New to the forum, not to vaping, could use some diy help...

[flytyer54]

I just joined ECF today but I've been "sneaking around" here for some months, trying to learn, and this is a great place to do it. First a little back ground. I smoked for 42 years. I first started vaping with a kit I bought on line. The little cigarette looking kit. It didn't really do it for me. I was smoking 3, vaping 1 with not much success. I got turned onto a local shop and bought an ego kit April 23rd, 2012. It was game changing. I haven't had an analog since that day, not one.

I have drawers full of batteries, tanks, liquid, etc. I've wanted to get into diy for some time now.
I finally made the move. Like I said I've been poking around here for a while just reading.

I made a fairly healthy order, getting pg,vg, nic, 12 flavors and all the stuff I thought I needed. I've got syringes, pipettes, bottles, jars, etc, etc. I got a nic test kit to check the 48mg nic I bought. It checked out good, so today I made a load of juice. YUCK...

I'm careful....... actually...I used the recipe calculator, rinsed everything in distilled water, carefully measured everything, loaded it into a brand new tank (mini nova) and my resulting juice is unvapable. (??) It has very little flavor (i used 15%) almost no vapor on exhale (though it is harsh in the throat) and not much of that friendly crackle of the battery heating the juice....I made a simple recipe (I thought), nothing but pg, nic, and flavor (TFA juicy peach). And of course like an IDIOT I was excited to make my first juice so I made 30ml of the stuff.... Not sure what I did wrong, ANY help would be appreciated......

 

[jfrich]

Let it steep for awhile and then try it again. That's my best advise, but others will chime in soon.

jfrich:

 

[Kellycat]

Let it steep, while you wait on that, get yourself four more posts so you can post in the DIY forum on here, they'll be more than equipped to help out! Lack of vapor I can tell you right off is from making what I assume is a 100% PG mix, I didn't see if you mentioned whether your nic base was PG or VG but assuming you did mix 100% PG, that's going to give you a lot less vapor, a much harsher throat hit, and a few other things.

From experience, let your Nova sit with the juice in it for at least a few minutes, swish it around a bit, mine needed some 'breaking-in' to get the wicks wet properly with liquid the first few fills, so you might be getting dry hits as well, would account for the burn-y nasty taste. Also if you're still getting too hard a hit after that, add VG to soften it up a little, I run 60/40 PG/VG in my Nova with no issues as far as wicking, and I get pretty good clouds from it, comparable to an analog at least, if not a bit better.

Also related, what nic strength are you mixing at? If you bought 48mg, I'm guessing you're mixing down to around 18 or 24? Higher nic means harsher hit, I vape 30-36 all day and it doesn't bother me but I'm used to it as well, so it comes down to personal preference in that area. The main thing I'd still suggest is adding VG.

 

[DancingHeretik]

I haven't tried Juicy Peach yet. But, the recipe I was going to try when I do is to use 12% TPA Juicy Peach + 1 drop lemon juice per 3ml. I got the recipe over in the Old Folks thread.

Can you tell us exactly how much of each thing you used?

For non-tobacco flavors, I usually mix up a base of 7 parts PG/PG-based nic and 2 parts VG at 20 mg/ml. That way, if I add 1 part (10%) PG-based flavor, I'll end up with 80/20 PG/VG at 18 mg/ml finished product. That gives me some leeway to experiment with percentages and still end up with anywhere from 16 to 20 mg/ml. I can use it unflavored or add up to 20% flavor and still be in my comfort zone.

And, like others have said, let it steep a few days. It makes all the difference.

 

[BigBen2k]

I thought about getting into DIY juices, but it's too complicated for me, so kudos for trying.

Steeping lets the flavors blend with the base (which probably needs to be a PG/VG mix, unless you're PG sensitive), and there's a wide variety of ways suggested in these forums, ranging from airing, simple (mild) heat, all the way up to ultrasonics.

There's a list posted in these forums here somewhere, I believe, about all the different additives, but you're still going to miss some critical information. Some will steep fast, some slow. Some will improve over time, some will get worse, and a few will just be unstable.

Steeping times can vary from 1 week to 3 weeks, some rare ones can take months.

Some additives are really strong, and some are really weak.

Tobacco itself is usually either a flavor additive (synthetic) or extracted from real tobacco, but if you start with a nicotine base that has a tobacco flavor, you can skip that part completely. Your choice of base is still critical though. Nicotine level can affect taste...

I'd start with choosing a good base first, then try individual flavors, and see what you need to do, to make each flavor shine, individually. Then, you can start blending.

Be aware; as taste is subjective, some bases or additives will be unsavory to a few people, and if you intend to commercialize your effort, not only do you have to do all that, you'd also have to do it in a clean room (or contract out your recipe to a manufacturer, probably in China).

Yeah, it takes time; more than I care to invest. Cheers for trying though!

 

[AttyPops]

IDK what % nic juice you want to end up with...

However, try adding some VG (if you're not sensitive to it) and about 5% water. Even 10% VG helps the vapor production. The water smooths things a bit and cools the coil a bit. The flavoring thing is....hit or miss. Some flavors are weak. Others...1% is too much. That's a huge variable.

If you start with an empty bottle, and put the proper amount of your 48 mg nic base in it to equal the % nic you want for the bottle, you can just top it off with non-nic stuff from there. So if you want a 24 mg result, you'd fill the bottle 1/2 full (because 24 is half of 48) and then top it off with the rest. You can eyeball the VG amount or measure if you want...the rest is flavoring and PG. Shake well.

 

[Abe_Katz]

I just joined ECF today but I've been "sneaking around" here for some months, trying to learn, and this is a great place to do it. First a little back ground. I smoked for 42 years. I first started vaping with a kit I bought on line. The little cigarette looking kit. It didn't really do it for me. I was smoking 3, vaping 1 with not much success. I got turned onto a local shop and bought an ego kit April 23rd, 2012. It was game changing. I haven't had an analog since that day, not one.

I have drawers full of batteries, tanks, liquid, etc. I've wanted to get into diy for some time now.
I finally made the move. Like I said I've been poking around here for a while just reading.

I made a fairly healthy order, getting pg,vg, nic, 12 flavors and all the stuff I thought I needed. I've got syringes, pipettes, bottles, jars, etc, etc. I got a nic test kit to check the 48mg nic I bought. It checked out good, so today I made a load of juice. YUCK...

I'm careful....... actually...I used the recipe calculator, rinsed everything in distilled water, carefully measured everything, loaded it into a brand new tank (mini nova) and my resulting juice is unvapable. (??) It has very little flavor (i used 15%) almost no vapor on exhale (though it is harsh in the throat) and not much of that friendly crackle of the battery heating the juice....I made a simple recipe (I thought), nothing but pg, nic, and flavor (TFA juicy peach). And of course like an IDIOT I was excited to make my first juice so I made 30ml of the stuff.... Not sure what I did wrong, ANY help would be appreciated......

Okay, as far as mixing, without further information I really can't help you--and I'm far from Mr. Expert anyway but I do vape only DIY except for juices I really really like and can't seem to replicate no matter what I do which is rare.

With DIY steeping is the name of the game. There are some juices that don't require much steeping at all. For example I have a banana cream that I'm really fond of

14% LorAnne Bannana Cream in 60/40 base (Nicotine strength of choice)

Its okay seconds old, but requires at least three days to actually be good.

Conversely I have a creamy RY4 that needs to steep at least a week to be vapable and is best at least a month old (its not a bad juice it just needs to hang out and do its thing for a while; I think its the cream component)--also true of my 555 blend (even though it is the simplest 555 recipe I've ever seen)

I've not worked with Juicy Peach in particular (though it is on my list of flavors to play with). Sometimes one can get little flavor from too much flavoring. I know it sounds strange but its true. When experimenting I find its best to start with a small amount of flavoring and adding as necessary. As such you'll need a drip atty for testing while mixing if you're going to mix by taste (like I do--of course I have a background as a chef so....).

Honestly this problem sounds like it is likely a steeping issue. Of course if you didn't add any VG at all (and if you're sensitive to VG--which from my forays on the forum seems to be rare [though if I get over 40/60 the greater amount of VG makes my lungs feel "heavy" if I vape that particular juice a lot] that could explain the really harsh throat hit and lack of vapor. Personally I favor 60/40, and I find that 70/30, 60/40 and 50/50 are popular ratios for people who do not have PG allergies. Folks with PG allergies/sensitivities obviously vape 100% VG (or well a really low % PG and the rest VG with or without water--because flavors are usually based in PG).

The only other advice I can really give is that when making test batches is to not make more than 5-10ml tops. If money is a concern you might also want to make test batches without nicotine. Personally when I'm experimenting I mix 5ml of whatever flavor I'm trying to make at 0 nicotine. I usually end up vaping that much in testing to see how long it needs to steep, how the flavor ages, and so on. I've heard of people even making test batches with 3mg/ml of nicotine so one is using very little nicotine but to see how the nicotine impacts the flavors as it ages. And nicotine will impact the flavor of something as it steeps--for example the Creamy RY4 I make was very caramel candy like without nic but the nic made it more tobacco like as it aged (which I happen to like--though the nicotine itself does not have and should not have a tobacco flavor).

So basically my advice all boils down to steep, steep, steep. Make small batches with new flavors, and steep. Also drip atty.

 

[Taniger1]

I diy ALL my juices. Steeping!!! I can't agree more. Nic base VERY VERY important.

MIXING it all together are you using a juice calculator? Or are you mixing by hand in your head? Try a good juice calculator eJuice Recipe Calculator (VERY easy to use, I use the "Water Added (optional)" to mix my VG)

If I'm going to be mixing a juice I've never mixed before, I use a palate (little white tray's with little bowels in them you can buy at the dollar store) then I use PG as my "nic" and only mix up 1mL or so. Dripping atty's are a MUST for this. Gives me the chance to find out the concentrations of each ingredient I need or if my idea is really crappy. A mL or so does NOT take long to steep, 10ish minutes or so.

Good luck and welcome to dyi!!! I'd say about 8 out of 10 are not to taste, but those 2?? OMG Tasty!

 

[Trav808]

Im new to the vaping world (2 weeks) and cant wait to start diy juices. Ive got my shipping cart full and waiting on payday to get it commin. Im not looking forward to the steeping wait however. Hopefully I will still have enough locally bought juice to hold me down.

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

The wife asked me to match a recent peach flavor she loves. 3.33% of each of TFA Juicy Peach, Pear, Sweetener, and Brown Sugar. We'll see in another few days of steeping, but a quick test vape was already very good. This was a 60/40 PG/VG concoction at 12 mg/ml. A good DIY calculator will fill in all the calculations and amounts for you with just this information, and a nicotine base starting point.

Juice takes time for all the flavor molecules to bond. My minimum if four days, but usually prepare juice for a week + out. Because of the steep factor, DIY juice can take weeks to perfect. Suggest shooting for one or two flavors at a time. Also helps to have a target juice flavor in mind. Also, made the wife a Peach Cobbler with 8 ingredients. A little more subtle, and again a week away from knowing what to adjust or what is ok to vape. The advantage of DIY is to quickly find something you can vape, and then the patience of Job to add other flavors. It's easy, but a lengthy process.

 

[BlueMoods]

I didn't see sweetener mentioned. Did you get some and, add it one drop at a time to see if that helped?

Beyond that, you do need to steep the juice you made, uncap it overnight, then cap it and let it sit in a dark, draft free, preferably rather warm (like for proofing bread) place for a week and try it again. It should be better, maybe good, if it isn't good, steep it longer and try again for as long a 12 weeks. If then it isn't good, it should be close enough that you can add a touch of sweetener, flavor or dilute it a tad to get it right with another week or two steeping after the changes

 

[BlueMoods]

Gah double post.

 

[StarDose]

Sounds more like a coil issue if little vapor and doesn't sound like juice vaporizing.

 

[flytyer54]

Well, I steeped the concoction for over a month....no change. I split the OVER LARGE batch that I made and started experimenting. some got 20-30% VG added, some got 50% VG, some got VG and a little distilled water. ALL of the tests were better than the original. While not GREAT, they were all vapable immediately...makes me wonder what I've actually been vaping over the counter. I've been vaping for 17 months, and most of the liquid has been sold as "100%" PG. MY diy 100% PG was unvapable until I added VG (with or without water). Also, the VG otc liquids I have tried had a bad after taste (in my opinion), but the tests I've done with VG have tasted fine....I guess the testing has been the most valuable part of this. Now I need to get enough posts to further explore the site.....