Taking the plunge into DIY'ing?

[chinacatsunflower-]

I am a relatively new vaper, and after calculating the cost of buying premium juices over the course of two months ($150 w/ great deals), I'm thoroughly contemplating switching to DIY. I have been reading extensively and will be doing much more research to be properly prepared to begin this part of my vaping journey, but there are some things about it that concern me.

My concerns mostly regard nicotine bases / safety and I of course have other questions:

1. What percentage of nicotine is considered too dangerous to work with for a newbie? I have read several places that upwards of 36mg is generally safe, following the proper precautions of course.
2. Secondly, the volume of the nicotine base you buy. Let us say I buy 100ml of 36mg nicotine juice. Would this not mean that it has a total of 3,600mg of nicotine in it due to its volume? Which to me is a number to which causes alarm, considering the overdose of nicotine has been estimated anywhere from 30-60mg for an adult, and far less for children and pets.
3. What is better and easier to mix with when choosing a nicotine base, PG or VG, or a mix of the two? I will be making mostly VG dominant juices.
4. Ways to maximize safety, preventing spills, and other safety measures.
   
5. Proper cleaning of syringes and other things used for adding the nicotine base, or is it safer to use disposables of these and if so, the proper way of disposing them?
6. General do's and don'ts?

I am quite concerned with the nicotine aspect of DIY'ing. I really want to do it, as I am naturally curious and love experimentation (the savings are also quite nice) but I am also cautious by nature. All advice and help will be greatly appreciated

 

[SteveS45]

You have so many questions and I wish I was able to answer all of them for you! I would suggest that you read a few of the threads running at present for lots of the answers you are searching for.

One question for you though how many ML's of e-Liquid do you go through in a week? A day?

I am waiting on my first DIY Starter kit which come with 250 ML's of 48MG/ML Nicotine. I figure that should last me for a year or at least for the 1,400 Mls of base, nicotine and flavors I have ordered.

 

[chinacatsunflower-]

You have so many questions and I wish I was able to answer all of them for you! I would suggest that you read a few of the threads running at present for lots of the answers you are searching for.

One question for you though how many ML's of e-Liquid do you go through in a week? A day?

I am waiting on my first DIY Starter kit which come with 250 ML's of 48MG/ML Nicotine. I figure that should last me for a year or at least for the 1,400 Mls of base, nicotine and flavors I have ordered.

Will do, I'll look around and see what I can find, any links are surely welcome though!
I generally go through 5-10ml a day.

 

[SteveS45]

To me I consider that a lot. Just go to the General E-Liquid discussions on the Home Page, take your pick of a thread and set aside some time for reading! Never fear will not be long before many others will eagerly assist in answering your questions.

 

[chinacatsunflower-]

To me I consider that a lot. Just go to the General E-Liquid discussions on the Home Page, take your pick of a thread and set aside some time for reading! Never fear will not be long before many others will eagerly assist in answering your questions.

It may be less than that, that was a rough estimate based on how often I fill my tank. I also don't fill my tank to max, nor vape it until there is none left, and there is always a decent amount left before I hit the hay. I haven't begun to monitor how many ml's I use a day, although I will begin to.

 

[SteveS45]

Oh Please do not take what I said wrong! When I said I consider it a lot that is just my personal opinion and in no way is any type of judgement or recommendation. I figure I do between 3 and 5 a day sometimes other days 2 to 3 ML's. Do not take what I said as you were overdoing it! As long as you do not get sick or get a headache your not overdoing it.

 

[SteveS45]

Here is a link to a thread that is running with lots of DIY information for you.

juice mixing advice

 

[chinacatsunflower-]

Oh Please do not take what I said wrong! When I said I consider it a lot that is just my personal opinion and in no way is any type of judgement or recommendation. I figure I do between 3 and 5 a day sometimes other days 2 to 3 ML's. Do not take what I said as you were overdoing it! As long as you do not get sick or get a headache your not overdoing it.

Oh no, I wasn't! I honestly do use quite a bit of juice, and I was simply saying that knowing how many ml's I use per day would be a good thing to know. I used to get headaches once in awhile, but I've toned it down far more than when I started.

 

[Capt.shay]

Spilling some 100mg nic. on you will not burn a hole through your skin or send you in to anaphylactic shock. You want to be careful with it and wash it off immediately, keep from eyes and certainly not ingest it. You also want to make sure it is safe from pets and children. It is really no more caustic than a lot of household cleaners.

I would recommend getting 100mg/ml and I would get it in pg as it is a lot easier to work with unless you absolutely have to have the highest vg % possible. If you are using 3mg or 6mg nic. that is the amount of percentage that it will raise the final outcome percentage of PG in your mix.

 

[BrotherBob]

I think most of your questions will be answered by viewing:
DIY Resources
dannyv45's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
Hoosier's blog | E-Cigarette Forum
You will want to scroll down to Sir2fyablyNutz thread, he lists most of the places you can find recipes.
Re: First DIY Order

Proper cleaning of syringes and other things used for adding the nicotine base, or is it safer to use disposables of these and if so, the proper way of disposing them?

Not sure the above is addressed. I clean my syringes by circulating 3 full clean water fill ups and ejections. I leave my needles on during this process so both needle and syringe receive a high speed clean. Some folks like to do a hot soap and water step prior to the water jet clean process.
Some people like to use scales. Both methods have their advantages.

 

[dannyv45]

I am a relatively new vaper, and after calculating the cost of buying premium juices over the course of two months ($150 w/ great deals), I'm thoroughly contemplating switching to DIY. I have been reading extensively and will be doing much more research to be properly prepared to begin this part of my vaping journey, but there are some things about it that concern me.

My concerns mostly regard nicotine bases / safety and I of course have other questions:

1. What percentage of nicotine is considered too dangerous to work with for a newbie? I have read several places that upwards of 36mg is generally safe, following the proper precautions of course.
2. Secondly, the volume of the nicotine base you buy. Let us say I buy 100ml of 36mg nicotine juice. Would this not mean that it has a total of 3,600mg of nicotine in it due to its volume? Which to me is a number to which causes alarm, considering the overdose of nicotine has been estimated anywhere from 30-60mg for an adult, and far less for children and pets.
3. What is better and easier to mix with when choosing a nicotine base, PG or VG, or a mix of the two? I will be making mostly VG dominant juices.
4. Ways to maximize safety, preventing spills, and other safety measures.
   
5. Proper cleaning of syringes and other things used for adding the nicotine base, or is it safer to use disposables of these and if so, the proper way of disposing them?
6. General do's and don'ts?

I am quite concerned with the nicotine aspect of DIY'ing. I really want to do it, as I am naturally curious and love experimentation (the savings are also quite nice) but I am also cautious by nature. All advice and help will be greatly appreciated

I see your getting answers that don't exactly address your concerns so let me answer these questions one by one.

1. What percentage of nicotine is considered too dangerous to work with for a newbie? I have read several places that upwards of 36mg is generally safe, following the proper precautions of course.

36mg mg is perfectly safe for a beginner it represents 36mg per liter. Anything higher then 100mg is not recommended.

2. Secondly, the volume of the nicotine base you buy. Let us say I buy 100ml of 36mg nicotine juice. Would this not mean that it has a total of 3,600mg of nicotine in it due to its volume? Which to me is a number to which causes alarm, considering the overdose of nicotine has been estimated anywhere from 30-60mg for an adult, and far less for children and pets.

100mg would be 100mg per liter which means if you buy 1 liter of 100mg NIC it would have exactly 100mg of pure nicotine in it. This level requires as much caution as any other level of Nicotine but is not as dangerous as many tend to state. I've gotten it on my skin many times and all you need to do is wash it off and don't let it linger on your skin for long periods of time. Clean up any spills etc. If you treat it the same way you would treat household bleach you'll be fine. The biggest danger is if you guzzle it like soda and common sense would say not to do that. Be certain of your calculations when mixing your base and always use an e-juice calculator to assist you in your calculations and always recheck your work. There are many free e-juice calculators on the internet and my blog has some recommendations on them. Keep nicotine out of reach of small children and pets and you will be fine. Wearing protection is always good but a full out hazmat suit and resporator is not required as some may lead you to believe. Latex gloves and eye protection such as eye glasses or lab glasses are advised.

3. What is better and easier to mix with when choosing a nicotine base, PG or VG, or a mix of the two? I will be making mostly VG dominant juices.

It's not a question of what is better or easier. It all depends on what you prefer to vape. Do you prefer a higher concentration of VG such as a 80vg/20pg which would produce a sweeter, milder vape with heaver cloud production. If so then get NIC in VG. If you prefer a vape with more throat hit and is less sweet with less cloud production such as a 25vg/75pg mix then get NIC in PG. If you vape a 50/50 mix then it don't much matter which you get. I always suggest to get either NIC in PG or VG and never a combination. It is far easier to calculate everything seperately expecially if using an e-juice calculator. I don't recommend buying premixed bases because you always need to compensate the base for adding flavor to a mix as most flavorings also contain PG.

4. Ways to maximize safety, preventing spills, and other safety measures.

Read answer 2

5. Proper cleaning of syringes and other things used for adding the nicotine base, or is it safer to use disposables of these and if so, the proper way of disposing them?

Disposable equipment is fine but can be expensive in the long run to use once and toss. Most desposable can be cleaned very easily with household dish soap and water. Many times I don't even clean my bottles if I'm just going to refill them with the same mix. During my mixing sessions I keep a bottle of water near by to clean my syringes between flavors.

6. General do's and don'ts?

My blogs will answer all the do's and don't questions and give you all the information you will need to get you started.

dannyv45's blog | E-Cigarette Forum

 

[zoiDman]

...

1. What percentage of nicotine is considered too dangerous to work with for a newbie? I have read several places that upwards of 36mg is generally safe, following the proper precautions of course.

36mg mg is perfectly safe for a beginner it represents 36mg per liter.

2. Secondly, the volume of the nicotine base you buy. Let us say I buy 100ml of 36mg nicotine juice. Would this not mean that it has a total of 3,600mg of nicotine in it due to its volume? Which to me is a number to which causes alarm, considering the overdose of nicotine has been estimated anywhere from 30-60mg for an adult, and far less for children and pets.

100mg would be 100mg per liter and requires a higher level of caution but is not as dangerous and many tend to state. I've gotten it on my skin many times and all you need to do is wash it off and don't let it linger on your skin for long periods of time. Clean up any spills etc. If you treat it the same way you would treat household bleach you'll be fine. The biggest danger is if you guzzle it like soda and common sense would say not to do that. Keep it out of reach of small children and pets and you will be fine. Wearing protection is always good but a full out hazmat suit is not required. Latex gloves and eye protection are advised.

...

Unless I am Misunderstanding what you are say'n Danny, the OP is Correct.

When He/She buys "36mg" Nicotine Base, He/She is buying a Liquid that contain 36mg of Nicotine per Milliliter. Not per Liter.

So a 100ml Bottle of "36mg" Nicotine Base does indeed contain 3,600mg's of Total Nicotine.

 

[dannyv45]

Unless I am Misunderstanding what you are say'n Danny, the OP is Correct.

When He/She buys "36mg" Nicotine Base, He/She is buying a Liquid that contain 36mg of Nicotine per Milliliter. Not per Liter.

So a 100ml Bottle of "36mg" Nicotine Base does indeed contain 3,600mg's of Total Nicotine.

You are correct. I was trying to explain that MG as it pertains to Nicotine solutions purchased was based on liter percentage. I though the OP was confusing the actual nicotine percentage was based on 3,600mg total nicotine per liter bottle purchased. As that's impossible being the max pure NIC is 1000mg. I wasn't quite sure how to explain this. I didn't want to get to deeply into this with the op as this discussion is not allowed.

 

[zoiDman]

You may be correct I never understood this but I was always under the impression that MG percentage as it pertains to Nicotine solutions purchased was based on the liter. It could be the OP is confusing that the actual nicotine amount would be based on 3,600mg total nicotine per liter bottle purchased. Not quite sure how to explain this.

I think where the Confusion comes from is in our Laziness when we Right things. And we Lobe to Shorten things.

What many People write as 36mg should really be written as 36mg/ml. But we tend to Shorten it to just 36mg. Because it is Excepted that the Nicotine per Volume units is in Milliliters.

Milligrams per Milliliter.

Just say'n "36mg" works OK for Flavored e-liquids. But can Cause a Lot of Confusion when people start to do DIY.

 

[dannyv45]

I wish I thought it out better. You explained it so much better then me. Math was never my strong point

 

[zoiDman]

I wish I thought it out better. You explained it so much better then me. Math was never my strong point

Hey No Worries Danny.

I have spent a Large Portion of my adult life standing in front of a Whiteboard explaining Math to people. It has kinda been a Redeeming Quality.

Because I spell like a 3rd Grader. LOL.

 

[niczgreat]

From Mathematical Standpoint 100mg is the easiest to work with.

Every Ml per ounce is 3.33mg
So it's easy to do the calculations

 

[zoiDman]

From Mathematical Standpoint 100mg is the easiest to work with.

Every Ml per ounce is 3.33mg
So it's easy to do the calculations

Not following you?

Are you referring to 100mg/ml Nicotine Base?

 

[mhertz]

1. Secondly, the volume of the nicotine base you buy. Let us say I buy 100ml of 36mg nicotine juice. Would this not mean that it has a total of 3,600mg of nicotine in it due to its volume? Which to me is a number to which causes alarm, considering the overdose of nicotine has been estimated anywhere from 30-60mg for an adult, and far less for children and pets.

As zoiDman already stated, you are quite correct in your calculations, but you're not gonna take a bath in it with the full bottle i'm guessing( ), so if you take care it's not an issue. As said, small spills of 100mg(which is 10.000mg's nic in a full 100ml bottle), if washed afterwards off, isn't dangerous, but try as best to avoid it of course... Pure nic, which should never be used(99.000mg's to 99.999mg's nic per. 100ml if USP grade), can burn skin and poison you with spills. Lastly, the poisonous amount of nic is widely known to be highly underrated, and spills removed in time of 100mg doesn't mean 100mg/ml is actually absorbed,...

 

[chinacatsunflower-]

Thank you all for the help, and I'm glad that this community is so great!
I spent 4-5 hours last night before bed reading extensively on this subject from resources in the library. It has been very helpful and continues to be, but I still have much more reading to do! I have a list of supplies together, and I am going to be putting together how much the initial investment will be.

I have read several forums about flavorings, but most pages I have been finding are ratings of the flavor itself and its potency, which is mostly subjective? That's really the only thing I am stumped on so far. How do I go about making sure the flavoring chemicals are safe for inhalation besides being USP certified, and can't USP certification mean food grade or pharmaceutical grade?

What are the best sites for buying quality flavors, and what flavoring chemicals should I absolutely never buy besides the obvious (diacetyl, cinnamaldehyde)? I have been looking at Wizard Labs and they have everything I would need at great prices, but I'm simply at a loss when it comes to flavors. Where to buy them from? I simply want to make sure I am buying quality flavoring additives, as a major part of is furthering my ability to restrict what I am inhaling.