Hi all,
I've got a little experiment going and would appreciate any feedback from any of you guys n gals that are better schooled than I am with the chemistry behind this. I'm not sure whether this is simply a ph balance, creation of nic salts, or both.
First a little background.
Been vaping and DIYing my juice for several years. I stocked up on nic a few years ago due to the FDA issue so my freezer is quite full. Last fall I got a RTA and at first it was great, a step up from the Kanger sub tank I had been using. Running dual coils, 1 ohm total at 30 watts so nothing excessive. Then I began to have issues with throat irritation so I went through all the usual suspects, coils, wick, etc. My juice is 12 mg/ml with VG a minimum of 70%. Flavors limited to tobacco in very modest percentages, caramel, chocolate. Total flavors in my mix is 10% or less. So, I think I have ruled out any causes being from my gear or juice except for the possibility that the ph is on the alkaline side and I've developed an intolerance to it. The reason I believe that is I just purchased a couple bottles of nic salt juice (pre-made ready to vape flavor) and have no problem vaping that at 25 mg/ml which is twice the nic level I'm used to. I have not been able to actually test the ph of my juice yet but hope to later today and will report my findings. I need to also test my Nic to see where I'm starting at.
My process is based on info from a couple postings on this forum. One linked to this research article. https://gfn.net.co/downloads/2016/p... stability and relief of irritative taste.pdf
Here's a snippet from that article.
The other info was from a post that gave a nic suppliers recipe for 100 ml of 60 mg/ml nic
It totaled 94 mg of VG and distilled water and 6 grams of what I assume was pure nicotine powder. From this info I calculated that those 6 grams in 100 ml would work out to .6 grams per 10 ml. I selected a middle of the road option from the chart above with acid to nicotine ratio of 1:2 using Malic Acid, easy availability at your local wine making supply store and it seems to have a good balance of ph adjustment, irritation reduction and less degradation of nicotine as compared to citric acid. So here's what I did, and again, feedback is most welcome.
Acid solution: Dissolved 9 grams of Malic Acid in 9 ml of hot distilled water, so in theory each ml of solution will equal 1 gram of Malic Acid by weight. Since our nic is calculated by weight we need to do the same for the acid so the ratio we use is as accurate as possible. I didn't weigh the Malic Acid but rather went by a chart that stated 1 tsp equaled 4.5 grams. I realize this is not super precise but there's no danger to being slightly off for this ingredient at this point.
Base mix. I put 20 ml of 60 mg/ml nic in the bottle. Remember, each 10 ml contains .6 grams of nicotine, so now we have 1.2 grams of nicotine in this 20 ml. For a 1:2 ratio acid to nic we then need .6 grams of Malic Acid so I added .6 ml of my Malic Acid solution. Based on the slight dilution of the acid solution plus the approximate loss of 2.6% of nic from the addition of the acid we now have a ph adjusted base somewhere around 56.75 mg/ml.
I made a 10 ml test bottle, reducing down to 20 mg/ml nic, 70 VG/ 30 PG, with about 6.2% flavor. Mostly caramel @ 6 % and a few drops of tobacco and a few drops berry flavor.
Steeping now and will test ph before I vape it. I am curious if this process does create salts but either way, if the more neutral ph reduces irritation I'll be a happy camper. Years ago, when DIY was in it's infancy, we played with adding drops of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. The theory was there but never saw noticeable results. Not surprising when you really have no idea of strengths and ratios of what you are adding.
Here's hoping this works without making my lips pucker. I hate sour flavors......
I've got a little experiment going and would appreciate any feedback from any of you guys n gals that are better schooled than I am with the chemistry behind this. I'm not sure whether this is simply a ph balance, creation of nic salts, or both.
First a little background.
Been vaping and DIYing my juice for several years. I stocked up on nic a few years ago due to the FDA issue so my freezer is quite full. Last fall I got a RTA and at first it was great, a step up from the Kanger sub tank I had been using. Running dual coils, 1 ohm total at 30 watts so nothing excessive. Then I began to have issues with throat irritation so I went through all the usual suspects, coils, wick, etc. My juice is 12 mg/ml with VG a minimum of 70%. Flavors limited to tobacco in very modest percentages, caramel, chocolate. Total flavors in my mix is 10% or less. So, I think I have ruled out any causes being from my gear or juice except for the possibility that the ph is on the alkaline side and I've developed an intolerance to it. The reason I believe that is I just purchased a couple bottles of nic salt juice (pre-made ready to vape flavor) and have no problem vaping that at 25 mg/ml which is twice the nic level I'm used to. I have not been able to actually test the ph of my juice yet but hope to later today and will report my findings. I need to also test my Nic to see where I'm starting at.
My process is based on info from a couple postings on this forum. One linked to this research article. https://gfn.net.co/downloads/2016/p... stability and relief of irritative taste.pdf
Here's a snippet from that article.
The other info was from a post that gave a nic suppliers recipe for 100 ml of 60 mg/ml nic
It totaled 94 mg of VG and distilled water and 6 grams of what I assume was pure nicotine powder. From this info I calculated that those 6 grams in 100 ml would work out to .6 grams per 10 ml. I selected a middle of the road option from the chart above with acid to nicotine ratio of 1:2 using Malic Acid, easy availability at your local wine making supply store and it seems to have a good balance of ph adjustment, irritation reduction and less degradation of nicotine as compared to citric acid. So here's what I did, and again, feedback is most welcome.
Acid solution: Dissolved 9 grams of Malic Acid in 9 ml of hot distilled water, so in theory each ml of solution will equal 1 gram of Malic Acid by weight. Since our nic is calculated by weight we need to do the same for the acid so the ratio we use is as accurate as possible. I didn't weigh the Malic Acid but rather went by a chart that stated 1 tsp equaled 4.5 grams. I realize this is not super precise but there's no danger to being slightly off for this ingredient at this point.
Base mix. I put 20 ml of 60 mg/ml nic in the bottle. Remember, each 10 ml contains .6 grams of nicotine, so now we have 1.2 grams of nicotine in this 20 ml. For a 1:2 ratio acid to nic we then need .6 grams of Malic Acid so I added .6 ml of my Malic Acid solution. Based on the slight dilution of the acid solution plus the approximate loss of 2.6% of nic from the addition of the acid we now have a ph adjusted base somewhere around 56.75 mg/ml.
I made a 10 ml test bottle, reducing down to 20 mg/ml nic, 70 VG/ 30 PG, with about 6.2% flavor. Mostly caramel @ 6 % and a few drops of tobacco and a few drops berry flavor.
Steeping now and will test ph before I vape it. I am curious if this process does create salts but either way, if the more neutral ph reduces irritation I'll be a happy camper. Years ago, when DIY was in it's infancy, we played with adding drops of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice. The theory was there but never saw noticeable results. Not surprising when you really have no idea of strengths and ratios of what you are adding.
Here's hoping this works without making my lips pucker. I hate sour flavors......
