My DIY kit contains:
1 - 3ml syringe
1 - 5ml syringe
1 each - 20, 30 and 60ml syringes
Very important - Put clear packing tape over the markings on your syringes or the markings WILL be gone after just a couple of uses. I learned this the hard way
Various size glass bottles - 15, 30, 60, 120 and 250ml
VG, PG and nic base. I buy PG based nic 100mg/ml, by the liter, Transfer it to 120ml blue glass bottles and store all but 120 ml of it in the freezer. I cut that 120ml pg based nic with 120mls of VG. This cuts it down to 240mls of 50pg/50vg/50 mg/ml nic base. (check update down below)
I mix my vg no nic base - 87% vg/9% distilled water/4% saline solution. Shake well and you are set for a very long time. Example: 626 mls VG, 65 mls Distilled Water and 29 mls saline solution for a total of 720 mls or 24 oz. VG base
Most of my mixes are somewhere close to 60pg/40vg blends and since most flavorings are pg based, by making both my nic-base and my no-nic base at 50/50 it keeps my mixes somewhere close to my target 60/40. (check update down below)
I am in the keep it simple camp. I use exactly 1 - 3ml or 5ml syringe to measure all my flavorings, be it 1 or 10. I use larger syringe (size depends on how much I am making) to measure out my nic and then just pour in the necessary base.
I mix all of mine in the glass bottle they are gonna stay in 'till all vaped up. I add the flavors first. I pull the plunger up to about the .5 ml mark and then draw up the needed amount of flavor #1. Add it to the bottle. That .5 ml of air will push all of the flavoring out of the blunt tip needle. I swish the needle in a glass of hot water. Dry it off with a paper towel and repeat until all the flavors I need for my mix are in the bottle. At this point I cap the bottle and give it a gentle shake to mix the flavorings. Of course this isn't necessary if you are doing single flavor mixes.
I then move to my other syringe to measure my nic. I would just use the same syringe but with my nic I need to measure out more volume than with my flavorings thus need a larger syringe. I do take more care while measuring the nic but am not overly concerned since I am usually only working with 50mg/ml. If I happened to spill a drop or a bunch I would just stop, clean it up and get back to my juice making.
Once I have added my nic I recap the bottle and again give it a gentle shake to help blend all I've added so far. Now I just top the bottle off with my pg/vg no-nic base and I am done. Takes me longer to pick out the flavors I need for my mix than it actually does to mix it.
I give it a really good shake at this point and then set it in a cup of very hot water. I shake it a couple of times as the water is cooling. I want the bottle to feel warm (not hot) to the touch. When the water starts cooling I replace it with very hot water again and repeat. I then just allow it all to cool down and my juice is ready to vape.
Edited 8/8/2016 to add: Now I only use the step of warm water bath if I have mixed up some shake and vape. I have now fine tuned my favorite recipes so when I get down to about 30ml of a favorite, I mix up another 60 or 120ml bottle and I just let it age with time instead of warm water
If you are working with VG take that needle off your syringe and if you need a lot of it remove the plunger, hold your finger over the tip and pour the vg in the syringe, replace the plunger and dispense the vg into your bottle. So much easier than trying to draw it up. I actually do it this way for both my nic and no-nic solutions when making more than 30 mls of a mix.
I hope this will help everyone that thinks you have to be a chemist to do this. It really is a very simple process and as you can see, I don't use a ton of equipment. Happy Mixing
update 2/21/2017: I no longer mix VG in with my nic base. I have found it is even easier if I keep my nic base 100% PG. I no longer mix PG and VG together either. I do thin my VG with 9% distilled water and 4% saline solution though.
Now that I have several mixes that I enjoy, I make flavoring blends of each of them. Makes mixing even easier. Instead of having to dig out several bottles of flavor I just have to take out one.
1 - 3ml syringe
1 - 5ml syringe
1 each - 20, 30 and 60ml syringes
Very important - Put clear packing tape over the markings on your syringes or the markings WILL be gone after just a couple of uses. I learned this the hard way
Various size glass bottles - 15, 30, 60, 120 and 250ml
VG, PG and nic base. I buy PG based nic 100mg/ml, by the liter, Transfer it to 120ml blue glass bottles and store all but 120 ml of it in the freezer. I cut that 120ml pg based nic with 120mls of VG. This cuts it down to 240mls of 50pg/50vg/50 mg/ml nic base. (check update down below)
I mix my vg no nic base - 87% vg/9% distilled water/4% saline solution. Shake well and you are set for a very long time. Example: 626 mls VG, 65 mls Distilled Water and 29 mls saline solution for a total of 720 mls or 24 oz. VG base
Most of my mixes are somewhere close to 60pg/40vg blends and since most flavorings are pg based, by making both my nic-base and my no-nic base at 50/50 it keeps my mixes somewhere close to my target 60/40. (check update down below)
I am in the keep it simple camp. I use exactly 1 - 3ml or 5ml syringe to measure all my flavorings, be it 1 or 10. I use larger syringe (size depends on how much I am making) to measure out my nic and then just pour in the necessary base.
I mix all of mine in the glass bottle they are gonna stay in 'till all vaped up. I add the flavors first. I pull the plunger up to about the .5 ml mark and then draw up the needed amount of flavor #1. Add it to the bottle. That .5 ml of air will push all of the flavoring out of the blunt tip needle. I swish the needle in a glass of hot water. Dry it off with a paper towel and repeat until all the flavors I need for my mix are in the bottle. At this point I cap the bottle and give it a gentle shake to mix the flavorings. Of course this isn't necessary if you are doing single flavor mixes.
I then move to my other syringe to measure my nic. I would just use the same syringe but with my nic I need to measure out more volume than with my flavorings thus need a larger syringe. I do take more care while measuring the nic but am not overly concerned since I am usually only working with 50mg/ml. If I happened to spill a drop or a bunch I would just stop, clean it up and get back to my juice making.
Once I have added my nic I recap the bottle and again give it a gentle shake to help blend all I've added so far. Now I just top the bottle off with my pg/vg no-nic base and I am done. Takes me longer to pick out the flavors I need for my mix than it actually does to mix it.
I give it a really good shake at this point and then set it in a cup of very hot water. I shake it a couple of times as the water is cooling. I want the bottle to feel warm (not hot) to the touch. When the water starts cooling I replace it with very hot water again and repeat. I then just allow it all to cool down and my juice is ready to vape.
Edited 8/8/2016 to add: Now I only use the step of warm water bath if I have mixed up some shake and vape. I have now fine tuned my favorite recipes so when I get down to about 30ml of a favorite, I mix up another 60 or 120ml bottle and I just let it age with time instead of warm water
If you are working with VG take that needle off your syringe and if you need a lot of it remove the plunger, hold your finger over the tip and pour the vg in the syringe, replace the plunger and dispense the vg into your bottle. So much easier than trying to draw it up. I actually do it this way for both my nic and no-nic solutions when making more than 30 mls of a mix.
I hope this will help everyone that thinks you have to be a chemist to do this. It really is a very simple process and as you can see, I don't use a ton of equipment. Happy Mixing
update 2/21/2017: I no longer mix VG in with my nic base. I have found it is even easier if I keep my nic base 100% PG. I no longer mix PG and VG together either. I do thin my VG with 9% distilled water and 4% saline solution though.
Now that I have several mixes that I enjoy, I make flavoring blends of each of them. Makes mixing even easier. Instead of having to dig out several bottles of flavor I just have to take out one.
