First Adventure into DIY

[Dreamersword]

My girlfriend and I started vaping about a month and a half ago. So I am not very experienced in this world at all but after doing some math of the cost of buying ejuice I decided that I was going to give DIY a try. I purchased all my supplies from EcigExpress. This is what I purchased.

Propylene Glycol USP Size 250ml
Vegetable Glycerin USP Size 250ml
60mg Unflavored Nicotine Base Size 115ml Base PG
Syringe with Blunt Tip Needle Syringe Size 10cc

Menthol Crystals 20 grams
Ethyl Maltol Powder Size 20 grams

Watermelon by Jungle Flavors - 10ml
Max Dew Flavor By Signature - 10ml
Raspberry by FlavourArt - 10ml
Blueberry by Flavor West - 10ml
Boysenberry by Jungle Flavors - 10ml

I used the eJuice Me Up program to figure out my measurements. I also did a lot of looking around on the forums to get an idea of what % of flavoring people were using. I will go with the least favorite to my most favorite. I mixed everything in 10 ml bottles. I assume all my flavoring are 100% PG based even if they aren't.

Raspberry by Flavour Art- I mixed 80 PG 20 VG and went for 10 mg/ml Nicotine

This flavor had an after taste of perfume, was horrible. I have had it airing out for days in my bedroom but it still smells like perfume and I have no desire to try it again.

Menthol crystals- I really need to work on this mixture. I don't like menthol at all by my girlfriend has to have it. I mixed one gram crusted Menthol into 10 ml of PG to start with and from what i had read I thought I would only have to use a couple drops of this to make a good Menthol that was not correct at all. I ended up adding about 2 ml of menthol to my 80% PG 20% VG 18 mg/ml Nicotine and it was still not strong enough. Any suggestions on Menthol would be awesome I will have to get this one right someday!

Max Dew by Signature- Went with 80% PG 20% VG 12% flavor and 12 mg/ml nicotine. This was good but a little strong my future plan is to drop the flavoring to 10% flavor and add a drop of Ethyl Maltol PG mix and see if that makes it better. It does taste like mountain dew I think the flavor is good I just mixed it wrong.

Watermelon by juice- This was an awesome flavor I did 80% PG 20% VG only 4% Flavoring At first it was kind of tasted like the last bite of watermelon with a little bit of the rind in it but after aging a week the sweetness really came out and it is quite good. I very much enjoy this flavor.

Boysenberry by juice- This has become one of my daily vapes I mixed it again 80% PG 20% VG and with 4% flavoring 12 mg/ml nicotine. This flavor is super TART when i first mixed it but got very sweet with only a slight tart taste after about a week of aging. I personally have never had boysenberry before so I can not say wither or not it taste like boysenberry but it is rather good and very enjoyable to vape.

Blueberry by Flavor West- Again 80% PG 20% VG this time 10% flavoring and 12 mg/ml nicotine. This flavor is a slight candy blueberry flavor just a bit sweeter then you would find in a blueberry. It is a very good vape. I really enjoy it and so has my girlfriend.

That has been my experience so far if anyone has ideas on how to fix the Raspberry flavoring or hints on how to unlock the secrets of Menthol I would love to hear it.

 

[Viking343]

How long are you steeping these for? I'm just getting into DIY myself, and so far, everything I've read suggests steeping for at least 3 weeks. You can also speed up the process by using a heated ultrasonic cleaner, there's a thread here on how to do that.

 

[Rat2chat2]

Congrats on the the DIY. Looks like you jumped right in. It is a lot of fun and quite frankly better tasting to me. Welcome to ecf. There are a bunch of threads on mixing that you should read and post in because it would help others so much. Good luck to ya and happy mixing.

 

[dice57]

I mix at 70-80% VG, 12 mg nic and 8-14% flavor extract. Also have been adding 3% Vodka to my mixes lately. High PG I find to harsh. You'll find some flavors are stronger than others and only need a hint to dramatically change the flavor. Don't get into menthol, so no help there. I usually start with a 10 ml test batch when formulating a new recipe, but now do a 100 ml flavor of the month when searching for an ADV flavor. Find it easier to tweak a batch that size.

Also have been running hot water over my flasks and stirring well to speed up emulsifying and flavor development, also helps thin out the VG and incorporate everything more easily.

 

[zmbgzus]

I've dropped a good deal of money into diy mixing as it's become a hobby. Everyone has their preferences but, my suggestions for supplies are listed below along with my mixing ratios. With these suppliers, you can mix a 30 ml for $2.21

Food Grade Flavoring:

Lorannoils

USP PG / VG

BulkApothecary

Various Bottles

USPlastics

For nicotine, you're on your own. Shop around.

Mixing ratios:

For max flavor and cloud production:
40/60 PG / VG This mixture provides flavor and vapor density without a harsh hit. All of the benefits, no draw backs.

Flavor:

Fruits 5-20%
Tobacco 2%
Creams 10-15%
Chocolate 12%
Candies 5-20%
Menthol 1-2%

Blends from these suppliers only take a few hrs to steep vs days-weeks. Steeping can be supplanted by placing your mix in the window for direct sunlight, although if you're not using light sensitive glass, nicotine may break down with heat treat steeping.

I also run a fb page called Stop Smoking Start Vaping if you'd like to message questions. Ty.

-zmbgzus

 

[Dreamersword]

I have only had the supplies for a week so nothing has been steeping for long then that. I have defiantly seen some major flavor changes letting them steep for awhile. I do plan on getting some bigger bottles at least 30 ml once I feel like I get some of the flavor mixes right and letting them steep longer but honestly if I let them steep as long as I should right now I would start running out of juices to vape! Hoping to make another order on payday!

As for stepping in general I have read a lot of bad things about using heat to speed up the processes and even when you use heat time sounds like it is the best answer. My main goal with this project is to save money so I can buy new mods to smoke my juices in. So I haven't really had time to let my new juice mixes steep as long as I should! Though I have defiantly found that they need at least a good 24 hours of steeping to be mixed and get an idea of what the flavor could be.

There are a lot of reason I decided to go with 80% PG 20% VG and I defiantly plan on experimenting with the ratio in the future. The first reason is that from what I have read PG can allow a lot more of the flavors to come through. Another reason I went with more PG is when I was using ejuices from the local store I found that my tanks always got gummy sometime the juice seem to turn into a almost jelly. I always associated that with a higher VG content though I could be wrong it could just as easily been the dyes or flavoring they used. Third I kind of like a nice strong throat hit. I know there are a lot of nice things that VG bring to the table more vapor less people being allergic to it and I will be playing with different ratios as I go along.

I know at some point I do want to try some lorann flavorings but some of the stuff I have read scares me off about there flavoring especially them not being as open about what is in them as some of the other flavoring companies and the fact that they seem to use a lot more dyes in there flavoring then other companies use. Also a lot of people seem to have to use a lot higher percentages of flavor using the lorann flavors. One of the reasons I have been very happy with the Juice flavors is that I could use 4% flavoring and get a very strong fruit flavor that seems to be on heard of with any of the other flavor companies. I plan on buying a lot more of the Juice flavors I am cheap 4% vs 10% adds up at least that is what I keep telling myself.

Thank you for all the replies I know my girlfriend is getting sick of hearing me talk about this and she doesn't really care to much as long as her flavors taste ok so her responses aren't all that helpful. I can be a little obsessive!

 

[zmbgzus]

The carmelization is actually from a sweetener additive that the shops are using. With quality flavoring, sweetener is NOT needed. Made that mistake

I like lorann oils for the food grade quality. The flavor % will vary regardless of supplier based on the flavor potency itself.

 

[joesquid]

New to DIY myself but I read on here in the E liquid forum that if your juice smells perfumy (is that a word?), it is because it is over flavored. Might want to try diluting you rasberry mix.

 

[cyberwolf]

+1 on lowering the percentage on the raspberry. I have a blackberry flavor that I actually had to dilute to 30% and then use that at only 1% in mixes. Some flavors are just naturally perfumy, though, so you'll just have to tinker with it. Try it out in straight PG/VG to see how it is without wasting your nic. I like a lot of the ecigexpress Signature flavors at around 3-4%. They have an NPort flavor that may be a good solution for your menthol. I don't like menthol, but using it in mixes for my friends that do has worked out well.

 

[klynnn]

I do all my mixes in bigger bottles. That way I can add more or dilute if needed plus I kept knocking over all those little bottles.

 

[Dreamersword]

Thank you for a better term then almost jelly carmelization makes more since. I did get some sweetener when I purchased my flavors but I haven't had to touch it. Anything that I thought needed sweetening just need to steep longer. Hopefully not having to use the sweetener means I got good flavors.

I will be taking some of your guys advice regarding the raspberry flavoring as soon as I find some more bottles I would like to get it at least useable! More bottles is going to be in my next order!

As for menthol I am so going to find a premixed flavor and give that a try if for no other reason that my entire house smelled like menthol for days after trying to mix it from menthol crystals and I don't enjoy the smell at all especially at that strength!!!