It seems too simple- am I missing something?

[Jason McRoy]

Hello everyone!

I want to take the plunge into DIY liquid. I have been reading through the forums for the last 3 days, I downloaded one of the calculators and did a test regarding what I would want to mix. At the moment I am only looking at using one flavor as my dry run and to test it all out. I am not ready for multiple flavors.

After all my reading this is what I came up with that I need to buy to make a 24mg 80/20 mix with some flavor I have not decided on.

Let's say I order everything from Wizard Labs (which is like 30 miles from me so should arrive fast!). What I see that I need to buy is:

120ml bottle of 48mg nicotine solution in a PG base, 120ml bottle of PG, 120ml bottle of VG and 8ml bottle of one of the concentrated flavor solutions.

Aside from the mixing tools (syringes, measuring utensils, bottles, etc.) does the above look correct?

I punched in all the numbers on the calculator I downloaded (E-juice Calculator V13 from one of the other threads) and it easily shows what ml of each of the above solutions to mix together to make my mix.

It seems too easy to me and maybe I am missing something even after looking through all the forums.

-Jason

 

[salemgold]

It looks right to me. It really is just as simple as that

Good luck to you.

 

[Jason McRoy]

Wow, how cool is that? Per the calculator that would come to $7.73 for a 30ml bottle of the mix. My local vendor (who makes his own) is selling for $25.00 for 30ml! Incredible!

I am on board! Since I already have a lot of the measuring items around the house and even some glass bottles from an old art supply kit that have never been used I could get started with this for so much less than what I can buy already mixed.

I have seen people say it's cheaper a number of times but I never really did the math to see just how much cheaper it is.

To anyone that has experience with this, what is the average length of time a 120ml bottle of each of the items (except flavoring) usually lasts? I would be making two different batches, one for me and one for my wife. I am considering ordering the 250ml bottles but I don't want to get a lot more than what would last me for a while.

Thanks

-Jason

 

[juicejunky]

My DYI experience so far is just dropping menthol drops in my 80/20 15mg homemade base, but I'll just say

at 80/20 you will need to know how much total eliquid you and your wife vape per week. ~50% of that amount will be the 48mg nicotine liquid, 30% will be plain PG, and 20% will be plain VG. Not accounting for flavors at all but that should be close enough to see how fast you will use it up.


I wouldn't over order until you are happy with your mixtures. You can always order more.

 

[Jason McRoy]

My DYI experience so far is just dropping menthol drops in my 80/20 15mg homemade base, but I'll just say

at 80/20 you will need to know how much total eliquid you and your wife vape per week. ~50% of that amount will be the 48mg nicotine liquid, 30% will be plain PG, and 20% will be plain VG. Not accounting for flavors at all but that should be close enough to see how fast you will use it up.

Ok. That is something I haven't figured out for myself yet to be honest. I have not really paid much attention to how much I go through in a week. I have some juice on order and it should arrive today or Monday. I actually plan to only use that bottle and one tank all next week so I can gauge that for myself. I already know that my wife is going to use a lot less than me. Her ego battery will last her a day and a half she vapes so little. She was not a heavy smoker anyway so I expected it. I am also going to make her juice with less nicotine in it than mine. Probably 18mg to start with. I was a heavy smoker and I have been using 18mg so far but I feel like I need more mg. The juice coming to me this week is 24mg so I want to see how I do with that vs the cigarette cravings.

Thanks

-Jason

 

[markfm]

Catch some sales and you can blend good quality eliquid, high flavor, 24 mg, at around $3/30. Even early in I was running $4 an ounce, including bottles, s&h, etc.

 

[wseyller]

It is easy. The only hard part is the flavor. How much to use by making a small batch and testing it out. Also where to buy what flavoring. For example I bought some cheesecake flavor that taste like perfume and then I bought some from another supplier that taste like cheesecake. And it is wise not to mix multiple flavors until you test them individually so that you get an idea of what your dealing with.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jason McRoy]

Catch some sales and you can blend good quality eliquid, high flavor, 24 mg, at around $3/30. Even early in I was running $4 an ounce, including bottles, s&h, etc.

Thanks, I will keep that in mind. I was shocked at how much cheaper Wizard Labs was compared to a few other places so I will look around.

 

[Jason McRoy]

It is easy. The only hard part is the flavor. How much to use by making a small batch and testing it out. Also where to buy what flavoring. For example I bought some cheesecake flavor that taste like perfume and then I bought some from another supplier that taste like cheesecake. And it is wise not to mix multiple flavors until you test them individually so that you get an idea of what your dealing with.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

I was actually wondering about the flavor. There seemed to be a lot of different opinions and viewpoints on what % of flavor to use of different flavorings from different vendors. I figured I would investigate that area of the process a little more closely before making my first batch. The other aspects seem pretty cut and dry regarding procedure.

-Jason

 

[Spazmelda]

I don't know if you are planning on just ordering 1 flavor (couldn't tell from what you posted), but I'd definitely get more. You never know what you are going to like or hate.

It is pretty darn easy, especially if you understand the calculators and are decently okay at measuring.

There was something else I was going to say. What was it? Oh yeah, as far as how much you vape... If you have an idea of how much your tank holds (use a syringe to fill it, noting starting mls and how many mls are left in the syringe when the tank is full, and if you know about how many times you fill the tank in a day (or how many hours it takes to go through a full tank) this will give you a good estimate of mls/day.

 

[Jason McRoy]

I don't know if you are planning on just ordering 1 flavor (couldn't tell from what you posted), but I'd definitely get more. You never know what you are going to like or hate.

It is pretty darn easy, especially if you understand the calculators and are decently okay at measuring.

There was something else I was going to say. What was it? Oh yeah, as far as how much you vape... If you have an idea of how much your tank holds (use a syringe to fill it, noting starting mls and how many mls are left in the syringe when the tank is full, and if you know about how many times you fill the tank in a day (or how many hours it takes to go through a full tank) this will give you a good estimate of mls/day.

I had originally thought about one flavor or two as I need to get a flavor for my wife. I was looking for a flavor that I already know I like. However, the flavors are so cheap, and you make a good point, I should get several flavors to try out.

On the ml per day, luckily I bought a Vivi Nova tank last week that I absolutely love so figuring out how much I am vaping should be super easy. The problem before is that I was using cartos and I have 3 different flavors that I was going back and forth with. The only real indicator was how much liquid I had left in the bottle. I eventually lost track! lol

It seems like I am using quite a bit more than I thought I would be though. 3 weeks ago I bought 2 30ml bottles. One was Desert Ship and one was the local vendor's "original" flavor. I just ran out of both yesterday. However, I bought 2 other flavors since then and I have used those off and on so it's hard to tell how much of each.

It will be easier just using the tank amount and seeing how long that lasts me. It's only important to me so that I know how much I should be buying each week and not going crazy and buying too much that I don't need but avoiding not buying enough as well. A bit of a balancing act! Money is a consideration at the moment so I have to be careful.

Thanks!

-Jason

 

[Lyndagayle]

You should get some ethyl maltol for sure. Many of us use it in all of our mixes. You can get the crystals and mix it yourself or get TPA cotton candy flavor, which is already mixed and ready to use. If you mix your own, the recipe is 1/4 tsp. EM with 10 ml PG. Soak it in a hot water bath and shake the crap out of it until all the crystals dissolve. I think EM is a must have in every DIY arsenal.

 

[wseyller]

You should get some ethyl maltol for sure. Many of us use it in all of our mixes. You can get the crystals and mix it yourself or get TPA cotton candy flavor, which is already mixed and ready to use. If you mix your own, the recipe is 1/4 tsp. EM with 10 ml PG. Soak it in a hot water bath and shake the crap out of it until all the crystals dissolve. I think EM is a must have in every DIY arsenal.

Im still new to diy myself but I bought tpa cotton candy and I cant taste any sweetness. I assumed at first I just need a couple drops in some small batches. I ended making juice with only cotton candy 30% and I still can't taste anything. Im confused. I bought loranns cotton candy and I can taste the sweetness now but it is weak so I have to use alot more than I expected.

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[Northernshrink]

I beleive most use anywhere between 10 to 20 % flavour personaly I use 16%. Get yourself an e-juice calculator app I use the one for I phone lets me punch in how much I want to make and tells me ratios. Once you input your mix PG/VG water etc its so simple.

 

[salemgold]

Wow, how cool is that? Per the calculator that would come to $7.73 for a 30ml bottle of the mix. My local vendor (who makes his own) is selling for $25.00 for 30ml! Incredible!

I am on board! Since I already have a lot of the measuring items around the house and even some glass bottles from an old art supply kit that have never been used I could get started with this for so much less than what I can buy already mixed.

I have seen people say it's cheaper a number of times but I never really did the math to see just how much cheaper it is.

To anyone that has experience with this, what is the average length of time a 120ml bottle of each of the items (except flavoring) usually lasts? I would be making two different batches, one for me and one for my wife. I am considering ordering the 250ml bottles but I don't want to get a lot more than what would last me for a while.

Thanks

-Jason

As far as the nicotine goes, I stock up well when it is on sale. It holds up very well in the freezer.
I also stay well stocked on my PG amd VG their shelf life is said to be 2 years and I have never had a problem.

You may want to wait until you find flavors that You like to stock up on those. I always stock up during good sales.

Btw- you may want to try a small bottle of cotton candy flavoring (same as ethyl malitol) to make sure that you like it. I do not care much for it at all. Tastes very chemical to me.

 

[Jason McRoy]

I will read up on the ethyl malitol. It sounds like this is a sweetener of some kind? I actually haven't liked some of the juice that tastes overly sweet at this time. That may change, but at the moment I am enjoying the ones that are more subdued in sweetness.

Thanks for everyone's advice! Anything else to add, please go ahead. I am a total beginner on this.

-Jason

 

[Xaiver]

MyFreedomSmokes was having a sale on Nic on the 12th, 25% off. Not sure if it's still running or not though.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/pay-forward-pif/85781-deals-steals-814.html#post6366475

 

[sidetrack]

Easy? Yes and no. Can you make a boxed cake, more than likely. Now try to make a cake from scratch with no recipe..a bit more challenging. Keep in mind that most of the vendor flavors have more than one flavor in them and that's where the difficult part comes in. How much of what. Most people find the more complex a flavor is the better they like it. Check out the DIY recipe thread and I think you will find most of the recipes consist of 3-4 flavors. Luckily there have been many before you and they were kind enough to share their successes. DIY is like looking through a cookbook without pictures and trying to decide which recipe to try. I don't like curry so I would never make a recipe with curry in it. Figure out what flavors you think you and wifey might like then match those with a few recipes that sound good. No guarantee but you should at least come up with something vapeable. My first recipe was strawberries and cream 10% strawberry and 10% Bavarian cream and I still vape that to this day. Don't expect every mix to be a keeper and always mix small quantities(3ml) the first time without the nicotine to save $$. Good luck!

 

[Hoosier]

I will read up on the ethyl malitol. It sounds like this is a sweetener of some kind?
-Jason

You might want to read my blogs. I have one that covers EM fairly well. It's not what most non-users think it is and is an important tool in a number of the mixer's toolboxes here.

 

[Jason McRoy]

You might want to read my blogs. I have one that covers EM fairly well. It's not what most non-users think it is and is an important tool in a number of the mixer's toolboxes here.

That would be helpful. Can you post the link to the particular blog post of which you speak? I went to the blog but couldn't find it. No matter what I put in the search box it comes back with no results.

Thanks

-Jason