I'm relatively new to this art/hobby/addiction.

I was a regular smoker of cigs, and was introduced to mech mods and RDA's (thank you "Camel" << the person who introduced me to ecigs, not the brand of cigs I smoked). I couldn't be happier.

All that said, I refused to pay shop prices for juice and bought the materials to DIY my own juices.

Below is a compilation of my experiences. Hope it brings you some value.

PURE Sucralose powder is cheap, and works great if you're prepared to re-wrap your RDA coils every couple of days

• by using TFA-Sweetener for 1/2 your "sweet" and Sucralose powder (pre-mixed @ 1gm/10ml PG) for the other 1/2 of your sweetener, your coils don't get as gunked up as fast (I get 3 days out of a RDA wrap and I'm a hard-vaper)

Some flavors walk on others: Tobacco's - hard flavors (use very sparingly) Mints/menthols/etc... (use very sparingly) Citrus flavors (use sparingly) Melons Tropical flavors (Passion fruit, Mango, etc...)

a great mellowing flavor is banana a great base flavor is grape (fruit flavor, not candy flavor)

A great de-harshing flavor (takes the edge off) is Vanilla Vanillin powder is cheap - premix at 10% (1gm/10ml VG) - warm your VG before mixing in vanillin (It will take a while, but it will disolve in) Vanilla extract is more flavorful than Vanillin, but contributes to dirty coils (I use both) Caramel is a good mellowing flavor as well

Typical final ratios for most ejuices i've found is 18-25% flavor to filler (filler = PG+VG+NIC). Tobacco flavors are far-less (2-5%, but are higher when mixed with fruits/chocolates/etc...)

I've been asked for strong fruit flavors that are difficult ratios (15-20% PG, 80-85% VG) - I found success by making up the flavor, then dissolve into the mix the flavor enhancers (ie. sucralose powder, malic acid powder, citric acid powder, vanillin powder, ethylMaltol powder, etc...)

Pre-steeping / disolving flavor enhancers is best by heating up a cup of water in the microwave, then dropping my juices (sealed bottles) into the hot water works great. I add my nicotine AFTER they have cooled down.

• Ultrasonic jewelry cleaners work great for final steep (cold water, tops open, ultrasonic on for 2-3 hours). hint: $30USD at harbor freight ;)

Use a pipette for your test-batches

• be sure to calibrate your drops/ml, and remember viscosity can vary between liquids (VG vs PG)

Get your nicotine in VG base - so you have maximum flexibility for PG-based flavor

Get a nicotine test kit, and TEST your nic to confirm strength before mixing a flavor batch!!!!

• while nicotine is easier to calculate w/ 100mg/ml, it is much safer to use 50mg/ml (nicotine is a POISON)
• keeping nicotine in glass in a refrigerator is best - but lock it up (I use a mini-fridge from Walmart modded w/ a pad-lock - keep it in the garage away from kids)

Document everything. There are a lot of DIY ejuice calculators available - find one you like and stick with it.

Make up your flavors (zero nic), then try, and if you like it, THEN add nic (and re-try, if you still like it, readjust your recipe and make a formal batch).

While glass bottles are the best for long-term storage, economics dictate plastic is more viable for giveaways to your friends. Use PET bottles (they don't leach as fast as the LDPE cheap plastic dropper bottles do). PET bottles are CLEAR and hard to squeeze, but well-worth the benefits while cost only being .02/each more than LDPE bottles.

Label all bottles - date of mfr, version of mix, nicotine qty, etc... AT A MINIMUM PUT NIC LEVEL!!!!

Share your mixes with your friends, and ask for feedback - it helps to get your recipes just right. They will help as they are saving a ton of money.

NEVER support minors - if not 18 years old, walk away.

I remind everyone that VAPING is not HEALTHY or SAFE, but it is far less toxic than cigs. I encourage people to use this as a method to getting off cigs, and hope they will find the strength to taper-down their nic to zero (and optimally quit vapeing all together). <<< yeah, I'll get blowback on this one.

Coil wire - I buy 30ga kanthal, and cut 3x 1.5 foot lengths, and using a dremel tool with a small crochet needle in it, I twist the 3 strands into a single wire. I make my coils around a 1/8" drillbit and connect them to my RDA, then I "thread" my wick through them (doubled over 3mm works great)

Happy, but safe vapeing.