First quart of VG down! This sub has been great! I've been making my own recipes, but thanks to you guys I found the right tools, safety information, tips on lab technique (damned gloppy VG), suppliers, and suggestions for what flavors combine well. My basic setup is working nicely, and I'm getting ready to scale up now that I have recipes I know are worth it.
Its been a blast! I've vaped for 8 months now, got into rebuilding, then making juice, and I even keep hearing about how vaping will save me money any day now!
> I even keep hearing about how vaping will save me money any day now!
You have clearly been lied to.
Ha! I heard the same about homebrewing..... 3 kegging systems, an extra refrigerator, 4 primary fermenters, 3 secondary fermenters and tons of smaller pieces of equipment later and I'm waiting for that savings.
lol - even though it's jokingly, vaping has saved me considerable money when I swapped to rebuilding and mixing. My gear to mix paid for itself after the first 2 months of mixing then I was basically "free" until I had to order more supplies. Even then the supplies usually end up paying for themselves several times over before I have to buy again.
$8.99-$19.99 per 30ml? I don't think so my most expensive mix only costs me ~$3 per 30ml! And rebuilding?! HAH - forget those stupid kanger coils, I haven't had to buy cotton or kanthol since my first purchase worth ~$10. It's been months and months.
Going from ~$6 a day to less than $1 a day = HUGE WIN on the pocket. (granted I tend to stick with my devices till they die and don't buy on impulse - which is hard sometimes!!!!)
You have a fine kit there. But, where is the scale? What flavors do you like playing with at the moment?
No scale, I like mixing by volume for the most part. Mixing by weight seems like I would have to go really slow, or I'd accidentally add too much. I'm frequently mixing 6-10 10ml bottles at a time, with slightly different blends to compare. I've got a bunch of 1ml syringes with 20ga blunt tip needles, I add one flavor to each bottle, then drop that syringe in the "dirty" jar.
But measuring high VG base I've prepared is a pain, I'm mostly using 20/80 PG/VG for my dripper. I've been using a 20ml syringe with no needle, but its still slow, annoying, and slightly messy. I'm considering using a scale just for that step, possibly with a turkey baster.
As far as flavors, I got a pretty wide variety from wizard labs, I'm currently working on 4 recipes:
- Something like velvet cloud's "Night Shift" with capella chocolate glazed doughnut, cappuccino, espresso, and other creamy flavors. I tried several coffee flavors before settling on the TFA Espresso, but the DIY coffee extract I made also had a nice coffee aroma so I may blend them.
- Something like an RY4 but with a stronger tobacco flavor than most RY4 blends. For this, I'm using TFA 555 tobacco as the main flavor, with capella vanilla, caramel, and other creamy flavors. I'm going to try adding ~1% of Seedman Virginia fire cured tobacco flavor (has a really nice smokey/honey kind of flavor) and ~0.5% TFA Red Type Tobacco flavor (higher aromatic "fresh pack" smell, but very strong). This is the one flavor I've made that I definitely like better than any sweet tobacco I've purchased, but it requires the longest steep time of 1-2 weeks.
- A berry tea flavor, as close to a raspberry snapple as I can get.
- Cantina, a Lorann pina colada and menthol flavor, similar to something a local B&M makes. I'm currently experimenting with different apple/pear/dragonfruit mixes to compliment the pina colada, and considering a koolada/menthol blend to keep the "cool" feeling with less minty menthol flavor.
I want to start posting recipes on here, but I think I still need one or two more iterations.
I can't imagine going back to measuring by volume unless I decide to stick with a couple of flavors and mix large volumes at a time. When I experiment I like to make small 5ml bottles of single flavors and 10ml bottles for those with multiple flavors. There is no cleanup when using a scale with exception to those that use flavors from wizard labs. Then you will have pipettes to clean. The math is also easier then calculating drops. How much do syringes cost? How many are you buying for the $10 a scale would cost. I have a Ultrasonic cleaner that made cleanup simple but, It was still enough I had to put a night aside for mixing. Now I mix my ejuice in the morning while making my coffee. In and out in less then 3 minutes.
While I'm forcing my opinion on you :) Let me help your juice. First if you want a tobacco flavor you will need a generic base. M-Type or Tobacco Absolute-TFA @ 2% is popular but, takes months to cure. A much better solution is Inawera DNB @ 2%. Add S'Camel and Smooth Leaf to the mix and you will have a dry ashy cigarette base for all your flavors. If you like RY* flavors you really should try Hangsen. They have some nice tobacco flavors. I can't say enough nice things about Inawera flavors either. Even the flavors I don't like are good. Like the Smoke Prunes. Much better then it sounds even though I really dislike prunes.
If your looking for a good coffee? The only one I like is Cappuccino Concentrate-Inawera
Your pina colada needs Pineapple-Hangsen and/or mango-Inawera and/or banana-Inawera.
>> I want to start posting recipes on here, but I think I still need one or two more iterations.
All in due time. It's taken me years of mixing to go thru the hundreds of flavors in my pantry. I have lots of recipes but, very few with TFA and that is what Reddit likes. So I'm still holding out waiting for everyone to catch up. That said changing of the recipe will be never ending.
Ok, you're convincing me. I've got a little wimpy scale I can try it out with, its just got a wimpy max load. I am using wizard labs flavors, but I'll deal with it.
Thanks for the opinion :) and I'll definitely look into those tobacco flavors and Inawera.
> That said changing of the recipe will be never ending.
Indeed. But is reddit particularly into TFA? Seems like I've seen just as much LA/CAP flavors here.
Interested in your recipe for Night Shift.
I'm not going for an exact clone, but its a tasty creamy doughnuts and coffee flavor.
- 2.5% Boston Cream Pie (CAP)
- 5.0% Chocolate Glazed Doughnut (CAP)
- 5.0% Cappuccino (CAP)
- 2.5% Espresso (TFA)
- 0.3% Acetyl Pyrazine (TFA)
I'm considering increasing the Espresso, or adding some DIY coffee extract I've made. This is also good with some caramel added. I've been mixing this 20PG/80VG and dripping at ~60W, 15% flavoring is strong but not overpowering.