This is my first DIY order. Am I forgetting anything?

[Redbird11]

So I am getting ready for my first order for DIY. I just wanted to do a basic order to get started. This order will be from Liquid Barn and includes the following:

Scale Kit (Includes LB 501 and 5 60ML Mixing Bottles)
500 ML of 12mg Nic Base
500 ML of PG
3 bottles of 16.5 flavoring

I wanted my first order to just be the pre-mixed base to get the hang of mixing. Next month I plan on buying some 100mg Nic and storing it in glass bottles in the freezer, but not for the initial order. Plus I plan on shopping on Bull City for a larger selection of flavors as well next month.

My main concern wondering if I am forgetting anything I need as far as lab equipment goes. I wasn't sure if I needed syringes or anything for this order since I will be mixing by weight. I figured before I pressed the clicky button to confirm I should ask the fine folks on this forum.

 

[Katya]

So I am getting ready for my first order for DIY. I just wanted to do a basic order to get started.

Now, since I'm here.

I never ordered a kit.

I started my DIY journey gradually and unwillingly. I bought some nic base, VG, PG and couple of flavors I thought I might like. I had some syringes, pipettes and a bunch of little (3-10 ml) squeeze bottles and droppers from old ejuices at home. I used Bill's famous 100 Drop Method of mixing

The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring Thread

where basically 1 drop represents 1% of your finished product. It went rather well, so I ordered more flavors and other stuff, as needed. And I took it from there.

Of course you can get a kit, if that's what you want, but I always recommend starting small, mixing a few sample batches (with or without nicotine) and building from there.

But that's just my experience and it worked for me, so I thought I'd share.

Good luck!

 

[englishmick]

Looks like Liquid Barn doesn't sell funnels or pipettes, so I will grab some of those when I make my order at Bull City later. Is there a funnel size you would recommend?

I tried funnels and I wouldn't recommend them. Especially with 80% VG nic. It's very thick. I remember filling up a funnel and sitting there holding the funnel until my fingers cramped up waiting for the VG to drip through it. I picked up several sizes of funnel including a tiny glass one, think they are all in a box in the attic now. Same with syringes. Even without a needle it was slow and messy to suck the stuff up and push it into the mixing bottle.

Now I just pour the nic from the bottle into a graduated cylinder. If you go slowly that works pretty well. There might be a better way but I didn't have any luck with funnels or syringes. Cylinders aren't super accurate but they are cheap and easy to use. Never tried pipettes though.

Another option is to stand the nic bottle in warm water for a while. When it warms up it gets thinner and you might have better luck running it through a funnel.

 

[zoiDman]

I'm not sure. It's called Splenda and it is a powder I have had sitting around awhile.

Don't... Use... Splenda.

"Splenda usually contains 95% dextrose (D-glucose) and maltodextrin (by volume) which the body readily metabolizes, combined with a small amount of mostly indigestible sucralose. Sucralose is made by replacing three select hydrogen-oxygen groups on sucrose (table sugar) molecules with three chlorine atoms.[12] The tightly bound chlorine atoms create a molecular structure that is stable under intense conditions. Sucralose itself is recognized as safe to ingest as a diabetic sugar substitute,[13][14] but the sugars or other carbohydrates used as bulking agents in Splenda products should be evaluated individually. "

Splenda - Wikipedia

Get yourself some Cotton Candy Flavoring (Ethyl Maltol) or TFA Sweetener (Sucralose) where you buy your DIY Flavorings. And Stay Away from Grocery Store Flavorings.

 

[smacuser]

I'd say go for the highest mg nic anyway. Maybe get some small funnels and a couple of those plastic pipettes, just in case.

I'd also get a couple of those 4 oz. squeeze bottles for your pg and vg.

 

[JCinFLA]

I don't see any VG in your order. It doesn't say what base your 12mg/mL nicotine is in...100% PG, 100% VG, or a mixture of both.

ETA: Also, if your 500mL bottle IS an unflavored base at 12mg/mL...why order an additional 50mL "Shortfill" of the same base for another $5.99?

What I thought a Shortfill was usually...was a mix of the plain VG, the plain PG, and the flavorings that would make a complete, finished eliquid...once the buyer adds their nic base to it. The LB Shortfill isn't that though.

 

[madstabber]

When you get more into the whole mixing hobby I’d just suggest some 10ml bottles for single flavor tasters. You can mix a small bottle of a flavoring you are interested in to get an idea of its taste. Then when you have a few flavorings you want to try together you can use your small 10ml bottles to try multi-flavor recipes without making a large amount and thus wasting a large amount if you don’t like it. I use this place for bottles, they have a nice selection and good pricing.
Glass Bottle Outlet - The Widest Selection of Glass Bottles

Best of luck and happy mixing!!

 

[smacuser]

Looks like Liquid Barn doesn't sell funnels or pipettes, so I will grab some of those when I make my order at Bull City later. Is there a funnel size you would recommend?

Well, crap. Nobody sells them anymore. I recommend 30-35mm for 10-30ml bottles, but MFS, BCF and River Supply quit carrying them. Found them here, though (I use both styles). I've bought from this site before, a lot of folks here like their private flavors. They also have pipettes.

 

[JCinFLA]

Looks like Liquid Barn doesn't sell funnels or pipettes, so I will grab some of those when I make my order at Bull City later.

I have a bunch of pipettes. So, I'll put a few "freebies" in your package with your Zenith that I'm mailing tomorrow. About funnels...if you have a steady hand, it's not hard to pour from even bottles with larger openings...into the small openings of regular eliquid bottles. I do it all the time from my large mouth 125mL bottles that I make my DIY in...to the regular eliquid bottles with the small opening. No spills yet, just a drip or 2, in the last almost 6 years of DIY now.

 

[Redbird11]

Well, crap. Nobody sells them anymore. I recommend 30-35mm for 10-30ml bottles, but MFS, BCF and River Supply quit carrying them. Found them here, though (I use both styles). I've bought from this site before, a lot of folks here like their private flavors. They also have pipettes.

Thanks for the info. I had never never heard of that site before. They have some a pretty good selection of products.

 

[smacuser]

Yeah, the Lotta Latte might be up your alley. The Blue Raspberry Slush is pretty popular.

 

[zoiDman]

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. I was just joking. I had no intention of using fake sweetener powder in my ejuice. Yeah I plan on grabbing some sweetenter when I buy some more flavorings.

You would be Surprised how many people see something like Slenda and start thinking that it might be a Good Idea to use.

 

[Redbird11]

Now, since I'm here.

I never ordered a kit.

I started my DIY journey gradually and unwillingly. I bought some nic base, VG, PG and couple of flavors I thought I might like. I had some syringes, pipettes and a bunch of little (3-10 ml) squeeze bottles and droppers from old ejuices at home. I used Bill's famous 100 Drop Method of mixing

The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring Thread

where basically 1 drop represents 1% of your finished product. It went rather well, so I ordered more flavors and other stuff, as needed. And I took it from there.

Of course you can get a kit, if that's what you want, but I always recommend starting small, mixing a few sample batches (with or without nicotine) and building from there.

But that's just my experience and it worked for me, so I thought I'd share.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing your experience. The "kit" I am getting is not really a kit. Liquid Barn just sells the scale I was going to buy for the same price as Amazon and it includes some mixing bottles with it. And I will definitely be starting small. No big crazy batches at the start.

That is one of the reasons I am just buying some of the premixed base and a couple of flavors when I buy the scale. Basically its just to get used to the process of DIY. Then I will buy the actual nic base, some pg and vg, and order a wider selection of flavors.

 

[JCinFLA]

I used Bill's famous 100 Drop Method of mixing

The Flavor Apprentice Flavoring Thread

where basically 1 drop represents 1% of your finished product. It went rather well, so I ordered more flavors and other stuff, as needed. And I took it from there.

Same thing I did! I loved using Bill's 100DTT for any/every new recipe when I first started DIY. Was a surefire way to "tweak" the taste to my own liking...while using only minimal amounts of the ingredients. I'd adjust the flavoring percents accordingly on my recipe cards then, for longterm use making larger batches. I still use it to tweak new recipes from the get-go.

 

[Letitia]

BCF is a great site for flavors. They have 2 ongoing discount codes; VU6 for 6% off or freeshipping for free ship over 49.00. These codes aren't stackable btw. Sign up for the newsletter for sale alerts. RS, River Supply, is a good all in one shop but seldom offers coupons. They do have some good flavors in the clearance section though. Free shipping over 50.00 no code needed. Heartland Vapes is a good place for plastic bottles, free ship over 50.00 no code needed. I personally haven't tried their nic but they have an excellent reputation in that regard. Sign up for all these newsletters for sales.

 

[PeterKay]

Here's what I use: plastic disposable pipettes. Easy to use and replace, no glass to break on you at any point, cheap. No need to really clean them if you use same pipette for the same stuff all the time. I stick a piece of masking tape on each pipette I use and write what I use it for. Some of my flavorings came in 50ml glass bottles with no dripper tip so these pipettes come in very handy. I also started to use these for my nicotine, as the long pipette allows me to reach all the way down the bottom of a glass nic bottle when it's running low. However if you use long blunt needle or a micro tubing with a syring you'll get the same effect.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Esoteric-H...0977W98C7EB&psc=1&refRID=NF55QNTY80977W98C7EB

Funnels- I have similar experiences as @englishmick : I bought around 50 plastic funnels when I first started and only used two: easy to overflow them, takes forever, some stuff goes down the side of the bottle you are pouring from anyway. So I don't use them.

VG and PG- I use 1l bottles (about a quarter of a gallon). I use chubby gorilla bottles with a wide opening so I pour directly from the bottle. Hardly spill anything. I pour most of the stuff from big bottle and then finish it off with VG or PG from a 60ml gorilla bottle, so for example: I'm to add 43.3g of VG, I start pouring from the big VG bottle until I get around 42g, once that's done I finish it off with pure VG from 60ml gorilla bottle until 43.3g, I found that method makes it easier to be more precise.

 

[vaper1960]

The first time I used a small funnel with plain VG was a disaster (major overflow because it takes so long) PG was easy... flows very fast. Don't really use funnels anymore... just pour very slow and hope my "mild epilepsy" doesn't kick in

 

[Redbird11]

I don't see any VG in your order. It doesn't say what base your 12mg/mL nicotine is in...100% PG, 100% VG, or a mixture of both.

ETA: Also, if your 500mL bottle IS an unflavored base at 12mg/mL...why order an additional 50mL "Shortfill" of the same base for another $5.99?

What I thought a Shortfill was usually...was a mix of the plain VG, the plain PG, and the flavorings that would make a complete, finished eliquid...once the buyer adds their nic base to it. The LB Shortfill isn't that though.

The base is 20pg/80vg. And no, the shortfill doesn't have any flavorings, it's just a smaller version of the 500ml PG/VG/Nic base. I ordered the extra PG in order in case I want to lower the nic level of the juice.

 

[Redbird11]

I have a bunch of pipettes. So, I'll put a few "freebies" in your package with your Zenith that I'm mailing tomorrow.

Hey thanks!

 

[JCinFLA]

I had never never heard of that site before. They have some a pretty good selection of products.

I love OneStopDIYShop! It's owned and run by a really nice couple. He used to be a Chef, so he's the 1 who formulates and creates their One Shot flavorings called "One Stop Flavors" and "One Stop Blends". I've tried about 13-14 of them so far, and have 8-9 that are definite favorites. All you do is add a % of any 1 of them to your own PG, VG, and nic base...give it a shake and you're done!

They also have an on-going coupon code: ECF or JFK and it'll save you a minimum of 12% off of your order of things that aren't on Clearance already. At special holiday times the discount can run 15% - 20% or more off!