Okay so this is lengthy but I need help. I just recently got into diy e liquid. It seems easy to learn but I still have problems. I made a 50/50 pg vg with 15% flavoring and only 6mg nicotine. Some people say that is quite harsh while i make others 24mg nicotine and no complaints. I ordered smooth to put that in and see if it helps but not much. The nicotine bottle i ordered is 50/50 100mg. I was reading that some people actually dilute their nicotine but I couldn't find much information on that. So what is the purpose and why would I do that. It would still be the same amount of nicotine when you put it in your actual bottle anyway. Jw why it can be so harsh.
DIY E Juice Help
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I don't understand. Did you not dilute your nicotine with PG/VG? If you didn't, then it's not 6 mg/ml. At 15% flavoring, it's 85 mg/ml. Unless you did actually dilute it by adding PG and/or VG.
So, which is it?
Um. In a 10ml bottle I put 0.6ml of 100mg 50/50 nic. My calculator said that was 6mg nicotine. I'm sorry i'm just really confused.
I know. That's why I asked my question instead of just giving you the link to the DIY section.
OK. So you put 0.6ml of 100mg 50/50 nic into the bottle. And, exactly how much of what else did you put in the bottle?
Are you using a juice mix calculator? Here is a good one: DIY E-Liquid Calculator Ten Flavors Plus PG/VG Adjusting
Also, the flavoring is usually real concentrated. 15% is probably way too much. The website above also has a lot of good info on mixing your juice.
I mix a "hybrid" juice - 35% store bought & 65% DIY.
.6ml is correct but you also have to add 7.9 ml of PG/VG and your flavoring. Is that what you did?
I'm pretty sure he mixed right... by diluting I think what he's referring to is diluting it first and THEN adding it in... hence his question about why it would matter... for example, some flavors are very thick so i've heard of some people who dilute it in pg (or PGA) first and then add it to their mix...
But if that's what he's asking, and I'm pretty sure it is, then no, there is no reason to do so with your nic... 10% nic is already diluted... It's only 10% nic... LOL... No reason to dilute it before adding it...
Now as for the original question... My first thought is steeping... Any juice when I first make it typically has a "harshness" to it... I can't really explain it... But after a good hot water bath, a day with the lid off, and then about a 2 week sit, it mellows out and becomes a beautiful thing. It's my believe that the nicotine molecules dance with the flavorings, make sweet love to them, have babies (gestation period for flavorings and nic is very fast) and the end result is the steeped juice...
Ok, maybe not... but seriously... You'd be amazed what even a week of steeping will do with a fresh juice... let alone 2 weeks or a month... and different flavorings tend to be different... some can be pretty usable right out of the beaker... while others take several weeks to come into their own... As for the 24mg? Maybe it's just because 24mg is kinda "harsh" to begin with... someone who is used to 24mg is probably pretty accustomed to that harsh throat hit... so what they get from the unsteeped juice might not be that unusual to them... whereas someone used to 6mg is going to notice it a lot more? I dunno... just a thought...
But if that's what he's asking, and I'm pretty sure it is, then no, there is no reason to do so with your nic... 10% nic is already diluted... It's only 10% nic... LOL... No reason to dilute it before adding it...
Now as for the original question... My first thought is steeping... Any juice when I first make it typically has a "harshness" to it... I can't really explain it... But after a good hot water bath, a day with the lid off, and then about a 2 week sit, it mellows out and becomes a beautiful thing. It's my believe that the nicotine molecules dance with the flavorings, make sweet love to them, have babies (gestation period for flavorings and nic is very fast) and the end result is the steeped juice...
Ok, maybe not... but seriously... You'd be amazed what even a week of steeping will do with a fresh juice... let alone 2 weeks or a month... and different flavorings tend to be different... some can be pretty usable right out of the beaker... while others take several weeks to come into their own... As for the 24mg? Maybe it's just because 24mg is kinda "harsh" to begin with... someone who is used to 24mg is probably pretty accustomed to that harsh throat hit... so what they get from the unsteeped juice might not be that unusual to them... whereas someone used to 6mg is going to notice it a lot more? I dunno... just a thought...
Zakk,
I think I understand a little better now. When I get a new bottle of 100mg nic I mix it down to a safer level to work with. I vape mostly at 6mg so I usually mix it down to about 12mg. That way I only have to deal with the dangerous mixture once.
The harshness of your recipe could be many things. You may be way over flavored. I recommend going over to the DIY section and reading dannyv45 and hoosier's blogs as well as the stickys. There are also threads that recommend flavor percentages for each flavor by each manufacurer.
I think I understand a little better now. When I get a new bottle of 100mg nic I mix it down to a safer level to work with. I vape mostly at 6mg so I usually mix it down to about 12mg. That way I only have to deal with the dangerous mixture once.
The harshness of your recipe could be many things. You may be way over flavored. I recommend going over to the DIY section and reading dannyv45 and hoosier's blogs as well as the stickys. There are also threads that recommend flavor percentages for each flavor by each manufacurer.
Then I assume you're referring to people diluting their entire bottle of nicotine before storing it. It's mainly because 100 mg/ml nicotine makes some people nervous. So, they dilute it a bit ahead of time so they don't have to continually handle nicotine at that strength.
I used to buy only 36 mg/ml because it just felt safer. Then I started buying 48 mg/ml. Now I buy 100 mg/ml simply because I can stock up without taking up too much space.
When I pull the stronger stuff out of storage to use it eventually, I mix up a huge batch of unflavored nic base. Then I just mix it with flavoring as needed. I'm not doing it for the purpose of diluting it. I'm doing it out of laziness so that all the ratios (nic and PG/VG) are already set. IOW I'm doing it out of laziness.
Does that answer your question? Or, did I miss the point?
I used to buy only 36 mg/ml because it just felt safer. Then I started buying 48 mg/ml. Now I buy 100 mg/ml simply because I can stock up without taking up too much space.
When I pull the stronger stuff out of storage to use it eventually, I mix up a huge batch of unflavored nic base. Then I just mix it with flavoring as needed. I'm not doing it for the purpose of diluting it. I'm doing it out of laziness so that all the ratios (nic and PG/VG) are already set. IOW I'm doing it out of laziness.
Does that answer your question? Or, did I miss the point?
We were posting at the same time. You beat me to it.
I agree about the DIY section. Zak, you have your 5 posts in now. So, here you go: DIY E-Liquid
I had the same question about my juice seeming a bit harsh, kinda dry throat hit. I was told at a local vape shop it could be that I'm mixing 50/50, and going 60/40 pg/vg might help because vg was a little more harsh. Any thoughts on that? Or possibly using 10% saline or distilled water?
Thanks for any info
Thanks for any info
Either you misunderstood or the vape shop has no clue what they're talking about... vg adds density to the vapor and also a kind of "sweetness". pg on the other hand carries the flavor and contributes to throat hit... The more pg, the more flavor / and throat hit you'll get...
Another reason people might mix down their nicotine before using it is for accuracy. Safety is probably the most commons reason, but it affects the accuracy too.
It's easier to measure 1.2 ml of liquid accurately than it is to measure 0.6 ml (at least with the tools most of us are using for measuring volumes). With 100 mg/ml nicotine, a difference of for example, 0.1 ml due to imprecise measuring throws off the mix a lot more than 0.1 ml of lower strength nicotine. Hope that make sense.
It's easier to measure 1.2 ml of liquid accurately than it is to measure 0.6 ml (at least with the tools most of us are using for measuring volumes). With 100 mg/ml nicotine, a difference of for example, 0.1 ml due to imprecise measuring throws off the mix a lot more than 0.1 ml of lower strength nicotine. Hope that make sense.
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