I wish I had the ambition, and initial funds to start mixing my own juices. Please report your experiences, maybe I can be convinced to take the plunge.
It don't take much you can spend as little as $40.00. Here's my blog for the first time DYI'er. You can get just the bare minimum or go hog wild. The rest of my blogs are also very informative (Link below) expecially the first time walk through
Supplies
What you need to know as a first time juicer.
This blog is based on my own experiences and is written as my own personal opinion and should be taken as that only. Please remember to follow and observe all safety precautions.
Many new users wind up in the pit falls of what do I purchase and what do I not purchase. Many over think and over complicate there purchase and wind up spending far more money then they need to.
The Kit:
Many people will by a kit thinking this will give me exactly what I need. I don't really like kits because you get a lot of what you need but also stuff you don't need and you’re stuck with what ever quality they decide to give you which is usually the cheapest. My though is get what you need and not what you don’t need. It will usually be far cheaper and you get better quality.
Bottles:
If your going to steep your mix in hot water or in an Ultrasonic cleaner or intend to store your liquid supplies for a long period you will want to purchase glass bottles. Hard Plastic glass like bottles as they age may leach some of its polymer molecules into the mix which may be a health concern. Soft plastic squeeze bottles are not good choices for long term storage because they tend to leach oxygen through the bottle walls over a long period of time causing excess oxidation. Soft plastic squeeze bottles do not present a polymer leaching issue like the harder plastic bottles and are a better solution for short term storage.
To see more on steeping read my other blogs at:
E-Cigarette Forum - dannyv45 - Blogs
Soft squeeze luer lock needle tip bottles are wonderful to store your finished juices in and make it so easy to fill carto’s.
Recommended bottle sizes.
10, 10ml bottles (for test samples)
5, 30ml bottles
Syringes and measuring devices:
Fluid measuring devices are critical for accurate reproduction of a mix. There is nothing worst then using drops or haphazardly measuring and coming up with a fantastic juice and not being able to reproduce it. Exact electronic pipettes or calculating a dropper bottle to count how many drops to a ml may work for some but this can be a hassle. This is why I suggest using syringes and Graduated Cylinders.
Recommended syringes and Graduated Cylinder
Quantity 3, 1ml luer loc syringes
Quantity 3, 3ml syringes
Quantity 3, 10ml syringes
Quantity 1, 50ml Graduated Cylinder
I personally use a 50ml cylinder for measuring out my 1oz mix bases and measuring large quantities of base fluids.
As for luer lock needles the larger the gauge the easier fluid will pass through it.
Large = 14 - 18 gauge used for PG, and Nic solution. For measuring thick fluid like VG use a syringe without a needle attached.
Medium = 20 – 22 Gauge For PG (to thin for VG)
Small = 24 – 26 gauge for measuring PG and alcohol based flavors and can give a consistent small drop.
Safety and safety gear:
This should be self explanatory but remember Nicotine solution is toxic in large mg amounts so all safety precautions should be observed. In smaller amounts such as 12mg, 18mg, 24mg it’s not a serious issue just wash it off your skin right away. Larger quantities can be more serious especially if ingested.
I recommend viewing the following video and bookmark it for future reference. It explains safety in all aspects of DYI.
This is a must view video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOBDm8tSUEU&app=desktop
Recommended safety gear:
Rubber gloves
* Goggles
* aprin
* Optional
I recommend my freedom smokes to get mixing supplies as they have the best assortment and best quality that I’ve found.
http://www.myfreedomsmokes.com/
I also have bought bulk syringes and bottles from Ebay and Amazon at a substantial savings.
The Calculator
One of the most helpful tools you could own is a mixing calculator. You can calculate your NIC base, VG, PG content and flavor percentages. Save your favorite recipes and notes, calculate NIC combining ratios etc... All in one easy to use handy tool and best of all it's free.
I give the highest recommendation to the E-Juice me up calculator.
eJuice Me Up - Best eJuice Calculator
So there you have it. All you need now are your flavors, PG solution, VG solution and NIC solution and you’re on your way. All I can say here is spend cautiously until you get the hang of it. Don't go out and by 100 flavors all at once or buy large quantities of base solutions. It gets expensive and causes overload as what to make first with so much to choose from. 3 - 5 flavors are plenty to start off with.
Recommendations on NIC base solutions and flavors are beyond the scope of this blog and will be covered in a future blog.
My other vaping blogs can be seen at:
E-Cigarette Forum - dannyv45 - Blogs
Good luck and happy vaping
