First time not-really-DIY

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bwh79

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So this doesn't really count as "DIY" but what I'm doing is I have these nine bottles of 0mg liquid, that I want to make (roughly) 6mg by adding small amounts of 100mg nic. I figure by using 100mg nic, I can add just a tiny bit and hopefully not affect the flavor too much. Now that my supplies are here, I'm about ready to get started. In the interest of "getting it right the first time," I thought I'd run by you guys what I plan on doing, and see if it sounds like I have the right idea before I dive in.

The liquids are in 15ml glass dropper bottles. I've already gone through a tankful (about 1.5ml) of each, to make room in the bottles for the nic I'll be adding. I may draw out another dropperful while I have them open so there's a little more airspace to shake stuff around. I'll either squirt the dropper contents back into the bottles when I'm done, or else I'll just recap them with the droppers still full, and have my first squirt be nic-free the first time I use them.

The nicotine is 15ml of 100mg/ml. It's in a conical-tipped vial, so it won't stand up when it's open -- I have cut a hole in the box my supplies came in, for a makeshift vial rack. I've got some nitrile gloves and safety glasses. I'll be working on my kitchen counter, next to a sink and an open window. I will line up the nine bottles, remove the caps and draw a dropperful of each, and lay the droppers on a paper towel(s) behind the bottles. I will put on my glasses and my gloves, and I will unscrew the nicotine.

I will probably sniff the nicotine to see what, if anything, it smells like, but I won't stick my nose in the vial, rather I will "waft" it towards me from arm's length. I will take my 1ml syringe with 1.5" 14ga needle and, one at a time, draw 0.9ml of nicotine and squirt it into one of the bottles. Then I will slide each bottle back as I fill it, so I know which ones have been done already. When I am done with all nine bottles, I will place the syringe in a glass of warm water, recap the remaining nicotine, and rinse out the syringe with a few draw-shake-squirts of the water.

Then I will take each bottle in turn, put my thumb or finger over the opening and shake it up real good. In between bottles I will wipe my fingertips off on a damp paper towel I have nearby to minimize any cross-contamination. I will also probably arrange them in an order so that any cross-contamination which does occur should not be too unpalatable. If they don't shake up well, I may cut up some plastic drinking straws and use them to stir. Once all the bottles are mixed, I will remove the glasses and the gloves, put the caps back on the bottles, and then clean up my workspace.

Does that look about right to all of you? Have I missed anything important?
 
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CampbellMC

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Looks good to me. Before you just "Shake" the bottles after adding the nicotine, I would recommend heating them up in a bowl of hot water or similar (I have a thermos I rigged up to hold bottles). This thins out the VG in the liquid, and allows the contents to mix evenly. VG itself is very thick, so if you are using a high VG liquid make sure to leave adequate head space for shaking, the bubbles really do take up quite a bit of space.
 

bwh79

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Looks good to me. Before you just "Shake" the bottles after adding the nicotine, I would recommend heating them up in a bowl of hot water or similar (I have a thermos I rigged up to hold bottles). This thins out the VG in the liquid, and allows the contents to mix evenly. VG itself is very thick, so if you are using a high VG liquid make sure to leave adequate head space for shaking, the bubbles really do take up quite a bit of space.

Like faucet-hot, or microwave-hot? How long you think it'd take to thin out, once they're in the water? Like, can I just place each one in the water after I add the nic, then go through and shake 'em once I'm done? Or should I maybe let 'em sit in it for half an hour or so before I even get started?

(Edit: It's 50/50 liquid, if that makes a difference.)
 

bwh79

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Well it's done. I put them in the hot water bath (heated to 150F on my stove top) both before and after adding the nic, then I shook them up, put the lids on, put them back in the water bath a third time and let them sit until cool. I only shook them for about 15 seconds each, maybe, but they were pretty runny by that point, I could hear them sloshing around and it was enough for tiny bubbles to form all through the liquid. Plus, the one that turned brown (see below) is a uniform brown all throughout, so I feel pretty confident they're mixed thoroughly enough.

At least one of them has turned a sort of brownish color, either from the nic or the heat or a combination of the two. It was crystal-clear before I started, as is the nic liquid itself. I didn't notice last night after mixing, but that doesn't mean it hadn't changed, just I didn't notice if it did. But this morning, it is a definite brownish color when yesterday it was crystal-clear. I can't say if any of the rest of them have changed, because most of them are in brown bottles. Only this one and one other were in clear (the other one had a slight greenish tint to it, and doesn't appear to have darkened any.)

All in all, it was pretty easy. I felt kind of silly wearing the gloves and goggles and, on reflection, I'm not sure I really needed either one, but safety first! I couldn't smell anything in the nicotine, even when I did put my nose right up to (still not in) the vial, like I said I wouldn't do. I know other people say it has a very strong and distinct smell, so I'm not sure if the nic I got from NN is just that clean, or if my sniffer's still busted after 20+ years of smoking cigarettes. Probably both. At least I suffered no ill effects from just taking a big ol' whiff of it like I did. (I mean, I worked up to it. Started small with wafting and little whiffs, but when I couldn't smell anything form those I went for it and dove right in. Still nothing.)

Right now I'm waiting to finish this last bit of no-nic that's still in my tank, then I'll put in some of the same flavor which I've added the nic to, and compare. In the meantime, here's a pic I took right before I put the gloves on and started mixing (the water bath is off to the left, out of frame. It's just a 2-qt Pyrex baking dish with an inch or so of water in it):

2McCwkf.jpg
 
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