My short DIY intro, and a couple of questions.

[mayamason]

I have been faux-DIYing it since I started vaping. I've tried, um... 60 or so (yikes!) premixed juices in the last 3 months, and my favorites are the recipes I've made by mixing 2/3/4 of them together. I very rarely vape anything straight out of the bottle.

So, I finally decided to leave the kiddie pool and dip my toes in the real DIY water. Nic, PG, flavorings, bottles, and syringes on their way and should be here today. Now I'm just curious about what I should do before I actually start mixing up my first samples.

• Do I need to steep (or air out) the flavorings before I use them? Kinda like steeping or taking the lid off pre-made juices for a bit, does anyone do this with flavorings? Does it make a difference?

• What about pre-mixing the nic & the PG/VG? I have 48mg on the way (didn't really want to start with the 100mg just yet), and I plan on mixing it with PG+VG down to 50/50 at 12mg. Is there any reason I should mix each sample (or bottle) fresh from the 48mg base, or can I go ahead and dilute the whole thing down to 12mg and store it that way?

• For testing flavors, I'd planned to just use PG+VG and no nic, however I assume adding nicotine in the mix will affect the final flavor. Do you find you have to adjust your recipe to compensate for the nic's flavor?

Thanks so much!
Jennifer

 

[Hoosier]

Do I need to steep (or air out) the flavorings before I use them? Kinda like steeping or taking the lid off pre-made juices for a bit, does anyone do this with flavorings? Does it make a difference?

I don't unless you count the time some flavorings sit before I decide to play with them.

What about pre-mixing the nic & the PG/VG? I have 48mg on the way (didn't really want to start with the 100mg just yet), and I plan on mixing it with PG+VG down to 50/50 at 12mg. Is there any reason I should mix each sample (or bottle) fresh from the 48mg base, or can I go ahead and dilute the whole thing down to 12mg and store it that way?

That works as long as you are not super concerned that adding flavors will drop the 12mg down.

For testing flavors, I'd planned to just use PG+VG and no nic, however I assume adding nicotine in the mix will affect the final flavor. Do you find you have to adjust your recipe to compensate for the nic's flavor?

I've read that some folks have this issue, but I don't notice anything different in taste between 38mg to 0mg mixes. (But I'm incredibly picky about my nic and not known for bargain shopping nic.)

 

[Clovery]

I don't think it's necessary to steep or air your flavorings.

I wouldn't pre-mix the nic with the PG/VG. You may find that some recipes are better with more PG or VG. You may want to mix a batch for a friend that's stronger. If you pre-mix it to 12 mg and add 15-20% flavoring, you'll end up with 10 mg juice that's 60/40 to 70/30 (since the flavorings are in PG). I would keep it as is and mix it when you're creating your juice, just so you have options. It'll also be harder to calculate since your "target nic" will vary with the amount of flavorings used.

I've never tested my flavors without the nic, but it does add a degree of throat hit and a certain level of satisfaction. You may find you like a mix with 12 mg nic but it just doesn't do it for you at 0 mg.

 

[Renolizzie]

I do pre mix my nic/pg/vg. I'm not super picky and can do pg at 80 % down to 50 %. I like doing all my nic at once into relatively small jars around 120 ml sized. I usually have 28mg, 20mg and 15 mg so when I add the flavoring I will be around 24, 18 and 12 mg.

I am very careful to measure the original nic/pg/vg so that the base mg is accurate. I'm not too worried at that point and figure once it has been cut to the 28,20,15 levels, I am close enough once I add flavor - so a little more flavor, a little less flavor, I'm still close to my target strengths.

 

[mayamason]

Thanks for the suggestions.

A couple of things I didn't (and maybe should have) mentioned.... I'm not really all that picky about my nic level. I usually stick around 11-12, but I also have 6, and 0, and a little bit of 18 (whoa! I do have to take it easy with that one). To be honest I don't really feel much difference between 6 and 11/12, but I'm also switching flavors every 10 hits or so. I would guess my nic intake is kinda all over the place. So if my flavoring % drops it from 12 to 10, then *eh* no big deal really.

Also, the flavorings coming today are VZs super concentrated, so I don't think it's going to drop the nic level very much. I do have several others from TFA, FW, and Lorann, but I think most of my first efforts are going to be with the VZ SC. After reading what seems like 1048 pages of threads about the VZ SC flavors on ECF, it sounds like they should be easy for beginners to work with.

Maybe I'll mix up a large-ish batch (50ml or so) at a time of 12mg just for ease of making samples/small bottles.

 

[Hoosier]

The other thing to consider is that every once in awhile folks do get bad tasting PG or VG. If you don't know this and premix a large batch of diluted nic, then you have a large batch of crappy tasting base. Something to keep in mind...

 

[Renolizzie]

The other thing to consider is that every once in awhile folks do get bad tasting PG or VG. If you don't know this and premix a large batch of diluted nic, then you have a large batch of crappy tasting base. Something to keep in mind...

That is a good point, Hoosier.

 

[ethebull]

I've been doing diy since last November. I prefer to mix a large quantity of base at 20mg (I do 500ml at a time), and after adding flavor, my finished juice is about 18, or close enough. The main advantages are safety, convenience, and reduced chance of error (other than what is inherent). I really don't want to be fussing with 100mg nic when mixing up a 6ml batch of a new flavor. My base is at the ready anytime I am, and I only have to use extreme caution with the strong stuff every few months. I think there's a greater chance of mixing up some wacked out combo if you choose to mix from scratch every time., plus it's a real time saver.

Since my cost of juice is down to about $.06/ml flavored and nic'd at 18mg/ml, I don't fuss about trying new flavors w/o nic added.