Making or buying e-liquid?

[Necroknight]

So I'm pretty new on the forum and pretty new to vaping, I live in Portugal and I wanted to know what's overall cheaper? Currently, I'm buying about 1 30ml bottle per week with 8mg nicotine, but it's 13€ a piece and I wanted to know if making gets cheaper. And if it does what's the material I need to buy to correctly make recipes such as the Cutwood Unicorn Milk, or a Divine Clouds Afrodite or Anubis clones, not just the ingredients tho like what material am I supposed to get to properly make such recipes.

 

[ChelsB]

DIY is definitely the way to go! I save at least 95% off of buying from the store by making my own juices. Good luck!
P.s. Do a google search of cuttwood (or any juice brand) "clone recipes" and you're likely to find a clone

 

[Necroknight]

DIY is definitely the way to go! I save at least 95% off of buying from the store by making my own juices. Good luck!
P.s. Do a google search of cuttwood (or any juice brand) "clone recipes" and you're likely to find a clone

What do I need to go DIY?
Other than the ingredients ofc

 

[ChelsB]

What do I need to go DIY?
Other than the ingredients ofc

I'm going to ask 2 people who are experts (in my opinion) at this to chime in @JCinFLA and @IDJoel would you be willing to advise?

If they aren't available, I'll give you the limited knowledge I have![emoji4]

 

[retired1]

With the TPD requirements, DIY is a bit more difficult than if you were living elsewhere, especially with a target strength of 8mg. The bureaucrats have made it all but impossible to do DIY on the cheap. And those 30ml bottles you're purchasing? TPD rules forbid that.

Max nicotine strength (including base nicotine) is 20mg. Largest bottle you can purchase is supposedly 10ml.

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. I don't know about the laws there, but I will guarantee you DIY is cheaper

 

[retired1]

Folks, Europe is under TPD which limits max nicotine strength to 20mg (including nicotine base) and can only be purchased in 10 ml bottles.

 

[dom qp]

LINK: We aren't allowed to buy nic base here...

This guy is from Belgium and had the TPD issues causing some headaches with DIY juice.

Looks like he eventually found a way to get it done. You should read through the thread.

olha a onda~~~~

 

[ChelsB]

My apologies, I failed to consider the cost difference from US prices. Although I'd be surprised if doing DIY was ever NOT cost effective no matter where one lives. That's a big part of why people do anything DIY. In addition to saving money, you can take pride in something you created! And the possibilities for creating one-of-a-kind juices that you love and no one else has ever tried is just part of the fun of DIY e-juice!

 

[Necroknight]

With the TPD requirements, DIY is a bit more difficult than if you were living elsewhere, especially with a target strength of 8mg. The bureaucrats have made it all but impossible to do DIY on the cheap. And those 30ml bottles you're purchasing? TPD rules forbid that.

Max nicotine strength (including base nicotine) is 20mg. Largest bottle you can purchase is supposedly 10ml.

My usual vapeshop has only 0mg liquids and they mix the nicotine themselves, I don't know if that makes it legal or if it's still illegal, but that's how I've been purchasing.

 

[retired1]

0mg e-liquid is exempt from TPD rules. However, the second nicotine is added, the max size they're legally allowed to sell is 10 ml.

 

[Necroknight]

0mg e-liquid is exempt from TPD rules. However, the second nicotine is added, the max size they're legally allowed to sell is 10 ml.

I see so technically they're illegally selling me the 30ml bottles, but going back to DIY if I buy all the ingredients including nicotine bases on the legal sizes I should be able to make everything legally as long as I don't sell it right? Also taking in the thought that Portuguese laws on drugs(including nicotine) are pretty lenient overall and I think(not sure though) Portugal hasn't completely adhered to the TPD.

 

[retired1]

If there's a will, there's a way. You could try importing larger bottles of nicotine base in strengths stronger than 20mg. Not sure how effective your customs folks are, but if prohibited stuff tends to make it through via the postal service there, it's definitely a thought.

After that, it's just a matter of obtaining your PG, VG and flavorings, which are all kosher under the TPD rules.

 

[Necroknight]

If there's a will, there's a way. You could try importing larger bottles of nicotine base in strengths stronger than 20mg. Not sure how effective your customs folks are, but if prohibited stuff tends to make it through via the postal service there, it's definitely a thought.

After that, it's just a matter of obtaining your PG, VG and flavorings, which are all kosher under the TPD rules.

I'll give that a try since the way things usually work in Portugal is that it's usually illegal to sell but not to buy, and even if it is usually the product gets confiscated and the seller takes on the rest of the consequences. I have some experience with such from getting caught buying marijuana several times, and only the seller got any real consequences. And I expect from my experience of getting caught possessing marijuana as long as I don't carry too much nicotine out in public it should be fine. Of course, I know marijuana is different since it falls under drugs and not tobacco products but I expect it to be similar since as I said Portuguese laws are lenient so most things fall under a gray area making things legal or illegal depending on the police, and judges who process the cases.

 

[retired1]

Let's be careful with the drug references. It's not permitted on ECF in any shape or form.

Why we don't allow drug talk

 

[Marie Miguel]

Let's be careful with the drug references. It's not permitted on ECF in any shape or form.

Why we don't allow drug talk

Noted!

 

[Necroknight]

Let's be careful with the drug references. It's not permitted on ECF in any shape or form.

Why we don't allow drug talk

I did not know, should've read that before so I'm sorry, but I just used that as an example of how laws are here, to exemplify how it can be similar with the TPD

 

[stols001]

Well I think DIY is cheaper almost anywhere. I'd imagine you can get many of the base materials IN your country, such as VG (vegetable glycerine) and PG (poly glycol) you want USP grade for both of those. Flavorings you can purchase separately, and if your favored e-juice doesn't sell flavors (some experienced DIY folks can help you here, probably) that are identical to yours, you can probably mimic them. Then you need some nicotine, which would be the main thing you'd need to import, I think, you may wish to start with one vendor and a small amount, I use Nicotine River as my supplier and I really liked them... You're going to want to check that a supplier will send to your country. Buy NO STRONGER than 100 mg/ml, as anything over that is a bit toxic, and you might even want to start lower, like 48 mg/ml or 60 mg/ml. If you like your results, you can then order a larger quantity of nicotine. You'll need a few bottles, beakers, whatnot, I wear gloves and mask but it's not really necessary with the 100 mg/ml I use, I just like to be cautious. Then you'll need a juice calculator which is actually very easy... You plug in the numbers after indicating how much e-juice you want to make and what PG/VG mix, as well as nic and flavorings. The DIY forum is a good place to start (it's a subforum of the general e-liquid forum).

Best of luck!

Anna

 

[Gramdogg]

Shop here has a sale once in awhile that their 24mg juice is cheaper then buying the equivalent amount of just 50mg nicotine so I get a flavour that my base is getting old or a candy or menthol to add a hint of flavour with my nicotine. You could buy everything but nicotine and just find the cheapest 20mg 10ml you can and cut it to 8mg with added VG/PG/Flavour.

 

[bwh79]

0mg e-liquid is exempt from TPD rules. However, the second nicotine is added, the max size they're legally allowed to sell is 10 ml.

I thought it only covered finished products, and that nic concentrate for DIY was not contained under that umbrella? Can you not buy liters of 72mg (that used to be the strength limit, and I'm not sure what/if there was a size limitation) over there, anymore?