Hello ecf folks!

[MensRea]

Hello!

I have just joined here. Since I decided to quit my 12-15 a day habit, I've been vaping for over 6 months now, starting with a eGo One through a Nemesis Mech with Origen and currently with the eVic VTC mini with a Subtank and a Serpent rta. Still use the older ones, but not as much it seems. Anyway, I have been perusing the tons of info collected here by you good folks all through this time but usually brought in by google. Now, I want to step up my game by getting into DIY juices and thought I'll log in and get a fuller experience here. For, this seems to be a great place with a lot of great members willing to share their knowledge and experience, I'd like to be a part of it.

I will, of course, be going through all the stickied guides listed in the forum regarding DIY liquids. (I might have already covered 30% of it so far) But if you have any tips for an absolute DIY newbie who hasn't even opened the package with the VG, PG and nic yet, please do, they will be really appreciated.

Looking forward to being here.
Cheers then!

 

[SteveS45]

Welcome and enjoy your time here! Congratulations on joining the ranks of former smokers!

 

[4lph4num3r1c]

Hello and welcome to ECF. Congratulations on your victory!

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. I DIY, but I don't know how to advise you because I don't know what's in your kit. Can you describe it, or tell me what kit you bought so I can look it up?

 

[MensRea]

Thanks Alpha and Steve, nice to be here and it feels great to have quite.

 

[MensRea]

Hi and welcome. I DIY, but I don't know how to advise you because I don't know what's in your kit. Can you describe it, or tell me what kit you bought so I can look it up?

It's not a standard kit, got it in a giveaway from a local vendor. Has 500ml each of VG and PG and 50ml of nic in high strength, (will have to check that) all USP grade. I'm still looking for what hardware to get and some starter flavors that I can work with. Still going through method, techniques, recipes and such.

Btw, I'm based in India and market here is quite nascent at best.

 

[suprtrkr]

It's not a standard kit, got it in a giveaway from a local vendor. Has 500ml each of VG and PG and 50ml of nic in high strength, (will have to check that) all USP grade. I'm still looking for what hardware to get and some starter flavors that I can work with. Still going through method, techniques, recipes and such.

Btw, I'm based in India and market here is quite nascent at best.

Ok. BTW, before I forget, I love the screen name

For measuring, a handful of cheap plastic 10ml syringes will get you started. You'll need a juice calculator; here's the one I use. You can mix in a coffee cup with a stainless steel spoon, and store your juice in old juice bottles to get started. I make mine in borosilicate lab glass, but I mix large quantities and I have a tendency to go overboard anyway. You'll find some good recipes over in the DIY forum, plus links to others. I don't know where to tell you to look for flavors. I buy mine at Flavor Apprentice; I have no idea if they ship international. You want to be careful about it, though, oil based food flavors are inappropriate for vaping. Don't forget many vapers like unflavored as well.

I suggest you start simple: pick a flavor you like by itself, and maybe add some sweetener. I find a 1 or 2% kicker of mint-- I use peppermint-- adds some zing to single fruit flavors. That sort of thing. I also like spices; cinnamon, clove and peppermint. You can make your own sweetener, using the artificial sweetener sucralose mixed 10% by volume into a 50/50 base of PG and distilled water.

 

[Acer50]

Hi and Welcome to the forum,
I also DIY and a great mixing calculator I found on Google Play is the one with the picture of the penguin. It is simply called E-Liquid Calculator. If used in the simple mode it is a breeze and cannot go wrong. I have given up using Mls etc in trying to mix VG and PG as the different bases have different consistency/specific densities and syringes for my liking are not accurate. I use digital scales and weigh the liquids.

Using the above calculator here is what I get in simple mode. I do not use nic by the way. Say I want 30 mls of juice with a flavour of 8%. I use a pre made mix of 70VG and 30 PG.......I input:
Base Nicotine: 0 ( I dont want Nic)
Target Nicotine 0
Target E-Liquid Quantity 30 ml
Water % 3 ml

The calculator comes back with PG/VG 26.10 ml (I use grams)
Water 1.5ml (for this I will accept the ml reading as the specific density of water is 1:0
Flavours: 2.4 ml (I use grams) in this case as depending of what the carrier of the concentrate is as to what its specific density will be. So grams is IMHO far easier to work with. The result for me at least is satisfactory.

I find that its best if you are using a new flavour concentrate always to make a small batch first say 10 mls and record your recipe then you can multiply it out to make bigger batches if you like the result. I always steep my mixes for about a week or more depending on the flavour I select. Enjoy your journey as vaping and DIY can be a lot of fun.

Acer

 

[Beeker]

Hi and welcome to the ECF. In addition to all the great advice you've gotten here so far, I'd like to share another valuable resource that is Bill's Magic Vapor's blog | E-Cigarette Forum. Many tasty recipes on his blog and some excellent tips on maximizing efficiencies when mixing. As you become more familiar with your kit, I'm sure you'll find this and other resources as you go. Once again welcome and congratulations!

 

[HDMontana]

Welcome aboard.

HD

 

[MensRea]

Ok. BTW, before I forget, I love the screen name

For measuring, a handful of cheap plastic 10ml syringes will get you started. You'll need a juice calculator; here's the one I use. You can mix in a coffee cup with a stainless steel spoon, and store your juice in old juice bottles to get started. I make mine in borosilicate lab glass, but I mix large quantities and I have a tendency to go overboard anyway. You'll find some good recipes over in the DIY forum, plus links to others. I don't know where to tell you to look for flavors. I buy mine at Flavor Apprentice; I have no idea if they ship international. You want to be careful about it, though, oil based food flavors are inappropriate for vaping. Don't forget many vapers like unflavored as well.

I suggest you start simple: pick a flavor you like by itself, and maybe add some sweetener. I find a 1 or 2% kicker of mint-- I use peppermint-- adds some zing to single fruit flavors. That sort of thing. I also like spices; cinnamon, clove and peppermint. You can make your own sweetener, using the artificial sweetener sucralose mixed 10% by volume into a 50/50 base of PG and distilled water.

Thanks, came across the term in medico-legal text.

I do have a couple of flavors shortlisted that I will be trying out, I can get TFA flavors over here albeit with a bit of hassle. And am rounding up the syringes too, breakers sound good for mixing, will try to get a couple of them.

Was actually wondering what to do about the sweetener, it's great I can mix that too myself. Will try it out. Thanks for the tips.

 

[MensRea]

Hi and Welcome to the forum,
I also DIY and a great mixing calculator I found on Google Play is the one with the picture of the penguin. It is simply called E-Liquid Calculator. If used in the simple mode it is a breeze and cannot go wrong. I have given up using Mls etc in trying to mix VG and PG as the different bases have different consistency/specific densities and syringes for my liking are not accurate. I use digital scales and weigh the liquids.

Using the above calculator here is what I get in simple mode. I do not use nic by the way. Say I want 30 mls of juice with a flavour of 8%. I use a pre made mix of 70VG and 30 PG.......I input:
Base Nicotine: 0 ( I dont want Nic)
Target Nicotine 0
Target E-Liquid Quantity 30 ml
Water % 3 ml

The calculator comes back with PG/VG 26.10 ml (I use grams)
Water 1.5ml (for this I will accept the ml reading as the specific density of water is 1:0
Flavours: 2.4 ml (I use grams) in this case as depending of what the carrier of the concentrate is as to what its specific density will be. So grams is IMHO far easier to work with. The result for me at least is satisfactory.

I find that its best if you are using a new flavour concentrate always to make a small batch first say 10 mls and record your recipe then you can multiply it out to make bigger batches if you like the result. I always steep my mixes for about a week or more depending on the flavour I select. Enjoy your journey as vaping and DIY can be a lot of fun.

Acer

Thanks Acer for the tips. I will check that app out. And mixing by weight sounds much more easier than by volume, will sure look into it. Can you give an example of a good scale to use so as to give me an idea.

 

[MensRea]

Thanks Beeker and HD!

 

[Acer50]

Thanks Acer for the tips. I will check that app out. And mixing by weight sounds much more easier than by volume, will sure look into it. Can you give an example of a good scale to use so as to give me an idea.

Any digital kitchen scale will do or you can get more fussy and buy lab scales that give fractions of a gram.

 

[MensRea]

Any digital kitchen scale will do or you can get more fussy and buy lab scales that give fractions of a gram.

Thanks, I'll check them out.

 

[DebiK]

Welcome to ECF! I hope you will read Bills Magic Vapor blogs. His 100 drop method is great for trying new recipes. I use the EJuiceMeUp calculator for mixing juices and saving recipes. Bill has a ton of recipes and he has them saved into files for the EJuiceMeUp calculator. Good luck on your journey!