Vaping for over 2 years now newb to DIY

[Njt07]

Hi everyone, with the Mrs T issue and now trying to find a replacement ADV for banana fosters coffee I've spent at least a couple hundred on samples and recommended juices to no avail. Some of the vender juices are ok, custards last stand being one of them.

I dont want an ok vaoe i want my darn ADV that i really like so am now diving in head first into this DIY thing with the knowledge that im gonna have to chuck a lot of my supplies in 6 months when the Army moves me if it is over seas...

bought a BUNCH of dessert, coffee and tobacco/menthol (for the wife) flavorings from MT Baker vapor. Bought 2x236ml nic juice (36mg) and 4x8oz bottles of pure vg with the intent of cutting the nic juice into 6 bottles of 6mg base. All this came to about $160.

i have large bottles and glass 30ml bottles (from mtn oak vapors). I have plastic pipets and a couple syringes with large bore and small bore needles.

i dont intend to go crazy but i do intend on making an ok single to double flavor juice that can get me by till i can figure out a recipe that turns into my ADV.

With all that being said, do i need to buy anything else? Do i need capellas butter flavoring since Mt baker didn't have it? Are ther flavorings that are absolutely necessary? Any that i shouldn't touch with a 10 ft pole?

Sorry for all the questions as well as the long post, guess I'm a newb again...

 

[Aheadatime]

Hello and welcome to the wonderfully addictive world of DIY my friend. A few points -

1. Read all the stickies. Lots of valuable information and its important to start from the basics.

2. Get an ejuice calculator. They're free to download and very easy to use. I use the Ejuicemeup calculator. Works like a charm and is very easy to understand.

3. Get some PG to go with that VG and nic base. Even if like high VG mixes, it never hurts to be able to add that small % of PG when the calculator calls for it.

4. Get more syringes and more bottles. These are the two most important tools for DIY imo. Syringes > pipettes due to the accuracy/reproduce-ability(?). Imo, pipettes should only be used when a recipe calls for something like "one drop of marshmallow per 10mls of finished product". Those bottles are gonna get used up quick, so head over to Wizard Labs or just ebay in general and get a lotttttt of 5 or 10ml tester bottles. No need to mix a 30ml bottle on a gamble. Most of us mix real small batches to test with, and if we like our recipes, we mix another one at 30mls later on.

5. Understand how this works. Alot of people come into DIY thinking its just having a nic base at your preferred strength, and adding 'drops' of flavor until you like what you're tasting. Its not that simple. Say for example you vape 6mg, so you start with a 6mg base. Your flavor is weak though, so you end up need to add 20% flavor to your mix. Now your nic strenght is at a little less than 5mg because you've diluted it. This is why I recommended a calculator. You simply plug in all the numbers you want (6mg, 80%VG, 20% flavoring), and the calculator will tell you exactly how many mL's of each component are needed (which is why a syringe is needed as opposed to pipettes).

6. After you've read the stickies and have a better understanding, read some blogs too. Hoosier and Danny have good blogs to read through, and they're easy to read. This community is very supportive, so don't be afraid to PM people or start threads when you're having trouble.

7. Know how to shop. Theres a million different flavor vendors in the DIY world, and its impossible to tell you which ones are the best ones, as flavor is subjective. Read the threads that say "Hangsen flavorings" "Inawera flavorings" "Flavor West reviews", etc to get an idea of what people think of certain flavor vendors. Mt Bakers flavors all just come from Flavor West. You can order Flavor West flavorings from ECig Express (ECX), RTS Vapes, or Flavor West's website directly. Its cheaper than buying it from MBV. You mentioned custard too. Capellas Vanilla Custard (sold at ECX/RTS as well) is what most people in DIY agree is the main component of all the popular vendor Custards, so you should start there.

Good luck and have fun with it. Its all about experience and creativity imo, so don't be afraid to just dig in and start learning immediately.

 

[dannyv45]

greeting and welcome to the wonderful world of DYI. Some great advice above and may also recommend some good reading.

Read my blogs before getting started

E-Cigarette Forum - dannyv45 - Blogs

then read hoosier's blogs.

E-Cigarette Forum - Hoosier - Blogs

then read the stickies at the top of the page.

this will explain a lot of the how's and why's.

 

[Njt07]

Thanks guys! In all honesty i wouldn't be here if a certain vender didn't take leaves of absences with my money...

Im a ecig hoarder, so rarely throw away anything ecig related and this includes my bottles, particularly the glass ones, you know, just in case...

I do need to get some larger syringes, the largest i have right now are the 10ml ones. I think i used the 30 ml and 60 ml ones for homemade carto tanks a long while back...

Ill go through the stickies and the blogs, it'll take me a while and the community will likely get a ton of newbish questions from me when i try to shortcut the process when i receive my order from mt baker.

Thanks btw for the info about the type of flavoring, was trying to figure it out. Any inside scoops on banana fosters coffee with cream would be GREATLY appreciated though

Any input regarding the flavor west flavorings? Im gonna go look up some reviews after i post this. Is this flavoring generally strong/weak tasty/ retch inducing?

*edit* also forgot to add. My nic juice is 100% pg and i bought 4 bottles of 100% vg non nic. I also have some 100% pg unflavored lying around somewhere. My vape stash has grown since i started. It now has its own drawer, a shelf on my bookshelf for juices (out of reach of my daughter) and a keyboard under monitor drawer as well... I can only imagine its gonna get bigger with all the flavorings.

 

[Aheadatime]

Regarding syringes, I don't think you need larger ones tbh. You need smaller ones. 1mL syringes are very important, you should have alot of them. After that, a couple of 3mL syringes and one or two 10mL syringes and you should be good to go. 1 mL is very important because if you're working with 5 or 10ml test batches, all flavorings will be within the 1mL range (unless a flavor needs to go above 10%). So if you have a 10mL test batch that calls for 7% Vanilla, then you need the 1mL syringe to accurately measure out .7mLs.

Theres alot of banana fosters out there, but I haven't tried any. I believe FW sells them (flavor west), DIYflavor shack sells it, and a few others. Maybe you should start a thread asking ppl's experience with banana foster. For coffee, its rough but Vaping Zone Super Concentrated (VZSC) at around 1.5 to 2% is a good coffee flavor if you add some sweetener to it. As for the cream, theres alot of those. FW Bavarian, TFA (the flavors apprentice) Bavarian or Sweet cream, FA(Flavour Art) has many good creams, and VZ has a good cream as well. Gonna take some experimentation to get this one nailed, but its a great thing for a beginner to tackle imo to gain some good experience. My first recipe was 5 flavors, and it was fantastic after a couple re-dos.

As for flavor west, they're generally on the weak side. I would start with 10% as a stand alone flavor for them, to see what that flavor tastes like. When you mix it with a bunch of stuff, maybe tone it down a bit to 7-8% depending on the flavor. Its gonna need some experience on your part, but yeah most of their flavors are on the weakish side so 10-12% standalone is a nice start. I personally like alot of their flavors, but taste is subjective. Their cinnamon roll, banana, yellow cake, sugar cookie, blueberry, grape, fruit stripe gum, etc. are all pretty good. They're a bit on the candy side as opposed to the natural realistic side, but I like that in certain recipes.

Good thing you have both PG and VG on hand. You'll need both for sure, unless you wanna try 100% VG which is difficult because it means finding 100% VG flavor companies, which aren't too common.

 

[Blueser]

I just ordered quite a few Monoject syringes from Monoject Slip Tip 1cc Syringes |Oral Syringes for Dogs ...1-3-5-10mls. Each syringe comes in it's own case...pretty nice!...and cheap

 

[Wingsfan0310]

I tend to stay away from butter, custard, and most ice cream flavors because they usually contain Acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl. I know not everyone cares or does stay away from them. Here's the description of the Butter flavor from TPA/TFA's website:

Butter Flavor
water soluble
This is a liquid butter similar to movie popcorn butter.
Warning!!!
This flavor contains Acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl.
Please read our information about "Custard Notes" in the flavorists corner.
Wherever Acetoin is used in large amounts (as in this flavor and the Vanilla Custard)
there is the potential for trace amounts of diacetyl formation by a molecular change.

Perfumer's Apprentice

PS I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just not sure about them and you asked if there's anything you should stay away from. I figured I'd give you the info so you can read it and decide for yourself. I guess considering we're all probably former smokers, I'm probably concerned over far less dangerous things than I've already inhaled.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Njt07]

Appreciate the info. I only asked about the butter flavor because of a snickerdoodle cookie recipe (str8 vapor?) calls for it.)

I tend to stay away from butter, custard, and most ice cream flavors because they usually contain Acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl. I know not everyone cares or does stay away from them. Here's the description of the Butter flavor from TPA/TFA's website:

Butter Flavor
water soluble
This is a liquid butter similar to movie popcorn butter.
Warning!!!
This flavor contains Acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl.
Please read our information about "Custard Notes" in the flavorists corner.
Wherever Acetoin is used in large amounts (as in this flavor and the Vanilla Custard)
there is the potential for trace amounts of diacetyl formation by a molecular change.

Perfumer's Apprentice

PS I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just not sure about them and you asked if there's anything you should stay away from. I figured I'd give you the info so you can read it and decide for yourself. I guess considering we're all probably former smokers, I'm probably concerned over far less dangerous things than I've already inhaled.

Cheers,
Steve