DIY cost effective?

[squee]

Single flavored juices will be the cheapest, esp if you use Inawera or FlavourArt - you need very little from them to get great flavor.

But even multi-flavor juices are extremely cost-effective. I vape between 16mg and 22mg, depending on what it is and what time of day I'll be using it (my breakfast blends are higher 20-22mg, evening blends are the 16) So my Lemon Cookie (using IW and FA) is $1.17 for 30ml and Stevos Vanilla Custard (using mostly CAP and TFA) is $2.09 for a 30ml I think.

 

[nostinkies]

Cost effective??????? THIS is exactly why I'm doing this now! I've been spending at least 16bucks a week at my local B&M. Thats not a lot of money I know, they are really nice people, but hire these silly little twits and I swear, no two bottles are the same. They mix on request, they dump in the flavoring and you get different strengths every time. Next they add the nic/pg/vg from a bottle. Sometimes my juice will turn black the same day in my Kayfun, other times it will take 3 days. My theory is when they mix me too strong on the flavor, there is more sugars in the juice and it burns/crystallizes into a black syrupy goop. I might be wrong, but that is what I think is happening.

I am conservatively estimating my new price for a 30ml bottle will be about $1.27. At that price, I can throw plenty of screwups down the drain. Besides, WHEN the FDA SCREWS us in the future, I'll be ready. Personally, I believe a nearly 1300% MARKUP IS BEYOND BS! Sure, that might be lucrative for a shop to sell it for that, but this is not how businesses should be run. I find it really hard to believe, one online juice seller hasn't stepped up and shown you CAN make a great profit, at a more reasonable "wholesale" price structure. $4.99 - $7.99 is REALLY what a 30ml bottle SHOULD sell for! Even at that, you'd be selling TONS and TONS of juice and can make a great living. Call it greed, I call it the sellers getting every last dime out of this new industry before the govt shuts it down with heavy regulations and taxes. (AND YES IT'S ON IT'S WAY!!!) For NOW, It's a no brainer. Let's see what NIC prices do when the new laws take effect.

Has anyone asked our guy at Wizard labs whats his take on what will happen to Nic prices? And does he ship in a 55 gallon drum? If a seller can get 1300%, Don't think the FDA couldn't impose such off the wall increase on the nic market! It'll turn into total recall. (Remember how the baddies sold AIR??) Mussst haaaave nicooottiiinnee.

 

[edyle]

I have been toying with the idea of DIY. Especially since my last ejuice binge was over $100, and looking at what I got doesn't seem like much for the price. Have you ever tried one of those DIY projects and it turns out to be more expensive than just outright buying the vendor version? Happens to me frequently. Which brings me to the question, is DIY really more bang for your buck in the long run? How steep is the learning curve?

Easy peasy DIY:
I buy 24mg 100/0 PG/VG and add my own glycerin.
Slash eliquid budget in at least half.

 

[flowerpots]

I estimate that I've spent about $350+ so far on DIY supplies including about 2 years worth of nicotine and base. But, I have everything I need now, so I should not need to buy anything else for 3-4 months and then it will only be replacing some flavors I've used (unless I read here of something else I can't do without ). I don't know how this will translate as far as cost per recipe yet, but I know I was spending $150+ a month on vendor juices, not including equipment maintenance stuff. I think you can save on money, depending on how complex you want it to be. Like racehorse said, it can be as easy or as difficult as you want. I don't think the learning curve is too steep. Mostly, it's just time-consuming in some respects, if you are trying to make your own recipes as opposed to just using those already on the web in different places. I would say this is the drawback to DIY.

 

[Steamer861]

There is no need to waist supplies I make small 4ml batches and try them on a dripping atomizer I adjust my recipe and then make a larger batch for consumption when I feel it's perfect Steeping is Not really necessary most of the time
You can steep small batches if you like but for me it dose not change most of the time All though some juices get better with steeping

Thanks guys! Yall are super helpful I'm going to start planning DIY and try to get a game plan for next months vape budget. Another noob question though: How do you test your juice to know if you need to adjust flavoring? Because doesn't it need to steep before flavoring melds together? LOL This is the part that concerns me, and where I see myself wasting supplies. I've been trying to figure out how you concoct complex flavors on the fly

 

[fogMann]

Cost effective??????? THIS is exactly why I'm doing this now! I've been spending at least 16bucks a week at my local B&M. Thats not a lot of money I know, they are really nice people, but hire these silly little twits and I swear, no two bottles are the same. They mix on request, they dump in the flavoring and you get different strengths every time. Next they add the nic/pg/vg from a bottle. Sometimes my juice will turn black the same day in my Kayfun, other times it will take 3 days. My theory is when they mix me too strong on the flavor, there is more sugars in the juice and it burns/crystallizes into a black syrupy goop. I might be wrong, but that is what I think is happening.

I am conservatively estimating my new price for a 30ml bottle will be about $1.27. At that price, I can throw plenty of screwups down the drain. Besides, WHEN the FDA SCREWS us in the future, I'll be ready. Personally, I believe a nearly 1300% MARKUP IS BEYOND BS! Sure, that might be lucrative for a shop to sell it for that, but this is not how businesses should be run. I find it really hard to believe, one online juice seller hasn't stepped up and shown you CAN make a great profit, at a more reasonable "wholesale" price structure. $4.99 - $7.99 is REALLY what a 30ml bottle SHOULD sell for! Even at that, you'd be selling TONS and TONS of juice and can make a great living. Call it greed, I call it the sellers getting every last dime out of this new industry before the govt shuts it down with heavy regulations and taxes. (AND YES IT'S ON IT'S WAY!!!) For NOW, It's a no brainer. Let's see what NIC prices do when the new laws take effect.

Has anyone asked our guy at Wizard labs whats his take on what will happen to Nic prices? And does he ship in a 55 gallon drum? If a seller can get 1300%, Don't think the FDA couldn't impose such off the wall increase on the nic market! It'll turn into total recall. (Remember how the baddies sold AIR??) Mussst haaaave nicooottiiinnee.

I think part of the high markup is due to the low economies of scale. I have to believe there is low volume on each product when you consider they have to mix each flavor at 4-5 different NIC levels. When volumes get higher, they can probably employ some level of automation or at least mix large batches. And, I also expect that fixed costs can be high - web site, order processing software, hard site, etc. Certainly all that goes down appreciably with volume. You can get 30ml of Dekang from FastTech for a little over $5.

No way have I broken even on DIY, but that's because I've gone off the deep end with flavorings (300+). I'm getting close to a nice set of forumulas and can back off from experimenting with so many flavorings and over time I'll hit break even. Also, I also really enjoy doing it and consider it the one hobby I spend much money on. If you happen to like a few of the simple recipes and/or single flavoring mixes you can save a lot.

Finally, I don't miss spending all the money I did on buying commercial juice samples, only to be disappointed by most of them (or get tired of them). I mix my own formula tests at 5ml w/o NIC. If I don't like it, the cost of dumping it is pennies. I don't dump very many.

 

[drksideken]

I don't know that I've ever broke even or spent less mixing my own.

I started mixing because most vendor juices were pretty bad. Things have really changed in the pre-mix world since then. The flavor I wanted, when I started, took me 5 months and a holy ton of flavorings to figure out. But, I discovered plenty of good flavor along the way.

Now days I give away so much that mixing is my highest vaping expense. I gave away about half a liter of juice this last weekend....and I didn't even refill my oldest son or sisters supply, so that's coming up soon.

Never really intended to save money. Just wanted to make great juice that I genuinely enjoyed vaping. I've got what I was after, so whatever I spend is well worth it to me.

/\ the result of large fingers on a tiny phone's keyboard - using Tapatalk

Hoosier is the Robin Hood of mixing...only without the theft part Too awesome as I've started giving away juice to help people get off of the coffin nails.

 

[Steamix]

Is like any other DIY-project.

You toss in the material plus your time.

Buy it from someone or contract someone for a job and they charge you their time.

Doesn't make a difference whether it's mixing juices or repainting your house...

 

[Lurch]

Thanks guys! Yall are super helpful I'm going to start planning DIY and try to get a game plan for next months vape budget. Another noob question though: How do you test your juice to know if you need to adjust flavoring? Because doesn't it need to steep before flavoring melds together? LOL This is the part that concerns me, and where I see myself wasting supplies. I've been trying to figure out how you concoct complex flavors on the fly

You don't really waist anything. When I make a recipe for the first time I make it in a 5ml bottle If it is off a little, I add something; too weak, a touch more flavor; too strong a bit more PG/VG; too bitter, some sweetener; too sweet a little lemon juice. I think the only time I have poured anything down the drain was when I suffered from HUA (head up ...) and doubled my nicotine content in a 5ml bottle. I learned a valuable lesson from that experience; pay attention and don't stop in the middle of a mix to go do something else!!! I probably could have salvaged that by splitting it but didn't want to take a chance of screwing it too much... not with the nicotine!!

 

[CenTexVpr]

Easy peasy DIY:
I buy 24mg 100/0 PG/VG and add my own glycerin.
Slash eliquid budget in at least half.

I get my nic in vg as the vg is more expensive than the pg available locally. I can get a gallon of pg for $23, where as the vg locally is $4 for 6 oz. I did find a gallon of vg on amazon recently for $20 but shipping was approx. $10. I get 100 mg nic & any that I am not freezing I cut to 50 mg by adding an equal amount of pg right away. Drops it to a safer level & allows for more adjustment pg/vg ratio with the higher nic. content. Saves me a little more money that way as well.

 

[Hoosier]

How do you test your juice to know if you need to adjust flavoring?

You do what we did in the old days, you drip. http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/the-ocelot/4005-drip-drip-drip-sound-dripping.html

Because doesn't it need to steep before flavoring melds together?

The vast majority of my mixes do not need more than a few seconds of steeping. So if you click that "3" under my picture just to the right of "Blog Entries:", and then click one on Flavoring Levels, you'll read that if I'm close, I stop and set it back to steep. Just to make sure I don't overshoot. It seldom does anything, but it's worth knowing.

Hoosier is the Robin Hood of mixing...only without the theft part Too awesome as I've started giving away juice to help people get off of the coffin nails.

They call me Little John......
....
....
But don't worry. In real life I'm actually big!

 

[coalyard]

I just started DIY, for what I thought was necessity. I live in NY and it is just a matter of time until juice is taxed beyond belief. Turns out I really like making my own recipes, and they are far better than what I was buying, and much less expensive too. I did a lot of reading here before I took the plunge, and I am glad I did. I was very happy right away with what I was making. I started with single flavors, which all turned out as expected. I made some more complex stuff last weekend (peanut butter cup and strawberry cheesecake). Both of those came out very nicely too.

Like most others here, I estimate I am coming in at about $.03-.04 per ml, which is a very large savings for me.

 

[edyle]

I get my nic in vg as the vg is more expensive than the pg available locally. I can get a gallon of pg for $23, where as the vg locally is $4 for 6 oz. I did find a gallon of vg on amazon recently for $20 but shipping was approx. $10. I get 100 mg nic & any that I am not freezing I cut to 50 mg by adding an equal amount of pg right away. Drops it to a safer level & allows for more adjustment pg/vg ratio with the higher nic. content. Saves me a little more money that way as well.

In my country I can get vg at the pharmacy, but so far I have not found any source for pg.

 

[Heabob]

In my country I can get vg at the pharmacy, but so far I have not found any source for pg.

PG is also used for Livestock/animals medicine, hint hint.

 

[edyle]

PG is also used for Livestock/animals medicine, hint hint.

I know; doesn't help though; more of an oil country, not a farm country; and I live in the city.

 

[Heabob]

I know; doesn't help though; more of an oil country, not a farm country; and I live in the city.

Ah, bummer man, sorry...

 

[ColoKaren]

I mixed my very first batch (unflavored) an hour or so ago. Honey, this stuff is pretty good!! It's a nice change from flavor burnout, especially my fav has been Fuzion's Unicorn Blood...

Edited to add: I mixed at (approximately) 50-50 PG/VG. Heavy on the throat hit for me, so I'm gonna experiment with my ratios before I add any flavors.

Note: Approximate ratios, 'cause I'm precision-challenged. Practice, practice, practice...

Thanks for the quick replies!



Yeah I'm pretty sure I will be a flavor junkie, but out of curiosity what does unflavored taste like? lol, that sounds like such a dumb question reading it but I'm sure it doesn't taste like air.

 

[ColoKaren]

Peach, your question reminded me of some movie I can't remember, where a nurse says to a patient about to get an upper G.I., "But don't worry, it's barium flavored." Actually, I think the line was "it's peppermint flavored," but I like mine better. Unflavored will depend on how much VG you use; VG is slightly sweet on its own. I have a bunch of VG-suspended whole tobacco juice, and my stuff isn't quite as sweet as that. It's not fabulous tasting, but I haven't reached for my other PV full of some death-by-chocolate juice yet either.

 

[Heabob]

Peach, your question reminded me of some movie I can't remember, where a nurse says to a patient about to get an upper G.I., "But don't worry, it's barium flavored." Actually, I think the line was "it's peppermint flavored," but I like mine better. Unflavored will depend on how much VG you use; VG is slightly sweet on its own. I have a bunch of VG-suspended whole tobacco juice, and my stuff isn't quite as sweet as that. It's not fabulous tasting, but I haven't reached for my other PV full of some death-by-chocolate juice yet either.

Death-By-Chocolate Juice, LMAO...

Unflavored has a unique taste, not really bad, but I'm at 50/50 OMG now, so YMMV.

 

[stylemaster2001]

I liken my DIY "hobby" to photography, (my other hobby), initial costs were high, new camera, lens, better lens, batteries, lights, light bouncers, etc...then you start getting "gadget-y" stuff...for a while, then once you have a really good, workable setup, the costs drop significantly...a new battery here and there, maybe upgrade a lens. So now my photography hobby is great and doesn't really cost me a thing. Actually recoup some of the costs when friends/family want me to shoot a wedding or senior portraits, etc, so eventually, it will pay itself off (unless I get that durn $1200 lens...ouch!) I love to learn new stuff...taught myself Photoshop to compliment the photography. Then, along comes vaping. So now my vaping is starting to taper off some so I feel I'm over that money hump. Got enough DIY stuff for years, got @ 40 60ml bottles of good vaping juices, coil building supplies to last years, so other than an occasional new gadget, I think I'm finally happy. You will be too once you find out what you like (to make) and like to experiment with. (now I buy 4 oz bottles of the flavors I use most and smaller sizes of stuff I want to "play with".....you will figure out your own path! Good luck