I DIYed for the first time

[Mr. Orange]

This will be a long post but it may be helpful for other first timers and I would like veterans to let me know if I made any glaring mistakes, safety issues.

I purchased from ecig express, amazon and a local retailer(for distilled water only)
From Amazon I got 3-10ml glass graduated cylinders, 1-5ml glass graduated cylinder and 100 3ml pipettes.
From ecig express I got 20-30ml dropper bottles, 1 package of menthol crystals, 1L of vg, 1L of 24mg vg, and 9 10ml bottles of Nature's Flavors the organic ones(Black Cherry, Blueberry, Chocolate Mint, Cranberry, French Vanilla, Key Lime, Maraschino Cherry, Orange, Raspberry)

I use ego style batteries and had some little boge cartomizers that I took the filler out of to drip into to test the mixes(3-4 drops at at time)

I mixed up most of the flavors at 12mg/ml and 2% flavoring the basic recipe was 5ml of the vg with nic, 4.3ml vg, .2ml flavoring, and .5ml H2O.

I then shook the piss out of them and tried them out most of them were quite good just like that the exceptions are as follows
Blueberry I made at just 1% because of how strong it smelled and some reading on here
Orange required a TON of shaking and I let it sit for 2 days before it would stay mixed up
Maraschino Cherry was weak at 2% so bumped it up to 4% and was very good
Chocolate Mint was also weak so again bumped to 4% and quite tasty
I didn't care for the cranberry solo but added 1% raspberry and was good

I haven't used any of the menthol yet mostly because I'm not quite sure on the process yet and partly because I ran out of time and concentration to do it.

Thanks for reading
Any pointers, comments, or questions are appreciated

 

[zoiDman]

...
Any pointers, comments, or questions are appreciated

Sounds like you are Doing Fine.

My Biggest Suggestion to Anyone who is New to DIY is to...

KEEP DETAILED AND ACCURATE RECORDS.

 

[Mr. Orange]

Thanks I have a notebook with all of this written down, a good suggestion

 

[zoiDman]

Thanks I have a notebook with all of this written down, a good suggestion

The Absolute WORSE thing that can Happen is to Do Multiple Tweaks on a Multi-Flavored Recipe and get it Perfect. But then Not Be Able to make it again because you Can't Remember Exactly what you Added.

Another thing I would Mention is Don't get too Hung Up trying to make Tiny 5ml Batches with Microscopic levels of Flavorings.

DIY is Cheap, If it doesn't Work, Toss It. Always make 15ml Batches or Larger.

 

[Mr. Orange]

I was making 10ml because the math is easy, but your right about 5ml batches, would be a real pain especially with all vg it is so thick

 

[Ld3441]

I don't know about Nature's flavors but most chocolates need steep time. Check it again in a couple of weeks and see if the flavor has changed. Looks like you had a good first go at it. Congrats!

 

[Mr. Orange]

It was good at 4%, how do I know if or how long to steep a flavor, I am very unclear about that. I understand the basic idea that the molecules need to disperse in the mix but almost all(only 9) that I tried were good right away. Will I be overwhelmed in a week by them?

 

[Ld3441]

Usually tobacco, chocolates and creams/vanillas need steep time. How much time varies. It's a good idea to taste when mixed and again in a couple of weeks then again in a couple of more weeks to note the difference. Some flavors mellow out when steeped and others get stronger. This is where note taking is a good thing. Good luck!

 

[Stosh]

You're doing fine, and with 10 mL trial batches that are vapeable...about 40 mL of stock to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor...

Menthol is simple, mix the crystals with some PGA or vodka, as much crystals as you can fit into a 5 mL bottle with enough vodka to fill the bottle. Shake until fully dissolved and use the concentrate two or three drops at a time for a 10 mL bottle, test the taste and add more as necessary.

 

[Mr. Orange]

Do you crush the crystals or leave them whole? I thought that I read that somewhere, or would that just help dissolve them quicker?

 

[Stosh]

I crush them a bit just to get them dissolving easier. Didn't do it once and had to let it sit overnight to fully dissolve, so if you're willing to wait....no difference...