So Ive decided I want to cut my costs a bit more and the obvious route seems to be DIY juice. Assuming you are purchasing quality USP USA made ingrediants what do you have your monthly cost down to ?? I figure I need about 150 ML of juice a month. normaly I would pay about $120 or so buying juice locally. So the million dollar question is, what is your monthly juice cost while still retaining quality equal to that of pre-mixed juice ? Guy at totally wicked said its not financially viable unless you are vaping 10mg\ml juice. I think he was wrong.
Cheaper, But just how much cheaper ???
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A lot cheaper! Right now you can get together as a package with FREE shipping- 1gal.PG kosher food grade+1gal VG kosher food grade from essential depot for $54.49.
I got this last year and havent used 1/3 of it. I vape all day, unless at work.
You can order Capella flavoring(which I recommend to newbies, because they all taste great, can be vaped without without mixing flavors, safe for vaping, and are verry forgiving- you can mix as little as 10% up to 30% and just get stronger flavor without destroying the taste) for $19.95 for 4 oz.=113ml from the Capella web site. That is a lot of flavor. If you use 10% this would make 1,130ml of juice. If you buy 4 bottles of 4oz. you can get the discount code for 20% 0ff. This is what I do. 4 bottles lasts me a year.
Liquid nic is up to you. I simply won't comment on the best place to get it or how to cut it down. It is dangerouse, and I don't want any of your health on my conscience. There are excellent conversion charts out there.
I vape for about $0.10 a day to $o.25 cents a day when I figure in re-usable re buildable cartomizers.
I got this last year and havent used 1/3 of it. I vape all day, unless at work.
You can order Capella flavoring(which I recommend to newbies, because they all taste great, can be vaped without without mixing flavors, safe for vaping, and are verry forgiving- you can mix as little as 10% up to 30% and just get stronger flavor without destroying the taste) for $19.95 for 4 oz.=113ml from the Capella web site. That is a lot of flavor. If you use 10% this would make 1,130ml of juice. If you buy 4 bottles of 4oz. you can get the discount code for 20% 0ff. This is what I do. 4 bottles lasts me a year.
Liquid nic is up to you. I simply won't comment on the best place to get it or how to cut it down. It is dangerouse, and I don't want any of your health on my conscience. There are excellent conversion charts out there.
I vape for about $0.10 a day to $o.25 cents a day when I figure in re-usable re buildable cartomizers.
If your juice was 12 mg, it would cost me about $8.00 or less to make 150 mL of juice. Of course, that does not include the cost of buying flavors you do not like, buying dropper bottles, syringes, and other equipment. Or the time of making recipes that don't work for you. Making a juice is easy. Making a GOOD juice is harder.
As far as retaining equal to pre-mixed juices, it depends on the juice, how complicated it is (some are crazy involved to clone), and how much you care to be equal to pre-mixed. I have bought very few pre-mixed juices over the years, preferring to just make something I like myself. The one juice I wanted to duplicate I can, because the vendor sells the actual flavoring he used for that pre-mixed juice. The difference with my version is it is less flavor-concentrated than his, and higher nic.
DIY is a somewhat big initial cost, to get all the stuff for it, but then it is way cheaper. I would guess my monthly DIY costs, if I am not buying a bunch of new flavors, or a new set of syringes, or nicotine, just thinking about juice I go through, is probably less than $10 a month. If you take your $120 and invest it into nic, equipment, flavors, VG, PG, you will probably be able to get a fair amount of stuff, certainly a lot more than a month's worth, and even have some left over.
As far as retaining equal to pre-mixed juices, it depends on the juice, how complicated it is (some are crazy involved to clone), and how much you care to be equal to pre-mixed. I have bought very few pre-mixed juices over the years, preferring to just make something I like myself. The one juice I wanted to duplicate I can, because the vendor sells the actual flavoring he used for that pre-mixed juice. The difference with my version is it is less flavor-concentrated than his, and higher nic.
DIY is a somewhat big initial cost, to get all the stuff for it, but then it is way cheaper. I would guess my monthly DIY costs, if I am not buying a bunch of new flavors, or a new set of syringes, or nicotine, just thinking about juice I go through, is probably less than $10 a month. If you take your $120 and invest it into nic, equipment, flavors, VG, PG, you will probably be able to get a fair amount of stuff, certainly a lot more than a month's worth, and even have some left over.
It really depends on where you buy your PG & VG, and what percentage of Nic you like. Nicotine is generally the most expensive component of most juices. It also depends on how much flavoring you use...some you only use a few drops for a recipe (some are highly concentrated), and some may be 20% or more of the volume of your final concoction....so the bottom line is- it's highly variable, but usually AT LEAST 1/4 to 1/2 of what you pay for pre-mixed juices.
There's a certain investment in materials when you start off (flavorings, bottles, measuring devices, etc), but it's still very inexpensive in the long run. It's also a heck of a lot of fun to come up with your own creations too....just be very careful with the nicotine - its highly toxic stuff (even fatal) & is easily absorbed through the skin. Due caution is required.
If you don't want to jump in with both feet right away, one very simple money saving option is to buy "doublers". For example, I bought some juice from Tasty Vapor recently (great juices IMHO)....I usually like my "candy type" juices at about 6MG Nic or lower, so I bought a 1 oz (30ML) bottle @ 18MG for around $15.50 and a 4oz "Doubler" (120ML) of the same juice for $16.00 The juice is the same but without the nicotine. Just mix the two together & end up with 150ML of low nic juice with exactly the same flavor and nic for about $31.00. Think about how much you pay for 10ML bottles of juice & you'll get a taste of what the savings are. It's even cheaper when you buy PG/VG by the quart (about $15-$20 each for pharmaceutical grade).
Have fun
There's a certain investment in materials when you start off (flavorings, bottles, measuring devices, etc), but it's still very inexpensive in the long run. It's also a heck of a lot of fun to come up with your own creations too....just be very careful with the nicotine - its highly toxic stuff (even fatal) & is easily absorbed through the skin. Due caution is required.
If you don't want to jump in with both feet right away, one very simple money saving option is to buy "doublers". For example, I bought some juice from Tasty Vapor recently (great juices IMHO)....I usually like my "candy type" juices at about 6MG Nic or lower, so I bought a 1 oz (30ML) bottle @ 18MG for around $15.50 and a 4oz "Doubler" (120ML) of the same juice for $16.00 The juice is the same but without the nicotine. Just mix the two together & end up with 150ML of low nic juice with exactly the same flavor and nic for about $31.00. Think about how much you pay for 10ML bottles of juice & you'll get a taste of what the savings are. It's even cheaper when you buy PG/VG by the quart (about $15-$20 each for pharmaceutical grade).
Have fun
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I have been using a dekang tobacco base and cutting it down with pg/vg to where I like it and then adding my flavors. Not quite as cheap as full diy but it costs me 4.20 for a 30ml bottle. I make 5 a month for my all day vape and experiment with the tobacco flavors on the side. I think I can live with this considering I use to spend over 200.00 a month.
i think because of the bulk amounts i get its around $1.30 ish per 30 ml had it figured out but long since lost the paper lol.
i get my fav flavors in bigger bottles and PG/VG about 10 bucks a qt. and wiz lab nic is pretty cheap.
i get my fav flavors in bigger bottles and PG/VG about 10 bucks a qt. and wiz lab nic is pretty cheap.
I had a friend ask me this today so i sat down and figured it out. About $1.61/30ml comes to about $0.05/ml. I will probably bring this down since I've finally got about 4 or 5 all day vapes now so i plan on buying in bulk so i can just mix up a couple months of juice and experiment less. Even experimenting and buying flavorings that i probably won't use more than once i looked up my order history at wizard labs and I've spent a little over $60 with them, about $20 at RTS vapes, and maybe $15 on Vg from Walmart...I've spent less than $100 on juice since i started diy about 4 months ago and i vape 6 to 9ml a day, it really is the way to go.
Under $2.00 per 30ml bottle. I say this because it depends on where you purchase the ingredients,
Please read all the stickies in the DIY section of this forum before you do anything else!
Please read all the stickies in the DIY section of this forum before you do anything else!
If I wanted to stay with 1 flavor, I would spend about $70.00 for the year. I am at 0 nic. which makes it alot cheaper. I like to experiment with different flavors so it does cost a little bit more. My initial cost into diy was about $100.00 , now if I spend $10.00 a month that would be alot.
I posted this in another thread to help someone thinking of DIY - maybe it will help you also.
Here is what you can do. It will cost you about the same whether you do it from RTS or from My Freedom Smokes (I have used both). I am going to try to make it like a list so that it is easy to follow, but if what I think is easy to follow is confusing let me know and I will try to simplify it. Now this list is for more or less a one year supply with you vaping approximately 5 ml a day. Here is the list, with cost factors vaping at 7.5 mg nic levels...
250 ml Unflavored 60mg Nic -- (60mg Starting nic level) -- $28.95
250 ml USP PG Base for mixing (0mg nic) -- (30mg nic level after mixing this 250 ml PG in ) -- $8.65
500 ml USP VG Base for mixing (0mg nic) -- (15mg nic level after mixing this 500 ml VG in) -- $13.50
1000 ml USP PG Base for mixing (0mg nic) -- (7.5mg nic level after mixing this 1000 ml PG in) -- $18.75
2000 Total E-Liquid and after it is mixed = 7.5mg nic strength
You also need to buy for storing and mixing
10 each 30 ml Glass Bottles (4 for storage / 6 for mixing) -- $1.19 each -- $11.90
1 each 120 ml Glass Bottles -- $1.05 each -- $ 1.05
10 ml Syringes, Gloves, and 1 mixing Beaker (Mixed Cost) -- $8.00
$91.00 Total Cost
This does not include flavorings. They are to varied to include, but on average you can start with about $10 - $30 to get an idea.
2000 ml Total Supply (plus flavoring adds a little)
$0.046 per ml (again plus flavoring costs) - these costs do include initial bottle and mixing supply costs listed above.
67 - 30 ml bottle supply (more depending upon flavoring %'s...)
5 ml vaping per day
400+ day supply
70% - 75% PG ratio
25% - 30% VG ratio
Now, if you do not vape 5 ml per day - it changes and if you do not vape 75/25 PG/VG it changes. Most ship for free if the total price is over $75 so you can save a little money by buying it all at one time.
Here is what you can do. It will cost you about the same whether you do it from RTS or from My Freedom Smokes (I have used both). I am going to try to make it like a list so that it is easy to follow, but if what I think is easy to follow is confusing let me know and I will try to simplify it. Now this list is for more or less a one year supply with you vaping approximately 5 ml a day. Here is the list, with cost factors vaping at 7.5 mg nic levels...
250 ml Unflavored 60mg Nic -- (60mg Starting nic level) -- $28.95
250 ml USP PG Base for mixing (0mg nic) -- (30mg nic level after mixing this 250 ml PG in ) -- $8.65
500 ml USP VG Base for mixing (0mg nic) -- (15mg nic level after mixing this 500 ml VG in) -- $13.50
1000 ml USP PG Base for mixing (0mg nic) -- (7.5mg nic level after mixing this 1000 ml PG in) -- $18.75
2000 Total E-Liquid and after it is mixed = 7.5mg nic strength
You also need to buy for storing and mixing
10 each 30 ml Glass Bottles (4 for storage / 6 for mixing) -- $1.19 each -- $11.90
1 each 120 ml Glass Bottles -- $1.05 each -- $ 1.05
10 ml Syringes, Gloves, and 1 mixing Beaker (Mixed Cost) -- $8.00
$91.00 Total Cost
This does not include flavorings. They are to varied to include, but on average you can start with about $10 - $30 to get an idea.
2000 ml Total Supply (plus flavoring adds a little)
$0.046 per ml (again plus flavoring costs) - these costs do include initial bottle and mixing supply costs listed above.
67 - 30 ml bottle supply (more depending upon flavoring %'s...)
5 ml vaping per day
400+ day supply
70% - 75% PG ratio
25% - 30% VG ratio
Now, if you do not vape 5 ml per day - it changes and if you do not vape 75/25 PG/VG it changes. Most ship for free if the total price is over $75 so you can save a little money by buying it all at one time.
Go here Steve's Mai Tai
Enter in all cost and amounts and get a true cost of how much your juice will be. Then you have to add in any hardware you want.
Big savings on DIY enough to go on vacation with!
Vendor pre made cost about 30ml for $ 20.00
DIY cost about $ 4.18 per 30 ml
You use 120ml month, savings of $ 63.28 per month or $759.36 year. Now you can go on vacation.
Enter in all cost and amounts and get a true cost of how much your juice will be. Then you have to add in any hardware you want.
Big savings on DIY enough to go on vacation with!
Vendor pre made cost about 30ml for $ 20.00
DIY cost about $ 4.18 per 30 ml
You use 120ml month, savings of $ 63.28 per month or $759.36 year. Now you can go on vacation.
Over a year of vaping for $91 is amazing !!! Compared to spending $220 a more the on cigarettes this habit might as well be free. Thanks guys for the replies , yesterday I went out and bought :
1 gallon PG (tractor supply co) $20
10 oz bottle VG @ twisted vapor about $5
54 mg totally wicked platinum ice nic $35
3 10ml totally wicked flavor concentrates $12
I am inpatient and wanted to start mixing yesterday but next time I am going g to shop around and order online.
1 gallon PG (tractor supply co) $20
10 oz bottle VG @ twisted vapor about $5
54 mg totally wicked platinum ice nic $35
3 10ml totally wicked flavor concentrates $12
I am inpatient and wanted to start mixing yesterday but next time I am going g to shop around and order online.
Actually I found that given what I pay for nicotine, the flavor can be more expensive than the nic. Seems the general figure is about $0.50 per 10 mL of juice, give or take a bit.
For whatever reason, Steve's Mai Tai seems to be one of the more expensive ones.
The nice thing too about DIY is convenience. I'm out of a juice I like, and in a couple minutes I have as much as I want. And I know exactly what is in it (save for the actual flavor compounds that make up a flavoring, since flavors themselves can contain dozens of compounds). That was a bigger reason for me going DIY than cost. I like to know what I am vaping.
For whatever reason, Steve's Mai Tai seems to be one of the more expensive ones.
The nice thing too about DIY is convenience. I'm out of a juice I like, and in a couple minutes I have as much as I want. And I know exactly what is in it (save for the actual flavor compounds that make up a flavoring, since flavors themselves can contain dozens of compounds). That was a bigger reason for me going DIY than cost. I like to know what I am vaping.
Granted you should also order a few (or many) small bottles for testing. You will loose a batch due to trial and error every now and then. (not every mix will be to your liking or vapeable). Once you find your favorites it is up to you the amount of experimenting you do.
500 ml of 18mg Nicquid premixed at 70vg / 30 pg runs me about $29 Shipped (about $24) from Wizard Labs, MFS ($6 sh) & RTS ($5 sh) cheap with coupons
10 ml Flavourart $2.63 ea ($3 sh) from Liberty-Flights (best $ I found), RTS is $3.95, ECX about $4.30 ... ECX also had 1 dram (3.7 ml) Lorann food flavors for $1.49 ea
Vaping Zone Alc. are like $3.99 for 5 ml but considering you get 2x or more FA for the same price, I doubt I will return except for the Dunhill & French Pipe.
All and all I average about $3 per 30 ml (and I prefer strong) and I vape about 120 ml a month so my total cost dropped significantly from about $80 a month for $12. I think I spent $80 total this month (first time out with DIY) and should last 6 months with liquid(s) and could stretch flavors over a good 2 years probably!
I keep a couple staple tobaccos, then play around with some good tobacco bases and throw in different Lorann flavors to create my own RY4, Caramel Apple, Wanna B Boba's, etc..
10 ml Flavourart $2.63 ea ($3 sh) from Liberty-Flights (best $ I found), RTS is $3.95, ECX about $4.30 ... ECX also had 1 dram (3.7 ml) Lorann food flavors for $1.49 ea
Vaping Zone Alc. are like $3.99 for 5 ml but considering you get 2x or more FA for the same price, I doubt I will return except for the Dunhill & French Pipe.
All and all I average about $3 per 30 ml (and I prefer strong) and I vape about 120 ml a month so my total cost dropped significantly from about $80 a month for $12. I think I spent $80 total this month (first time out with DIY) and should last 6 months with liquid(s) and could stretch flavors over a good 2 years probably!
I keep a couple staple tobaccos, then play around with some good tobacco bases and throw in different Lorann flavors to create my own RY4, Caramel Apple, Wanna B Boba's, etc..
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If you are at your computer:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgSUlc0zhH10dEpjcHBnVGhtd1BVa2hVRnZKeGpYN0E#gid=0
Column "L" of that spreadsheet is cost per ML. It's every juice I've ever bought in every size. Granted, it's only six month's worth of purchases. Still.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgSUlc0zhH10dENENjFuUEdlZ0Jwc1dzcmVNVDFveXc#gid=0
This is my DIY cost analysis spreadsheet. It's deeply incomplete. I have maybe ten more vendors to add. However, it serves as an example of what you can look to spend depending on what you buy.
I did the data recording... I leave the math to you.
Why yes, I am a totally .... retentive nerd.
You'd think that I'd have spent less than I have on vaping, too, with my attention to DIY costs. I actually started the DIY spreadsheet when I realized I'd spent over $1/ml on a certain vendor's juice. Not saying it wasn't worth it, just... saying.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgSUlc0zhH10dEpjcHBnVGhtd1BVa2hVRnZKeGpYN0E#gid=0
Column "L" of that spreadsheet is cost per ML. It's every juice I've ever bought in every size. Granted, it's only six month's worth of purchases. Still.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgSUlc0zhH10dENENjFuUEdlZ0Jwc1dzcmVNVDFveXc#gid=0
This is my DIY cost analysis spreadsheet. It's deeply incomplete. I have maybe ten more vendors to add. However, it serves as an example of what you can look to spend depending on what you buy.
I did the data recording... I leave the math to you.
Why yes, I am a totally .... retentive nerd.
You'd think that I'd have spent less than I have on vaping, too, with my attention to DIY costs. I actually started the DIY spreadsheet when I realized I'd spent over $1/ml on a certain vendor's juice. Not saying it wasn't worth it, just... saying.
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