@bwh79 You seem to be intent that this is a potential fight, while I am viewing it as the opposite, an educational opportunity. I understand that you are likely upset because you don't want a stupid "noob" poisoning themselves and making DIYing look bad. As such, I am not upset with your reaction.
I'm being stern because I care. I'm glad you see it that way, too, since not everyone would
What I am trying to understand is if I am somehow placing information into that calculator incorrectly.
[...]
From what I'm guessing bwh79 is saying, I should be using .01, not .1 per 10 mL of this solution, and I should be putting it in the calculator as I want .1%, not 1%. Does this sound right?
No, I think you are probably actually doing everything right except the terminology. It's just that the terminology is really important to get right, as well, if you're going to have meaningful communication about the subject.
That calculator screenshot you posted shows a recipe for a final mix with 1mg/ml nicotine content (equivalent to 0.1% nicotine by volume), with something called "Flavor 1" at 1% concentration, and no PG since both your nic base and "Flavor 1" are purportedly in VG solutions. That's pretty low as far as nic content goes and if you're still getting harshness in your vape at that concentration, it's likely nic is not the culprit.
You said you bought 100% nicotine. You did not, but you might have (and probably did) buy 100mg/ml. Which is what you wrote in the calculator that you have, so if that's actually what you do have (and it probably is), you're still okay.
The nic base you have
is 10% pure. Or in other words, it's a mixture of 1 part nicotine to 9 parts VG, by volume.
The calculator is telling you to use that liquid
at 1% (1 part nic base to 99 parts "everything else put together") in your finished mix.
The concentration of
your nic base in the finished mix will be [edit: 1%], but since that nic base was only 10% pure to begin with, the concentration of
nicotine in your final mix is only [edit:
.1%], or 1mg/ml. This is what you would get if you bought a bottle of retail liquid labeled "1mg."
Instead of putting the target strength as 1mg per 10 mL, should I instead be putting it as a target of .1 mg per 10 mL?
Okay, let's slow down. You're getting your targets mixed up. Remember that "1mg" doesn't refer to an amount. It's not talking about 1mg of nicotine, in your whole bottle. It's referring to a
strength, a
concentration, of 1mg nicotine
per milliliter of finished liquid. Not 1mg per 10ml. Not 1mg per 30ml. Not 1mg per "however big your bottle is." But 1mg per each and every individual ml that's in that bottle. So, in a 10ml bottle, you want 10mg of nicotine. In a 30ml bottle, you'd want 30mg. Etc. But here's the important part,
the calculator does this for you automatically. You don't have to know how many mg's to put in your 234ml bottle at 6.54mg/ml concentration, because the calculator figures that out for you. That's what it's for. That's why it's called a "calculator."
Don't worry about the bottle size. You either want 1mg/ml, or you want 10mg/ml, but whichever one you want, it's going to be the same whether your bottle has 10ml or 100ml in it. For reference, 3mg(/ml) is considered pretty low, and 30mg(/ml, aka 3%) would be quite high. You almost certainly don't want only .1mg/ml, that would basically be no nicotine at all. The majority of people seem to tend towards 6-12-18mg/ml, or .6-1.2-1.8% concentration by volume. I won't try and guess what your needs are but personally, I stick to the low end, around 3-6mg/ml (0.3-0.6%) depending on what device I'll be putting it in.
