Just like the title says, if you had to start from scratch and you had a budget of 150.00 Dollars, what would you buy? Essential tools? Little knick knacks that make life easier? anything and everything I would love to hear about.
I ask from a beginner stand point. Every time I jump in to a new hobby I throw money at anything and everything, and more often than not I end up with shit I didn't need or don't have actual essentials.
I figured this question would be awesome to hopefully get some insight on materials from seasoned veterans of DIY. Any help is appreciated.
I have read the sidebar and compiled a shopping list based on that but would love to check it against real peoples opinions.
Thanks in advance.
I would suggest a lot of bottles, because I am always running out. The problem with flavors is you won't know if you like them until you try them, so that's always a gamble. The main thing I didn't get the first time that I ended up getting were the "blender" flavors such as tfa smooth, vape wizard, EM, marshmallow, etc. I also ran out of pipettes and would suggest a few syringes and tips for those.
If I had that much I would order at two different places, get a bunch of good sounding flavors, nicotine, syringes, bottles and such at wizard labs, they have the best nic prices and tfa prices. Then I would make an order at Ecig Express, and get a bunch of flavors from other companies. Black Mile + if you like tobacco, flavour art, capellas and flavor west to try some of their flavors out. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the reply zip. I will check out ecig express and see what they are offering as well.
Get these bottles here: http://www.amazon.com/Vktech-Plastic-Squeezable-Dropper-Bottles/dp/B00D1GUAHS/
Extremely cheap and perfect for your first batches. You will make a lot of juices you don't like. I went through so many bottles and these are perfect for it. They aren't the most amazing bottles, but I haven't had any leak, and they suit my needs.
I of course use amber glass boston round for recipes I have worked on for a long time. But those do great for a newbie. (Also worth noting, I did add a few glass bottles in with my Wizard Labs order so I had them for my favorite mixes.)
They also make 30mL ones if you want a set of them for your ADV mixes too if you're on a budget. Keep in mind that they take about a month to ship, so I would order them in advance.
On a side note, if you are ordering small amounts of flavor to test for your first time, if they happen to be TFA, try to get them from your Wizard Labs order. Wizard Labs sells TFA flavors as well, but they are actually cheaper to get from Wizard Labs than TFA themselves. (Only at the smallest size that is, TFA is cheaper if buying 1-4oz).
Other than that, I would get my PG/VG from Essential Depot. Wizard Labs gets it from there and just rebottles it. It is cheaper from Essential Depot, not to mention its very good quality.
edit: In fact, I spent about $150 in my first order. You can see copies of my orders here: http://imgur.com/a/k6x1U
I honestly wouldn't change too much other than maybe getting more 1mL syringes. Also, flavor is subject to taste, so you will most likely pick the same flavors as me haha. I am very happy with my first order. I had a great selections of flavors, and still do. I have since only ordered 4oz bottles of the mixes I ended up making that have become ADVs. I still have tons of PG, VG, Nicotine, and a lot of the 4mL-8mL flavors left.
In the future however, I would love to move to mixing by weight. I'm getting my calculator all set up with correct weights of all my liquids so I can make the transition very easily after that. Syringes are a bit of an annoyance to clean and maintain. Mixing by weight will solve that, not to mention it is more accurate, and faster.
VKtech also sels 5ml bottles on Amazon that are great for samplers. Here is the link.
I'm no veteran but I always wind up ordering 1 ml syringes with every order. When I make my juice for the week I usually so 3 mixes. Getting to mix all three THEN rinsing everything off is a huge time saver. The 1 mls are what you use to add the flavors to your base.
Thank you, Should every flavor have its own syringe/pipette?
My experience is limited but if you want to be supplied for 2-3 years and only have $150 to spend I'd buy a liter of 100mg/ml nicotine (the key ingredient after all, ~$90), a quart each of PG & VG (~$25 combined total), some 3ml & 10ml syringes, and a few basic flavors you like. And of course some bottles.
Having bought both amber and blue glass bottles, I'll be going with clear in the future. The colors help block light, but you're much better off just keeping your mixes in a dark area (like a cabinet or freezer), at which point the color of the glass is entirely moot. Clear glass lets you see the level and color a lot better. You can get glass bottles with droppers (~$30 for 24) really cheaply if you buy in bulk.
I would buy bottles! Probably 30 ml bottles and some 60 ml bottles (glass with dropper tops). And flavors. I, just today, got a few Capella's flavors and I think I'm going to like them more than the TFA flavors (which I do like) that I have. 1 ml syringes - I'd buy probably 10. A 10 ml syringe with a wide nozzle for sucking up vg and vg based nicotine. A few 3 ml syringes. And of course pg, vg, and nicotine. I'm still looking for a remedy for reaching into the bottles that are tall, and saw a video recently where someone used fish tank tubing attached to their syringe to reach but I haven't tried it yet.
Tip that someone fantastic here had for the syringes: Paint the black numbers with clear nail polish. it keeps the numbers from washing off.
Funny that others are saying bottles, too. That would be one of my big ones. Don't forget to get some small 5 or 10ml plastic ones as well. They're cheap, and you're going to want to test you flavours in small batches. (Right now I'm wishing I had a bunch of 5ml bottles handy so I could just put a few drops of single flavours in for testing purposes. PITA doing that with 30ml droppers!)
You can never have too many syringes in various sizes. I use drugstore bought baby droppers for VG because the...liquid expulsion...end is big. Hard to get VG through a tiny little needle.
Get some additives - I consider ethyl maltol essential, smooth (especially if you're interested in tobacco flavours), vape wizard (for juice rescue), sour (good for fruits). Some flavours like graham wafer, marshmallow, nutty flavours, or coconut can be good to have on hand as "filler" flavours. Ones you might not want to use as a primary note, but will help fill out the flavour of your juice.
Many have already said bottles, and I couldn't agree more. I just got the 72 piece case of the 2 dram vials from TrueEssence
The shipping rate put me off a bit until I realized the price was so good it more than paid for the shipping.
I mix 5-7ml in these for testing recipes. They're awesome
Huh. This is something I haven't really thought about. I think I would focus a lot more on buying syringes and 14ga blunt-tipped needles, and yes, bottles. Additionally, I would probably opt for smaller sample-sizes of flavors, and not jump the gun to 15ml or 30ml flavor concentrates, thinking, "I'll like this one for sure." Start small, buy a ton of 4ml or 8ml sample sizes from a variety of companies and see what you like best.