General DIY E-Juice Questions

[Indigo-Shade]

I've perused the DIY e-liquid forum up to a point, but I think before I really dig in and read / post further I need to ask a few basic questions.

1. I get the impression that many (if not most) of the people in this particular forum are buying base (unflavored) e-juice and adding flavoring to it. Is this correct?

2. How many here are actually buying all the necessary ingredient components and making base (unflavored) e-juice, and THEN adding flavoring?

3. What are these odd recipe abreviations? FW? tfa? CAP?
Example:
5% vanilla ice cream (FW)
6% malted milk (tfa)
2% hot cocoa (CAP)
2% Chocolate fudge brownie (CAP)
.25% Dark Vapure (FA)

4. E-juice flavors from E-Juice Vender or a Cook/Baking Vender? As a cook with 7 years of professional cooking education, I know that there are any number of online vendors (who have nothing to do with e-cigs) who sell high quality food flavorings. How do these compare with the E-juice flavors on the E-Juice vender sites? Is there a difference, really?

5. For those of you who are going making juice from scratch (ie #2 question), one serious question. If one does spill heavy concentrate nicotine juice, how does one clean up the mess? I can't see getting this off a surface with a paper towel and simply throwing the paper towel in a special garbage bag. And on the flip side, no way would I want to get this stuff down any sort of water drain.

6. Finally, right now I do not have a room (or the urge) to make e-juice from scratch, safely. I've handled some toxic substances in the past, but not where I live right now. Hence, I'm going to go the mixing route and see what comes of it. Question, what's the average time (over months) that it took you to find a recipe you would keep as-is and make again.

 

[Ld3441]

I think most people make their own base. It is not that hard to do and you don't need "dangerous chemicals" to do so. Nicotine can be purchased in a variety of mg's. Some buy 100mg base which caution needs to be used with this. You could also buy 24mg, 36mg or 48mg.

FW= Flavor West TFA= The Flavor Apprentice CAP= Capella FA= Flavor Art The are different brands that can be used and are specified because different percentages are used with each.

I have only mixed one thing so far that was not a keeper. (knocking on wood) If you read the posts there is a LOT of helpful information here as far as percentages, recipes and that sort of thing. I always check out the flavors before mixing to get a good starting point.

 

[Indigo-Shade]

I think most people make their own base. It is not that hard to do and you don't need "dangerous chemicals" to do so. Nicotine can be purchased in a variety of mg's. Some buy 100mg base which caution needs to be used with this. You could also buy 24mg, 36mg or 48mg.

Well I figure I would eventually make everything from scratch. I'm just thinking I might want to start simple, the way I am with gear, and mix until I have a better understanding of things. Thanks for the note about the brands...very helpful

 

[dannyv45]

That's a lot of questions. I think that some light reading is in order. So allow me to make a few reading suggestions.

Read my blogs before getting started

E-Cigarette Forum - dannyv45 - Blogs

then read hoosier's blogs.

E-Cigarette Forum - Hoosier - Blogs

then read the stickies at the top of the page.

this will explain a lot of the how's and why's.

 

[Wingsfan0310]

I personally buy my Nic, flavors from Wizard Labs. PG and VG can be bought there as well.

Spilling Nic would be no worse than spilling a bottle of Bleach, Ammonia, Drain Cleaner or a few other things I have in my house. They would all be bad so I'm careful when using those things.

I mix on a glass table with wood floors, have a steady hand, and only do it while I have the time to be able to give it my undivided attention. You can also do it on top of a baking tray with a lip so that if you were to spill something it would stay confined to that tray (easy cleanup)

Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Steve