Questions about adding flavoring to a DIY mix

[house mouse]

I've become curious about the whole DIY aspect for making 0mg nic juices. My regular suppliers charge as much for 0mg as for nic loaded juices so I figure I could probably save some money here.

I was planning on using all VG in my juice and have found the flavors I want to order. It will be straight mixing as in one flavor to one bottle. I won't be combining flavors. The bottles of VG I've found are 6 oz bottles or around180ml. What I want to do is just add flavoring to the bottle and end up with a 6 oz bottle of say coffee, and one of rum, and one of root beer etc. Store in the larger bottles and transfer as needed to smaller bottles. Does that make sense?

I know everyones tastes are different, but what ballpark ml amount of flavoring am I going to need to flavor a 6oz bottle of VG?

 

[vapspaz]

It all depends on the strength of flavor you want. Being that you are going to be using all VG I would think your flavor % is going to be higher than the normal mix. Normal mixes can roughly range from 5% to 35% depending on the person and/or flavor strength.

So... Looking at these extremes. If you take 180ml x .05 = 9ml of flavoring needed. OR 180ml x .35 = 63ml of flavoring needed.

 

[MaxUT]

Consider this: straight VG (anhydrous, 99.5% or more) is very thick and needs to be thinned with water, vodka or PGA before vaping. I commonly use 4 parts VG to 1 part distilled water and it ends up just a little thicker than PG.

I'd go with 30mL bottles at most, at least until you get your flavor percentages worked out.

 

[JonnyVapΣ]

That's a big batch. Flavorings differ brand by brand and type by type. Do you know what flavorings you will be using yet?

I use Perfumers Apprentice Professional Flavors - One Stop DIY Shop Store and the percentage range for 'nominal' flavor can vary between roughly 6% to around 20% (on the roughly 30 different flavors I've tried so far).

I'd use a juice calculator and start with a smaller batch to start.

As far as using 100% VG...I don't think I'd go that route (unless for allergy reasons). Everyone vapes differently but something that thick couldn't wick fast enough for me...LOL

 

[AlexTM]

I've actually a few 2%-flavours from Flavourart. Although with plain VG (and Water) you'd probably need more than that. It takes away a lot of the flavour, 150% is usually not enough.

 

[GrannyM]

I've actually a few 2%-flavours from Flavourart. Although with plain VG (and Water) you'd probably need more than that. It takes away a lot of the flavour, 150% is usually not enough.

Now that is funny!

To the OP: Seriously look at what the others have said here. Small batches (like 2 or 3 ml) are strongly advised to test your flavor concentrations first, before committing to larger quantities.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Those are huge batches to mix. Why? Use smaller bottles and pull off of a base bottle. I mix 250mls of base liquid at 12mg/ml with a ratio of 80pg/20vg. I have a kit w/100+ flavors and grab a pipette and whip up different 3ml concoctions grabbing what I need out of the base liquid bottle. When I mix one I really like I make 15 or 30mls since it will be more than an occational vape. I have found with DIY it is very hard to stick with just one flavor since there are so many options and you are only limited by your imagination. I would alos suggest downloading Breaktrus calculator:

eJuice Me Up - e-Juice e-Liquid Recipe Calculator

I use it daily.

 

[AlexTM]

Originally Posted by AlexTM
I've actually a few 2%-flavours from Flavourart. Although with plain VG (and Water) you'd probably need more than that. It takes away a lot of the flavour, 150% is usually not enough.

Now that is funny!

You're right, it looks slightly confusing But everything is relative, especially percentages:
150% of a 2% flavour are only 3%, of a 5% flavour are 7.5% etc.

As for the small batches, good idea, although since the OP wants to work with plain VG, which is fairly cheap, even 10ml test batches won't exactly cost much. They are easier to work with, though, especially if you work with percentages and ml, and not drops.

 

[Vidi]

I've become curious about the whole DIY aspect for making 0mg nic juices. My regular suppliers charge as much for 0mg as for nic loaded juices so I figure I could probably save some money here.

I was planning on using all VG in my juice and have found the flavors I want to order. It will be straight mixing as in one flavor to one bottle. I won't be combining flavors. The bottles of VG I've found are 6 oz bottles or around180ml. What I want to do is just add flavoring to the bottle and end up with a 6 oz bottle of say coffee, and one of rum, and one of root beer etc. Store in the larger bottles and transfer as needed to smaller bottles. Does that make sense?

I know everyones tastes are different, but what ballpark ml amount of flavoring am I going to need to flavor a 6oz bottle of VG?

Im just getting into DIY myself and have been taking notes. The standard flavoring is 20% of the total mix, however I recently recieved some fantastic juice from another DIYer who uses 30% flavoring.

So if 6oz is 180 ml ( your conversion ) then you would need 36ml of flavoring at 20% and 54 ml at 30%.

 

[AlexTM]

There is no such thing as a standard amount of flavouring, there are far too many differences between both companies and indivdual flavours. I have some that are added in the permille range (which I dilute before use) and some I need 20% of. Even from one company, I use between 1 and 9%, that's Flavourart and mustard and coconut, respecively.

 

[house mouse]

OK. Small batches first seems to be the consensus. I'm using the VG simply because I can find the VG locally. A lot of what I vape normally is 80VG/20PG so I didn't figure that losing that 20% PG would make a big difference. But, it might. So what are some sources for plain 0 nicotine PG? I can find plenty of plain with nicotine, but having a harder time finding it without.

 

[Liv2Ski]

OK. Small batches first seems to be the consensus. I'm using the VG simply because I can find the VG locally. A lot of what I vape normally is 80VG/20PG so I didn't figure that losing that 20% PG would make a big difference. But, it might. So what are some sources for plain 0 nicotine PG? I can find plenty of plain with nicotine, but having a harder time finding it without.

The DIY vebdors sell it;

One Stop DIY

or

My Freedom Smokes

Or you can head over to the local farm store they sell it by the gallon.

 

[grantemsley]

Some pharmacies sell it. Most have to special order it.
If you have a pharmacy in your area that does prescription compounding (making your pills into a cream or candy to make it easier to use for children and elderly) they will have some.

 

[vapspaz]

If you have a Tractor Supply in your area you might be able to snag some there.

Ideal Animal Health Propylene Glycol, U.S.P., 1 gal. - 2209731 | Tractor Supply Company

 

[house mouse]

Does the PG in flavorings count as part of the VG/PG ratio or not? If I mix 8ml of VG with 2ml of a flavoring that comes in PG is that an 80/20 mix by itself? Or, does the PG in flavorings not count as part of the VG/PG ratio?

 

[Liv2Ski]

Does the PG in flavorings count as part of the VG/PG ratio or not? If I mix 8ml of VG with 2ml of a flavoring that comes in PG is that an 80/20 mix by itself? Or, does the PG in flavorings not count as part of the VG/PG ratio?

Yes it counts and as you noted most flavorings are PG based. This needs to be factored into the equation. So for example if you added 1ml of 100mg/ml nic @ 100% PG, 2 ml PG based flavoring and 7 ml vg you have 70vg/30pg at 10mg/ml with 20% flavoring.

 

[vapspaz]

Yep. They count as part of the final ratio. If you use some of the calculators and lets say you entered a certain desired PG for your final mix and then you entered too much PG based flavoring the calc will yell at you and tell you to change your entered values if you exceeded the total amount of PG you wanted to end up with. FYI... There are some flavors out there that are all VG based.

edit: dang! ya beat me to it Liv ! LOL

 

[JonnyVapΣ]

Only because there's no snow to ski on. It's all here.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Only because there's no snow to ski on. It's all here.

Rub it in why don't you. My car would have been heading up the northway instead of to work had we ended up with what you guys netted.

 

[JonnyVapΣ]

It's still coming down. In fact, a co-worker's son just got hit and is on the way to the hospital (he's ok...it's precautionary). Some local roads are being shut down.