New to mixing....3 vapable successes (long post)

[Southern-Vapor]

As title states, I'm new to DIY, but have been collecting flavors and supplies for a few weeks.

Last week I started trying my hand at mixing. I started small (1 ml batch) with no nic (in case it didn't work out). After mixing, I let it sit for 24 hours (this was the hardest part). Next day I filled a cartomizer and gave it a try. WOW....success. It actually tasted good. I then used the calculator and mixed up a 5ml batch with nic, pg and vg (target of 18 mg/ml). Let that sit for 24 hours, and have been enjoying it ever since. I'm very pleased with myself. (Pats self on back)

Feeling full of myself, I started 2 new batches of something completely dfferent. Again, with no nic, and after 24 hours I test vape them. Two more mixes that I'm happy with. Tonight I will be doing these in 5ml with nic.

I know, I know, ya'll want the numbers....All measurements (ml and drops) were done using pipettes from ecigexpress.com. I use a XL manual battery, cartomizers and passthru from vapor4life.

First recipe is:

for 1 ml test batch
.75 ml pg
.25 ml vg
2 drops of FF creme de cafe
2 drops of PA vanilla (bourbon)
2 drops of PA bavarian creme

for 5 ml finished product
1.8 ml of 50 mg/ml nic
1.2 ml pg
1.2 ml vg
.3 ml of each flavor

To me it tastes like coffee with sugar and french vanilla creamer. It has a smooth vanilla aftertaste. Excellent, if I do say so myself. The TH is subtle but it is there, with a good amount of vapor. Even more of both on a passthru.
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2nd recipe (I really, REALLY needed to come up with a butterscotch)

.75 ml pg
.25 ml vg
6 drops of FF butterscotch

Nothing complicated bout the flavor here. Tastes like butterscotch. Seems just a little on the light side tho. I may bump the flavor up just a tad (maybe 1 extra drop per ml) when I do the 5 ml batch with nic.

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3rd recipe

.75 ml pg
.25 ml vg
2 drops FF maple
2 drops PA cheesecake
1 drop PA caramel
1 drop PA graham cracker

I love maple, and I love caramel, so I had to have them both. I can taste more of the maple and a just hint of caramel (the two flavors are very close to each other). The cheesecake flavoring is not noticeable, may be what's giving the sweet taste, tho. The graham cracker flavoring is very strong, almost to the point of overpowering. In my 5 ml batch I'll probably cut it down to 2 or 3 drops per 5ml.

TH is not present on these 2 test batches (no nic). Vapor is good. Not huge clouds, but I haven't had any juice yet that produces that well.

Wow, I didn't realize the post was this long. Sorry for those that just hate to read long posts. I wanted to give my thoughts as well as my success story. If I can mix a vapable vape, then anyone can. Hope that some of you enjoy and benefit from this ranting.

Kyle

 

[GoodDog]

Thanks Southern-Vapor. I haven't been as successful but I have a few I like.

I found an easy way to keep track when making multiple samples. I use 5ml bottles so there is plenty of room to add and shake. I mark the bottles with a number using a felt tip pen. In a notebook I make notes with corresponding numbers of everything I add, changes, suggestions and any comments. When it's where I want it I circle the name I've given it. This has saved me a lot of time not putting labels on bottles and having easy access to everything I did or want to do.

So far these are the ones I really like:

Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow 5ml
70% PG/30% VG 18mg Base
5 drops PGA
10% Capella Double Chocolate (My favorite chocolate)
10% Capella Marshmallow (this is also good substituting TA Whipped Cream)

Pralines & Cream 5ml
70% PG/30% VG 18mg Base
5 drops Vape Wizard
20% Capella Pralines & Cream (Love this!)

I've been working on a caramel using condensed milk to try and get the caramel to not taste like maple, but so far not there. I can't figure out what it needs????

Capella Double Chocolate and TPA Orange with some TPA Cotton Candy is good but I need to work up the amounts. I made this before I started keeping good records.

Not much liking the Capella Vanilla Custard aftertaste. I know some really like it but to me it seems to overpower everything.

Not having any luck with Milk Chocolate from any 4 of the flavor vendors I tried. Added whipped cream, condensed milk, cotton candy, pralines & cream and none did the trick. TPA's Milk Chocolate doesn't taste anything like chocolate to me.

 

[Ragman]

I agree with you both on the PA caramel tasting alot like maple.
I love maple syrup tho so its great.

 

[garyd]

Way to go Kyle, looks like you are going to be a successful DIY'er. Very smart to make the small batches and let them sit. You may want to invest in a syringe as your measurements will be that much more accurate.

 

[Southern-Vapor]

Thanks everyone.

I've been wanting to go the DIY route for awhile now. Glad I'm getting the hang of it. My very first attempt a few weeks ago didn't turn out so well.

I just placed another order with Perfumer's Apprentice. I'm really liking their flavors. I do have a syringe, but really didn't want to wash it after each ingredient or contaminate the others. I gotta get some more. Also placed an order for more bottles.

I owe my success to this forum and all the threads I've read over the past few months.

 

[GoodDog]

Thanks everyone.

I've been wanting to go the DIY route for awhile now. Glad I'm getting the hang of it. My very first attempt a few weeks ago didn't turn out so well.

I just placed another order with Perfumer's Apprentice. I'm really liking their flavors. I do have a syringe, but really didn't want to wash it after each ingredient or contaminate the others. I gotta get some more. Also placed an order for more bottles.

I owe my success to this forum and all the threads I've read over the past few months.

I keep a glass of distilled water close by and use that to clean the syringe between flavors.

 

[garyd]

I keep a glass of distilled water close by and use that to clean the syringe between flavors.

Yep, this is what I do, I put my liquid into my bottle with the syringe and then pump it up and down a few times to get it all into the bottle, at this point there may be a drop left in the syringe at most, then I just rinse it out in the distilled water several times by sucking up the water and ejecting it, works great with minimal chance for any cross contamination.

 

[Nikhil]

First off, congratulations Kyle.

About the syringe cleaning, it really isn't necessary to worry about cross contamination. Flavor extracts in PG will not spoil through any cross contamination and any change in flavor would be insignificant. Also, when you use a syringe you only really pull flavors in from their container, and very little if any of the old flavor will get into the new one. Wiping off the outside of the syringe needle is generally sufficient but I don't really do any of that, I just add the water/PGA last and rinse after that.

Thanks everyone.

I've been wanting to go the DIY route for awhile now. Glad I'm getting the hang of it. My very first attempt a few weeks ago didn't turn out so well.

I just placed another order with Perfumer's Apprentice. I'm really liking their flavors. I do have a syringe, but really didn't want to wash it after each ingredient or contaminate the others. I gotta get some more. Also placed an order for more bottles.

I owe my success to this forum and all the threads I've read over the past few months.

 

[TJPatt72]

Kyle, wish I had made my first batch your way-it was a complete bust that is still getting mixed out. Long post was ok with me, love to see what people combine and what strenght they use of other brands I may get.

Good tips here esp. testing flavors before making a batch with nic.
But when you get to adding nic if it's based in PG how much do you change up your pg/vg in the final batch if you really like the vapor you got without the nic? Since your nic is loaded with PG how do you calculate getting the same amount of VG as you did in your flavor sample?

 

[AlexTM]

I simply use one syringe per flavour; at around 10 $-cents that is more than affordable, and it's very useful if you want to up the %. Because for 5ml liquid, 1% is exactly 0.05ml, and that is very easy to get accurately out of a 1ml syringe. Not to mention that if you insert the needle into the dropper part of the bottle, you don't even have to remove that.

 

[Nikhil]

Good tips here esp. testing flavors before making a batch with nic.
But when you get to adding nic if it's based in PG how much do you change up your pg/vg in the final batch if you really like the vapor you got without the nic? Since your nic is loaded with PG how do you calculate getting the same amount of VG as you did in your flavor sample?

It is not always possible. For example, if I make my test batch at 50/50 VG/PG, but my nicotine liquid is 36mg PG and I want my final mix to be 24mg, I can't dilute it to 50/50 or I'll be at 18mg even before adding flavors. Without the numbers you're working with, I can't really recommend anything but you should be fine if you use one of the calculators properly.

 

[AlexTM]

Flavourart also has both pure PG and pure VG liquid, for those who prefer one or the other.

 

[Southern-Vapor]

All good tips. I got my PG and VG as well as my 50mg nic/pg from xtremevaping.com. Good price and very quick shipping.

I agree that the calculators are a must. If I buy prefilled cartomizers I get 18mg, but with DIY as long as I'm somewhere in range of 15-20mg I'm fine with that.

 

[TJPatt72]

It is not always possible. For example, if I make my test batch at 50/50 VG/PG, but my nicotine liquid is 36mg PG and I want my final mix to be 24mg, I can't dilute it to 50/50 or I'll be at 18mg even before adding flavors. Without the numbers you're working with, I can't really recommend anything but you should be fine if you use one of the calculators properly.

So far I haven't done testing without using nic, but if I had my first Cherry batch wouldn't have bombed which I'm adding in at drops at a time to other batches. With flavors I haven't used before or liked as I made them I want to blend them this way first.

My stock pile of nic is 48/60mg PG based, but I did buy some that is 60mg VG based in hopes of trying to have more VG in the mix than you can get with straight PG nic when making 24mg juice. Using the calculators I finally only added nic, flavor and VG to the PG nic and that worked pretty good but still flooded some until it sat a while depening on the flavor used.

I'm not flooding as much now even when I added some thinners, but I've gone to mods that have more power and the juice is older too.

I'm in the process of adding calculations so I'll know exactly how much PG or VG is in the nic and then I can base the overall amount to add if any a little better in the final mix if combining the 2 type nics or using them seperately. That way I can match a flavor trail a lot better too hopefully. There's going to be a whole lot of shaking going on if I combine the PG nic with the VG nic .