My DYI Journey

[MarshallMoore]

My journey started I believe in 2014 I believe. Lucky for me I had a little money to spend once in while. I looked into learning how to make my own. At that time I would buy, I think at least 75 dollars worth of flavorings per order to avoid paying extra for shipping. I did this many times over 2-3 years. I bought many flavorings that to this day I have not come up with a recipe that I liked. I have found out several I do like. There is maybe 6 I make consistently in a rotation, if I feel like it, I will make the same thing back to back, there is no preplan. Today I make a recipe I use a scale and mix by grams. I usually make either 180 grams or 210 gr. My investment over those early years was between 1 and 2 thousand. Exclusively on flavorings. I still have some I bought believing I may find the right recipe one day to use them. I learned fairly quickly that if I knew what to look for I could buy (good for vaping) PG and VG by the gallon on Amazon for 25 (+-). I usually buy my nicotine 1 liter 100mg (50/50) pg/vg. It sold for $50 now it is around $65. With that much PG, VG, nicotine, and the right flavorings to make 3,4, or 6 recipes I liked. I could go 2 years maybe a little longer without spending more on these types of supplies. Assuming (it's not the case in reality) that everything was purchased at the same time. I can make my juice to the specs I like. I once in a while price premade ejuice online. I am pretty sure (guessing) theirs may taste better but I am happy with mine. Where they want 20 bucks for 120 ml plus shipping I am happy with mine. I do not know how to calculate the cost of mine. I will take a guess 120 ml for $2.

Today, I am so glad that I spent that money when I could back then.

 

[Strangebrew2]

Glad you posted a similar vape mixing experience as mine. Been mixing since 2012. Currently an ml. runs round about .022 (cents). Flavoring is the most costly ingredient, yet my preference doesn't exceed three percent.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

I DIY too. I've been vaping for about 6 years and 3 months, I got into DIY soon after starting. I've spent less than a $1000 so far..

 

[vaper1960]

This should be on the DIY sub-forum ( @classwife can help with that)
I spent many many hours working on a project (and got a lot of criticism about it because it's based on research and not my own experience) but I made it to help others. Please read through the thread and hopefull it might help with flavor/brand choices):
Well-reviewed Flavor Concentrates

 

[classwife]

Moved to DIY E-Liquid from General E-Liquid Discussion
(with a 3 day re-direct)

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Luckily I'm a simple vaper and I like it that way. So far all I have ever DIYed are peppermint (FA) and Black Licorice (FW). Both are simple, one flavor juices and I love them. All I had to do was mess around with the flavor percentage until I got it right.

I have a couple other flavors I plant to mix as single flavors, but right now I'm actually consumed by the black licorice at 1.75% flavor & 50%VG (because 1.5% was a little too weak and 2% was a bit too much for me). I know not everyone likes that taste of black licorice , but I LOVE it (and that's an understatement lol). I think I'm going to try to "mentholate" it at some point. But for now, I'm good.

And don't bet on bottled eliquid tasting any better than what you have. I've gotten some stuff in the past that wasn't fit to smell let alone vape.

 

[zoiDman]

You can probably could on Less than Two Hands the number of Bottles of Retail e-Liquid I have bought since 2012.

I got into DIY during My 1st Year because I couldn't find e-Liquids that were Strong Enough or Sweet enough. Really went Gung Ho DIY-wise the first couple of Years. Perfected a Lot of Recipes. Thru out my fair share Also.

Today, I mainly Vape Unflavored or Unflavored with Flavored Wicks.

I really Haven't spent much on DIY in the Last 5 Years. Just VG and some PG. With an Occasional Liter of Nicotine Base just for Fun.

 

[MarshallMoore]

I have been using eJuicemeup calculator for years. If there is a better one let me know. It is old. I have used this for years and I got annoyed having to enter the weights every time. After all these years of thinking "They needed to make this program so it will remember these numbers so I wouldn't have to re-enter them every time". I finally read about 3 weeks ago how to make that happen. I have a computer degree and for years I didn't see it. So simple. If you have this problem the solution is open the program. It should open a file called default.dft. Enter the weights and save as default.dft. After that it will open with the weights already entered. You people may have known this forever. It took me 6 or 7 years to figure it out.

 

[MarshallMoore]

Luckily I'm a simple vaper and I like it that way. So far all I have ever DIYed are peppermint (FA) and Black Licorice (FW). Both are simple, one flavor juices and I love them. All I had to do was mess around with the flavor percentage until I got it right.

I have a couple other flavors I plant to mix as single flavors, but right now I'm actually consumed by the black licorice at 1.75% flavor & 50%VG (because 1.5% was a little too weak and 2% was a bit too much for me). I know not everyone likes that taste of black licorice , but I LOVE it (and that's an understatement lol). I think I'm going to try to "mentholate" it at some point. But for now, I'm good.

And don't bet on bottled eliquid tasting any better than what you have. I've gotten some stuff in the past that wasn't fit to smell let alone vape.

Good point I just assumed they know more than I do. I feel the same way. I have some recipes I am happy with. So I am going to stick with them. I do remember way back when I started I bought juice online and I really didn't think there was anything special about it. Food for thought I buy exclusively online. It was time for me to buy more hardware and I did. I have noticed a significant push online for juice. I bet there is more profit in juice than hardware. I bet they would rather sell me a $20 bottle of juice than a $100 worth of hardware.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Yes, as with any matured & saturated market, the real profit is in the consumables & accessories & parts.

I never bought a commercial juice that I actually liked and was consistent from bottle to bottle, except when I started buying heartlandvapes house brand ejuice, then I bought in bulk for years. Their juices appear to be simple, one-flavor juices for the most part and the price is right. You can get a liter for the same price as 3 or 4 small bottles of designer juices.

But now I diy, no need for that anymore. I wish I had done it sooner. I only started this year.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

I have been using eJuicemeup calculator for years.

Some one here turned me on to that program and I've been using it for at least 5 years now. Most of my 'recipes' have only one or two flavors. Sometimes I've used three. I vape unflavored eliq also, in which I don't need to use that program at all. I was down to about 50 ml of pre-mix base, so I dug down into the bottom of the freezer in the laundry room intending to put a liter of 100 mg/ml to use. That program would really be useful for calculating the amount of PG & VG I'd have to add to the base. Instead I found a 125 ml bottle of pre-mix base, so now that I have about 175 mls of pre-mix to go thru, that liter of 100 mg/ml gets to sleep for another 6 months or so.