I will admit that I was a bit nervous after reading all the dire warnings. But now that I've done something extremely elementary, I'm ready to take a few more baby steps forward.
I worked my way into it by buying 2.4% (24mg/ml) JC premixed juices and "cutting" them with VG (from bulkapothecary.com ). Although I also got PG from the same source, I don't care for PG at all and have yet to use it.
I got 10% unflavored VG-cut nic. from ejuice4u.com ... I was impressed when they sent me their COA - although I confess I have no way of knowing exactly how to read it, or even whether I can trust it. They just seemed to be on the up-and-up.
Two 3ml. pipettes of the 10% were put into a 30ml bottle, followed by six 3ml. pipettes of VG, and a 3ml. pipette of nature's flavor menthol (which I had already tried mixing w/ JC tundra and VG as a test - I like it a lot). After dropping a little of the mix into my cheapie test clearomizer, I decided that I didn't have enough menthol, plus I had too much nic. So I just went by hand after that - squirting a bit more menthol into the bottle, and filling the rest w/ PG. I figure I ended up w/ 2.0%, which is about right for me.
I like Nature's Flavor's "crunchy granola" attitude towards ingredients, but I find it annoying that I can only buy their menthol flavoring in the 30ml size. Plus their sweet tooth on some of the others is too much for me (I've tried their vanilla, mocha, and mint chocolate - not my thing).
So now I'm going to see if I can come close to replicating what's in my other Vivi tank - a mix of JC TN cured with a splash of JC expresso, cut w/ VG. (I "fiddle" when I vape at home.) Right now, I just can't see myself doing anything sweet ... the experience with the Nature's Flavors vanilla, etc. really turned me off. I don't like sweet sodas either, unless they're in floats. But then I've ony been vaping for about five weeks now, and I quit analogs the first week. (I used to RYO w/ an injector machine, but generally I preferred full-flavor pipe tobacco w/ no added flavors. I'd been a 1-1/3 PAD smoker for about 40 years BTW.)
Right now I'm thinking that maybe I should be looking at the Amer. eliquids Manufacturing Standards Assn members as potential flavor sources (if any of them do that). I like the fact that I'm paying a lot less (about $0.14/ml. instead of $0.67/ml. for JC), and especially my ability to go w/ all-VG.
Plus of course, there's that old "doomsday prep" mentality that I guess many of us have about upcoming taxes and regulations. I really don't want to be paying retail markup, confiscatory taxes, and be limited to what my local B&M stores offer.
I need to read around here more. For now, I feel as if this may not be as hard as I'd thought, and I'm a lot less scared of DIY that I am of (say) sub-ohming. Maybe I shouldn't be. But then my needs are pretty simple: I'd like one "tobacco" flavor, one menthol, and maybe one other. Although I'm not sure what that "other" might be at the moment. I guess I'm to much of a noob to really have a sense of what I'll prefer over the next few months or years. At the moment, I'm still basking in the after-glow of having quit analogs
Comments, help, feedback (+ dire warnings, needed chastisement?) appreciated of course
I worked my way into it by buying 2.4% (24mg/ml) JC premixed juices and "cutting" them with VG (from bulkapothecary.com ). Although I also got PG from the same source, I don't care for PG at all and have yet to use it.
I got 10% unflavored VG-cut nic. from ejuice4u.com ... I was impressed when they sent me their COA - although I confess I have no way of knowing exactly how to read it, or even whether I can trust it. They just seemed to be on the up-and-up.
Two 3ml. pipettes of the 10% were put into a 30ml bottle, followed by six 3ml. pipettes of VG, and a 3ml. pipette of nature's flavor menthol (which I had already tried mixing w/ JC tundra and VG as a test - I like it a lot). After dropping a little of the mix into my cheapie test clearomizer, I decided that I didn't have enough menthol, plus I had too much nic. So I just went by hand after that - squirting a bit more menthol into the bottle, and filling the rest w/ PG. I figure I ended up w/ 2.0%, which is about right for me.
I like Nature's Flavor's "crunchy granola" attitude towards ingredients, but I find it annoying that I can only buy their menthol flavoring in the 30ml size. Plus their sweet tooth on some of the others is too much for me (I've tried their vanilla, mocha, and mint chocolate - not my thing).
So now I'm going to see if I can come close to replicating what's in my other Vivi tank - a mix of JC TN cured with a splash of JC expresso, cut w/ VG. (I "fiddle" when I vape at home.) Right now, I just can't see myself doing anything sweet ... the experience with the Nature's Flavors vanilla, etc. really turned me off. I don't like sweet sodas either, unless they're in floats. But then I've ony been vaping for about five weeks now, and I quit analogs the first week. (I used to RYO w/ an injector machine, but generally I preferred full-flavor pipe tobacco w/ no added flavors. I'd been a 1-1/3 PAD smoker for about 40 years BTW.)
Right now I'm thinking that maybe I should be looking at the Amer. eliquids Manufacturing Standards Assn members as potential flavor sources (if any of them do that). I like the fact that I'm paying a lot less (about $0.14/ml. instead of $0.67/ml. for JC), and especially my ability to go w/ all-VG.
Plus of course, there's that old "doomsday prep" mentality that I guess many of us have about upcoming taxes and regulations. I really don't want to be paying retail markup, confiscatory taxes, and be limited to what my local B&M stores offer.
I need to read around here more. For now, I feel as if this may not be as hard as I'd thought, and I'm a lot less scared of DIY that I am of (say) sub-ohming. Maybe I shouldn't be. But then my needs are pretty simple: I'd like one "tobacco" flavor, one menthol, and maybe one other. Although I'm not sure what that "other" might be at the moment. I guess I'm to much of a noob to really have a sense of what I'll prefer over the next few months or years. At the moment, I'm still basking in the after-glow of having quit analogs
Comments, help, feedback (+ dire warnings, needed chastisement?) appreciated of course
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