Noob Question: PG/VG Ratio?

[panachronic]

Hi folks,
I'm relatively new to vaping and I'm lovin' it. I want to try mixing my own DIY liquid. I have a great little brick-and-mortar vape shop nearby that takes good care of me, but I'm looking at the cost of retail juice (~$1/ml) vs. home brew (~.05 -.15/ml), and the potential savings are just too good to ignore.

My question today is regarding PG/VG ratios. Obviously it's largely a matter of personal preference and there is no "magic number" that works for everybody. But in looking at recipes here on ECF, I see that proportions are all over the map. Moreover, sometimes when looking at a recipe it's hard to tell how much of each base is contained in the final product.

So, I would appreciate a little help from experienced home mixers...

• It seems that a common ratio is 70/30. But which base is 70 and which is 30? Can these proportions be reversed, if desired?
• Is it a good plan to use the nicotine solution as the sole source of the lower (30%) base, then dilute with the higher? (Assuming, of course, that this results in the desired final nicotine concentration.)
• What do people do about the physical mixing? Is it feasible to just use a syringe or pipette to measure ingredients into, say, a 15ml bottle, then shake? (Yes, I did see the Dremel thread.) Is it difficult to obtain a homogeneous mixture, or do the ingredients mix readily?

Thanks in advance.

 

[pinellaspete]

A typical mix is 70%PG and 30%VG including flavors. Most people will not use VG above 50%. VG tends to clog attys. There is quite a difference between 30%VG and 50%VG. Most flavors are PG.

That being said, some people mix 100%PG and some people mix 100%VG.
The higher the concentration of VG the larger the vapor clouds and less of a throat hit.

Use a nicotine base that is the LARGER of the two percentages. It is much easier to dilute that way. If you purchase 36mg nicotine and want 18mg mix, your nicotine would be 50% of your mix.

I mix the nicotine, PG and VG using a syringe then use the glass dropper from a dropper bottle to add flavors. I mix right in a bottle then cap and shake and then shake some more.

The mix then needs to steep for a week! The whole dremel/heat techniques to speed up the steeping process really don't work all that well IMHO. I think my juices taste best when they are from 2 weeks to 5 weeks old. After 5 weeks it seems to me that the flavors go into decline and you have a juice that kinds/sorta tastes like that prime 2 week old juice.

Good luck!

Pete

 

[CCC]

To make it super easy to get started, lets say you vape 12 mg juice. Get yourself some 48mg unflavoured nic liquid with a PG base, a bottle of PG and a bottle of VG, then get yourself some flavour doublers with a VG base, First you want to bring the 48mg down to 24mg by adding the nic liquid with the PG 50/50, then mix that together 50/50 with the flavour doubler and you will end up with 12mg juice, 50/50 pg/vg.

Then when you have tried that brew, you will either want more vapour therefore more VG, or you will desire more TH therefore more PG.

Lets say you decide you want more VG. Instead of cutting your 48mg nic with PG, use the VG, or a variation of both. If you decide you want more PG then you will have to order the flavour doubler with a PG base or a variation of both.

Then when you are comfortable mixing this way, you can make your own flavour doublers by using VG, PG, and flavoured oils, which will take some experimenting too.

I use this calculator to help me eJuice Recipe Calculator

 

[boise2011bjt]

Make it easy 50%pg 50%vg with pg base nic base.