New shiny or start DIY. Budgets are kind of disapointing

[Keeferes]

So I thought I had my mind made up to get a new Ehpro kayfun 3.1 with this months budget. Now I am looking at getting the things I need to start DIY'ing my juice. I really want the new topper, but realistically, I have 5 already. It's not a must. This brings me to my juice. I have enough for at least a month, maybe two. Again don't really "need" anymore right now. I set a strict budget of $50 spending this month. My thought process, and research, tells me I can get my needed glassware, bottles, base liquids, and a couple flavors in that budget. Then next month grab some more flavors. Problem is next month I'll want a new shiny then too. Making decisions on a tight budget pretty much sux.

Sorry for wasting space, just needed to vent to those who understand my dilemma. Don't have any friends offline that vape, who would understand.

 

[tj99959]

DIY liquids will pay for the "New shiny". I've bought three new PV's in the last two months, all payed for by what I didn't spend on juice.

 

[vaperature]

DIY is a great investment. For $50 you'll get enough to last you a good long time. I've spent maybe $70 on it so far and have barely even touched it yet. It will literally last me years. I'm actually vaping my own DIY hypnotica blend right now. It's as good or better than the majority of my premade liquids that I have. I have something like 300ml of 100mg base in my freezer and it only takes about 3ml for me to make up a nice 15ml batch of juice which in turn lasts me at least a month as I rotate it into my other juices, so you can do the math to see how set I am for a good long time. I have about 25 different flavor concentrates most of which I haven't even tried yet. Really all I use to mix with is a couple of syringes, a glass beaker and a glass stirring rod. I have a bunch of other things that I don't even use, so don't go hog wild on glassware because unless you plan on doing a lot of DIYing you might not end up even using it. When I want some DIY I just use one syringe to squirt the nic base into the beaker, a smaller one to squirt the flavoring in, and a larger one to squirt the vg in there. Then I just mix it up, let it sit for a while and vape it. It's really easy and fun.

 

[cskent]

With a budget of $50 you can get everything you need to get started in diy, if you shop around a bit. As was mentioned above, in the long run it'll save you quite a bit of $$$ which can then go to the shiny new toys that you admire. Look at it as an investment in your vaping future too, once you get a few good recipes down you won't have to spend $15 on a 30 ml bottle of juice, you'll be making it for around $3 or less for the same amount.

 

[Keeferes]

Thanks for the input everyone.

Not going overboard with glassware. One 50ml beaker to mix in, one 10ml graduated cylinder to measure with, two 20ml syringes and tips to transfer liquid between containers, one glass stir rod to mix with, three 120ml glass bottles to store base in (nic, PG, and VG), and 5 15ml glass bottles with dropper for my "concoctions". I have been saving, and cleaning my current 30ml juice bottles to help with getting started, but only to use with flavors I know I want to make myself that are the same. Cinnamon roll from MBV for example and strawberry. I know plastic for one, is hard to get flavors out of, and for two since it holds flavor can potentially "taint" the new flavor made.

 

[Stosh]

Wizard Labs has discounted prices right now. I ordered a 250 mL bottle of 60 mg nic, some PG and 5 flavors, under $50. If you have bottles from pre-mixed wash them out, and a few syringes for measuring and you're set....

 

[Wickeddeuce]

As new legislation is beginning to pop up across the country, states trying to "sin" tax ecigs... my vote is diy... full mechanical... just nicotine...

There's some things i suggest everyone start looking into...

 

[KjAthena]

I just purchased a DIY kit from Nude Nicotine for $50 and am excited for it to arrive

 

[MorpheusPA]

You don't even need that much glassware. I use a shot glass to hold most things and a syringe to measure them out.

The shot glass has a curved bottom so the syringe is very good at getting the absolute last drop. The residues wash out easily between steps in the sink.

I tend to wing VG and PG amounts, but marked where the top of the bottle was with a Sharpie. If it works out to be 50/50, great. If it's 52/48 instead, I won't even notice. But I do make 500 ml at a time, so a 5 ml error on PG or VG is only 1%.

 

[Keeferes]

Wizard and RTS is the primary vendors I have been pricing through. Might try a couple of MBV premade flavors that I know I like.

I plan on only making 15-30ml batches to start off until I find my recipes to be where I want them.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

Not counting Mrs. Kodiak's self-decreed increase in her "discretionary" funds, I recouped all my startup costs probably the first 10 days of vaping. Then I went the DIY route and the money started rolling in. Vendors are sending me checks.

Ok, I'm still waiting on those checks but the cash outlay has been terrifyingly minimal for me. The store I used to buy smokes from has laid off 2 employees. Not only that, our city council says tax revenue is down by 5% and this started about the same time I quit. Coincidence? I think not!

So now... I'm moving up a little by experimenting with cheap tanks and even got my eye on one of those high-falutin', hoity-toity PV's with lights, gizmos and all kinds of crap on it.

And who knows... I might just give Mrs. Kodiak an anniversary present this year. (She's been eyein' a new bass boat).

 

[Cavediver]

Why not leave the nic, VG, & PG in their original bottles?

I'm not one to talk here, I bought new glass for everything after a few weeks of the DIY experience, but I didn't really need to. The stock containers would have worked just fine for a while.

If you're starting out making smaller batches, pick up one or two 1ml, 3ml, & 6-10ml syringes as well. A number of my 30ml recipes call for .2ml of certain flavors (AP & Koolada); that's too small of an amount to measure with a 20ml syringe.

Don't go nuts with any one thing until you've been at it for a month or three (syringes, bottles, mixing containers, etc). Get what you need when you need it, and not what you think you might need sometime down the road. Your mixing methods will evolve over time; you'll outgrow some things and move into others.

 

[meanckz]

don't waste money on beakers...just get different size syringes....my beakers are just sitting there...spend more on bottles, you will need them...also pm me, I got some flavors I don't use

 

[Mitey F]

I just recently started into DIY juice, and can't BELIEVE I didn't do it sooner. Not only is it easy and cheap, but it's even more rewarding turning out a delicious juice than it is building a coil that works great.

I vote DIY.

 

[Penn]

I also recommend not doing a first batch of that quantity. Start small, like 5ml batches until you have it right then make the big batches.

 

[meanckz]

hrm...my 30 to 50 ml batches usually turn out better than the 5 or 10s
small quantities are harder to measure out
IMHO

 

[Keeferes]

Why not leave the nic, VG, & PG in their original bottles?

I'm not one to talk here, I bought new glass for everything after a few weeks of the DIY experience, but I didn't really need to. The stock containers would have worked just fine for a while.

If you're starting out making smaller batches, pick up one or two 1ml, 3ml, & 6-10ml syringes as well. A number of my 30ml recipes call for .2ml of certain flavors (AP & Koolada); that's too small of an amount to measure with a 20ml syringe.

Don't go nuts with any one thing until you've been at it for a month or three (syringes, bottles, mixing containers, etc). Get what you need when you need it, and not what you think you might need sometime down the road. Your mixing methods will evolve over time; you'll outgrow some things and move into others.

I have read numerous things Bout nic breaking down in plastic bottles, and same with pg/vg over time. It's not a rapid thing, but figured better safe then sorry. I will keep it in mind about evolving.

don't waste money on beakers...just get different size syringes....my beakers are just sitting there...spend more on bottles, you will need them...also pm me, I got some flavors I don't use

I will keep that in mind. Especially since I will be making very small batches to start with. I'm sure I will questions on steeping as well. I don't do it now with premix, but by the time I get to it, it's been in the cupboard for a couple weeks at least usually.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[Penn]

Really? You said different size syringes. You can't get close to accurate within .05ml with a 1ml syringe? I have no issues with it.

Oh well, more than one way to get things done. If something becomes unrecoverable on a bad mix, I'd rather waste 5 ml than 20.

 

[KODIAK (TM)]

hrm...my 30 to 50 ml batches usually turn out better than the 5 or 10s
small quantities are harder to measure out
IMHO

I can do very small batches like 2ml if I measure the flavors in "drops". But my flavors are probably less than 2-3% of the overall concoction so the counting is minimal.

 

[The Ministry]

I rarely (if ever) use glass beakers to mix in. I find most of the time I'm mixing straight to the bottle of liquid. In goes the nic, in goes the PG then VG, then drop some flavorings in and shake and steep.

Might save on the overheads initially, I've had no issues mixing like this (although probably isn't how a pro would do it, meh, works for me)

I got 50ml nic (VG base) - 100 ml of PG and 100ml of VG with 20ml of flavorings to start with and it will last me over two months. I worked out my costing is around £0.11p per ML, but that includes syringes, bottles, etc, so the eventual price will be lower.

Definitely worth trying and will save you in the long term

Also, as regards mixing small - I mix big but with low flavoring. I tend to fill up four 50ml bottles and feed them into 30ml or 10ml bottles for out an about. I literally add a bit more flavoring to the 30/10ml bottles if it needs more kick - saves some wasted batches (to me at least) YMMV