Start up cost for Diy
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I am planning on starting DIY, and was looking at this starting kit The DIY Flavor Artisan's Master Kit - One Stop DIY Shop Store
It comes with a lot of stuff, but is it a good deal? Can anyone comment?
Thanks
It comes with a lot of stuff, but is it a good deal? Can anyone comment?
Thanks
I personally would NEVER buy a diy starter kit . Your basically paying for 90% of stuff you will never use at big mark ups in price .Its about 5.00 in stuff for 36.00 . pipettes never get uses . Little cups and droppers never get used . 1 syringe costs .50 cents . EMpty bottles you can by like 50 for 6.00 . Its a huge ripoff if you ask me .
I honestly wouldnt buy that kit if it were less than 10.00 shipped . You could easily get 20x the amount of stuff for less then half the price .
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your welcome Frankster. Diy doesn't have to be expensive but some (like me) love trying new flavors so we keep buying new flavorings or we trade flavorings with other board members. I personally know of 3 right now that I just can't stand that are gonna be put up for trade. Hope you enjoy your diy experience.
Allthough I didn't start with a kit, I have used everything that kit contains at one time or another. I am sure you could buy each individual item cheaper, but your shipping costs will be much higher. Personelly, I don't think it's a bad deal for someone that doesn't have anything to start with.
I've done diy a decent length of time. I use syringes, beakers, pipettes all the time. 15ml graduated beakers for everything, and either pipettes or syringes depending on how much of something I am mixing.
On my typical 60 ml batches just the beakers may do the job. For test, down in the 30ml and below zone, pipettes and syringes.
Pipettes are more convenient than syringes when working with small neck bottles. They are not that hard to clean. The alternative,.pouring flavors into beakers just to use a syringe, is way too much of a pita for small test runs.
For a starter set, I would maybe buy the flavors right from tpa, else buy everything from good prophets or void mist. Don't bother with getting plain vg, pick it up for about $5 per 6 ounces at a cvs or rite aid. 4ml of any flavor doesn't go far, I would do the gp 10ml, maybe start with just 5 flavors rather than 8.
The one stop kit is not that bad a price for sheer convenience, but there are more cost effective approaches.
Just my own experience, after a decent time mixing.
On my typical 60 ml batches just the beakers may do the job. For test, down in the 30ml and below zone, pipettes and syringes.
Pipettes are more convenient than syringes when working with small neck bottles. They are not that hard to clean. The alternative,.pouring flavors into beakers just to use a syringe, is way too much of a pita for small test runs.
For a starter set, I would maybe buy the flavors right from tpa, else buy everything from good prophets or void mist. Don't bother with getting plain vg, pick it up for about $5 per 6 ounces at a cvs or rite aid. 4ml of any flavor doesn't go far, I would do the gp 10ml, maybe start with just 5 flavors rather than 8.
The one stop kit is not that bad a price for sheer convenience, but there are more cost effective approaches.
Just my own experience, after a decent time mixing.
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lol...I have 2 already that I do not like...TFA...Tobacco Flavor and TFA Almond Amaretto
That happens to everyone.
From tpa I like their vanilla, srawberry, banana cream, ta diluted, tobacco blend alc, and their car and capp are ok. I know they have other good things, these are just the ones I use frequently.
I like capella car, capp, hazelnut.
I like pretty much every natures flavors I have used.
I like seedman commercial.
There is a pif diy trade a flavor thread, and a regular pif diy thread, that can be handy.
From tpa I like their vanilla, srawberry, banana cream, ta diluted, tobacco blend alc, and their car and capp are ok. I know they have other good things, these are just the ones I use frequently.
I like capella car, capp, hazelnut.
I like pretty much every natures flavors I have used.
I like seedman commercial.
There is a pif diy trade a flavor thread, and a regular pif diy thread, that can be handy.
Everything Capella makes it not only good but Great ! . I do like maybe 20 out of the 25 or so flavors i got from TPA .All in all out of the 100+ flavorings i have theres maybe 8 that i dont like at all . I dont use tobacco's though . There arnt many good artificial tobacco's i hear which is why most tobacco fans usually extract their own or use Seedmans . Tpa is known for having bad tobaccos . Fa i hear is decent on tobaccos like their new Black fire
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+1 I've been hooked on Capellas for some time now. My last purchase was 4 of the 16oz. bottle flavorings. Yep, bulk for just me
. My start up costs as I remember greatly exceeded that of the actual concoctions I made that were vapeable. Figuring out my likes and my dislikes began as a really cool adventure until I started buying everything everyone was suggesting. I mean, when all the time in the jar peeps out at you.....exactly...it made no sense.If I could do it over again....that 1st 200 dollar ecig kit I bought at the mall with the carts and that wonderful M.L. type taste, I loved it! I could a stuck with that taste always....Don't get me wrong, it was lots a fun but very expensive.
Hi there...on the Capella, how many drops of the concentrate would be good on average for a 10 ml batch. Also, do you recommend any flavors that match up well combined with a tobacco?
All capellas are usually very even matched at 10-15% . Capellas are all great as base flavors since they are super tasty so yes some of them will be great with a tobacco like hazelnut for example .
Thanks, I would have thought they would come in lower like 5 % since they are concentrated...I will try some out.
Thanks for the tips on that kit. It does appear now that I'm looking at it, to be over priced. I have about $60 to spend, could anyone help me pick out my custom starting supplies with that budget? I don't like a lot of flavors that I've tried, I like simple stuff, and hate tobacco flavors. I'm also not interested in most fruit stuff. I mostly vape menthol, but I love vanilla as well. My all time favorite juice is Johnson Creek vanilla bean, but I haven't bought it in a long time because it was pretty expensive.
Any further advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Any further advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
Good prophets.
120ml of 36mg nic base
120 ml pg base (no nic)
1 set small pipettes
1 set medium pipettes
1 set 1 ounce measuring cups
Some empty bottles, couple each of 3, 10, 30
Menthol crystals
Couple small syringes (or ask nice at a pharmacy desk for a few small oral syringes)
tpa flavors (10ml) your choice, maybe french vanilla, bavarian cream, vanilla cupcake?
Perfumers apprentice:
Couple of additional flavors right from their site. If you really like menthol, you may prefer to buy their liquid menthol concentrate, it can be simpler to work with than menthol crystals. Pick things based on your taste.
dollar store:
Nitrile or latex throwaway gloves
Goggles
Small plastic tray with sides - do all your mixing in the tray, it contains spills and makes cleaning easy.Small spiral notebook
Dollar calculator
Cvs or rite aid: glycerin usp skin protectant, 6 oz (ingedients should just state glycerin 99.5%), near the bandaids
The above should come together within right about $60.
120ml of 36mg nic base
120 ml pg base (no nic)
1 set small pipettes
1 set medium pipettes
1 set 1 ounce measuring cups
Some empty bottles, couple each of 3, 10, 30
Menthol crystals
Couple small syringes (or ask nice at a pharmacy desk for a few small oral syringes)
tpa flavors (10ml) your choice, maybe french vanilla, bavarian cream, vanilla cupcake?
Perfumers apprentice:
Couple of additional flavors right from their site. If you really like menthol, you may prefer to buy their liquid menthol concentrate, it can be simpler to work with than menthol crystals. Pick things based on your taste.
dollar store:
Nitrile or latex throwaway gloves
Goggles
Small plastic tray with sides - do all your mixing in the tray, it contains spills and makes cleaning easy.Small spiral notebook
Dollar calculator
Cvs or rite aid: glycerin usp skin protectant, 6 oz (ingedients should just state glycerin 99.5%), near the bandaids
The above should come together within right about $60.
My advice would be, take inventory of what you have on hand. You have things you may not realize that will help get you started. For instance, look in your medicine cabinet and consider washing out a bottle of something you no longer use that has a dropper. Some vitamin drops have a line marker showing 1 ml, 2 ml etc. Now check your cough medicine stash. Most OTC cough meds give you a small cup with measurements so you won't OD. This is perfect for measuring mls and even mixing up your small sample batches.
Now look in your ejuice stash drawer. Go dump those flavors you bought that you absolutely hate, wash out the bottles and viola! You now have some empty bottles to mix your new juice in. Go to your local pharmacy and ask for free syringes. Most drug stores give these out free because many children's meds require measuring in ml's.
See how many things you've found that you didn't realize would serve for DIY purposes? See how much money you've already saved? I am a pack rat and saved every empty bottle when I was buying commercial juice. In the back of my mind I just knew that one day I might be attempting to make my own brew. I won't have to buy bottles for a long time!
You can get PG at your local tractor store, just make sure it's USP grade. You can get small bottles of VG at your local pharmacy or Wally World. Again, make sure it says USP. You'll pay about $4-6 and it will be enough VG to mix many bottles of juice. So now we're down to flavors and nic juice. TPA offers the 4 ml bottles at roughly $1.50 per bottle which is a great way to try what you think you might like and not feel raked over the coals if you don't like it. It's all trial and error and no one knows your taste likes and dislikes but you.
Good luck!
ETA: If you order the dram size flavors from TPA, she'll include several mini pipettes free. I have over 100 of them already and I've thrown some away when I use them for a strong stubborn flavor. If I remember correctly, 45 drops = 1 ml
Now look in your ejuice stash drawer. Go dump those flavors you bought that you absolutely hate, wash out the bottles and viola! You now have some empty bottles to mix your new juice in. Go to your local pharmacy and ask for free syringes. Most drug stores give these out free because many children's meds require measuring in ml's.
See how many things you've found that you didn't realize would serve for DIY purposes? See how much money you've already saved? I am a pack rat and saved every empty bottle when I was buying commercial juice. In the back of my mind I just knew that one day I might be attempting to make my own brew. I won't have to buy bottles for a long time!
You can get PG at your local tractor store, just make sure it's USP grade. You can get small bottles of VG at your local pharmacy or Wally World. Again, make sure it says USP. You'll pay about $4-6 and it will be enough VG to mix many bottles of juice. So now we're down to flavors and nic juice. TPA offers the 4 ml bottles at roughly $1.50 per bottle which is a great way to try what you think you might like and not feel raked over the coals if you don't like it. It's all trial and error and no one knows your taste likes and dislikes but you.
Good luck!
ETA: If you order the dram size flavors from TPA, she'll include several mini pipettes free. I have over 100 of them already and I've thrown some away when I use them for a strong stubborn flavor. If I remember correctly, 45 drops = 1 ml
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Capella is still running their six flavors for $20. Another popular flavor source.
I spent maybe $200 but I have a lot of stuff.
My main problem is the ready-made recipe you can find here and there;
They require flavors I dont have,and I dont have anything to use as close replacements for trial and error.
So more flavors ordered...
Then there is the "drops" mention;drops from what,the dropper bottles,pipettes,what?
I end up checking ml and % and make guesstimates.
So far my concoctions smells very good but dont taste anywhere near that :/
My main problem is the ready-made recipe you can find here and there;
They require flavors I dont have,and I dont have anything to use as close replacements for trial and error.
So more flavors ordered...
Then there is the "drops" mention;drops from what,the dropper bottles,pipettes,what?
I end up checking ml and % and make guesstimates.
So far my concoctions smells very good but dont taste anywhere near that :/
Every dropper is different. You must measure each one you use to determine how many drops equals 1 ml. TPA's mini pipettes are app. 45 drops per ml, the medium pipettes (from TPA) are 21 drops per ml. I have several droppers ranging from 25-35 drops per ml. Take a syringe or measuring cup and drop water from your dropper and count the drops until you reach 1 ml and then adjust the recipe accordingly. Many of the DIY'ers will note on a recipe the amount of drops per ml of the dropper they're using. Fortunately, most of the DIY calculators allows you to enter the "drops per ml" in the formula so you'll get the correct ratio. HTH
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