I posted this in a different area, so I will re-post it here, and below I will add in a few other questions. Thanks!
So I am looking at getting some DIY. And I just want to make sure I have a general idea and I am thinking correctly about this before I order. So for starters. I am going to be picking up some 50/50 PG/VG Nicotine base. - My question with this is, Is there a reason to get 36mg vs 100mg? I would assume that getting 100mg just means that you an use less each time and it will last longer. I plan on mixing it down to between 6 and 12, depending on what I feel like. So would I be better off getting a 100mg bottle vs 36mg? As in it will last longer? Do I have the right thinking behind that? (Please keep your advice simple and idiot proof) Next I will get my PV/VG liquid. I will be getting that also in a 50/50 mix. SO I will be using mostly this stuff as my main ingredient, then adding in how ever many drops of the nicotine (listed above) to add the nicotine into this liquid. But I should buy more of this because I will be using more of this when making a bottle of juice. Yes? Next up: Flavor. Pretty much buy a bunch of flavors. Mix and match. - My question on this is there a website that gives recepie ideas? Right now I am mainly trying to reproduce my favorite flavor as of now, which is Midevil Vapes "Merlin". It is sort of a deep robust vanilla nut blend which is amazing. Does anyone know where I could find a recipe that closely resembles this flavor? And could I get some other recommendations for deep robust flavors like this? - I tend not to like fruity or light flavors. My two flavors of choice have been Cinnamon red hots, and Merlin. One more question on flavor, From watching a few videos, I see that you only add so many drops to a whole bottle to produce the flavor, So if a normal e-liquid from a store, lets say a bottle of Kiwi, has "x" amount of drops in it to make that flavor. If I added a few more drops, it will give a stronger kiwi flavor yes? Or is there sort of a "cap" to how strong you can make a flavor (Not including just vaping the flavor mix by itself) - Hope that made sense... In essence, if I were to buy a bottle of kiwi from the store, and then drop a few drops of straight kiwi flavoring into it, would it increase the strength of the flavor? Lastly, Just pick up some syringes and spare bottles and start mixing away. Did I miss anything really important (Aside from safety) I am talking about ingredients. Thank you!
Other questions.
So people have mentioned to not get 50/50 mix of the liquid, rather 100% of each so that I can mix accordingly. However, I am confused, If my mix is 50/50, my nicotine is 50/50 and only my flavoring is 100% PG, Will that seriously throw off my 50/50 %age more than by a couple notches? If I end up with 48/52 or 49/51 I wouldn't really stress it. Or is my way of thinking wrong and it would throw it off more than I think just by adding in 100% PG drops of flavor,
I am not looking to go overboard from the start. So on top of my flavorings, pg/vg mix, and nicotine. I was going to pick up (4) dripper tops for the flavors and just wash them out when switching to a new set of 4 flavors, and a syringe for the p/v mix, and another for the nic. - Do I need anything more than that to start? Also, Anyone know which SIZE syringe works best, I dont want to get too small of a gage for the thickness of each liquid.
Then I have a box of thin black rubber gloves (Like what tattoo artists or mechanics use)
And that's about it, Am I missing anything else that is NEEDED from the start?
Thanks guys!
And. HELLO!
> getting a syringe for every flavour
I'd recommend getting a scale and start mixing by weight - it's just soooooo much easier and a lot less washing up!
Wow... that was nearlty a novel... but here goes my best advice...
Get a few different flavors from The Flavor Apprentice, Capellas, Lorann's, FlavourArt, and if you don't mind waiting Inawera. Grab whatever sounds good to you, but different companies hit on different flavor profiles (notes). From the sounds of it you like strong flavors, check out Vaping Zone they have superconcentrated flavoring that at 3%-4% will knock your socks off.
Secondly I would recommend getting a syringe for every flavor, because without it you will be trying to clean and clean and clean each syringe after use, which ends up being a giant pain, because even after 2-3 cleanings you can still smell certain flavors.
Next, your assumption on the VG/PG issue is pretty correct, your base mix and nicotine combined will equal out to be 50/50 vg/pg, but when adding flavors (say 10% flavoring) it will slightly increase the pg of your juice. I will let you crunch the numbers to see what the final result is. What I do is only buy VG, and VG based Nic so when I add flavorings that is the only PG in my juice. Just my cup of tea.
Lastly welcome, document everything you do, make notes, use measurements not drops or droppers, because those can vary from day to day or thickness of juice etc. I only use 1-3ml syringes with luer lock 18g needles for flavoring and a 10ml syringe for VG and a 3 or 5 ml syringe for Nic.
Best of luck man! Congrats on starting out and have a blast with it!
"So would I be better off getting a 100mg bottle vs 36mg?"
Yes. It'll be cheaper per ml and go farther. Just be careful handling 100mg.
"Next I will get my PV/VG liquid. I will be getting that also in a 50/50 mix."
Really? The PG and VG pre-mixed? I would think it would be more difficult to obtain your resultant ratio. You won't find flavor in a 50/50 mix, it's mostly in PG. I'd buy PG and VG separately.
"I see that you only add so many drops to a whole bottle to produce the flavor,"
That depends on the size of your bottle and the typical usage of the flavor. 20% flavor in a 30ml bottle is 6ml of flavor. I'd stay away from "drops" because it's not very accurate.
"If I added a few more drops, it will give a stronger kiwi flavor yes? Or is there sort of a "cap" to how strong you can make a flavor"
There is such a thing as too much. I did a flavor at 15% that should have been done at 5% and it was quite disgusting.
"If my mix is 50/50, my nicotine is 50/50 and only my flavoring is 100% PG, Will that seriously throw off my 50/50 %age more than by a couple notches?"
That depends on the usage of the flavor. If your PG based flavor is used at a high %, you could face a more drastic change in the final ratio. Stick with PG and VG separately and you'll be ok regardless.
"Anyone know which SIZE syringe works best, I dont want to get too small of a gage for the thickness of each liquid."
PG is fine in most common gauges. It's the VG that's a pain because it's so thick. For that I use a syringe without a needle on it. Some like to use a different syringe for each flavor but I just rinse between flavors. I use 10ml syringes for PG/VG since it's usually a lot (I do 30 and 120ml bottles), 5ml for nic and flavor and I have a few 1ml in case I'm mixing small amounts.
I mix to 50/50 for everything and use nic in PG only. This way the VG amount is always half the size of the bottle and the rest is PG/Nic/flavor, depending on the flavor amounts.
Awesome info and advice! Looks like I will be changing up a few things in my cart and adding a couple other things...
I was way off base with the amount of flavorings I needed to orer... I was looking at 1 "Dram" bottles of each flavor cus they are only like $1.20 each.... I guess thats somewhere around 3ml-4ml... I figured I could get away with getting 1 bottle of each and that would last me for quite a while because I thought it was only like 3-5 drops for a 30ml bottle of juice lol... I guess I will pick up 4-5 "drams" of each flavor to start.. Does that sound about right? I am only going to be making small 5-10ml bottles of juices while I am tinkering and coming up with the recipes I like, then I will buy larger quanitties once I narrow down the flavors that I know I like for sure... Right now I am starting off with around 15 flavors on the first order.
On a side note, I found out today that the two juices I really like are a Vanilla custard (OMG amazing) I am hoping that I can find a flavor mix that is already a vanilla custard, otherwise, I would love to know how to make some of that if anyone has an Idea... And the other is a Milk & Honey. Mmm Mmm Good. Same thing with that.. If anyone has a recipe for it so I know which flavors to add to my first order.
Thanks again!