Mixing E liquid

[Jack Zanziber]

Hey all. New to this forum but not too new to vaping. I want to start mixing my own liquid so I can make different strength nicotine and flavor for different points of the day. If I'm sitting on the couch vaping away I need low mg, but when I'm out of the house I like having a high mg so I don't have to puff away at it. Also I find a lot of the flavors really weak.


Curious about the cost difference between buying pre mixed or all the ingredients.

 

[Running Wolf]

I'm going to be looking into the cost balance as well. Thing is though for DIY there will be in initial cost but it should balance out to cheaper over the long haul. The real cost for mixing is the nicotine (flavorless) juice to use as a base.

 

[Boodle]

Hey welcome Jack. You'll read about how much you can save making your own juice. I bought into that story. I spend much more on DIYing than I spent (and still spend) on commercial juices. I consider it an expensive hobby. But gosh, it's fun. The guest room is now "the lab". The DIY section is full of helpful, wonderful people. If you're happy with just a few flavors and hit them early on you really can save money. It's about $300 for gear and staples to get started. Then the flavor chasing begins. Good times

 

[Jack Zanziber]

what all supplies are needed for mixing?

 

[mynameisrob]

I got all my DIY stuff from BlueMist vapor. They have everything youll need and I only spend about $70.

Youll need unflavored nic juice.
Bottle of PG
Bottle of VG
bottles of flavors

Then its also good to have a few different size syringes and some pipettes for measuring. Some people just use dropper bottles but syringes are much more accurate. And thats important, especially with nic juice.

Nic juice is NO JOKE so make sure your very careful. It will absorb through your skin if you get it on you and it can make you feel like crap If your buying a high mg/ml nicotine and cutting it down I really suggest using a syringe. Its very important to be accurate with nicotine.
Make sure you read the DIY stickies and ask any questions you have. DIY is fun, but can be dangerous if you dont know what your doing.
I got a 120ml bottle of 60mg/ml but they also sell 100mg/ml and 36mg/ml, and in 60ml ,120ml, and I think 240ml bottle. I got it in a PG base bc I make juices around 70%90%-PG.

You can get 120ml bottles of PG and VG for $4 each. Thats one of the cheaper prices Ive found for PG and VG.

Then buy a bunch of 3ml DIY flavors that youd like.

There are many other vendors that sell DIY stuff and flavors too. I just found BlueMist was very affordable to get the stuff you need to get started. Then buy flavors from the many different places. Like others said, thats where it can get expensive.

Also you will need to get some empty dropper bottles to mix in. I would get the smaller ones to start. DOnt make bigger batches unless youve already made the juice and know you like it. I would get either the 3ml or 6ml empty bottles.


Also then you need to download a juice calculator. I use the E-Juice Me Up calculator and it works very well. You can download it for free.
Make sure you double check all the inputs and take notes. You will put in everything on the calculator and it will tell you how many ml of each part are needed to make the juice. You put in the mg/ml your nic juice is, then what mg/ml you want the DIY juice to be at, as well as how many ml the final product will be. Youll also put in what PG/VG ratio you want it to be and what % of flavorings you want. It will then show you each part to make the juice, and exactly how much of each. It makes it very easy.

That would give you the basic essentials to get you going. You can also get sweeteners, menthol drops, menthol crystals, liquid that makes juice feel cool on the exhale, etc but all that stuff isnt nessesary. Some of the stuff can make juices better or give it alittle kick, but they have to be used in the correct amounts or they can make juices much worse.


Also make sure the flavorings you get are not oil based. You want to get water soluble flavorings. Also most flavorings are mostly PG but not all. So make sure you find that out. Some flavors are not PG or VG based. BlueMists flavors are not PG or VG based. The calculator will allow you to put what the base of each flavor is or if its neither PG or VG. That is important bc that will affect how much PG and VG need to be added to get your desired PG/VG ratio

Sorry this is kind of all over the place. I kept thinking of different things to add ,but i hope it helps.

Goodluck!

 

[Boodle]

Here's a peek into the wonderful world of DIY with lists for getting started. DIY E-Liquid

Take safety seriously and write everything down ... Even if you add a drop of flavor, put it in your chemist's notebook. You'll be glad you did when you hit a winner and want to re-create it. Those are the best tips I learned from the pro DIYers.

 

[cyberwolf]

It all depends on how many flavors you want to want to try. The flavorings don't cost much per bottle, but when you end up with dozens of flavors, you have made a pretty decent investment. Once you have them, though, DIY is pretty cheap. I figure it works out to less than $3 for a 30ml bottle. Shop around for the best pricing on NIC, PG, VG and flavoring. They won't necessarily be all at the same place.

 

[RedZone]

What mynameisrob said, and Double the "Nic juice is NO JOKE"..
Even starting with lower concentrations eg; 50mg, in volume it is very poisonous to kids, pets. etc.... (Yourself!)
Also, you really need a dedicated, sanitary area of the house. Remember you are ingesting this stuff! Though the liquid is vaporized and most foreign born bacteria is most likely burnt off, you are inhaling whatever leaches into the eLiquid.

I would start with your strongest mg NIC you use, and learn how to dilute it to the lower strengths you desire. Once you get the hang of mixing, then if you feel comfortable that you can follow the recipe's, look into more concentrated NIC.
Also, purchase some NIC measurement test strips, so you can verify you are mixing the strength you targeted.

This really shouldn't be discussed in the New Members area though, as there is a dedicated forum to DIY.

 

[dormouse]

And up one level from DIY is the section of ECF with DIY recipes.

Both OneStopDIYShop and DIYFlavorShack sell DIY kits and if you want to make high PG juices I recommend PG for both the nicotine and the base liquid and buy some VG separately. Of you could get PG for the nic and Vg for the base and buy more PG separately. Because with just the kit and PG nic and VG base you can't make high PG juices - since the nic is probably 48mg, to make even a 24mg juice you would have to cut the nic 50/50 with VG if that was the only base you had.
.
And the guide the DIY section of ECF lists lots of flavoring sources and Flavourart probably has the most tobacco flavors, and Perfumer's Apprentice's own site has all of their own flavorings (mainly non-tobaccos) at great prices with low shipping.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Curious about the cost difference between buying pre mixed or all the ingredients.

30 ml X 20 mg is costing me $2.00 so DIY is the way to go. And yes I also have a small amount of 25 mg for stressful times and some 10 mg for the evenings and first thing in the a.m.

 

[Maximillian]

Heyas Jack Zanziber,

+1 for One Stop DIY Shop. They are my all time favorite vendor in the vaping world. My first order to them was on a saturday morning. I had ordered a crapload of small bottles of flavorings, amongst various other diy items, and two of the flavors I ordered were out of stock. Mind you, it said on their website they were out of stock on those two flavors, but in my buying frenzy, I overlooked that and ordered them anyways. They called me less than two hours after I'd placed the order (still on a saturday mind you), asked if they could substitute some like flavors for the two they were out of stock on, and when I said yes, they had shipped the order, and got me a tracking# that worked within another couple of hours. I had my order in my grubby little paws on monday morning.

On top of that, they have great prices. Needless to say, I order all my diy stuff from them now.



Maximillian the Vaguely Disreputable

 

[laks]

Looks like a pretty solid site, prices seem pretty standard and the selection is somewhat small, but if their reliable that always a plus.