New to DIY, how much flavouring to add?

[Exsmoker]

Hey,
Im new to vaping but have gone through a 30ml bottle in just 2 days and want to save some money!
Im thinking of buying a Litre of 80vg 20pg 6mg nicotine base to make my own flavoured juice, but i have no idea how much flavour to add to that, ive seen some bottles of 10% concentrated flavouring i want to buy but how much of that will i need to add to a Litre of the base so it tastes like the ready made shop bought juices? And will it dilute the nicotine?
Sorry if it's a silly question, i had a scroll through the threads but couldnt find an answer!

 

[Larry J]

How much flavoring to add depends on a number of factors:
1) The manufacturer of the flavoring - Some flavorings require a relatively low percentage (1-2% of the total), others require considerably higher percentages.
2) The specific flavor being used - Different flavorings, even from the same manufacturer, require different percentages.
3) Whether you are making a single flavor juice or are mixing two or more different flavorings.
4) Your particular personal preferences.

Be sure to buy flavorings that are highly concentrated. Flavorings made primarily for baking or candy making are often much more diluted than the flavorings used in making e-juice. I recommend that you buy from manufacturers used by members of this forum. There are a number of different companies you can order from for that purpose. Basically, you need to read as much on this specific sub-forum as possible to learn more about DIY. You'll eventually get a feel for mixing and learn what you like and don't like. And, yes, adding flavoring to your base will lower your nic level. How much so depends entirely on how much flavoring is used. Read, read, read, then ask any questions that haven't been answered by your reading here.

 

[dobroeutro]

Complete Beginner's Guide To Making E-Liquid - DIY Tutorial

 

[BrotherBob]

Hey,
Im new to vaping but have gone through a 30ml bottle in just 2 days and want to save some money!
Im thinking of buying a Litre of 80vg 20pg 6mg nicotine base to make my own flavoured juice, but i have no idea how much flavour to add to that, ive seen some bottles of 10% concentrated flavouring i want to buy but how much of that will i need to add to a Litre of the base so it tastes like the ready made shop bought juices? And will it dilute the nicotine?
Sorry if it's a silly question, i had a scroll through the threads but couldnt find an answer!

Welcome and glad you joined. Your best bet is start to study. The reason you could not find an answer is that there are so many variables that you would need to consider all of them because only you would know how to prioritize them.
Might like to read:
dannyv45's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Hoosier's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Boletus's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
diy_beginners_guide - DIY_eJuice
http://www.thevaperstable.com/diy/
DIY E-Juice Resources: Over 100+ DIY E-Juice Resources – E Juice Makers
How hard is it to get in to DIY liqiud?
What you need to know as as far as supplies and safety for the first time juicer. | E-Cigarette Forum
Tips for Beginners – DIY OR DIE
A Beginner's Guide To Making The Most Highly-Rated Recipes by Scottes777 • r/electronic_cigarette

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Hey,
Im new to vaping but have gone through a 30ml bottle in just 2 days and want to save some money!
Im thinking of buying a Litre of 80vg 20pg 6mg nicotine base to make my own flavoured juice, but i have no idea how much flavour to add to that, ive seen some bottles of 10% concentrated flavouring i want to buy but how much of that will i need to add to a Litre of the base so it tastes like the ready made shop bought juices? And will it dilute the nicotine?
Sorry if it's a silly question, i had a scroll through the threads but couldnt find an answer!

No question is silly, only the ones not asked.

In order for you to achieve what you stated above(and I highly recommend NOT doing so, especially for the first mix) you have to figure the volume of the bottle.
A liter is approx 1000 millimeters(cc's). By adding 10% flavoring, you would first have to remove 100 ml to make room for that flavoring(pour into a bottle big enough to hold the extra, good size would be 120ml).
Then you have to fill the 'lost or removed amt' with flavor by adding 100ml of flavoring. This reduces the 6mg that you have in the rest of the base by 10% effectively to 5.4mg
This also would leave no room for actually stirring or blending the mix. You could shake it but it would be difficult. Then you would have to consider steep time which would probably be around 2-3 months if not longer.
And all of this before you even get to taste or vape it.

It would be better advised to mix a much smaller bottle first to see if you even like the flavor you picked. Different vendors mostly have the same flavors but each are different in their taste and in the pcts used. Some are more concentrated that others.
ex...FA orange may only require 3 % to be used in a mix, whereas FlavorWest may require 15% in their recommendations.

DIY does have a learning curve, and yes, once you understand what all goes into making a vapable ejuice then it will become easy.
Come back with more questions and find a good ejuice calculator(free). In fact scroll down this forum's pages and you will find many easy to use ones. Or you can go to ecigexpress and use their free one.

Good luck.

 

[IDJoel]

No question is silly, only the ones not asked.

We ALL started from the beginning. Most of us remember that and are happy to help. Try using the "Search" feature first, and if you can't find the answer (or if you don't know how to use ECF's search) then feel free to ask.

In order for you to achieve what you stated above(and I highly recommend NOT doing so, especially for the first mix) you have to figure the volume of the bottle.

And all of this before you even get to taste or vape it.

It would be better advised to mix a much smaller bottle first to see if you even like the flavor you picked.

All emphasis mine...

DIY does have a learning curve, and yes, once you understand what all goes into making a vapable ejuice then it will become easy.

@Sugar_and_Spice has said it better than I ever could. DIY is not a Swanson's frozen dinner. You can't pop "X," "Y," and "Z" together and get INSTANT SUCCESS (then when was Swanson's ever considered a "win?"). It takes some time, it takes some failure, and it mostly takes willingness to learn.

There are a lot of great resources here on ECF; including @dannyv45 's blogs, @Hoosier 's blogs, @Bill's Magic Vapor blogs, (and all the other folks that have shared their own journey but I fail to recall at the moment) and all the DIY stickies. DIY, like cooking, will give you what you are willing to put into it.

If you don't care, if you are willing to settle for "Swanson's," then scour the recipe sites for the single most popular recipe and mix a gallon of it. Otherwise, heed Sugar's advise, and start with small batches and see where it leads you. Half the fun/success of DIY is the process of learning. If that is not appealing to you, then I would suggest spending your finances and efforts, in finding a better tasting, better priced, commercial e-liquid.

 

[CoreyDog]

You have had some excellent advice here already from other DIYers.

Only things I'll add is DIY seems very daunting at first, there is quite a learning curve to it, but once you get it, it's really quite simple. All comes down to trial and error + research. Your first few juices will be vile (unless you get lucky!), I've been DIYing for quite a while and still mess up even now.

Write everything down. Nothing worse than creating a great flavour then not remembering the percentages you used! Also allows you to tweek any recipe that is close, but not quite there.

Start small. Begin with 10ml bottles as testers. If you find the right recipe, then can make litres of it. Pointless wasting litres of base on a vile liquid.

Lastly, try an app. It will record all your recipes and work out all the percentages for you. I use My EJuice Lab. Simple and does everything you need it to, but loads available.

 

[sofarsogood]

Hey,
Im new to vaping but have gone through a 30ml bottle in just 2 days and want to save some money!
Im thinking of buying a Litre of 80vg 20pg 6mg nicotine base to make my own flavoured juice, but i have no idea how much flavour to add to that, ive seen some bottles of 10% concentrated flavouring i want to buy but how much of that will i need to add to a Litre of the base so it tastes like the ready made shop bought juices? And will it dilute the nicotine?
Sorry if it's a silly question, i had a scroll through the threads but couldnt find an answer!

My mixing experience can only be described as instant success. I bought a gallon each of PG and VG, 1 liter of 100 mg nic, a single bottle of all-in-one flavoring and some mixing supplies. The first batch used 3% of the flavoring. Today i use 1%, it tastes fine and because the percent is low I never tire of it. The more complicated you make mixing the more failures you'll have. Mostly what spoils mixes is too much flavoring. Start with a tiny amount and use if for a while. You can always add more. Another way to get started and build confidence is use some unflavored liquid to dilute some pre mix you know you like, try 50-50 or 75-25. Most pre mix is over flavored and the same is true of most DIY.

 

[DaveP]

^^^^^^
All Good Suggestions in the posts above!

ExSmoker, you can also experiment using your unflavored nic juice to test your flavors before mixing up large batches of something you may or may not like.

You can use a graduated syringe to pull out 5ml of your unflavored nic juice, squirt it into a 10ml needle tip bottle and add drops of flavor to that. 5ml = 100 drops. If you use 5 drops of flavor in a 5 ml batch, that will be close to a 5% mix (close enough for experimentation). It's actually a 4.8% mix (5/105.

You can buy 10ml or 15ml needle tip bottles to test your flavors and decide what you like, then go for the bigger batches once you have flavor preferences. The 5ml test sample will fill most atomizers for a good test of the flavor.

Your 1000ml bottle of unflavored will be enough to test lots of flavors in tank sized amounts at a 5% concentration.

ECF is full of lists that tell you the average concentrations people use with a specific flavor. Just Google search for "Flavourart percentage" or "Hangsen percentage" or for whatever flavor brand you need starting percentage for. Try the suggested percentages and go from there.

 

[Hoosier]

Wow, such a series of great replies!

Folks here are still the best.

 

[Neilus]

I find this is useful, there's a good chance your flavour and manufacturer are here somewhere:

Not gospel by any means but gives you an idea of what your flavour % should be.
It does take time to get it right, mix small test batches (even down to 5ml, its enough to know if the flavour is too weak/strong), as someone said earlier, write stuff down, you'll get there in the end!

 

[IDJoel]

I find this is useful,

Nice spreadsheet! Is this something you compiled? Is there a link/source I can use to download this?

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[DaveP]

Nice spreadsheet! Is this something you compiled? Is there a link/source I can use to download this?

Thanks for sharing!!

It looks a lot like the one in Google Docs. I think it came from a Scandinavian country. That's why some of the labels are strange. It's been partially translated. Click on the arrows at the bottom to see sheets for different manufacturers.

Found an AMAZING flavor percentage spreadsheet! • r/DIY_eJuice

 

[IDJoel]

Thanks @DaveP,
It is certainly similar. I don't think it is the same one only because the names of the people (across the top) who contributed to the spreadsheet are not the same. But it is still another good resource that I was also not aware of. I have bookmarked it for future reference.

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[Frenchfry1942]

To DIY, for me, is a lot of reading and trial and error. I make 5ml samples and write a lot of notes.

Good luck!