As soon as my supplies come in, I'm going to be making my first attempt at DIY ejuice. I'm using premixed nic solution from v-ecigs so as not to accidentally kill myself.
This is what I have entered into ejuice me up to make e-liquid similar to mother's milk. Did I enter in everything correctly?
Am I supposed to know the PG/VG content of each flavor and if so, how do I obtain that information? Is it labeled on all the flavor bottles that I've yet to receive?
I'm assuming that if you are buying nicotine that you aren't trying to make 0mg juice. Might want to carry that 6mg value down to the next line, too. And did you really purchase 30/70 nic base? Might want to check that, too.
When I carry that 6mg value down to the next line, I get these errors with the last one saying to use 0. So while I might want to, I can't. I'm assuming this is because I'm not trying to cut any nicotine base juice.
By the way, why is it a bad idea to use pre-cut 30PG/VG blends when doing DIY? What should I be checking/doing instead? Thanks for any actual information you can provide.
The error is correct. You can't have 30/70 base, then add something to it and expect it to still be 30/70 (unless your flavoring is 30/70 and can't say I've seen that). Usually your flavoring is PG so first change the value for flavoring to 100% PG and remove the check that says its Zero.
Now, since your base 30/70 and you are adding PG to it, you need realize that you are diluting your nic down from 6. If you add flavor, you are getting less than six. Given the flavor percentages you've listed and your apparent desire for higher VG based juice, the best I could work into this without added PG was to set your target to 38.01/61.99. This requires you target 3mg nic and also add some VG to the mix. Here's what that looks like.
http://i.imgur.com/VzlLHou.png
Is your nicotine base really 70/30? I have only seen 100% PG, 100% VG, or 50/50. Never seen 70/30...
Yeah it is but I just bought some 18mg 50/50 after being set straight.
Well, you can't use 6mg base as a base and still get 6mg once you add flavours. If my math is correct, the result of your recipe would be 5.2mg nic per ml, which is just fine, just a bit lower than you were aiming for. It would also be ~44% PG, 56% glycerine.
You really don't need to fear using a stronger nicotine base and diluting it, and it makes ratio calculations easier. Even if you just got some 36mg glycerine base it would simplify things a lot (well, aside from wanting to have a bottle of straight PG around as well, but that's always handy to have) and save some money.
I might be posting information that's already been relayed to you so this is to others to read and learn from your attempts. For what it's worth, I've been mixing for a few months now, so while I'm no expert, I can at least point out multiple errors here and answer a few questions you might have, if you still have them by now (I saw this late, sorry)
Firstly, as it was stated, usually you get nicotine in 100VG, 100PG, or 50VG/50PG. ~~It looks like you're going to want a 100%VG since you have a ratio of 70VG/30PG.~~ As far as the nicotine content of whatever you order, if you're trying to make 6mg, consider ordering your base 48mg. The higher mg you get, the more you save. You'll need to be safe anyway, but as long as you avoid direct skin contact as a rule of thumb, you could arguably be doing just fine with 100mg. This is up to you. I recommend 48mg.
Next, you have 0 nicotine strength. I assume this is an error. In eJMU, you want your target to be whatever you want to vape.
Your flavors are most likely PG unless you specified otherwise. Check the label, it will most likely say PG, or Propylene Glycol. Change the ratio to 100% PG and un-check the Flavor Zero boxes where applicable.
Target PG/VG that you want goes at the bottom.
On your ratios: I don't know what you're using to measure, but you can obviously tell you're going to have a problem with your .2 flavors. The only real way to fix this is to make your amount larger. Otherwise, this is going to have 0 Dragonfruit, Orange Cream, and Pear.
If any of this is confusing, I can try to explain better. The key is to check the PG and VG amounts in your liquids. That will clear a bunch of problems up right away. Also, dot1ml.com is a good site that runs a mixer that is possibly easier to use than eJMU, though both are excellent.
Edit: I saw you ordered 18mg 50/50 and I quickly adjusted the values I'd mocked up. I still maintain my original point that 48mg might serve you better, but if you go with 100mg, please be careful starting out not to get it on you, and rinse your gear (syringes?) with DISTILLED water after each time you use them. Please be careful with 100mg.
Thanks so much for the advice. A lot of that has been conveyed to me but am curious about your notes on .2% amounts.
I'll be attempting the recipes listed here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/comments/22kidh/mothers_milk_clone
And they call for trace amounts of dragonfruit and orange cream. Make sense now or no?
Here's an updated screenshot of eJuice Me Up using 18mg 50/50 as a base: http://i.imgur.com/gmA74PB.png
I'm not sure if I want to turn DIY mixing into an art form like some of you have done. I'd just like to attempt this recipe since MM is so expensive but I really enjoy it. My other ADV is Nanner Bear by grizzly vapes and their prices are reasonable so I'm perfectly fine with ordering from them.
While 48mg+ saves money, it's not worth the risk for a noob like myself.
I am glad I could help. I'll answer what you've posted here.
"Trace" amounts in DIY is a sure-fire way to set yourself up for disappointment. I really hope your attempt is successful, but please never rely on "trace" as a number. It's incredibly difficult to document and re-create down the line, understand?
Let me use a small example of what I'm saying. According to eJMU, 20 drops = 1ml. This means that 1 drop = 0.5ml. Do you see how your recipe calls 1 drop 0.03, and 2 drops 0.075? That is erroneous (this is likely the program rounding up to 2 from 1.###, btw).
Before, on your original mix, it showed 0.03, and had a drop value of 0. I don't know what equipment you're using, but as far as I know, a drop is as low as you can go, which is 0.5ml. Lower than that is not attainable, and can give you the incorrect sense that it's okay to be "close enough". You should be as accurate as you can be, and these results should be recorded so you can improve on the recipe later.
Let me give you a little bit of my experience. I don't expect this to apply to everyone, and I don't expect it to apply to you, but it's food for thought. I started out on 100mg to mix with, and I never once got sick. I didn't die. I don't use gloves or an apron or a mask or whatever people here claim to use. I used a paper towel, distilled water. I wiped the syringe after each dip into the 100mg, and I rinsed my syringe every time. You can use more VG to cut down 100VG (or replace VG with PG in this case if you prefer that) into a 48MG or lower, and put the remaining 100mg away (cool and dark place) until you need it again. This would give you a lot of nicotine and drastically improve your cost per ml. Basically, you cut the 100mg into 48, and then mix with that, and your 100MG lasts a really long time.
The important part of 100mg is that you understand it is critically important to treat it with respect, so you have minimal interaction with it.
Let me maths (probably horribly) out the differences so you are totally aware. We are assuming a fictional base price for two different nicotine strengths (WL doesn't change it's price on mg, just the amount)
250mL of 12MG will create 500mL of your fluid. 250mL of 100MG will create about 4,195 mL of your fluid.
I'm sorry, I didn't really do any math for you. I plugged those numbers into the Amount to Make until the Nicotine eJuice matched what I was looking for. The difference is half a liter vs over four liters of juice. Even using just 48MG base fluid would give you a massive boost in the return value.
I hope this answers some of your questions and might help you in the future. I'm not urging you to buy 100mg if you aren't comfortable with it, but it's obvious that it will make your vaping much cheaper. Once you have the program and the math down (which will likely be very soon, if not already) you'll want to consider getting a smaller amount of 100ml to sample. Best of luck!
Thanks for the advice. I'll try to follow the recipe as best I can and write down any changes to it that I make for future reference. I'm sure I won't get it right the first time but I have plenty of supply to mess around with. :)
I'll also consider buying 100mg when I'm through with the stuff I bought.