Possibly a new DIY'er

[lost.n.disturbed88]

I was directed here due to a post I made elsewhere, and started peeking around, becoming more and more intrigued. I contacted the owner(s) of Wizard labs inquiring about what I'd need for my actual needs, although I do have other questions, that I feel would be better suited for others in similar situations as I am.

How do you parents of young children go about keeping things such as nicotine from the hands of young curious children? I vape at 36mg, so I would assume I would need a high mg/ml bottle of nicotine, and from my understanding, it only takes a very very small amount to be lethal to previously mentioned children... Also, about how long does it take to make a batch of juice, not counting steeping in a bottle?


Lastly, I tried using search but could not find a definite answer to my question... Water/vodka... Why is this added? I also THINK I prefer a mix of 70/30 VG/PG, but I don't know the effect that has on attys. I saw water can thin juices, but wouldn't water make it burn faster? And what is a good amount of water to add to such a mix, to start with?

Thank you all, and a special thanks to Cookster, for being so welcoming.

 

[Hoosier]

I've never had an issue keeping things out of children's hands that should be kept out of their hands.

What constitutes a "batch" of juice? When I sit down to mix, I call it a batch, but I go through between 60-120 ml of 100mg nicotine in a sitting and that takes me about 2-3 hours. I mix a bunch of juice and actually spend more time setting up, making labels, writing notes, cleaning equipment, and smelling flavorings than I do actually mixing.

Water or PGA is usually added to thin the mix to make it flow better. Most folks here put the ratio in PG/VG, so I'd call your possible mix a 30/70. Depends on your equipment and vaping style as to if you need to thin your mix. I wouldn't need to thin a 30/70, but my VG is not as high of a viscosity as most and my equipment can take thicker juice without any issues. Water will actually slow down the evaporation rate, not increase it, if it sped it up then damp cartos wouldn't the the issue they are.

Glad that Cookster steered you here. Lots of good folks in this sub.

 

[Cookster]

Well, the master, Hoosier, found you first, you lucky dog I recommend you read Hoosier's blog, it's the "3" under his avatar.

As to safety with the kids, a lot of people use lock boxes, or keep everything high up in a closet...hopefully someone with young ones will chime in.

I think 48mg would be fine for you to start with. Over 50-60mg, you're getting into gloves, face/eye shields, etc...

As for your ratio, PG is the better flavor carrier and throat hit, VG is better vapor and smoother throat hit. 50/50 might be a good place to start, and you wouldn't need water/alcohol to thin.

Timewise, it can take as long or as quickly as you like and have time for. I usually mix on Sundays, 4-5 15ml bottles (I like variety), takes maybe 30 minutes to an hour, including prep and cleanup.

I'm climbing into bed now, welcome, and I hope you have a great time

 

[tidegirl]

I don't have kids so I don't have to worry about that issue. But what are the ages and mentalities of your children? If you told them "Leave this alone, it is dangerous" would they do it? Or would that just send them into a frenzy of having to play with it? I think no matter what precautions I took I would want to tell them it was dangerous just in case I slipped up and left something unsecured.

Could you keep things on the top shelf of a cabinet to keep them out of reach? Many, myself included, store nic base in the freezer. That may be a problem, but they do come with child proof caps if yours are unable to open those. (But never store mixed juices in the freezer. It doesn't react as well with the flavorings as the base.)

 

[lost.n.disturbed88]

An 8yr old, a 4yr old, and a 7mo yr old... The only one that would grasp the concept of don't do it, its dangerous would be the 8yr old... I may put DIY on the back-burner until I have an area I can "lock off", or something along those lines...

 

[Levitas]

I just use something like this: Child Proof Sliding Cabinet Lock - KidSafe Child Safety on the hutch on my desk. You could use it for a cabinet any where in the house. You have cleaning chemicals, no? Do you keep them locked up?

 

[ajventi]

I can't find the Vapelink Episode that was done during Sandy all about DIY, but it was an excellent thing to watch, helped me out a lot, as I'm just starting at this myself. I started with small single batches, and take about 15 minutes at my lab at work to mix them up. I imagine once I have recipies I like I'll be making larger batches like Hoosier describes.

I also have first been mixing up small 1-ml non nic taste tests to get a general idea of how much flavoring I want to blend, tweak the flavoring to where I like it, then blend a 15-mL bottle. Until I get something I like I don't want to waste too much of anything.

Water will actually slow down the evaporation rate, not increase it, if it sped it up then damp cartos wouldn't the the issue they are.

It's been a long time since my school days, but I think that's way off. PG and VG both have much higher Boiling points than water, and Vapor pressure pretty much tends to correspond with BP. I think it may be that water maybe flows too easily and floods the coil so it can't ever heat up.

 

[Hoosier]

It's been a long time since my school days, but I think that's way off. PG and VG both have much higher Boiling points than water, and Vapor pressure pretty much tends to correspond with BP. I think it may be that water maybe flows too easily and floods the coil so it can't ever heat up.

Remember we are talking about PG, VG, and water being mixed together, not each one being boiled separately here.

 

[ajventi]

Yes Water has the lowest BP of the three, adding it to a solution of PG/VG would lower the BP of the final solution.

 

[Hoosier]

So, you're saying it doesn't act like an antifreeze mixture?

Or the water is being separated from the mixture to saturate the wick?

 

[ajventi]

Ok, sorry, you've now got me thinking on a whole new tangent, which would probably be way OT here (Does the vape liquid actually evaporate evenly).

You said water would slow evaporation. I said since water has a (much) lower Boiling point thatn both PG and VG, it would lower the BP, and (I assume) speed up evaporation. That's the part where my Chemistry is foggy, as I don't quite have a definite memory of Evaporation, Vapor Pressure and it's relation to Boiling Point. But I'm pretty sure evaporation would be pretty strongly tied to Boiling. So that's where I suggested that it could be the water flowing so quickly that it floods the coil and never lets it heat up. I agree too much water will prevent vaping, just that it's not due to a slower evaporation rate of the vape liquid. So I don't think that the water is being separated, but that it is just lowering the viscosity enough that it floods the coil.

But the tangential though that came into my head is that water's BP is so much lower that perhaps heating a liquid with too much water actually ends up as a distillation of sorts, the water boils off first because it's BP is so much lower than the PV or VG. It also has me quiestioning that when you get to the bottom of a tank and see the thicker, darker liquid that the liquid doesn't necessarily evaporate evenly.

I do have a good amount of experience with the evaporation of Water/Ethanol solutions, one thing I know is that an Ethanol/Water solution (such as wine) does not evaporate evenly, and relative humidity actually effects the ratio of the evaporation between the two. But now I've driven way off course