So I'm finally getting into DIY this week. I've been thinking about it for a while and doing some research but was always afraid to pull the trigger, because I know what I'm getting when I spend $30 at MBV, but I was afraid of what I'd give myself after dropping $80 on DIY stuff.
Well, thanks to Jeannie K/The Jeannie K Show I'm getting a free starter kit from onestopdiyshop that should be here on Wendesday! So, as my title implies, I just wanted to say hello to the DIYers here and also preemptively say sorry for all the newb questions I'll probably be asking. I'm trying to glean information from posts here and in the DIY forum at ECF, but I'm sure I'm going to miss things or think "but my situation is unique and special and can't be answered by a previous post!"
Anyway, cheers DIYers, and here's hoping I don't eff this up too much.
I was a bit apprehensive myself but it's really super easy so you'll pick it up in no time. This video covers a lot of the stuff you'll need to know. I'm still only on my third batch and not many of my made up recipes have come out that nice but none of them have been unvapeable. Get yourself an ejuice calculator and then the process itself is really quite simple.
If I had an initial recommendation if you're thinking of making up recipes it would be to look into the relative strengths of each of your flavours (not that I've found a way to actually do this apart from trial and error). For example I was attempting to make some pancakes and maple syrup but it turned out that the pie crust flavour that I used is REALLY overpowering so you only need to use a smidgen. Which of course I didn't.
One more tip, and I'm not sure how widely used this is as I've not heard anyone mention it, is to mix a bulk lot of your juice without flavour (to the ratio that you'd be using if you were adding your desired percentage of flavour (20% in my case). Then it's as simple as mixing your desired flavours to this base mix rather than remixing all of the pg/vg/nic/water every time.
Thanks! It's always nice to have a video so you can see things in "action."
I plan on starting out with single flavor juices for a while. I'm not sure how long my patience will allow me to keep that up, but that's the plan. I want to have my fundamentals down before I start mixing multiple things together. Hopefully that'll also allow me to gauge the strength of my juices. Kimberly from onestop was very helpful in the process of picking the contents of my kit, and she gave me a few notes on the strength of some of my flavorings.
Hello and welcome ;-)
Pretty good crowd here - there's a lot of knowledge just hanging around this sub.
I have only three suggestions for the n00b - first, and I get a fair bit of disagreement on this but I think there's much value in learning to do the math so you can spot data entry errors in whatever calculator you use (I don't use a calculator).
Second, take copious notes. Account for every drop of flavoring; there's nothing worse than making that killer joose and not being able to duplicate it ;-)
Last, I think safety is important. Nicotine base liquid is to be respected and at higher concentrations can be downright dangerous.
That said there's a lot of fun to be had here. Enjoy - and don't hesitate to ask ;-)
Thanks, wizard! I look forward to interacting with the people in this sub. It looks pretty friendly and informative from the "outside." :)
I do plan on taking lots of notes and am just trying to decide now if they're going to be digital or analog notes. I'll probably go with digital so I can easily search and sort and all that and since the I only thing I write by hand anymore is my signature when endorsing a check. :) Nicotine safety is probably the one thing I feel I've got a good handle on coming in to this. I don't have any previous experience, but I like doing things safely (some things anyway) so I've paid really close attention to warnings about working with nicotine.
The last suggestion, which was actually your first, is one I had never thought about at all. I have been planning on using scubabatdan's spreadsheet calculator all along and never really gave any thought to learning how to do the calculations manually. To be honest, I don't have any idea what those calculations might look like, but I think I'd start to get a better idea once I had the materials in hand and started actively thinking about how this whole mixing thing works.
The calculations are not hard - IM frequently less than HO the only one that's really critical is the nic base calculation as if any of the rest are off all you're gonna do is make something that tastes nasty. That one calculation I can hand you on a silver platter ;-)
The way I calculate nic content is by total volume; I think it's most consistent and most accurate. Let's say for example I wanted to make 30ml of 24mg joose.
30ml * 24mg/ml = 720mg of nicotine in the bottle. This will not change, no matter what the strength of your nic base is.
So - we take that 720mg of nicotine and learn that that equals
720 / 100 = 7.2ml of 100mg nic base, or
720 / 60 = 12ml of 60mg nic, or
720 / 48 = 15ml of 48mg nic, or
720 / 36 = 20ml of 36mg nic.
Not hard. Total nic content divided by strength of your carrier liquid tells you how much you should use for any given strength.
Hope this helps ;-)
As Wizard told you, know the math and take notes. Lots of notes. Take notes about taking notes, and note the results of the notes.
Also, remember. It is easier to add flavor, but you cannot remove it. When mixing, start with small amounts and work up. So every flavor (unless it is tobacco) should start at 5-7%. From there work up. If 5-7% is too strong, then you can work down on a new batch. I tend to add flavor in .5% but you can do whatever is easier. If mixing tobacco flavors, start at 1% and work up. Some of those concentrates are uber strong.
Also, don't be sorry. DIY is fun, plus if you get really good and adore a flavor you've made, you can make it on demand. Also, when you start mixing, most people tell you to use 3ml samples. You can do this. However, I use 5ml samples and work up. This is because if the recipe is doubled, you're making 10ml batches, three of those are 30ml. (Again, knowing the math helps.)
Also, (sorry long winded) remember the flavor you want to stand out, the main flavor to the juice, should be added last. That seems to always work for me. So when I make Peach Pineapple, the Peach is last so it rides as the top note.
Anyway, just wanted to say welcome to DIY. Post questions until the cows come home, we'll be here to help.
Thanks for the welcome and the tips!
I plan on doing my best to restrain myself when adding flavors. I don't do much cooking, but there have definitely been times in the past when I would try to "doctor up" an off-the-shelf item or recipe and ruin it by adding too much stuff; trying to be too clever. So I pretty much stick to recipes now and tweak here and there if I'm feeling adventurous. Hopefully I can maintain that attitude while DIYing my juice.
That's a good tip about the samples as well. I'll have to see what size bottles my kit came with, but it does seem like going with 5ml will make more sense. Speaking of samples, how do you handle the steeping issue when you're DIYing? I know there have been multiple juices from vendors that taste pretty "meh" out of the mail box but then are good or great after a week. Do you just have to do your best to judge when you're mixing fresh and then just wait and see how it ages and go from there?