DIY or Bulk juice recommendation?

[tazzle]

I do mostly DIY, which is nice for several reasons: you can mix up different nicotine levels, so if you want to just sit and chain vape you can have 0% or super low (I make most of mine at 3mg), and also have some higher nic mixes on hand for when you need that -- you don't have to commit to a certain strength; you can also vary your PG/VG for your own preferences -- I make a 70/30 PG/VG for my husband, and 50/50 for me; waaaay cheaper once you have acquired the essentials; you don't have to commit a lot of resources to any flavor -- just mix up 5ml (or less) to begin, then if you like that flavor, make as much as you want; when you feel creative, you can play around with making your own recipes, but just mixing up the straight flavors is easy and perfectly satisfying. You can always mix whatever you want together in your tank (I currently have blueberry + maple in one, orange + sweet cream in another, peach + coconut + strawberry in another, and pear + brandy in another, for example -- each mixed from single-flavor liquids I made).

I see that One Stop DIY Shop offers small sizes (6 ml) of Flavor Apprentice flavors for just $1.65, which is great for trying out which flavors you like. If you decide you wanted to give DIY a shot at some point, I think you could do a "get-started" set up for around $50 plus shipping. Checking at One Stop for some of this stuff, and at My Freedom Smokes for some (nic, pg and vg, particularly), I could see something like this:

pg and vg 250ml each: $14
250ml 24mg nic: $13.95
10 30ml needlenose bottles: 7.50
measuring cylinder: 2.50
5 3ml pipettes: 1.00 (these are disposable, but I rinse and re-use)
10ml syringe: 1.29
6 small bottles Flavor Apprentice concentrates: $10

But you could ask the folks over in the DIY forum for their advice on the best low-cost way to get started. (I'm not in the US, so don't know the best places there).

Once you have a few flavors to begin with (if you decide to try the DIY thing), you might look at getting some Inawera Shop flavors from Poland. The prices are very good, and the flavors are very concentrated (you usually need around 3-5%, as opposed to 10-20% from most other brands), and I've liked everything I've tried from them so far. It will take a couple of weeks to get your order, though. I learned about them from this ECF post, and there are some recipes in this post.

There are many eliquid recipe calculators online to help you figure out percentages; this is the one that I use. Oh, and save your readymade juice bottles when they're finished! If you start DIY, eventually you'll be setting up to mix a bottle of something delightful only to realize that you are out of bottles, that's when you go digging through drawers looking for an old eliquid bottle with just a couple of drops left in it to rinse out and re-use.

 

[marmer]

Another vote for Mt. Baker juices here- I like most of their juices, but the strawberry was a little weak on the flavor. Order extra flavor shots. They seem to be one of the most reasonably price sites out there and they will give you a free sample bottle if your order is over $15 (after coupons and any discounts)

 

[FireDragon1138]

I like using FlavorArt's tobacco flavorings. I mix about 1 drop per 2 milliliters of e-liquid. Cowboy Blend is a decent flavor if you want something that tastes very much like a standard American cigarette. I also like their 7Leaves for a generic tobacco taste. Having some Ethyl Maltol (cotton candy flavoring) is also good for beginning DIY as it's so versatile, I usually add a drop for every few milileters, especially mixing with the 7Leaves.

You can buy unflavored e-juice or a low nicotine base (like 24mg), mix in the super-concentrated flavoring (like FlavorArt), give it a shaking in a bottle and it'll be vapable, though you need to steep the juice for a few days ideally.

I would up the nicotine if going through a lot of juice is a problem, maybe even choosing a setup with less vapor production if that is tolerable and cost of juice is an issue.

 

[Jrdot]

I am just learning myself having been completely off analogs since Dec 13 2013. I have a few favorites to share, keeping in mind we all perceive flavors differently. My top 3 are Top Vapor "Top Banana" Top Banana, Smokeless Image "Classic Grape", Smokeless Image | The Best Electronic Cigarette Mt Bakers "Cinnamon Roll", Cinnamon Roll E Juice Baker Vapor - Mt Baker Vapor - Electronic Cigarettes. I currently have 97 bottles of juice in my drawer so I am not completely new to vaping vendors. Thing I like about Mt Baker is the freebies, pretty fast delivery and they also sell supplies. I believe S.I. is faster than Mt Baker and Mad Vapes is the slowest of the 3 from my experience. I also have 12 bottles of DIY stuff I have mixed. I have not been able to replicate to density of flavor I crave from DIY. And I have spent quite a lot on flavors from Flavor Art, Cappella's, Tasty Puff, Lorann's, and 6 from Mt Baker etc. I suggest you find you a few favorite flavors and vendors before you try the DIY route. It's just not as easy as adding more flavoring to the mix to make juice better like I had assumed. I know they make this DIY seem very easy, and maybe I'm just not very good at it but I have yet to make a flavor that is better than the 3 I listed above. I stand ready to teach what I know and learn what I dont. LoL

 

[BradJ]

Yeah, so I spoke the truth, below.

Two weeks later, not so happy with it.

Beware of buying bulk juice. If I had it to do over I'd buy UNFLAVORED.

I bought 250ML of 36mg 80/20 "Medium blended tobacco" flavored juice from e cig dot com for around $20. Fedex priority shipping was $25 from China. So in three days I got 8.4 ounces delivered for $45. I also picked up a six ounce bottle of 99.5% anhydrous glycerine from my local CVS pharmacy. You dilute the glycerin with distilled water, 1ML water to 10ML VG.

I'm mixing it now 50/50 which gives me roughly 45/55? at 18mg which is for me just right, and I have 15 ounces of juice for around $50.