CaSH is right. Nicotine will kill you dead as hell. However, some simple handling procedures will ensure that you're squared away.
1. Gloves
2. Multiple long sleeves
3. Mask
4. Goggles
I'm looking for a source of pure nicotine to cook up my own smoke juice. I found a
supplier in China but, you have to buy in bulk (5kg-25kg) and that would be enough nicotine to kill a lot of folk if it ever spilled or got away from me. I'm just trying to justify the hassle. I might try getting smaller amounts of nicotine based pesticide and filtering/purifying it to get some smaller amounts.
Some tips. If you get your hands on some, keep it in a dark, cool place. Nicotine will degrade fast in light and heat. Second, use top quality chemistry equipment when mixing up your stuff. Third and most important, know the math. Trust me, if you put too much nicotine in your mix and get heart palpatations and dizziness from nicotine poisoning, don't come crying to me. About 32mg/vol is the rough equivalent of what you would get from smoking a pack of regular, full flavor cigs. Anything more than that is just straight silly and possibly deadly.
I believe that making your own smoke juice can be a really fun and awesome thing. But, make no mistake. Phukkin with nicotine can bring your life to a quick end. Black Anarch out.
EDIT: I mean 32mg/30ml by volume.