Noob in need of some quick advice regarding nic strength

[bugzy3188]

I just decided to start mixing and bought a few things from ??? including a 100ml bottle of 24mg strength e-liquid. It states pretty clearly on the site that this juice can be vaped by itself for a flavorless vape. However, after I attempted to make a flavored juice about 18mg in strength by mixing a quarter flavoring with three quarters e-liquid, the resulting product was extremely overpowering. It physically hurt my throat, stomach and made me nauseous. I have not and will not try the e-liquid by itself, but I am quite used to 24mg juice, and even after mixing it, that juice seemed to be well beyond that. I did my research and ??? came quite highly regarded to me, has anyone else had this experience? could this just be a case of me not mixing properly? I assumed that with such a low beginning nic value that I could skip the extra PG/VG. Also, is there a way to tell how strong the juice actually is? or am I just spit balling here?

If this juice is indeed labeled wrong and not properly tested, this would justify the FDA's legal actions in my opinion. This is a substance that should be treated with extreme caution, especially by the sellers, and it is my personal opinion that companies who do not properly test and label their material need to be SHUT DOWN! before they kill someone. I realize that DIYers have a responsibility on their own but without a chain of trust stemming from the potentially lethal product that is involved, how is that possible?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

*Edit, apologies to the supplier for jumping to conclusions

 

[1atom12]

What was your base nicotine liquid? 100% VG? 100% PG? Some mixture of the two? Also, depending on the flavoring you used, 25% could be WAY too much... It all depends on what flavoring you chose... More info please...

 

[bugzy3188]

The liquid was 75% vg, the flavoring that I used was from totally wicked, it was a little sample flavor that I had gotten when I bought my e-cig through them. I used two flavors root beer, and orange cream, both were way too strong.

 

[1atom12]

Others may chime in, but, step 1. Drip a small amount of the base nic juice onto an atty and see if that's the problem. Just a few vapes to get the feel of what it tastes like. Shouldn't taste like anything but slightly sweet... 24mgs should be a fairly decent TH, but being 75% VG may counter-act that a bit. Once you know how the base hits and tastes, add a small amount of one of your flavors to your base, my suggestion would be try a 5% to start. Some flavors can be very overpowering. 5% may be too strong for some, way not enough for others. It depends on the flavor concentration. 5% is a decent starting point for testing purposes... Work your way up or down in flavor strength from there. Let us know how that works out for ya....

 

[FinallyQuit]

25% flavoring? Depending on which it was, that would kill me! I wouldn't be so quick to blame the nic, more likely the flavoring.

 

[Hoosier]

TW gives out flavoring samples with PV's? That's a bit odd.

Anyway, Rootbeer and Orange type flavorings do tend toward good throat hit juices. I don't know which ones you used, so have no idea if I've tried them so I don't know how they may do at 25%.

I've used MFS's nic and never had any issues. I know it was the most accurate that was tested by Kurt when he was doing the posts on test results.

Have you started gathering the supplies to do DVAP's test on your nic base?

How much DIY mixing do you have under your belt?

 

[bugzy3188]

I was scared to try the juice by itself, but did after reading your posts and it was fine. Sorry to have doubted you ???. I was unaware that flavoring provided any TH at all, I will download and attempt to use a mixing calc and let you guys know the results. Thanks guys!

 

[Hoosier]

No problem. Flavoring is new to quite a few folks.

Hope things go much better for you.

(There are a few DIY tips and pointers in my blog too... shameless plug?)

 

[rolygate]

Get a nicotine test kit from Ebay, if you DIY it's a good investment @$15 or so.

Like Atom said, always test the base liquid first. That way you know what you are starting with. Some bases taste of nothing at all, some have a slight wet-dog aroma, some have a peppery aftertaste. Unless you know what the base is like, it's hard to know the reasons for a given result somewhere down the line.

Any new mix, just make 1ml as a test. Making 5ml is a mistake, because you will have some disasters, and 5ml is a lot to throw away.

Your starting mix is about 1ml, which is about 22 drops - but for this purpose we'll call it 20. Drip 18 drops of unflavored base into a micro bottle, then add 1 drop of flavor. That gives you ~5% flavoring. Drip 2 drops of it on an atty and test. If it's too weak, add another drop to the mix, and you have 10% flavor. Carry on like that until it's right. Multiply up to make 5ml but drop the flavoring by a couple of drops, then test.

Some flavorings are ultra-strong, the best known is menthol: for an ice effect (a cool backend to the vape) you need only 1 microdrop* per 2ml or 3ml (about 0.1% or something). For a menthol effect, maybe 1 microdrop per ml (about 0.25% maybe). It depends on the strength of the menthol.
*The tiny drop you get from a 3ml syringe


How to clean your test atty
Everyone needs a test atomizer and driptip, you can't test anything properly with only a carto.

To clean your test atty, drip 5 drops of unflavored zero-nic doubler liquid* into the atty, replace the driptip, and blow it out onto paper towel/tissue. Using the driptip gets a stronger 'blow' and no liquid on your fingers or mouth.


To make a zero-nic cleaning liquid
The easiest way is to buy 'plain doubler liquid': zero-nic PG/VG, with no flavoring or nicotine. It should be dirt cheap because there's nothing in it. You can make it yourself as well - get Glycerin, USP from the chemist/pharmacy. Add 20% DW, distilled water, as glycerine is too viscous without it (too thick). From 1% to 5% alcohol is also good.

You can use this to blow out atties with, or reduce the nic strength of pre-existing e-liquids.


Hard times vape / easy-on-the-lungs vape
You can also use that as a vaping liquid when you run out or if you have a lung problem and you want to leave out your usual brand. Here's a recipe:

18 drops Glycerine, USP
2 drops DW distilled water
1 drop vodka or any spirit
1 drop pure peppermint oil, from the cake flavor shelf in the baking dept of your supermarket

Job done. No nic but a passable vape if you need it. Use pure peppermint oil, not synthetic flavors. This oil is fine to vape, in the quantity given above. It won't affect your lungs or your atty, and in fact is very easy on the chest.

To get DW, scrape the ice out of your freezer, it's DW - you can get 5ml in a couple of minutes like this. Scrape it off with a round-end blunt knife, into a saucer held below the ice, then bottle it.

 

[canoeist]

I was scared to try the juice by itself, but did after reading your posts and it was fine. Sorry to have doubted you MFS. I was unaware that flavoring provided any TH at all, I will download and attempt to use a mixing calc and let you guys know the results. Thanks guys!

Get a few ml base in a bottle & try adding 1 drop. Sometimes it does not take much flavoring.

 

[mgordon1100]

I was scared to try the juice by itself, but did after reading your posts and it was fine. Sorry to have doubted you MFS. I was unaware that flavoring provided any TH at all, I will download and attempt to use a mixing calc and let you guys know the results. Thanks guys!

Try vaping a little flavor on it's own. Just a drop. You'll see how horrible it is. Just ask me how I know.

As said, 25 percent is a heck of a lot of flavor. I mean, a lot of times 5 percent is perfect. You used 5 times that much.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I think it would be in our best interest to not immediately jump down supplier's throats prematurely. Don't think for a second that opponents aren't reading these forums.

 

[bugzy3188]

yeah, my bad, I had just gotten done reading the sticky on how some suppliers are not accurately labeling their product and just jumped to conclusions. I still stand by my opinion on the companies who commit these acts of carelessness, these people need to be stopped yesterday. The FDA will eat things like that up and they will win if people are allowed to avoid common sense and safety procedures.

I have deleted the name of the supplier from my posts in this thread