Still smoking support and chat thread

[JJ1977]

Well, I broke out the credit card and bought a liter of VapersTek 100mg/ml in pg for $125.00 and free shipping. I sure do hope that it is as good as many say it is. I also went on Amazon and picked up a quart each of pg and vg and a dozen 4oz boston round amber bottles. I figure I will split the nic into the bottles and freeze it and take the last bottle and break that down into 30ml blue glass and make it 50mg/ml 50/50. Freeze all but one at a time.

I have read a good part of the DIY Forum here but either I can not find or do not understand how I figure my percentages for when I tweak a recipe. Let's say I make a Caramel ry4 as follows: 12mg nic in pg, 8% ry4double, and 1% caramel, in a 70/30pg/vg. I make this, taste it and tweak it with another 1% caramel. I use ejuicemeup.

How do I update that original recipe? If I just change the caramel from 1% to 2% in the recipe it changes all the values. Is tweaking a recipe a guessing game or am I totally missing something. My gut tells me it is a guessing game.

I do not want to make DIY into a mad chemistry project, but I would like to know how you all here do this part of your DIY. I am pretty dense until I get how it works. Thanks for any help here. I know I will understand you all (and I do not want to appear as dumb as I am in the TFA thread). You all can laugh at me, but don't tell anyone else....

yes sharir their nic is as good as NN and WL i broke down and ordered some friday lol

also i do a 5 or 10ml test batch then test it after a day or 2 then if i feel it needs more i just add alittle more to that batch then make a new batch with the increasements, i take notes as i get closer to the end result

 

[ShariR]

Great idea there. I have so obliterated my tries on the Caramel Pear Black Tea that I am running around in circles. Even with my lackluster notes I can no longer figure out what is what. And then a couple weeks later, what I thought was close has changed again. Bah!! I will try the 15ml mix and split idea. And the tasting of flavoring in water.

That gives me some semblance of organization and process.

I would put in nic at 100mg (if that's what you have) and you are following a reciepe to use one of the calculators. The tweaking's been done (not really - keep good notes and re-enter based on your new reciepe). It's not perfect.

Personally, I'd work without nic and mix apx 15ml of a base. Then split into 3x5ml's. Tweak each one, keep notes and then mix the final using the calculator based on your notes. There's always going to be guessing when you tweak a reciepe.

The other piece of advice would be to know your flavors. Put a drop into 4 to 8 oz of water and drink it. Doing that gives me an idea of intesity and tones. It's not precise. Just a place to start from.

 

[aikanae1]

One of the things I ran into on other forums was 'flavor notes' and that was from testing flavors in water. It was helpful to me. I don't know why it's not done on ECF much. I use a 16 oz water, label and sit overnight but I'm using flavors that mix at <3%. Some flavors fade away, my favorite coffee does and I discovered it's a waste of time to try and use it in a base. It'll never be more than an accent. I'm looking for the yummy stand alones to start out with tweaking. And those I turn into bases with nic and tweak from there. I just aim for what tastes good right now.

I'm still figuring out a decent format for notes. I'm not a spread sheet girl and I'm not bringing my laptop into the mixing area. I'm too old to read tiny print on the phone. I only want to write things down once. So please share if you come up with organiizing brain storms. That's frustrating. It would be nice to keep track of reciepes as they develop.

 

[AndriaD]

Well, I broke out the credit card and bought a liter of VapersTek 100mg/ml in pg for $125.00 and free shipping. I sure do hope that it is as good as many say it is. I also went on Amazon and picked up a quart each of pg and vg and a dozen 4oz boston round amber bottles. I figure I will split the nic into the bottles and freeze it and take the last bottle and break that down into 30ml blue glass and make it 50mg/ml 50/50. Freeze all but one at a time.

I have read a good part of the DIY Forum here but either I can not find or do not understand how I figure my percentages for when I tweak a recipe. Let's say I make a Caramel ry4 as follows: 12mg nic in pg, 8% ry4double, and 1% caramel, in a 70/30pg/vg. I make this, taste it and tweak it with another 1% caramel. I use ejuicemeup.

How do I update that original recipe? If I just change the caramel from 1% to 2% in the recipe it changes all the values. Is tweaking a recipe a guessing game or am I totally missing something. My gut tells me it is a guessing game.

I do not want to make DIY into a mad chemistry project, but I would like to know how you all here do this part of your DIY. I am pretty dense until I get how it works. Thanks for any help here. I know I will understand you all (and I do not want to appear as dumb as I am in the TFA thread). You all can laugh at me, but don't tell anyone else....

Kind of a guessing game, though there are ways to make it slightly less so. In your recipe, if you have ingredients that are 1% or 2%, you can kinda figure out how many drops it takes to make 1% of the flavor (I find that PG-anything is about 35-37 drops per ml), or something along those lines... if I think I need to add more of something to a mix, I'll try adding .1ml at a time (3-4 drops), to try and figure out a future percentage. Once I can, by this kind of tweaking, reach a taste I like, then I do another mix, with updated figures for percentages -- when I'm testing something like this, I mix up only 5ml, so if any of it gets wasted, I'm not wasting a lot.

It can be a little hit or miss, the tweaking thing, but so far this is working ok for me.

Andria

 

[VoodooZero]

Voodoo,

From experience, the doge is a bit airy unless you match the coil size (# of wraps) to the airflow and the plume veil is a flavor monster. Hope that helps.

I'll shoot some pics of that rebuild technique tonight if anyone is interested in running tensioned coils that are repeatable 99.9% of the time.

I hear that the Plume is just that. And I think this is why I am looking forward to it so much. I don't really know. I have back and forth days. Some days, I just want to blow giant clouds and be all like yep...that was me. Other days I don't care about the cloud and it just has to taste super amazing. No real clue as to why either way.

 

[ShariR]

I was contemplating using an index card method. Get a box and colored tab cards for flavor 'types' and keep it like a recipe box. Then all you have to do is take the one card into the mixing area with you. Or make a photocopy of the card - that leaves plenty of room for progressive notes as you tweak away over the life of chasing the perfect recipe. You can have a second box for perfected recipes. Pretty cheap to set up and portable and no fear of ruining your laptop.

I am old and old school. I seem to retain info better when I work with writing it down on paper than in a computer file. I forget what I name things and where I save them on my laptop. Just with my CPBT versions in ejuicemeup I am getting out of control. I think I have tried 11 or 12 versions and not perfected yet. And that is just one juice. I have not even started with the tobacco or fruit creams, etc.

One of the things I ran into on other forums was 'flavor notes' and that was from testing flavors in water. It was helpful to me. I don't know why it's not done on ECF much. I use a 16 oz water, label and sit overnight but I'm using flavors that mix at <3%. Some flavors fade away, my favorite coffee does and I discovered it's a waste of time to try and use it in a base. It'll never be more than an accent. I'm looking for the yummy stand alones to start out with tweaking. And those I turn into bases with nic and tweak from there. I just aim for what tastes good right now.

I'm still figuring out a decent format for notes. I'm not a spread sheet girl and I'm not bringing my laptop into the mixing area. I'm too old to read tiny print on the phone. I only want to write things down once. So please share if you come up with organiizing brain storms. That's frustrating. It would be nice to keep track of reciepes as they develop.

 

[JJ1977]

I hear that the Plume is just that. And I think this is why I am looking forward to it so much. I don't really know. I have back and forth days. Some days, I just want to blow giant clouds and be all like yep...that was me. Other days I don't care about the cloud and it just has to taste super amazing. No real clue as to why either way.

yes the plume is a very good rda imo


also a juice guzzler like a hummer v1, the SubTank Plus


you better be DIY'ing juice with this sucker

 

[etherealink]

Well, I broke out the credit card and bought a liter of VapersTek 100mg/ml in pg for $125.00 and free shipping. I sure do hope that it is as good as many say it is. I also went on Amazon and picked up a quart each of pg and vg and a dozen 4oz boston round amber bottles. I figure I will split the nic into the bottles and freeze it and take the last bottle and break that down into 30ml blue glass and make it 50mg/ml 50/50. Freeze all but one at a time.

I have read a good part of the DIY Forum here but either I can not find or do not understand how I figure my percentages for when I tweak a recipe. Let's say I make a Caramel ry4 as follows: 12mg nic in pg, 8% ry4double, and 1% caramel, in a 70/30pg/vg. I make this, taste it and tweak it with another 1% caramel. I use ejuicemeup.

How do I update that original recipe? If I just change the caramel from 1% to 2% in the recipe it changes all the values. Is tweaking a recipe a guessing game or am I totally missing something. My gut tells me it is a guessing game.

I do not want to make DIY into a mad chemistry project, but I would like to know how you all here do this part of your DIY. I am pretty dense until I get how it works. Thanks for any help here. I know I will understand you all (and I do not want to appear as dumb as I am in the TFA thread). You all can laugh at me, but don't tell anyone else....

Yes, it does adjust everything to an extent. Are you using the flavor mixer from the top "tools" menu?

I played with ejuicemeup for a bit and I think I know what the issue is and how to make it more predictable for you. Let me get a couple pics uploaded and I'll post it for you.

 

[etherealink]

I was contemplating using an index card method. Get a box and colored tab cards for flavor 'types' and keep it like a recipe box. Then all you have to do is take the one card into the mixing area with you. Or make a photocopy of the card - that leaves plenty of room for progressive notes as you tweak away over the life of chasing the perfect recipe. You can have a second box for perfected recipes. Pretty cheap to set up and portable and no fear of ruining your laptop.

I am old and old school. I seem to retain info better when I work with writing it down on paper than in a computer file. I forget what I name things and where I save them on my laptop. Just with my CPBT versions in ejuicemeup I am getting out of control. I think I have tried 11 or 12 versions and not perfected yet. And that is just one juice. I have not even started with the tobacco or fruit creams, etc.

+1 on writing it down. I basically get a cheap notebook when the kids get school supplies and put one recipe on a page and go from there.

Also, i do test blends at 1ml with no nicotine so I can check general steeping time and strength of the flavor by itself.

 

[rangerrobin]

Excuse the interruption, but I have a question, and think y'all might be able to assist since you've been discussing DIY. I received a pre-made juice that isn't sweet enough for me. However, I do enjoy it's overall vape profile. I'd like to add sweetener to this juice, but don't know where to purchase it. Would someone please post a couple reputable vendors and any tips/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[etherealink]

Excuse the interruption, but I have a question, and think y'all might be able to assist since you've been discussing DIY. I received a pre-made juice that isn't sweet enough for me. However, I do enjoy it's overall vape profile. I'd like to add sweetener to this juice, but don't know where to purchase it. Would someone please post a couple reputable vendors and any tips/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

I've had lots of luck with the liquid stevia, can't remember the conversion to sweetener or e.m. though.

 

[etherealink]

Ok Shari, here is my quick and dirty ejuicemeup helper, pardon the pics I took them off my tv (used as a monitor) lol.

First off, I always use the flavor percentage tool from the tools menu when I am blending flavors for a recipe.

The best part is you can label things and it makes sure you get things balanced to make a 100% flavor profile every time. What you need to remember most about using this tool is the total flavor %, shown up top at 20% as the default.

Hitting calculate will do the math for you and make sure you have things right, then just click "send to form" and exit to go back to the main form.

I didn't change anything but the flavors from the default, but I wanted to show you how it transfers to the main form.

Also, I'm sure you know this already, but when you change one ingredient on the form that you change the rest of them accordingly, which is why i love the flavor percentage... it will warn you if you made a mistake and the main form won't.

Also, when I start adjusting recipes I work them at .5% to 1% per time I change things, that's why I do them so small and try to steep with hot water to make them faster to test. Also, as a general rule, I try to run my flavor percentage around 18-20%, but that's personal preference as I like big and solid flavors.

If you like, I can match your flavor specs and send you something to see what you think of it.

*********
Andria, just a preference for me, but I always use syringes instead of drops as it's more accurately repeatable (and because I didn't want to take the time to measure out # of drops per chemical to make a ml. My flavors are always done with a diabetic syringe to the 1/100th of a ml. Not that drop measuring is wrong, it's just not the way that I do it.

 

[AndriaD]

Excuse the interruption, but I have a question, and think y'all might be able to assist since you've been discussing DIY. I received a pre-made juice that isn't sweet enough for me. However, I do enjoy it's overall vape profile. I'd like to add sweetener to this juice, but don't know where to purchase it. Would someone please post a couple reputable vendors and any tips/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Sweetener-TFA - Bull City Vapor

I get the 30ml for $4, but if you don't use it often, the 10ml for $1.75 will last a pretty good while -- you don't need much.

Andria

 

[aikanae1]

Excuse the interruption, but I have a question, and think y'all might be able to assist since you've been discussing DIY. I received a pre-made juice that isn't sweet enough for me. However, I do enjoy it's overall vape profile. I'd like to add sweetener to this juice, but don't know where to purchase it. Would someone please post a couple reputable vendors and any tips/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

An alternative that I've heard about (I have some on order) is INW kaktus (catcus). It's not sugar sweet, but it's a sweenter. It depends a lot on what your juice is, there's a number of things used for sweet. I've used Lychee as a fruity sweetener.

 

[aikanae1]

Ok Shari, here is my quick and dirty ejuicemeup helper, pardon the pics I took them off my tv (used as a monitor) lol

Thank you. I'm on a mac and so far I haven't found a calculator that works well. I'm reluctant to get into mixing because my style is so different and most of the calculators don't work with low percentages that I use anyway. That's why I don't share recipes is that percentages are a real PITA to work out for me. My goal is reproducable. I think weight is going to work better. It standardizes everything/all flavors the same. I'm still figuring it out though. Without a calculator I feel like I'm missing a step and I am.

I did do another quick search to see if anything had changed. Found this one but when I took a closer look at the files, they were windows. However it looks very handy. You can keep flavor notes (yes!) with reciepes and there's a formula for tweaking reciepes (Yes!). It's also under active development which means you can ask lots of questions. I'm about ready to find a cheap tablet for this stuff. But this one seems really good.
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/diy-e-liquid/480587-new-calculator-try-109.html#post15325179

Go to the 'Ready to Start' directions and it's got a very nice work flow laid out for both starting from scratch and using a recipe.

That only wasted a couple of hours. I don't have time to keep up with this stuff.

 

[VoodooZero]

yes the plume is a very good rda imo
View attachment 425050

also a juice guzzler like a hummer v1, the SubTank Plus
View attachment 425053

you better be DIY'ing juice with this sucker

Something I've wanted to get into for forever now. But I just ahven't. I should though, as much juice as I go through.

 

[ShariR]

I do not know where you get your juice from, but MBV and High Desert Vapes sell DIY stuff. Wizard Labs has the TFA flavorings and sweeteners and at a good price. But just for sweetener, it might be a cheaper idea to do MBV or HDV and a couple of juices or flavors to tweak your current juices. I have added a drop of caramel, vanilla or pecan to tobacco juices I do not care for and there are several other flavors you can use to tweak a vendor made juice.

Lots more places to get sweetener from like One Stop DIYshop, and I can not think of anymore off the top of my head. GoodProphets(?), Goodejuice, Mom and Pop Shop...... Try a search on sweetener in the Eliquid forum, bet a bunch pop up.

Excuse the interruption, but I have a question, and think y'all might be able to assist since you've been discussing DIY. I received a pre-made juice that isn't sweet enough for me. However, I do enjoy it's overall vape profile. I'd like to add sweetener to this juice, but don't know where to purchase it. Would someone please post a couple reputable vendors and any tips/suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ShariR]

Wow, thank you so much. I am so new at this that I did not even know about the flavor percentage tab and what it can do. I have just be making CPBT version 1,2,3,4,5.... and so I am getting totally confused. I will have to try to mix up something, maybe this weekend and see how it works.

My CPBT tries are so out of whack that I am going to have to start back at the beginning. I think I am going to taste the flavors in water like Aik said and see what they taste like. So far I have just been playing with the 3 flavors but I feel it may need a touch of brown sugar extra that I have. We will see.

I should probably drop the CPBT for now and play with the ry4 double, since I think this tobacco will be easier for me to make into something I can enjoy. I read about all the TFA tobaccos and bought a 30ml of the ry4d so I must have had a reason to not pick up the Asian. Can not remember it though.

My son and wife and new grandbaby are coming out from Seattle to visit on 4/17 so I have to make sure I have nothing out the little one can get into. I may not play until after they leave just to be sure I do not miss a little bottle or some other DIY thing. A baby will find the littlest thing to put in his mouth and I am in no shape to chase a 1 yr old around.

Ok Shari, here is my quick and dirty ejuicemeup helper, pardon the pics I took them off my tv (used as a monitor) lol.

First off, I always use the flavor percentage tool from the tools menu when I am blending flavors for a recipe.

The best part is you can label things and it makes sure you get things balanced to make a 100% flavor profile every time. What you need to remember most about using this tool is the total flavor %, shown up top at 20% as the default.

Hitting calculate will do the math for you and make sure you have things right, then just click "send to form" and exit to go back to the main form.

I didn't change anything but the flavors from the default, but I wanted to show you how it transfers to the main form.


Also, I'm sure you know this already, but when you change one ingredient on the form that you change the rest of them accordingly, which is why i love the flavor percentage... it will warn you if you made a mistake and the main form won't.

Also, when I start adjusting recipes I work them at .5% to 1% per time I change things, that's why I do them so small and try to steep with hot water to make them faster to test. Also, as a general rule, I try to run my flavor percentage around 18-20%, but that's personal preference as I like big and solid flavors.

If you like, I can match your flavor specs and send you something to see what you think of it.

*********
Andria, just a preference for me, but I always use syringes instead of drops as it's more accurately repeatable (and because I didn't want to take the time to measure out # of drops per chemical to make a ml. My flavors are always done with a diabetic syringe to the 1/100th of a ml. Not that drop measuring is wrong, it's just not the way that I do it.

 

[ShariR]

So I washed out a new R91 I got during the holiday sales in a Dawn and hot water bath and then rinsed real well. Put my current adv in it and it is tasting real off.

My normal coils are 28ga wrapped on a 1.53mm rod (Gizmo). This time I used the 3mm rod. What a HUGE coil. It came in at 1.89ohms so I am in the ballpark there. Plenty of clouds but yucky taste. I had to use 3x the kgd cotton to fill that thing. First time my cotton has looked as fluffy and full as any of the videos/pics I see on ECF. But it is not tasting right. I am thinking it may be machine oil, cuz taste is way, way off. But this is my 4th r91 and it would be the first one from Kebo that I could not clean easily.

Any ideas on how to get that taste out? I am vaping through a tank of it to see if it is the cotton, but not getting much better taste. I do not have vodka or everclear in the house.

 

[AndriaD]

So I washed out a new R91 I got during the holiday sales in a Dawn and hot water bath and then rinsed real well. Put my current adv in it and it is tasting real off.

My normal coils are 28ga wrapped on a 1.53mm rod (Gizmo). This time I used the 3mm rod. What a HUGE coil. It came in at 1.89ohms so I am in the ballpark there. Plenty of clouds but yucky taste. I had to use 3x the kgd cotton to fill that thing. First time my cotton has looked as fluffy and full as any of the videos/pics I see on ECF. But it is not tasting right. I am thinking it may be machine oil, cuz taste is way, way off. But this is my 4th r91 and it would be the first one from Kebo that I could not clean easily.

Any ideas on how to get that taste out? I am vaping through a tank of it to see if it is the cotton, but not getting much better taste. I do not have vodka or everclear in the house.

I got that with the last KFL+ clone I bought, even after the hot soapy water. I finally boiled mine for about 15 minutes, then rinsed and rinsed and rinsed... and then it tasted fine.

Andria