Couple Questions Please Help

[Britches]

Fairly new to vaping (76 days) I started out with 12mg as I was told that is equal to a Marlboro Light and had to up to 18mg soon after, also the V2 E-Cig that I was using was just not cutting it any more so I got a E-Go C which was great at first but now feel that I can not get a good TH so I started the DIY thing. Now for the questions. First off the 20 drops per ML is not working for me, if I put in my combination of ingredients say 200 drops I should have about 10ml of juice but end up with about 7ml, I have tried dropper bottles, bottles with droppers and pipetts, all seem to be on the low side as far as volume is concerened. Secondly after a month of the E-Go C I feel that the nicotine level is not srong enough (TH weak use many atomizers) so have now made some with 24mg which is fine for now but what is next? Do all the long time vapors go through this? My main question I guess is Will I always be looking for something better and stronger then what I have now? at this point I see now end in sight. I have been following this board since I found E-Cigs and you guys and gals are great and very knowledgable and would like to thankyou upfront for any and aLL help provided

Dave

 

[Bradder]

Welcome to the forums, I am sure you have read the information regarding DIY, but one thing that doesn't get noticed much is the "drop" count can vary widely according to the type (PG/VG ratio) liq, the drip-bottle top, the type of dropper, even how hard you squeeze the bottle. I almost never you drop counts , but use actual measurements in ml using a syringe or, if a larger amount, pipette or even a cheap liquid medicine dropper for children available at most stores.

Good luck - what you are experiencing is not abnormal-- be safe.

 

[dlsw]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I don't diy, there are tons of knowledgable members on this forum who do!! Congrats on 76 days!

 

[elfstone]

Hi, Dave and welcome! I hope you read the warnings and the great info resources in the DIY forum.

I don't know about the endless search for a better vape. I guess it's true to a point. I have been smoke free for a similar time as you. Luckily, at least for a few weeks I've been consistently content with my current vaping experience, but who knows what the future holds?

I guess you don't need to look only in nicotine content in order to better your vape - the device (better atomizer, cartomizer, etc.) and the power (lower resistance or higher voltage) could definitely give you what you are looking for. Look into it. Several reviewers keep saying the tank-atty setup doesn't shine in the throat hit department, afaik.

 

[TaraMc]

There are a number of online DIY juice calculators if you search for them and most of them will give you the correct quantities in mls as well which is much more accurate. You may find things improve if you start using mls

 

[ianlm]

I've kept a steady path of upgrading happening for my entire vaping journey thus far, but it's been more for fun than any need. The precise moment when it switched from "need-based" to "fun-based" was the day I got my silver bullet, AW IMR battery, and low resistance atomizer all hooked up together. Everything since has been incremental, small-scale in comparison.

It's a big leap in terms of complexity and up-front cost, but if you crave a vape with substantially more impact, I highly recommend looking into it.

 

[throatkick]

Hi Dave.

First off, congratulations on 76 days! After all, this is what it is all about right?

I have done DIY but have since rested on my laurels and just buy ready-made. The 20 drops per ML is to be used very loosely. The size of a drop can vary greatly. I remember reading on a reseller's site that even the ML measurements in some of the DIY cylinders, beakers etc. are not 100% accurate. Maybe, using water, you can cross reference the measurements on the pipette, syringe, beaker, graduated cylinder etc. That way you will know what to expect.

TH is the only thing I enjoyed about smoking and I have successfully duplicated it with vaping, hence the user name. Just yesterday I wrote a looooong post about TH. It might be a bit too detailed but if you want to get to the bottom of the TH issue once and for all, it may be worth the 10-15 minutes. You may wish to read through the entire thread too.

Either way, here is the link to the post:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/new-members-forum/278336-throat-hit.html#post5578486

All the best!

 

[bushmasterar15]

Welcome to ECF.

 

[Warren D. Lockaby]

Hi Dave & welcome! I've been mixing my own juice for a little while now & have found the "drop" to be essentially worthless as a unit of measure. Safety aside (though of course, don't actually PUT safety aside!), it's important to know as precisely as possible what you're mixing, and what you've mixed when it's done. Then when it doesn't quite work out you'll have an idea where to start tweaking, and when it does you'll know how to replicate it in larger quantities if you wish. The best way I know of to do this is with (a) syringes, usually with 1.5" 18 to 14 ga. needles, and (b) a recipe calculator of your choice. There are several of these available free & linked in the DIY e-liquid forum.

And BTW, if you haven't already done so, by all means I'd suggest checking out the info in that forum. Lots of valuable stuff every DIYer needs to know is in there, and links to other stuff as well. Also if you don't already, try testing your juices by direct dripping with a good dripping atty & drip tip. That's the best way to find out how it really tastes. On an eGo I'd probably use a 2.0 Ohm atty but you might be okay with a 1.8; I have no experience with eGos so you might do well to seek advice before going below 2.0 Ohms.

Best of luck, happy (& safe!) mixing, & Happy Vaping!

 

[Britches]

Wow Thanks for all the replys and the warm welcome. As far as the drops per ml I think I understand now and will buy some more precise measuring devices this weekend, It was just a little confusing spending 30 min to count all the drops to only end up with half of what I expected. I have read hours and hours if not days worth of posts here and that is how my DIY thing started. I had bought several flavors from a kios at the mall and found a couple that were just horrible and threw them away. I read a post about mixing flavors together instead of throwing them away and I was hooked. (this worked great) This has turned into another hobby for me and I find it rewarding and fun to do. I guess I did not get one of my question across right so I will try again. I read a post here where they said to to buy 100mg NIC that way you can go up or down from there. When I bought V2 prefilled carts at 18mg it was perfect, started refilling my carts still perfect switched to the E-Go C with same liquid still better yet, and now that I am mixing my own have now upped the NIC to 24mg. I use and recipe calculator that was recomended here and the flavors I have created so far have been great (after trial and error) So my question I guess is Why is my body asking for more Nic? why can't I just buy 18mg NIC at 75% pg and 25% vg and add my flavors and be done with it, will there be a time that the 36mg NIC I have will not be strong enough?

Thanks Again
Dave

 

[elfstone]

guess is Why is my body asking for more Nic? why can't I just buy 18mg NIC at 75% pg and 25% vg and add my flavors and be done with it, will there be a time that the 36mg NIC I have will not be strong enough?

How is your body asking for nicotine?

 

[TaraMc]

It might not be that your body is wanting more nicotine at all, I've been steadily cutting my nic for nearly 6 months now and about a month ago nothing seemed to be doing it for me. The first thing I thought was that I'd dropped the nic too quickly so upped it from 4mg to 8mg, but still nothing was quite "satisfying" me.

So I started experimenting with different kit, and flavour juices, trying things that just a few small months ago I would not have dreamed of trying and things a great again, I think we reach a point when we start vaping full time where it becomes less of a need and more of a want and our tastes change as a result. We start appreciating the finer nuances of the performance of each type of atomiser and how it interacts with the different flavours and the dissatisfaction comes from the fact that one size rarely if ever fits all, but as newbies we are clueless of this fact.

After all why should we know, we bought our favourite brand of tobacco and we smoked it, job done. But this isn't smoking

Oh and ps. I've just realised that your using Ego batteries, they have quite a low voltage, if all else fails it might be time to find a device with a higher voltage (screwdriver perhaps) or a variable voltage device, there is an Ego VV battery available in the UK which would allow you to try this at minimal cost.

 

[X P3 Flight Engineer]

Snip - why can't I just buy 18mg NIC at 75% pg and 25% vg and add my flavors and be done with it, will there be a time that the 36mg NIC I have will not be strong enough?

Thanks Again
Dave Snip -

If you use the quoted example above, adding 20% no-nic flavor to it will drop the nic % by (surprise) 20%, and give you 14.4%! That, and the fact that you have been using drops to measure, means that you do not really know what percentage you have been vaping. I find it hard to tell the difference between symptoms of my body getting too little or not enough nic. Be careful!

I would suggest using pre-mixed and flavored juices until you get a firm handle on the DIY, so that you are sure of the strength you are getting.

I start the morning with 24mg, switch to 18mg for the day and use 12mg in the evening and before bed. That's just my solution and that is for right now. I'll adjust it as I taper down a bit. My main objective right now is to convert to vaping. Next I will taper down a bit, (or not) as I feel comfortable.

Any drug store can sell you small 3ml syringes. Get a handle on the measurements and please, be careful.

 

[nansc]

Hi Dave and welcome to the forum.

 

[TaraMc]

Any drug store can sell you small 3ml syringes. Get a handle on the measurements and please, be careful.

Sadly not the case in the UK anymore, a few pharmacists have a back stock or carry them because they have somebody with a regular prescription who needs them, but most don't carry syringes and if you ask they look at you like you are a druggy, one place rather witheringly suggested I try "the needle exchange" WTF!?!

I did speak to one regular pharmacist who was very sympathetic and said they would happily sell them to me without a needle (not even a blunt one) but that they would have to sell them in 100's as that is the quantity they have to order them in. The price was a LOT more than I can buy off ebay, so I had to decline.

I must admit I haven't tried our BIG pharmacist in the center of town yet, but they are always so busy and normally you get a dispensing assistant rather than the pharmacist themselves, and those guys really don't want to know, they've been told what they can sell over the counter and what they can't and if you ask for anything unusual you just get a patronising stare and "no" and to be honest trying to explain what you want it for with a load of people "tutting" behind you as you hold up the queue is not my idea of a fun time! So ebay it is for me :S

 

[TaraMc]

Oh there was one other place that was sympathetic, my VETS!!!!! I was chatting away at my last visit with one of my moggies and he was given a precription that required a syringe, two sizes were in the box and the vet started to take the smaller one out, saying "oh you don't need that one" at which point I jumped and said nooooooooo let me keep it and explained why; the only problem is a lot of vets syringes are marked in "kilogram loads" and I got my knickers in a twist trying to convert it to mls so gave up.

 

[X P3 Flight Engineer]

Sadly not the case in the UK anymore, a few pharmacists have a back stock or carry them because they have somebody with a regular prescription who needs them, but most don't carry syringes and if you ask they look at you like you are a druggy, one place rather witheringly suggested I try "the needle exchange" WTF!?!

I did speak to one regular pharmacist who was very sympathetic and said they would happily sell them to me without a needle (not even a blunt one) but that they would have to sell them in 100's as that is the quantity they have to order them in. The price was a LOT more than I can buy off ebay, so I had to decline.

I must admit I haven't tried our BIG pharmacist in the center of town yet, but they are always so busy and normally you get a dispensing assistant rather than the pharmacist themselves, and those guys really don't want to know, they've been told what they can sell over the counter and what they can't and if you ask for anything unusual you just get a patronising stare and "no" and to be honest trying to explain what you want it for with a load of people "tutting" behind you as you hold up the queue is not my idea of a fun time! So ebay it is for me :S

When I get "funny looks", I explain that I use them for "precision oilers" for small machinery. They could also be used (NOT any that you use for vaping!) to oil door hinges. This also explains why I would want the 16 or 18 gauge (remember, bigger number is smaller bore). Most VG (or oil, in this story) will not draw through a 22 or 21 gauge needle.

And I also blunt the tip by rubbing it by hand on a grinding wheel or sharpening stone. Most pharmacies hand syringes out to diabetics. If you want to find where local people are getting theirs you can search your city, county, state, province, etc., on the forum and find a local member and PM them to ask.

Keep your wick wet!

 

[wv2win]

Throat hit is mainly a combination of two things: nicotine strength and the warmth of the vapor. Warmer vapor comes with more powerful batteries. When you moved to the eGo you actually went DOWN in power as it is only a 3.4 volt battery.

There is a reason so many vets use 5 volt and variable watt model PV's = warmer, more consistent vapor. I would suggest you look at a good 5 volt or variable watt model PV such as these:

5 volt GLV2: Electronic Cigarettes and E-Liquid - Great Lakes Vapor

Variable Watt Darwin: Nhaler

 

[TaraMc]

Most pharmacies hand syringes out to diabetics. If you want to find where local people are getting theirs you can search your city, county, state, province, etc., on the forum and find a local member and PM them to ask.

Keep your wick wet!

I will stress again, not in the uk syringes and needles are provided to diabetics on prescription and not readily available to the general public; some but by no means all (or even many) pharmacists will sell a syringe without a needle (regardless of the gauge), many will only do so under the government endorsed needle exchange scheme and you have to be a registered drug addict to qualify for that. Large charity run needle exchange programmes are obliged to dispense clean syringes and needle upon request to anybody asking but they only dispense 0.5ml and 1ml syringes as a rule.

There are options mostly Internet based but In the uk a quick trip to your pharmacy will most likely leave you empty handed, it's the same with deionised water, that's not readily available in supermarkets either, you have to go to an auto factors for that!

 

[Bradder]

I have found by moving around a lot that the control of syringes varies widely form state to state, country to country and even ciy to city. Veterinarians, animal care (re Tractor Supply), Ebay or Amazon may be possibilities. Not sure if any are in the classifieds here- I need to check that out.