New Member with some questions about DIY E-Liquid

[ajventi]

Seems like I'm in the same place as syxguns and some other posters on this thread. I'm just past my first week vaping, thanks to ECF the learning curve has flattened out very well. I know I'll be doing DIY liquids soon, part of my work is doing analytical lab work, so I have pretty much all I need to mix and measure (and some stuff that would most likely be too expensive to justify for vaping).

Anyway I already picked up a gallon of PG and some VG. The initial ecig I started with had very strong cartos that I found I could refill them with unflavored VG and still have a flavored vape. I also wanted to get an idea of the differences between PG and VG. I also began on natural extractions, so far I did coffee and tea extractions (both quite unsatifactory) and am steeping a tobacco extraction.

At this point I'm wating for my first real juice order that should carry me for (hopefully) 6-8 weeks. I figure I'd like to get an idea of what flavors I like before I start buying DIY flavors. I also want to have some time to allow anything I make to steep properly, so I figure it's good to have a stock of juice so I don't feel I need to vape a DIY before its ready.

I also do flavor blending at work, so I've got some experience with that. I saw someone mention taking notes which I agree is very important. I can also say from my experience with blending, that sometimes it's not so simple. I've found sometimes very small changes it the blend proportions can make the difference between something that you hate and something you love. I won't be surprised if that is true with e-juice blending.

 

[Hoosier]

...blendin is not so simple. I've found sometimes very small changes it the blend proportions can make the difference between something that you hate and something you love. I won't be surprised if that is true with e-juice blending.

This person has a huge Headstart!

 

[Artisticnails07]

Differences in vendors nic liquid for DIY. Are they all pretty much the same? I have some from 2 vendors and they taste different in mixes. Is it my imagination?

What vendors nic liquid would you recommend?

 

[-Mimi-]

OIL? Are you sure that's what you want? I also DIY, but my flavor is pretty simple...menthol with koolada and pappermint in a 85PG to 15VG base. Use 48mg. nic base and dilute to 4mg. I use TFA from One Stop DIY.. I like them and the price is good. Anyway, I was given to understand that you should NOT vape stuff with oil...that the oil can coat your lungs and it can make you very sick and even be deadly! Lorann isn't really made for vaping...it's made for cooking, or topical applications or whatever. I know people use it all the time, but I just question the bit about oil. Seems risky to me. But I admit I really am no expert on such things, and it doesn't effect the type juice I make. I just know some people I know are "veterans" were warning people about vaping oil based stuff several months ago. Thought I'd mention it.

Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse you. I have used the LorAnn flavorings to make hard candy for many years and we have always called it flavor oil. Some are made with glycerin, some with fractionated coconut oil etc. There are many different brands out now and the term "flavor concentrate/drops" is probably the terminology I should get used to lol

 

[Syxguns]

This person has a huge Headstart!

That doesn't sound good!

Hopefully following the recipes I won't make to big of a mistake. I still have to order all of the things I need to DIY my first E-Liquid. When purchasing tobacco for a heavy smoker, I'm thinking about going with (strength 36mg) and I have a few options to select from.

I don't use any PG at all. Just VG, a little distilled water, and nicotine. I don't even use flavorings.

Because I'm new to this please help me select what is my best option for nicotine purchase:

100% PG
75% PG / 25% VG
50% PG / 50% VG
25% PG / 75% VG
100% VG

According to the quote above, I should go 100% VG, and add distilled water. From a beginning standpoint what would your suggestion be? I'm understanding that VG produces the smoke and that PG helps enhance flavor, but I could be wrong.

Here is a quick description of the Unflavored Nicotine:

Description

All bottles come with Screw Cap or Child Resistant Bottle Caps. Dropper caps must be purchased separately.

This product consist of the highest quality freebase nicotine diluted to a safer and more maneageable level with a mixture of USP Grade Propylene Glycol (PG) and/or USP Vegetable Glycerine (VG). It can be vaped as is at the lower nicotine levels or diluted to an even lower level using VG and/or PG resulting in a great throat hit with little to no discernable flavor or odor. However, most customers use this product to mix their own flavored E-Liquids by purchasing the higher nic levels and then diluting the solution with flavoring, PG, and/or VG (all sold separately). This Do-It-Yourself (DIY) method allows you to completely customize the liquid and can be much cheaper than purchasing ready to vape E-Liquids.

 

[-Mimi-]

Syx, I bought 100% pg for my nic juice, 36 mg. This gives you room to play with your pg/vg ratios as well as lowering the nic mg where you would like it and even taper it if you wish. I mixed up some 10 ml bottles tonight using a 70/30 blend, 12 mg and 12% (1.2 ml total) flavorings. It was very simple to do. I needed 33.33% (3.33 ml) nic juice to give me 12 mg. 24.7% (2.47 ml) PG, 30% (3 ml) vg and 12% (1.2ml) flavorings. I believe I may have to go up to 15% flavoring and if I do, that 3% will come off the pg because my flavoring is blended with pg). No water used in any of my mixes

To take 36 mg down to 24 mg (66.7% or 6.67 ml), 1 drop of pg - yes ONE DROP lol, 20% vg (2 ml), and 13% flavorings was the max I could get and I had to make the blend 80/20. This is all based on the calculator I used.

I know they should steep but I HAD to try a couple just to see if I was on the right track. I did one blend of buttery nipple which was .7 ml butterscotch and .5 ml Irish Cream. I sampled it and all I can taste is the irish cream. I hope seeping brings out that butterscotch, if not, I am going to have to adjust my % for my next bottle. I also did a blend of vanilla, marshmallow and a few drops of cake to get a taste similar to rice krispie treats (or vanilla gorilla - ecblendflavors). I could taste marshmallow and that was it so it will go back to steep for a few days. I am going to really enjoy playing around with this.

 

[Hoosier]

Ah, now Syx can post in the DIY sub. Congrats on your first ECF threshold.

 

[JUDGMENT AFFIRMED]

Confusion on marketing and actual. Lorann's "Oils" are very very seldom actually oils. They use the word oil because it implies higher strength. Loranns also makes extracts, which are too weak for mixing and often contain gums and other stuff that would gunk up a coil. (The sticky's in the DIY sub-forum cover which is which in a color coded format.)

There is also a guy that goes by the name Roly...somethingorother on here, I think he used to be the forum manager or somesuch, that has stated that he vaped his own DIX mix where the flavoring was a mint oil for many months straight. So, if you don't want to take it just from me, there are some folks here that know that lumping all "oil" into the OMG-It's-Bad is not a great way to go. Mint oils only require a tiny percentage to give huge flavor, thus the reasoning behind Loranns marketing.

Yes, confusion from marketing again. And that Rolygate, i like him.

 

[ajventi]

This person has a huge Headstart!

That's good to hear my hunch was correct.

That doesn't sound good!
...
Because I'm new to this please help me select what is my best option for nicotine purchase:
...

Personally I'm probably going to start out with a 100% VG nic base, just because so far in trying straight VG and PG I seem to really favor less PG. If you go with 50/50 at 2X your target nic you would be able to blend that to either 25/75 or 75/25. That's probably the best way to start as it will still give you a pretty wide range to experiment with. If you really like something at say 25/75 then you could plan to buy a pure VG nic in the future.

Although I haven't started yet, I plan on making my first trials as 0 nic blends. So I'll mix up a "flavor base" at 2x my "target" flavor strength and then blend a portion with either VG, PG or a blend of the two just to try the flavor. Once I get something I like I can then blend the flavor base with a 2x nic base and I'm good to go.

I eventually know I'll always want some no nic juice to vape during times when I have a strong tendency to smoke (er now vape) too much (like driving) so the 0 nic tester will not really be a waste.

I think I've read suggestions to start with weak flavor and add more if necessary, but that makes no sense to me. It just seems easier to me to dilute with one or possibly 2 things that to possibly add a drop or two of concentrate to a mix that I've sampled .... In other words adding more concentrate to an already made mix will most likely result in you not knowing exactly the right amounts should you want to reproduce the blend in the future.

 

[Hoosier]

Ajventi, it may not make sense because you haven't read my blog yet. The "why" of starting light and increasing is hidden there....

 

[ajventi]

I'll give it a read hoosier.