Hello again - DIY from strong base n00b questions

[Nic-holio]

Hi everyone,

Have been away from ECF for a while but am glad to be back participating again. I'm about to cross over from buying pre-mixed liquids to DIY -- just for myself and hopefully my wife, if I can get her something mixed up she likes -- and maybe a little "here and there" for a couple guys I work with that also vape. But I definitely have no plans of doing this in anything like a business setup.

I've got just about everything together to get started. I'm thankful for all the great informative posts that everyone has posted over the years and was glad to find all the ones I had bookmarked about DIY/mixing/etc. a couple years ago were still there waiting for me.

Admittedly I'll probably need a little while before I can start contributing anything helpful here, and may have to ask a few noob questions as DIY mixing from a strong nic base is relatively new to me at this point - although I have done a fair amount of dilution/splitting etc. over the last 3 years. But once I am over the noob learning curve and have anything meaningful to contribute, I'll definitely try to help out as I can.

I'll be working with 10% (100mg) base in VG (from MFS), following Kurt's freezer storage how-to from a few years ago. I've got a NIOSH P95 organic vapor rated mask, vent hood, goggles, heavy duty chem-rated gloves, etc. and will be going about all of this in as scientific and careful manner as possible, including good recordkeeping. I spent the morning reading all but the last few pages of a certain "Houston we have a problem" thread from a few years back I had bookmarked and started reading where there was a major problem with over-concentration of nicotine with a vendor, just to remind myself how careful I need to be.

Getting ready to dispense my first couple of 50ml euro-dropper bottles of concentrate to work with. Trying to make sure I do everything I need to do to make sure the nic solution well-distributed in the big bottle before I draw any out into smaller bottles to work with. Unfortunately I am still waiting on luer lock syringes big enough to draw an entire 50ml out in one draw to get here, but pretty much everything else I ordered got here today. I figure for now, I can use some new 10ml syringes I have to draw couple bottles' worth, and then once the bigger ones come in I can draw and fill the rest of the 50ml bottles I ordered from Specialty Bottle and put them in the freezer.

Silly question -- does anybody make a blunt tip needle long enough to reach down to the bottom an MFS 1 liter bottle? I'm guessing that's probably a "no" but just in case someone does make something like that, please let me know. I'm not crazy about the idea of having a 100mg bottle open as long as it would take to draw and dispense it into 20 50ml bottles (well, sticking cap back on while I seal up each 50ml and then taking it back off to start the next) -- but not sure what else I can do. Any recommendations?

I was also thinking that perhaps I could get an irrigation type syringe and some sterile surgical tubing, that would only be used for drawing from the liter bottle into smaller bottles, but not sure. I just know the 2.5" - 3" luer lock needles I have aren't gonna work for the whole 1L bottle. haha

Hey BTW, is it safe to assume the Specialty Bottle bottles are ready to fill out of the box, or should I assume they are "dirty" and need to be cleaned before I fill them with 100mg VG base? I got some PGA for cleaning and diluting of anything "hard to dissolve" I run into.

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to getting involved again here and not just as a "consumer".

Nic-holio

 

[PaulBHC]

Needle question here too

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ere-can-i-find-long-needles.html#post14696904

 

[WillyZee]

I would wash the storage bottles before using ... better be safe than risk spoiling the nicotine.

 

[Nic-holio]

I would wash the storage bottles before using ... better be safe than risk spoiling the nicotine.

Makes sense to me. I was thinking the same thing (better safe than sorry). My first ever order from them came in today too. It was packed VERY well, a box with the bottles inside packed inside a large cushion of styrofoam peanuts in a larger box. The box with the bottles inside had brown packing paper wrapped around the open, up-facing bottles.

Will clean them out before dispensing. If anyone has a solid word otherwise for Specialty Bottle product please let me know! I've got a lot of decanting to do.

Thanks!
Nic-holio

 

[Boletus]

Obviously you are coming into this with significant background knowledge and the patience and attention to detail that will serve you well. Just a couple of thoughts on your post:

100 mg/ml is strong stuff, but a respirator is probably overkill and will cramp your style. If you have access to a fume hood, you are more than covered for inhalation risk, IMO. If you are buying from a vendor that gets recommendations here, such as MFS, you probably don't need to be too worried about a repeat of the BE fiasco. Of course you should ultimately determine the level of protection that makes you comfortable.

For large transfers into smaller bottles for storage, a funnel is going to be a heck of a lot easier than a big syringe, unless you need to have a really precise amount in each bottle for dosing purposes (and you would probably want to re-measure it anyway to be sure). Reaching the bottom of a liter bottle with a needle can thus be avoided. Alternatively, you could pour from the liter bottle into a glass jar and then draw from that and forgo using a needle at all. If you are working in a fume hood or other containment, such as a sink, an errant drop or even a spill is not the end of the world.

Regarding pre-cleaning the bottles, that is not a bad idea, although I bet few if any vendors do that before repackaging nicotine, PG, or VG for us. But yeah, anything mass processed can have oils or other contaminants, so a swish with PGA followed by a DW rinse is a good precaution. There have been a couple of reports of people getting nic with truly foul smell/taste from otherwise highly regarded vendors, that might be due to transferring into contaminated containers.

If you have been away for a while, brushing up with Hoosier's and dannyv45's blogs will get you up to speed on a lot of details. I also have a couple of blogs that might be useful, although the math one has been reported to make some people's eyes bleed. But if you enjoy algebra, you might like it.

 

[Nic-holio]

Boletus thanks for all that - really good and helpful advice. Sounds like the funnel might be the simplest way to go. I'll just have to pour slowly so as to not overrun the bottle before the funnel drains. I'll order a couple glass (pyrex?) ones. I've got a couple of 50ml euro dropper bottles drawn for now so that will buy me some time.

I'm guessing I probably won't need to worry so much about about good ventilation/exhaust once I'm done transferring the nic base into the small bottles with the little inserts these euro dropper bottles have in them. But the range hood over the stove has a pretty powerful fan when it's on full power so it seemed like a good idea for the nic base transfer bottling. I do wish the sink was a little closer to the range hood, but there's enough workable surface on the stove top and it's easy to clean off (some kind of glass surface).

Thanks for the info about the blog posts. I will definitely check them out.

 

[cocacola31173]

I buy my nic a liter at a time and all I do is divide it up in 125 ml bottles and store in my freezer. Then I just take a bottle out at a time and store in my vape cupboard and mix my juices from that .

 

[Sgt.Rock]

A bit of overkill there on the safety precautions. You're not messing with Ebola virus

Unless you're a complete klutz, a clean work area and basic hand-eye coordination are all you need.

 

[dannyv45]

I buy my nic a liter at a time and all I do is divide it up in 125 ml bottles and store in my freezer. Then I just take a bottle out at a time and store in my vape cupboard and mix my juices from that .

I do exactly the same thing and all I use is a 100ml measuring cylinder to transfer my 1ltr nic into 120ml bottles. If a little spills I wear latex gloves and clean it up quickly. I've never had issues with fumes and don't see the need to be overly cautious. I mean if your in a room with good air circulation it's fine. Now it would be another story if you were working in a closet. What I think is more important then anything else is keeping kids and pets away and keeping distractions and interuptions to a minimum so you can concentrate on what your doing. Distractions and interuptions are what cause the most accidents.

 

[Nic-holio]

A bit of overkill there on the safety precautions. You're not messing with Ebola virus

Unless you're a complete klutz, a clean work area and basic hand-eye coordination are all you need.

Haha OK - point taken. Thanks

 

[Nic-holio]

Alright I've gotten my menthol crystals crunched up and liquified, Tobacco Absolute (pure) + EM crystals diffused into PG, flavor testing drop-at-a-time PG and VG bottles filled, syringe-draw PG & VG bottles ready, and misc other stuff knocked out. I think I'm ready to flavor test!

Let the flavor testing begin!



Thanks for all the advice everyone!

PS: Big shout out to One Stop DIY Shop for having so many great things available in *one stop* !

 

[Nic-holio]

(obviously there are a lot more flavors shown here than I plan to test at a time - I'll be doing about 3 different main flavors to start off - the rest are for later)