Hi, I'm an ex-smoker, been vaping for around 4 years. Trying to get into DIY now and have some questions

[Jaspurr]

I use a voopoo drag x2 with 0.15ohm coils and the DTL tank.

My go-to brands for vape juice are Coastal Clouds (menthol, lemon raspberry, mango berries) and Pacha (fuji apple, cherry limeade, green tea mint leaf). I dont like "iced" flavors or any baked goods flavors (cookies, birthday cake, cinnamon rolls, etc)

I've just barely dipped my toes into DIY and at least managed to figure out that I'm used to 70/30 pg/vg. I got 6 different flavors from flavorjungle to try, but I dont really like any of them and I'm having a hard time recreating the flavors I like. I'm also not too sure how much flavor I need to add. I've been using around 8% but idk if different flavors would need different %s.

Anyone have any good resources for flavor blends or some of the best mint/menthol/citrus/fruity flavors?

 

[bombastinator]

This is not my wheelhouse, but it is for some members. I do cheap and dirty. @Letitia is one that comes To mind off hand. There are absurd numbers of recipes. Generally they need to be really accurate for any kind of consistency. Measuring by weight is common. I got myself an electronic scale off the internet that had calibration and claimed to measure in thousandths. It was supposed to be for precious metals. don’t trust it that far, but I’ll take tenths from it. IRRC it was in the neighborhood of $10. Of course if you’ve got a triple beam scale that would work as well. They’re pricey to buy.

 

[Letitia]

I use a voopoo drag x2 with 0.15ohm coils and the DTL tank.

My go-to brands for vape juice are Coastal Clouds (menthol, lemon raspberry, mango berries) and Pacha (fuji apple, cherry limeade, green tea mint leaf). I dont like "iced" flavors or any baked goods flavors (cookies, birthday cake, cinnamon rolls, etc)

I've just barely dipped my toes into DIY and at least managed to figure out that I'm used to 70/30 pg/vg. I got 6 different flavors from flavorjungle to try, but I dont really like any of them and I'm having a hard time recreating the flavors I like. I'm also not too sure how much flavor I need to add. I've been using around 8% but idk if different flavors would need different %s.

Anyone have any good resources for flavor blends or some of the best mint/menthol/citrus/fruity flavors?

Did you mean 70pg mixes? List the flavors you have and we can help with percentages and pairings. Are you tasting the mixes fresh or after a steep? Fresh mixes are pretty pale, steeping let the flavors and base meld.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

Welcome to ECF, Jaspurr.

 

[BrotherBob]

I use a voopoo drag x2 with 0.15ohm coils and the DTL tank.

My go-to brands for vape juice are Coastal Clouds (menthol, lemon raspberry, mango berries) and Pacha (fuji apple, cherry limeade, green tea mint leaf). I dont like "iced" flavors or any baked goods flavors (cookies, birthday cake, cinnamon rolls, etc)

I've just barely dipped my toes into DIY and at least managed to figure out that I'm used to 70/30 pg/vg. I got 6 different flavors from flavorjungle to try, but I dont really like any of them and I'm having a hard time recreating the flavors I like. I'm also not too sure how much flavor I need to add. I've been using around 8% but idk if different flavors would need different %s.

Anyone have any good resources for flavor blends or some of the best mint/menthol/citrus/fruity flavors?

Welcome and glad you joined.

DIY E-Liquid

You may discuss home-making e-liquid here, but anyone attempting to follow others' advice does so at their own risk.

www.e-cigarette-forum.com

 

[Jaspurr]

This is not my wheelhouse, but it is for some members. I do cheap and dirty. @Letitia is one that comes To mind off hand. There are absurd numbers of recipes. Generally they need to be really accurate for any kind of consistency. Measuring by weight is common. I got myself an electronic scale off the internet that had calibration and claimed to measure in thousandths. It was supposed to be for precious metals. don’t trust it that far, but I’ll take tenths from it. IRRC it was in the neighborhood of $10. Of course if you’ve got a triple beam scale that would work as well. They’re pricey to buy.

I've been measuring by volume instead. I have plastic syringes that I can use for measuring sub-ml amounts with accuracy too. Would that work for mixing flavors too, or would I need a scale for that part of it?

 

[Jaspurr]

Did you mean 70pg mixes? List the flavors you have and we can help with percentages and pairings. Are you tasting the mixes fresh or after a steep? Fresh mixes are pretty pale, steeping let the flavors and base meld.

I meant 70%vg and 30%pg. I used to smoke hookah and cigars, so I like DTL and deep hits. I dont like the short intense cigarette feel of high pg blends. sorry if I was unclear.
Here are the flavors I've tried. I havent tried mixing any of them with each other yet. I've just tried them on their own: flavorjungle: {lemon juicy, ultimate mango, cherry limeade, mint, blue raspberry reloaded}, and flavorsexpress {green tea}. The only one I liked was lemon juicy. Ultimate mango and mint were okay but I didnt like any of the others on their own.
I was trying the flavors fresh, I usually just mixed them into 10-20ml so I could try them out and see if I like them. How do I let them "steep"? Do I need to do something specific for that, or is that just letting them set for a while after mixing with the base? How long do I need to let them steep?

 

[Jaspurr]

Welcome and glad you joined.

DIY E-Liquid

You may discuss home-making e-liquid here, but anyone attempting to follow others' advice does so at their own risk.

www.e-cigarette-forum.com

Thanks for the thread link. I'll look around

 

[JCinFLA]

I've been measuring by volume instead. I have plastic syringes that I can use for measuring sub-ml amounts with accuracy too. Would that work for mixing flavors too, or would I need a scale for that part of it?

Yes, you can measure by volume for DIY...by using plastic syringes of various sizes, and/or graduated cylinders, etc. You don't need to, nor have to, get a scale. Though a majority of people who DIY likely measure by weight...there are also many of us on ECF and elsewhere, who've always measured by volume and sucessfully make excellent DIY eliquids, too. Deciding whether to measure by weight, or by volume, is just a personal preference.

 

[Letitia]

I meant 70%vg and 30%pg. I used to smoke hookah and cigars, so I like DTL and deep hits. I dont like the short intense cigarette feel of high pg blends. sorry if I was unclear.
Here are the flavors I've tried. I havent tried mixing any of them with each other yet. I've just tried them on their own: flavorjungle: {lemon juicy, ultimate mango, cherry limeade, mint, blue raspberry reloaded}, and flavorsexpress {green tea}. The only one I liked was lemon juicy. Ultimate mango and mint were okay but I didnt like any of the others on their own.
I was trying the flavors fresh, I usually just mixed them into 10-20ml so I could try them out and see if I like them. How do I let them "steep"? Do I need to do something specific for that, or is that just letting them set for a while after mixing with the base? How long do I need to let them steep?

I always steep a minimum of 10 days. Straight fruits steep faster than mixes with creams, custards, cheesecake, etc. I would suggest mixing 10ml of each flavor again and taste over the course of 4 weeks and jot down what you like and dislike about each. From my experience very few flavors are good by themselves but will shine when paired with another of the the same type. For example if I want a lemon mix I'd use 2 or 3 lemons and 1-2 drops of a sweetener. Also keep the mixes out of bright light and warmer temps; just throw them in a drawer or cabinet for at least a week before even tasting. On another note don't throw them away until each has a full steep. Many will suddenly have next to no flavor but in another few days the taste comes back. DIY is a learn as you go for awhile. Nothing wrong with syringes but mixing by weight with a scale greatly reduces time and cleanup.

 

[smacuser]

This is how to diy.

 

[bombastinator]

I've been measuring by volume instead. I have plastic syringes that I can use for measuring sub-ml amounts with accuracy too. Would that work for mixing flavors too, or would I need a scale for that part of it?

You have to pay attention to meniscus then. Measuring by weight is just inherently less accurate because the laws of physics are a thing, but measuring accurately by volume is more difficult. weights of different materials are going to vary a bit by content, so there is always a bit of slop at the end, but the average person is more accurate with weight than with volume. The truly experienced, such as pro chemists, can be as accurate by volume as by weight. Or even more which is why they teach it in chemistry classes. It’s rare though. Im not that experienced. Measuring by weight works better for me and most other people who don’t do it regularly and know the tricks. At my level measuring by volume is so inaccurate it’s totally inadequate. You may be a chemist or something though. It’s a bit like parking backwards. Unless you do it at work you’ll never get to a point where it works even as well. Several times a day just isn’t several hundred times a day.

 

[Jaspurr]

You have to pay attention to meniscus then. Measuring by weight is just inherently less accurate because the laws of physics are a thing, but measuring accurately by volume is more difficult. weights of different materials are going to vary a bit by content, so there is always a bit of slop at the end, but the average person is more accurate with weight than with volume. The truly experienced, such as pro chemists, can be as accurate by volume as by weight. Or even more which is why they teach it in chemistry classes. It’s rare though. Im not that experienced. Measuring by weight works better for me and most other people who don’t do it regularly and know the tricks. At my level measuring by volume is so inaccurate it’s totally inadequate. You may be a chemist or something though. It’s a bit like parking backwards. Unless you do it at work you’ll never get to a point where it works even as well. Several times a day just isn’t several hundred times a day.

what densities do you use for everything, including flavors? and how much do you mix at one time? I've been mixing 1L of pg/vg/nic at a time, and then adding the flavors per 60ml. Either way, I'm not sure how much accuracy you really need since it would be hard for me to tell the difference between 30/70 pg/vg and 30.3/60.7 pg/vg, between 6% nic and 6.1%nic, or between 10% flavor and 10.3% flavor.
I'm also not seeing how weight could be more accurate than volume, especially since most of the ingredients (all but vg) are going to have a density of roughly 1g/ml.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

what densities do you use for everything, including flavors?

My last two or three batches have been 100 mls. of a 25 mg/ml nic with about a 80/20 PG/VG ratio. I then use that batch to procreate a flavored mix of 1 to 3 mls. with 1 to 3 concentrated flavor(s) in it. This act happens in a 10 ml bottle. While it's probably obvious that I measure in volume, I will explicitly state that eggsactly exact measurements are not a priority to me although I do have boundaries that I adhere to. Tenths of a ml or a percentage may not make much of a difference, but it's important to know when they will/might.

 

[bombastinator]

what densities do you use for everything, including flavors? and how much do you mix at one time? I've been mixing 1L of pg/vg/nic at a time, and then adding the flavors per 60ml. Either way, I'm not sure how much accuracy you really need since it would be hard for me to tell the difference between 30/70 pg/vg and 30.3/60.7 pg/vg, between 6% nic and 6.1%nic, or between 10% flavor and 10.3% flavor.
I'm also not seeing how weight could be more accurate than volume, especially since most of the ingredients (all but vg) are going to have a density of roughly 1g/ml.

Me I generally do 100ml at a time lately. The issue is the ratio between flavors. I don’t really count though. I avoid that whole thing myself by only using single favors. Those you can just do by eye. It’s the recipes where you need serious accuracy to get it right. Especially repetitively. Shops used to do it by the gallon, and that of course is going to be more accurate.

 

[bombastinator]

weight IS inherantly less accurate than volume. The problem is accurately doing the volume in the first place. The advantage of weight is the machine. As volumes get larger, the advantage gets smaller until it disappears.

One way to do it is simply mix large batches and portion them out after mixing. Then you’re sort of mixing a single flavor, so after that when it goes in the small bottle it doesn’t matter nearly as much. This only works well though if you do the same flavor time after time.

 

[ViciousPanda]

This is not my wheelhouse, but it is for some members. I do cheap and dirty. @Letitia is one that comes To mind off hand. There are absurd numbers of recipes. Generally they need to be really accurate for any kind of consistency. Measuring by weight is common. I got myself an electronic scale off the internet that had calibration and claimed to measure in thousandths. It was supposed to be for precious metals. don’t trust it that far, but I’ll take tenths from it. IRRC it was in the neighborhood of $10. Of course if you’ve got a triple beam scale that would work as well. They’re pricey to buy.

I count drops mix pretty accurate but need education on flavors

 

[bombastinator]

It’s…. Ok. A $10 jewelers scale on Amazon kinda crushes it. Get one that calibrates and calibrate it.

The big thing is no oils. Any oils. No cinnamon oil, no citrus oils, no diacetyl, etc.. “natural flavoring” is crap. “Natural” just means naturally sourced. The chemical is the same. FDA baking flavors without oils in them.

For flavorings that you aren’t sure are oil free paper chromatography can be used to test. It’s easy. You can read about it on the internet. The most technologically complicated part is a clothes pin. Ever left a piece of toilet paper half it-half out of the bowl and a few days later capillary action has gotten the entire piece wet? Even the part that never touched water? That’s how it works. It will do it for about 30 feet. Oil is lighter than water. Cinnamon and butter are generally out. You need a high ceiling. Stairwells are handy.

You cut the bands with scissors and test those. Or you just buy baking flavors that won’t break down with heat you know have no oils in them. Theres also an argument for avoiding menthol.