Sooooo disappointed!!!

[Kat1355]

I got all the stuff to make my own liquids. Lorann flavors, VG, menthol crystals, and 60 mg unflavored mixing ejuice. I followed the directions to make 5 mls using the ejuice calculator. I was so excited to be able to make my own juice...but now I am so let down.

The stuff makes great vapor, but it doesn't atomize easily. I tried it without thinning first, and then thinned it just a touch. Either way it sucks up through the cart filter and gets on my lip and tongue, or leaks down the atomizer into the battery. I SWEAR, I only thinned it with a COUPLE drops of vodka.

Does anyone know why my ejuice is such a huge disappointment? How come nop one else seems to have this problem on the DIY ejuice threads? What can I do to make this ejuice vape like the kind I order from Eastmall. I am just sick about this. I spent a lot getting all the right ingredients. The VG is Lorann's 100% USP food grade.

Geez...

Cathy

 

[bleck]

Odd, I never had this problem. My home made juices tend to be thicker due to using mostly VG. I usually mix a bit of both VG/PG. Think with just a drop or two of distilled water. Have you tried the pyramid tea bag mod for the carts? Could be the reason I haven't ran into this problem, it really makes using carts 100x better.

 

[doots]

Hi Kat
have you tried dripping on the atty and see if its acting right like in draw, throat hit,etc without using the cart? I hvae had carts that act funny even with store bought juice. They tend to have a mind of their own. have you tried another cart and dont overfill it?

 

[doots]

can you also post how much of nic and vg in ratio you mixed?

 

[HaploVoss]

... Either way it sucks up through the cart filter and gets on my lip and tongue, or leaks down the atomizer into the battery. ...

Hiya Kat,

Ok I have been exactly where you are at. I could be wrong but try this...

1. Take the filler out of your cart.
2. take a paper towel, toilet paper, kleenex, whatever... and squeeze that filler material completely dry.
3. Re-stuff that back into the cart
4. Put only 5 drops of your juice you just made into the cart.
5. Vape away.

Now then - if this works out ok. You are simply overfilling your carts (which I was doing at first.)

I found out that depending on the filler material, size of cart, strength of juice, it varies how many drops your cart will hold before it will flood the atty, and leak back into your mouth, or dry out too fast.

So try 6 drops first, if it works, add a couple of more. As soon as you notice gurgling noises or get leakage - you know the limits of your carts and juice

Take care,
- Hap

 

[Twisted]

I would try to use 3 drops of distilled water (per 5ml) instead of vodka as Bleck suggested. I tried that a few times and even one drop thins out my liquid a bit to much for cart use but its OK for dripping.
And yes - the pyramid tea bag mod is great --- I'll never go back to that polyfill stuff.

 

[framitz]

Hiya Kat,

Ok I have been exactly where you are at. I could be wrong but try this...

1. Take the filler out of your cart.
2. take a paper towel, toilet paper, kleenex, whatever... and squeeze that filler material completely dry.
3. Re-stuff that back into the cart
4. Put only 5 drops of your juice you just made into the cart.
5. Vape away.

Now then - if this works out ok. You are simply overfilling your carts (which I was doing at first.)

I found out that depending on the filler material, size of cart, strength of juice, it varies how many drops your cart will hold before it will flood the atty, and leak back into your mouth, or dry out too fast.

So try 6 drops first, if it works, add a couple of more. As soon as you notice gurgling noises or get leakage - you know the limits of your carts and juice

Take care,
- Hap

If doing this insert step 1A. Rinse stuffing in water to remove all residue.
And change step 4. Fill cart normally, so it is saturated.

A less than full cart won't work for beans. The bridge needs to get wet to wick right.

 

[HaploVoss]

If doing this insert step 1A. Rinse stuffing in water to remove all residue.
And change step 4. Fill cart normally, so it is saturated.

A less than full cart won't work for beans. The bridge needs to get wet to wick right.

Agreed on 1A

Disagree on step 4 modification. I do this anytime I make a new juice and it works everytime.

The problem in this instance is getting leakage / juice in the mouth from possible overfill - so we want to get rid of the possibility that we are over-filling the cart - in other words what we're thinking is a 'normal fill' may be too much.

5 drops in a cart should be enough to get it to at least vape. If it does, without leaking juice in the mouth, then fill it more - see what I mean here?

 

[framitz]

Agreed on 1A

Disagree on step 4 modification. I do this anytime I make a new juice and it works everytime.

I see where you're coming from there.

I guess what I do that might be different is to cut the VG 20% with 100 proof vodka (1 to 5). I use a syringe and needle to check the viscosity. By drawing it through the needle I can compare the thickness to regular juice that works good. This eliminates any guess work.

With my 510 I was using 24mg juice and it was a bit stronger than I needed, so I cut it with my 1 to 5 vodka/VG mix by 25% (resulting in 18mg). The result works great and is the same viscosity as the original juice. I fill my cart until it is very wet on top and insert the atty with the cup up so it wicks into the bridge instead of dripping into the atty.

I haven't had any juice in my mouth or leaking from the atomizer at all over the past week of use. I still haven't needed to remove or replace the stuffing from the original cart which is surprising, but I'm gonna use it until it gives me problems just to see how long it will go. When I top off it takes 6 to 8 drops and sometimes a bit more.

 

[Kat1355]

Bleck: I have not used the pyramid tea bag cart mod yet. I was unable to find them at Walmart and I haven't had a chance to see if Safeway carries them.

Doots: I have dripped on the atty, same problem. I will post my ejuice calculator with the ingredients and ratio in a paragraph or two.

HaploVoss: I haven't tried the paper towel idea, but I have tried both new and used carts. I use polyfill at the moment. I have tried using a cart prefilled with whatever they use for the wicking material. Same problem with all the types of carts.

Ejuice Calculator I used: (All VG, no PG)...though I have some coming.

eJuice Recipe Calculator
User Input
Nicotine Basemg/mlTarget Nicotine Levelmg/mlAmount to CreatemlWater Added (optional)%Flavor Percent%




Recipe
ingredientmldrops*% of totalPG or VG with nicotine0.3 ml6 drops6.0%PG or VG (no nicotine)3.7 ml74 drops74.0%Water0.0 ml0 drops0.0%Flavoring(s)1.0 ml20 drops20.0%
*Drops are an estimation. 20 drops of water from a dropper equals approximately 1ml.

Extra info: To use the menthol crystals, I crushed them and nuked them with the VG for approx. 3-4 seconds as suggested in the menthol thread.

I have not tried distilled water to thin yet, so that is on my list of things to try. I did try Jack Daniels...~smile~...no go.

My USB pass through seems not to work as well as just a regular e-cig battery and atty.

The ejuice I used before was the menthol from Eastmall. It works fine, though I have noticed it is darker in color than my own homemade menthol ejuice. Perhaps they have some other ingredient in their ejuice that I am unaware of?

Well...I have given all the info I can think of. I cannot begin to tell all of you how much I appreciate your help and input. I will try everything suggested again, as well as trying to find the pyramid tea bags. If you have other ideas or questions that might help you figure out what I am doing wrong, please feel free to ask. I want so badly to make this work! Thanks again everyone, you rock!

 

[Kat1355]

I see that my ejuice calculator didn't copy well. Sorry, this is the ratio's...

0.3 mls PG with nicotine
3.7 mls VG no nicotine
1.o ml flavoring

To make 5 mls of 4mg nicotine ejuice (I am trying to cut down from 8 mg)

 

[HaploVoss]

Ok, the flavoring you are using - does it contain a lot of alchohol? (like, you can smell it there is so much in it?) Or perhaps are you using extracts from Lorann rather than standard flavorings?

Reason I ask is - you are using a LOT of flavoring. If it has a lot of Alch. in it, you are simply cutting your VG and PG down to the point that you are not getting much vapor out of it.

Try this just to see...

0.3 mls PG
3.7 mls VG
0.2 mls flavoring

You should still be able to taste that really well if it is a stout flavor no problem. You should also get plenty of vapor.

Let us know!

 

[Kat1355]

Hi HaploVoss,

The flavoring I am using is Lorann extracts. I didn't know there was "standard" flavorings. What type of flavoring do you use? Even with the 20% Lorann I am not getting all that much flavor. I am not having trouble with the vapor...I get tons of that. But, I have been having a problem with a "burnt" flavor. The cart is still full enough, and I have made sure all "threads" have been trimmed from the polyfill. The polyfill is about 1/8th to 1/4 inch below the lip of the cart.

 

[HaploVoss]

How much polyfill are you using? Have you compared your cart to an original one? Sometimes if you pack them too tightly they will wick ok at first, but then dry out quickly up front, leaving liquid in the back and overheat the front polyfill to the point of leaving a 'burnt' flavor I guess it could be called.

1/8 to 1/4 inch sounds a bit extreme, but I imagine the atty reaches up in there... if nothing else direct dripping should take care of burnt taste if the atty is getting too dry, but if you say it is vaping really well then it sounds like you are getting good contact and liquid flow.

I wish I could see those carts. You really should not need to push the polyfill back into the cart more than just a tad. More like 1/16". You want it wet and making good contact so it wicks really well. Otherwise you could be running into the same wicking problem and as the atty gets hot, overheating the plastic of the cart and front of the polyfill.

Sorry I wish I could help more, but basically if the cart is setup well - not over soaked - not dry - and you are vaping really well - then you shouldn't get a burnt taste after a few good carts or 'sessions'.

Hope it straightens out for you!!

Take care,
- Hap

 

[quovadis]

Kat..
do i feel you your pain!
I have been mixing juices for about 8 weeks and sometimes have thrown a bottle or two down the drain in frustration.
Either, they taste too strong or not..either they wick good or not...some give vapor and some do not...

I have found the following :

1. i mix PG and VG together. 60% pg and 40% VG.
2. i rarely add distilled water, because i'm afraid of cart and atty leaking.
3. If i overdo it on the VG , yes i will add drops of distilled water, until i feel the liquid has reached a perfect viscosity.

4. I normally add the nic at the end.

It definitely takes practice...and fine tuning.
I do it in a bigger 30 ml bottle and only fill half, so as to allow plenty of space for shaking.

Good luck......hope you become the iron chef of e-juices!

 

[RenaissancePuffer]

Hi Cathy -

There are so many factors, and it seems like there are a few issues that you're running into. What type of atty and cart are you using? Is it the stock filler?

The filler being up into the cart 1/4 inch seems like a lot. It could be that the filler is not touching the bridge? Do you see any indentations in the filler? I've found the best wicking with the polyester filler is to have the bridge just touch the filler, and not press it up into the cart.

About the liquid, as was mentioned, VG is so thick you'll want to dilute that. If you're using 3.7mg of undiluted VG in a 5ml mix, that's a good bit of VG. I normally use 30% VG, but I use 50% PG, with 20% flavors (also PG base) as well, which is much thinner.

Make sure you use distilled water to thin out the VG a touch, try and mimic the viscocity of the PG liquid, a little bit thicker wouldn't hurt either.

As for the burnt taste, it sounds like your atty is just running dry, it could be from all of your experimenting, this is pretty normal. The atty likely hasn't soaked up enough liquid.

I hope this helps!

 

[TnA]

Hi Cathy -

There are so many factors, and it seems like there are a few issues that you're running into. What type of atty and cart are you using? Is it the stock filler?

The filler being up into the cart 1/4 inch seems like a lot. It could be that the filler is not touching the bridge? Do you see any indentations in the filler? I've found the best wicking with the polyester filler is to have the bridge just touch the filler, and not press it up into the cart.

About the liquid, as was mentioned, VG is so thick you'll want to dilute that. If you're using 3.7mg of undiluted VG in a 5ml mix, that's a good bit of VG. I normally use 30% VG, but I use 50% PG, with 20% flavors (also PG base) as well, which is much thinner.

Make sure you use distilled water to thin out the VG a touch, try and mimic the viscocity of the PG liquid, a little bit thicker wouldn't hurt either.

As for the burnt taste, it sounds like your atty is just running dry, it could be from all of your experimenting, this is pretty normal. The atty likely hasn't soaked up enough liquid.

I hope this helps!

+1 It really does sound like the viscosity of your DIY mix would be very thick and therefore, very difficult to wick through your cartridge filler material and onto the atomizer, which would lead to the burnt taste. If you're only adding a couple of drops of alcohol, you may want to try adding a little more (or use the distilled water). I add distilled water to all of my mixes and they still come out thicker than most retail juices...but they vape just fine.

Can't recall, but I thought a suggestion was made (and also can't remember if you tried it) to try dripping your mix directly on the atomizer and vape that. If the flavor and vapor come through, then that would certainly lead credence to the idea that your viscosity might need to be thinned down.

BTW, when shopping around for the pyramid tea bags, I highly recommend the Lipton Green Tea with Mandarin Orange Flavor. It's absolutely yummy and actually has pieces of real fruit in it!!! (why waste perfectly good tea?? ;-)) After you've enjoyed the tea, just set the bag aside to dry out and then cut it open and dump out the contents.

Good luck and keep at it....you'll get it right!

 

[Kat1355]

Hap,
I am going to move the filler up in the cart and see if that helps. I didn't even think of it being too far down in the cart! I have compared my amount of polyfill to an original one, and followed the instructions on the polyfill video. I think you are on to something with my filler being too far below the lip of my cart. I am changing that immediately.

Quovadis,
I know, huh?? I have some PG coming. Maybe adding that will help. I am going to get this if it kills me...and it very well may...lol. I am nothing if not persistent! Just start calling me the Iron Chef of ejuice...~smile~

RenaissancePuffer,
I am for sure going to get the distilled water. I think you are right, my mixture is too thick. I also moved the polyfill up much closer to the top of the cart.

TnA,
I am definitely going to find those tea bags...even if it kills me! (see above) lol Thanks for the heads up on the Mandarin Orange...it sounds awesome!

 

[doots]

Id change the atty and see what happens. Dodnt know if you did that yet.