Disclaimer: Hoosier's DIY blogs are to only be read and understood by folks who have read all the sticky's in DIY E-Liquid and are based off of my experience with mixing my own juice for over a year.
- Always have all equipment out, organized, and ready before starting. (And if you do not have a nice glass pipette setup, make sure those syringe plungers move smoothly so I don't have to hear how your blueberry flavoring was spilled because the plunger froze and when the shaft pulled out of the rubber seal your barrel hand shot forward sending the bottle across the room like I did.)
- Use a non-marring surface that has been cleaned for mixing. (Some flavorings will strip polyurethane off a dining table and this does not make my wife happy and I doubt your SO will feel any better.)
- Have a list of all mixes you will make before you ever sit down. (So you don't mix your son's and sister's juice and a few experiments to discover that you forgot to make any juice for yourself after you clean and put everything up.)
- Use proper safety equipment and keep it on while mixing. (Do you know what it feels like to have cinnamon flavoring on your face because you lifted the face shield to scratch and didn't know you had cinnamon flavoring on your glove?)
- Do not accept any distractions. (You will avoid overfilling a bottle because you forgot where you were when you took that important phone call from a friend and have to throw it all out because you have no idea how much nicotine or flavoring is in that mess running over your non-marring surface.)
- Always start small. (Do you really need another 30ml bottle of juice that tastes like the south end of a north bound cat?)
- When experimenting with flavor with the add-write note-shake-taste method, stop when the flavor is "close" and walk away. Going for perfect on the first try will result in a juice that makes the south end of a north bound cat seem good by comparison.)
- Always take notes! (If you ignore this rule you WILL make a fantatic juice that brings tears of joy to your eyes, but it will only be one batch and you will forevermore never get close to such bliss. I am not the only one who has done this.)
- Leave the mixing area to vape and think. (While vaping and thinking go hand-in-hand you can get to thinking too hard and accidently drip straight flavoring on your testing atty. If you do this, I need video so I can find out what kind of face I was making that made everyone in the house howl in laughter with tears of glee when I dashed to the restroom.)
- Always double and triple check your nicotine levels and treat your nicotine with upmost respect and care. (I do not have a funny story here as this is THE really serious part of mixing and I treat nicotine like I treat firearms. There are to be no accidents with nicotine.)
