Nicotine electronic vaping device

Abstract

A saturation sensor measures at least one electrical characteristic of the wick between the heating element and the probe wire at a first time and a second time, wherein the at least one electrical characteristic includes a resistance, a capacitance, or both a resistance and a capacitance. Control circuitry is configured to cause the nicotine e-vaping device to: calculate a refill rate at which the nicotine pre-vapor formulation flows onto the wick based on the at least one electrical characteristic at the first time and the at least one electrical characteristic at the second time; determine that the refill rate is less than a threshold refill rate; and output a low nicotine pre-vapor formulation alert in response to determining that the refill rate is less than the threshold refill rate.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A nicotine e-vaping device comprising:
 a saturation sensor configured to
 measure at least one electrical characteristic of a wick at a first time, and 
 measure the at least one electrical characteristic of the wick at a second time, the second time being subsequent to the first time; and 
   control circuitry configured to cause the nicotine e-vaping device to
 calculate a refill rate at which a nicotine pre-vapor formulation flows onto the wick based on the at least one electrical characteristic at the first time and the at least one electrical characteristic at the second time, 
 determine that the refill rate is less than a threshold refill rate, and 
 output a low nicotine pre-vapor formulation alert in response to determining that the refill rate is less than the threshold refill rate.