine will fill up your body. So try to avoid tobacco products to make nicotine out of your system.

In a Nutshell,

How long does it take for nicotine to get out of your system? Nicotine content is present in all the tobacco products such as cigarettes, bidis, pipes, hookah, cigars, and smokeless tobacco. If you are a tobacco consumer then definitely you have a question, how long does nicotine stay in your system? The answer depends on the source of your nicotine, how much you smoke, your age and your body metabolism rate. So the time varies from person to person to take for nicotine to leave the body.

Hope you got a clear idea about how long does nicotine stay in your system and the methods to eliminate completely from your body. Avoid tobacco and live a tobacco free life to get rid of the harmful effects of nicotine.