My first batch.

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jco514

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Feb 7, 2014
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Okay guys. Tonight's the night. My DIY vape mail arrived from MBV. When I get off work I'm going to give my first shot at DIY. I'm going to be doing 100% VG juice with two flavors, Dragonfruit and kiwi. I also bought some sweetener just incase! It'll be a small, dark glass bottle, roughly 15 ml. I've watched and read tutorials and I have my juice calculator ready to go. What tips can you guys give me?

Wish me luck!
 

jco514

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Feb 7, 2014
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Chicago
Don't be nervous, take your time. Don't sweat if you are off by a little bit. You will get better with practice.

No kids, dogs, cats or other distractions. Doesn't hurt to use a cake pan or cookie sheet in case you knock something over.

Thanks! I've read that if you're using 100% VG you should mix in a little diluted water, does it help the juice wick more efficiently?
 

we2rcool

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VG is typically diluted (10%-20% distilled water works great). VG mixes take longer for everything to mix/steep...so whatever you taste initially, may change (likely get stronger).

And this (!) -

from here, Post #413: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/268760-diy-master-techniques-flavor-add-ons-em-vw-bw-mts-acv-ect-11.html (btw, EM/cotton candy also diminishes/mutes flavor - and can dull taste buds).

As far as I can recall, I was the one who tested lemon juice and the effects it had on fruit flavors. At the time I was also using sucralose (ezsweets) in fruit/bakery flavors. I also tested distilled vinegar (not acv, I dont use it) on tobaccos.

What I found with fruit and bakery vapes is they were great initally with the additives, for about two days. Then on day 3 like clockwork the sharpness/crispness of the flavor was just... plain... gone. It never rebounded either. It just continued decline. So I started testing the same juices with lemon juice and sucralose separately. Trying to find the culprit. The result in my tests was that they BOTH decrease flavor output of ejuice. While they help initally boost and sweeten flavor, within a few days, they both cause ejuice to simply go flat. While its a more dramatic example, I feel the same way about ejuice with lemon or sucralose as I do about flat soda pop. Its just lackluster.

This occured in both high VG bases at 80% and high PG bases at 80%. I tested both because I didnt want people calling me out saying VG mutes flavor, which to this day I refute as utter nonsense.

I no longer use either in any of my mixing. I have found that using fruit flavors with alcohol bases provide more than enuff sweetening o. their own if they are steeped for 48-72 hours, and it helps that I use 80%VG in my juice.

As far as tobaccos go I also agree vinegar that after a few days it can flatten flavors over time. However!!! As I vape mostly tobacco ejuices I still add 1 drop/5ml of distilled white vinegar to my vapes. To counter the flattening I adjust by adding slightly more flavoring. About .5% to 1% more flavoring in a final mix. In my experience this counters the effect of flavor flattening with DV and allows mostly all tobacco vapes to round out immediately. (note: i also heat steep my juices at a constant 150° in a water bath in a crock pot for four hours after mixing and have found it it adds about 2 weeks to the aging process of ejuice). At the 2 weeks mark (in my case then this is 4 hours after mixing), all of your tobacco flavors will have a spike in flavor and will stay there, but only round more given time. Giving you a spiked up flavor but still rounded body to your vape. I found apple cider vinegar made bad and good juuces worse with no spike at all, but to be fair I barely ever tested acv.

All of my vapes... yes read that as ALL... are primed and full bodied in four hours. Period. Ultrasonic isnt the answer either. Hand shaking is enuff for juice. Heat allows flavor dissipation and release FAR FAR better.

Alot of what I do flys in the face of common and well "documented" processes others use like ultrasonic steeping tho. (if it works for ya, great. I know what I know and heat is the key, not vibration. And yeah, I tested that too about three months ago so I stand behind it).

People just pretty much ignored my testing. I took painstaking measures to control the samples and.prove to myself the results. Today when people say they use lemon juice, or sucralose and RAVE about the results.... I know they are NOT vaping stellar juice. They are absolutely, positively, better off without both. Unless they are going to vape what they make in under two days.

Note: I did not bother testing the effects of citric acid powder in juice, but I assume it has the same effect as lemon juice and mutes flavors.
 

PaulBHC

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VG is thick. Thining it helps depending on what you are vaping it with. Up to 10% distilled water only can be added. Your first time is probably not the best time to experiment. If all you have is VG with the nic in it, you are lowering the nic by adding the water. You didn't say what you have exactly.

Better would be to leave out the water for now, add later in your tank or whatever by the drop. Harder to mix that way.

Do not use bottled water, they add minerals to give it flavor. You don't want minerals from tap water or others to coat your lungs.
 

we2rcool

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VG is thick. Thining it helps depending on what you are vaping it with. Up to 10% distilled water only can be added. Your first time is probably not the best time to experiment. If all you have is VG with the nic in it, you are lowering the nic by adding the water. You didn't say what you have exactly.

Better would be to leave out the water for now, add later in your tank or whatever by the drop. Harder to mix that way.

Do not use bottled water, they add minerals to give it flavor. You don't want minerals from tap water or others to coat your lungs.

Huh? ---> Up to 10% distilled water only can be added.

"Only"? Is there now a DIY Rulebook of which we're not aware?

Just for the record, we disagree - and here's our reasoning...

Anybody can easily dilute their VG before they start adding flavors (if they want to, of course). When VG is diluted by 20%, it's still thicker than straight PG. Not only does it wick better when diluted, it also mixes with flavors more readily. That's not subjective or complicated.

MBV claims to dilute all VG with 30% distilled water (or they used to - 'don't know if it's still posted on their site).

After extensive reading on this DIY forum/others (and lots of testing), we started DIYing with diluting our VG by 20% (20% = 9% distilled water; 9% saline solution of .9%; 2% pga). We've used up to 25% flavorings with that (although we prefer to keep our flavoring chemicals much lower).

VG is dehydrating - although not so much as PG. The water helps to hydrate mucous membranes that can become so dry from vaping; adding saline solution hydrates even more. There are a few people that say they feel better with lower dilutions of distilled water (drops per tank --> 5/7%-ish), because 'too much' cause their throat/lungs to feel 'heavy. The dehydrating aspect is very subjective and unique to each of us.

There are also people that say adding the water really helps the flavors to pop.

Certainly, no one "has" to dilute VG, nor does it "have" to be used undiluted. No one has to do anything when it comes to DoItYourselfing. Knowing our options (and the reasons for them) is very beneficial along the way...especially when first starting.
 

AmandaD

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I was having an issue with VG, and I mixed up a 12mg unflavored using pg nic and just VG diluted 20% exactly as we2rcool lists above. It was interesting - there was no flavor at all to me - the natural sweetness of the pc/vg was gone! But it was a good clean base, and I was able to tolerate 80+% VG without coughing.
 

RocketPuppy

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Dec 19, 2013
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Animals go in animal jail (the bedroom) while I mix.

Like CJ, I use a notebook, too. Many like their computers next to them; I don't. I just jot down the calculations in my notebook, and if I make any additions or changes, I rather my sometimes messy hands dirty a pen rather than my beloved piece of technology.

Wash new bottles, buy plenty of syringes (unless you're a scale user), and shake all ingredients before mixing. Oh! Keep a roll of paper towels near by.

I've made some 100% vg juice without any dilutants. It was feasible.

Wer2cool - You didn't get a copy of the Rulebook? We'll pardon you this time. It states that personal preferences are subjective, and everything on the Internet is factual. =)

If you don't like any purchased flavors, they can be used in the kitchen. I accidentally ordered an oil based orange that was perfect in homemade chocolate ice cream. Nomnom. I want some now.
 

dannyv45

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VG is thick. Thining it helps depending on what you are vaping it with. Up to 10% distilled water only can be added. Your first time is probably not the best time to experiment. If all you have is VG with the nic in it, you are lowering the nic by adding the water. You didn't say what you have exactly.

Better would be to leave out the water for now, add later in your tank or whatever by the drop. Harder to mix that way.

Do not use bottled water, they add minerals to give it flavor. You don't want minerals from tap water or others to coat your lungs.

So from what I gather, what your saying is by adding water the NIC concentration will be off from the targeted strength. This is not true if you know how to compensate for this. I would suggest using a calculator that compensates for this such as the e-juice me up calculator.

And adding up to 10% is not a hard and fast rule. Some put up to 20% and have great success. The thickness of the juice is dependent on the hardware your using to vape this juice. The most important thing to concider when adjusting thickness is the hardware. To thin and hardware will leak and gurggle. To thick and hardware will not wick correctly and will produce dry hits.

Distilled water is not the only liquid that can be used you can use saline, Some use soda ash solutions some plain tap water and even alcohol. I understand your point that using distilled water reduces impurities but it's not the only solution that works. the most common are distilled water and medical grade saline. What type of thinning agent depends on what you want to accomplish in the quality of the vape. Saline will help with harshness and throat irritation. Distilled water will do the same but not to the degree saline will. Alcohol will add more throat hit and plain tap water is the cheap way out and you'll have to deal with sediment and impurities and if your water is particulary hard then calcium and lime deposit on the coils is also an issue. Soda ash will mellow a vape at the expence of flavor loss.
 
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