CIY juice thread

[pwyll]

Since "DIY juice" refers to making everything from scratch, including the flavour combinations, and Mom and Pop's now offers their juices as flavour concentrates (where the flavour combinations are already done) I thought CIY (for "customize it yourself") was more appropriate. I also thought it would be good to have a thread dedicated to them.

For anyone not familiar with DIY juices, DIY E-Liquid is the ECF sub-forum dedicated to DIY juice. It's a bit large and fairly daunting, though. The easiest way to use the concentrates, if you've never mixed before, is to buy unflavoured juice and add the flavour to it. eJuice Me Up - Best eJuice Calculator is invaluable to figure out strengths (http://breaktru.com/ejuicemeup.zip to download directly)--or go the more traditional route of buying VG, PG and nicotine separately for a bit more control over the fine details.

You can also, as has been mentioned elsewhere, use the concentrates to boost flavours or create your own custom combinations.


So let's use this thread to talk about ideas



Edit to add:

I actually use eLiquid Recipe Manager Pro most often. There is a free version here. I have tried all the other Android apps and while several are good, I find this one to be the best. I don't have anything iOS, so you people are on your own

 

[Schnarph]

My first DIY supplies are on their way to me! I (should) have 250ml of 100mg PG base and enough VG and PG to make 1250ml of 20mg 60/40 base, or so the calculators tell me. I may buy more VG in the future and up the ratio in that direction. I might try some VG/5-10% distilled water/tiny bit of PGA, but the PG based flavorings might not like that, and I thought I read that M&P use PG based flavor concentrates. That's what DIY is all about, and since I won't be making the flavors myself I should be able to easily fix the PG/VG ratio as long as I start with small(5-10ml)batches. After mixing in some M&P concentrates, I will have even more e-liquid at a mg strength more to my liking, around 16 to 18mg right now. I plan on cutting the nic content down as low as possible, and with VG and PG being very easy to get, my little bottle could last a couple of years. But enough about me...

I gave a friend some Bud's Blend, and he likes it a lot, but wants me to cut what I gave him in half, flavor wise. I was going to give him some RYO, but I already know what his reaction will be. Cutting the flavor in half with 18mg 50/50 base is easy enough, but when I order some M&P Bud's Blend or any other flavor concentrate, what am I looking for percentage wise to make something close to the normal finished product? As far as I can tell from the website, it's 20%. Is that for all the flavors? Letting it steep for a few weeks only to find it is too weak or too strong will waste a lot of time.

I don't want to buy a bunch of flavors from TFA, FA, LA, etc., only to fail at making something I already like very much. I also want to keep M&P in business with any possible shortages of nicotine supplies that are hitting all the big 100mg vendors out there. I would even vape some 0%nic if it just tasted as good as what M&P is making. BTW, I didn't buy my 100mg nic because I am afraid of a possible ban or regulation. I wanted to get my foot in the water and try some super easy DIY. Many big thanks M&P for making flavor concentrates, and many more to pwyll for being a very big help with making my final decisions on this matter. Please keep making the great flavors M&P, I will be ordering your concentrates as soon as I have something to mix them with!

Edit: I did order 3 TFA flavors for my first DIY experience. The cart needed a few more bucks to get free shipping, so I figured I would be a chump not to try and make something totally DIY at least once. I forgot to order any sweetener, I'll get some from M&P in my next order. So, if I add some flavorless base and some TFA chocolate to Crazy Ape, would it cut back on the banana flavor? I can only vape Crazy Ape for about 5 drags every few days, the banana flavor is super strong for my taste. The one cartomiser I filled up is going to take me many weeks to get through. I don't want to insult anybody or take this thread in the wrong direction, but I might just toss this Crazy Ape if I can't make it more palatable.

 

[pwyll]

From what I understand, 20% is the "average" ratio in that most of the juices are very close to that. I do believe that Scuba has said that some are as low as 10% (though it may have been 15% that's the lowest). You may want to email Scuba to see if she'll tell you about the specific flavours in which you are interested, but that might be a little more information than she's comfortable giving out. You know, trade secrets and all

 

[Schnarph]

From what I understand, 20% is the "average" ratio in that most of the juices are very close to that. I do believe that Scuba has said that some are as low as 10% (though it may have been 15% that's the lowest). You may want to email Scuba to see if she'll tell you about the specific flavours in which you are interested, but that might be a little more information than she's comfortable giving out. You know, trade secrets and all

Good to know, I was going to start with 10%. I'll make 4 at a time, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. I will have to like one of those, fixing the others should be easy enough. I'm not too particular about nic%, as long as it's not too high. 18mg is my max, right now, hoping to get down to 12mg in a few months, 6-8mg in a year. I don't really need to know what percentage of M&P concentrate I need to make an exact replica of the finished product. 20% average is what I guessed the suggested dilution was, based on the M&P website itself, and I certainly don't want to go above that. My taste buds are extra sensitive since I quit smoking. Yes, yes, trade secrets. Why give away the milk for free when people are already happy to buy it? I'm cool with that.

 

[pwyll]

Good to know, I was going to start with 10%. I'll make 4 at a time, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. I will have to like one of those, fixing the others should be easy enough. I'm not too particular about nic%, as long as it's not too high. 18mg is my max, right now, hoping to get down to 12mg in a few months, 6-8mg in a year. I don't really need to know what percentage of M&P concentrate I need to make an exact replica of the finished product. 20% average is what I guessed the suggested dilution was, based on the M&P website itself, and I certainly don't want to go above that. My taste buds are extra sensitive since I quit smoking. Yes, yes, trade secrets. Why give away the milk for free when people are already happy to buy it? I'm cool with that.

I think 5% might be a little too low. I've trade a flavour with a fairly strong cheesecake concentrate (before M&P's were available), and you could tell it wasn't straight VG/PG but there was no way to tell what the flavour actually was--in fact, it tasted exactly like the wax lips we used to get as kids.

As far as the trade secrets go, though, I would think it would be more a matter of "why give stores a chance to mix Mom and Pop flavours and sell them as their own?" I don't think any vendor here on ECF would do that, but there are a lot of little hole-in-the-wall shops that might love to pay even less than retail for guaranteed good flavours they could claim as their "house brand." That's why I suggested sending an email, since she might not have a problem telling someone she "knows" in private

 

[pwyll]

And now they have unflavoured nicotine available in both PG and VG base. You'll still need VG/PG to dilute the nicotine down to your preferred level, but you can get either/both at grocery stores, drugstores, health food stores, Walmart, farm supply stores, etc.

 

[thehangdude]

Propylene Glycol - 30ml - Mom and Pop Vapor Shop

 

[pwyll]

Didn't see it last night--must not have looked hard enough.

Thanks, 'dude

 

[Scubac00da]

Vegetable Glycerine - 30ml - Mom and Pop Vapor Shop

Just added that too! Sorry a little late on that, lol.

 

[pwyll]

I just saw that and was heading over to post before thehangdude noticed it