DIY?? Cutting E-Liquid/ Get more for moneys worth

[AttyPops]

I am planning on diving into the DIY soon myself. I figure since I am finding I like just plain fruit flavors it shouldn't be tough to come up with something I like. I mean take peach. Probably just a matter of which flavoring, how much of that flavoring and do I need to sweeten it any. Shouldn't be too hard.

It isn't that hard at all. You got it!

I started with DIY. It helped me get through the withdrawal period. I could "tinker" with recipes. lol.

It's hard to get a recipe that's "complex". To be fair to the vendors...they spend a lot of time perfecting their recipes. And they deserve credit for that. But for simple stuff....I think you're correct. Shouldn't be too hard.

The most important thing to watch out for is that you get the % nic correct, and the PG/VG ratio. The rest is flavor tweaking.

 

[slickstang01]

so to get started i need PG, VG, Nic base and flavoring correct

 

[tppp]

say if the nic base is 100% PG.

Wait, so the nic bases you can buy are nicotine mixed with pg or vg?

I had a crazy idea for skittles flavoured juice. Is this ridiculous or can you mix the nic and vg/pg, add some skittles and let soak for a while, strain the skittles and then vape away?

works making skittles flavoured vodka?

 

[AttyPops]

Wait, so the nic bases you can buy are nicotine mixed with pg or vg?

I had a crazy idea for skittles flavoured juice. Is this ridiculous or can you mix the nic and vg/pg, add some skittles and let soak for a while, strain the skittles and then vape away?

works making skittles flavoured vodka?

WHOA!

Only use vapeing approved stuff from vaping vendors...or know what you are doing.

The short answer is NO!!!!

You'd be introducing all sorts of things that you don't want in e-juice. Like sugar. NOT (repeat not!) a good idea to experiment like that. Read the DIY section 1st.

We know very little about the whole flavoring thing with vaping to begin with. Adding that kind of stuff is just scary.

 

[AttyPops]

so to get started i need PG, VG, Nic base and flavoring correct

Basically yes. I'd have a syringe and some empty bottles too. Gloves not a bad idea for real high nic juice. There are also e-juice calculators out there to help with the math part.

I also kept my empty glass bottle from the 1st nic I purchased. When I later got a good deal on 100 mg nic base in PG...I was able to mix it down to 50 mg PG nic base quickly by cutting it in 1/2. From there it was "normal" mixing since I usually used 48 mg base to make my 24 mg juice recipes.

 

[AttyPops]

See here:
DIY E-Liquid

 

[tppp]

WHOA!

Only use vapeing approved stuff from vaping vendors...or know what you are doing.

The short answer is NO!!!!

You know it felt kinda stupid the moment i hit post reply. And then I went to the DIY section and read the warning at the top of the page and realised, you know what, I'm quite happy waiting ten days for AiV juice to arrive because I'm not a chemist and I think of stupid sh#t like the above

 

[slickstang01]

thanks ill have to do some research any suggestions on cheapest vendors

 

[AttyPops]

I watch for sales...20% off, etc. and shop around and compare prices. There are several approved vendors on the main page...with varying prices. There's also reviews of "cleanest nic" and vendors that publish analysis of nic base. So I'm not going to say what's right for you...unfortunately you have to do some leg work to decide that one for yourself.

 

[Myrany]

I watch for sales...20% off, etc. and shop around and compare prices. There are several approved vendors on the main page...with varying prices. There's also reviews of "cleanest nic" and vendors that publish analysis of nic base. So I'm not going to say what's right for you...unfortunately you have to do some leg work to decide that one for yourself.

Let me add my own experience to this.

I find that when I do my own homework I actually end up understanding what it is I am trying to do better in the long run. Yep I spend HOURS looking up stuff and hunting around for deals. At the end though things tend to work out fairly well because I KNOW what I am doing and don't have to wait for a question to be answered on the forums.

 

[AttyPops]

Additionally,

For those with food sensitivities/allergies....DIY helps people get a rough idea of what goes into their e-juice. There are some flavorings that ....I like...but they don't like me

So I also DIY so I know what's there and what I can avoid if I find it causes problems (like allergies). The vendors don't publish their recipes...so I never know what goes into it. To be fair, neither do most food companies..."Artificial flavors" is all you see on the labels.

 

[Slots]

I don't know if you buy from Tasty Vapor, but they have a good way to save some money.
They offer "doubles"
You say you use 10 for strength, so you buy your bottle at double (20) that strength.
Then you get the "doubler" (same flavor) without any nic for a really reduced price.
You then mix the two together at home and waa-laa. two bottles for a much lower price.
They are the only website that I know of that will do that.
You can also go "4" time instead of a double.
They also have four flavors on special each week.
A couple of weeks ago, my flavorite was on special, and I went with the "4", and really scored big time.
My favorite ... Carmel Popcorn, Yummmmmy

 

[boshans]

I would be careful about diluting it down....I doubt the vendors add exactly double the amount of flavor into the bottle, so you diluting it down by half would make the flavor diluted down even more. I have extra flavor in some of my bottles, but those are flavor shots, stuff like that. The only vendor I saw that sells just the pure flavor without nicotine is TastyVapor, they sell it specifically for adding to other liquids.

 

[altron3k]

Hi from Korea! as eliq is hard to come by and pretty gross tasting domestically. i usually have to binge on international orders of liquid without nicotine... (customs here are tough- last i heard it was 60 cents per ml tax over a certain amount)... i import flavorless nic liq from china. I mixed my own juice by ordering a TON of mt baker vapor liquid with 2-3 extra flavor shots. Then mix in a little 36mg nicotine flavorless liquid. use one of the online ejuice calculators to get the ratios! I only smoke super light so it mixes out to 5-6mg and still tastes great. so this 50ml of nic liq lasts a loooong while. really saves the day and dollar (in this case Korean won) - and I dont have to deal with "flavoring" ratios and what not. simple mix. oh and also i love menthol so i add thier drops into alota random juices i vaped.

 

[Nickstopher]

I was also wondering, Is it worth it to spend the money on the supplies if i dont know that I will enjoy the flavors I make?

 

[Myrany]

I was also wondering, Is it worth it to spend the money on the supplies if i dont know that I will enjoy the flavors I make?

I am going to give you the plan I am following so take it with a as many grains of salt as you like.

THe nic Pg and Vg are unflavored

I am buying the flavorings that correspond roughly to premade juice I have found I Like. In my case pear and peach. I also bought some sweetener. Fruits can be tart.

I am using an online juice calculator to figure out how to make just ONE Ml of my juice mixture.

Then test vape it and adjust it writing down what changes I made to the recipe.

Lather rinse repeat until you get something you DO like

Only THEN do you make a larger batch by scaling up your good recipe.

Very little waste doing it this way

 

[Oktyabr]

I was also wondering, Is it worth it to spend the money on the supplies if i dont know that I will enjoy the flavors I make?

Start out simple with the basic ingredients and one or two flavors you KNOW you will like. Most vendors use flavorings from any of just a handful of flavor companies. MUCH more information in the DIY eliquid section...

Try this for learning how to "cut juice":

I quit smoking a week before my wife did. She still likes more nicotine than I do... She prefers 24mg, I typically prefer 16-18, maybe a *little* stronger if I'm going out and can't vape any time I like. We both like a couple of the same juice. We save money on these by buying a bigger bottle, usually at 36mg, and with plenty of extra flavor shots...

She prefers a 65/35 pg-vg blend, I like 50/50. We buy our extra strong, extra flavored juice usually in 80-20. I bought a bottle of pure PG and a bottle of pure VG (236ml each) and a bunch of empty bottles. A little math, a little trial and error, and both of us are happy... on one bottle of juice

Now to make things even more interesting I recently got into mechanical mods and super low ohm vaping (0.7-1.1 ohms). A quirk of this sort of vaping is that the vapor production can be so huge that a few puffs of 18mg juice makes my head spin! So I take some of the juice I already cut down to 18mg and then cut it *again* by half, usually with VG, sometimes with a bit of PG too, and I put that in another bottle... 9mg of nicotine, just for "sub-ohm" vaping! The flavor is muted a bit but because the vapor production is so huge it still tastes great!

And that's how one bottle of 36mg, 80/20 pg-vg juice gets transformed into three smaller bottles... one 24mg @ 65/35, one 18mg @ 50/50, and one bottle of 9mg@around 30/70!

Sooner or later I suppose I should learn to DIY from scratch

 

[lmorris]

If you are diluting due to costs and DIY seems to "complicated" here is a link
to a place with the absolute lowest prices I seen anywhere.

https://www.fasttech.com/search?100ml

Picked up a couple 100ml bottles just as a test to see how they tasted
and they passed my smoke test , I'm no gourmet but they were good.

I have an order in for a few bottles of their LIQUA and DEKANG as another test.

Shipping was fast considering it came from China , 10 days from ordering to in my mailbox.

And I am not employed or paid by them so this is just my own opinion.

 

[AttyPops]

The flavorings are very concentrated and go a long way. They are generally not that expensive. Sometimes you just use a drop or two per 30 ml. It varies though, depending on the flavor.

That said...I've wasted $$$ on a bunch of flavorings that I never use anymore. So I'd recommend that you start with single-flavors that you think you'll like....aka peach, lime, vanilla, etc. And get some EM (sweetner) or something. They even make concentrated tobacco flavors.

I went too far and decided I needed a ton of flavorings for "recipes". You know, cinnamon bun, apple pie a la mode, etc. So I got 1 of most everything. Sigh. Well, I'm set for a long while on flavorings. lol. Also, get small sizes unless you KNOW for sure that you'll need a lot of it. I purchased a big size bottle of banana flavoring for bananas foster e-juice...and it's strong. Only need a drop. So I'll never use it all. And it turns out I like the more sour recipes anyway.

Then there's cherry. Most of it tastes like cough syrup. You have to shop around or just avoid it.

This is all explained more in the DIY section.

 

[Fenris4024]

If you are diluting due to costs and DIY seems to "complicated" here is a link
to a place with the absolute lowest prices I seen anywhere.

https://www.fasttech.com/search?100ml

Picked up a couple 100ml bottles just as a test to see how they tasted
and they passed my smoke test , I'm no gourmet but they were good.

I have an order in for a few bottles of their LIQUA and DEKANG as another test.

Shipping was fast considering it came from China , 10 days from ordering to in my mailbox.

And I am not employed or paid by them so this is just my own opinion.

Alright, my question is this though, I noticed the link went to fasttech to some liquids that were listed as "w/ tar"... uhm... aren't we trying to avoid tar? I'm still kinda new to this entire vaping thing, so hopefully someone knows better than me about this...