What is a realistic cost to get started? I plan on starting with just a few flavors, 2 or 3, until I get the hang of it.
Just to get your feet wet and see if you like it? Figure maybe $75 to get you nic, vg, pg, some labware, empty bottles and a handful of flavorings.
Around $70 seems to be the average.
I think this is about the most realistic number. When I first started, I got a ton of different flavors, starter kit on DIY site (I can find it if you need it) and some regular material for about...$75 or so.
If you really don't want to buy a lot of flavors right off the bat then I'd recommend finding a clone or recipe that you think you'll like and order the flavors needed to make it. Otherwise even with ~10 flavors you'll be pretty limited creativity wise.
That all depends on how creative each person wants to be. I love making my own juice, but I also prefer the simplicity of single flavor juices. I have over about 30 flavors right now and I still don't mix them together. Single flavors are so easy and many of them taste great alone or with just a little sweetener added.
My two cents worth.... I've been mixing for about 6 months now, love this sub and follow it regularly. I applaud the op for wanting to take the plunge. Anyone can diy. Go for it. I agree with the 100mg/ml nicotine folks. You save money. AND it's easy on the calculations. I always try out a new mix with a 10 ml batch. So when I want to have a 6% nic juice ..... my .6 ml of nude nic couldn't be any easier. I do have a question for the more experienced though. I only measure volume. Syringes exclusively. Never used a pippette (sp) and don't expect to. What is a more accurate measure. Volume or weight? When I like a recipe I've made i will make a 30 ml bottle, sometimes 2 of them. I don't think I need exact tolerances that a scale would deliver if weight is in fact more accurate??
My 1 year anniversary being cigarette free is January 20th and its approaching fast. Never would have gotten here without reddit and the people who post their successes and failures. Thank you all. :-). I wish everyone a very happy and analog free New Year!
This may not be the "Cheapest" but should give you an idea of the basics.
bullcityvapor.com
$4.49 15mL 100mg/mL Nicotine in PG or VG for MAX VG.
$2.50 120mL VG
$1.15 Rainbow Line Gum-FW
$3.49 Lime Concentrate-INW
$1.20 (3) 10mL empty plastic bottles
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16896900009&cm_re=scale--96-900-009--Product
$23.00 Digital Pocket Gram Scale
$35.83 Total less S&H
This will make you 83mL@18mg in 3 flavors.
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American Weigh Scale Ac-100 Digital Pocket Gram Scale Black 100 G X 0....
Current $23.00
High $29.99
Low $18.99
That all depends on what you want to spend. If you want to save money, then you're better off buying more in a single purchase. Flavors cost anywhere from $2.50 - $12 for 15 ml vials, but some only require 1.5%-3% while others may require up to 15% to be used. When I started, I bought 1 gallon of VG and 1 gallon of PG for $59 (including shipping), and I spent about another $50 on flavors. If you don't want to commit to that much then just get a quart or a liter of each, and a small bottle of Nic to start. You could probably get started for about $30-$40, but the cost per ml will be more.
Thanks for everyone's response. Also im planning on making max VG at 6mg what should I get as far as nicotine goes? I really dont want to mess with 100mg at this time.
I don't like the idea of 100mg nic either. I'd rather spend a little extra on supplies to take some worry out of my mind. I'm using 24mg nic. I mix my juice down to 3mg nic so the 120ml bottle of nic I have is enough to make a little over 900ml. I personally prefer VG heavy juice so I bought my nicotine base diluted into 100% VG.
I hate to sound brash but, if you trust yourself to mix your own juice,mother you should be responsible enough to handle 100mg Nic. It's not like a deadly nerve agent or acid or nitroglycerin. Yes, you should be safe with it, but you should also be safe with any nicotine solution. Adding too much to your juice won't kill you, and you'll notice the error pretty quickly.
I am certainly responsible enough. I would just rather take the load off of my shoulders. For me it is a matter of risk management. Sure all nicotine is dangerous but it is much more dangerous to have an accidental spill/splash of 100mg than it is something like 24mg. No one is perfect and I would rather not my health be effected by an accident. Not to mention I find it far easier to measure out something like 0.5ml of nicotine base than 0.125ml of the higher concentration.
It's just my own personal preference. I'd rather take a little more risk out of the equation. Sure I know all the safety risks and am confident that I can handle higher concentrations safely but how much risk am I willing to take to save a few bucks? Not enough to take that risk. To each his own, I suppose!
New here myself and find myself asking the same question. A little more detail would be: I plan on making mainly 60%VG/40%PG 7.5mg nic with 4 flavors (not yet decided) I have no tools at the moment. I'll be looking to obviously make some tester bottles and finally 1 250ml per. If I enjoy it I'll keep it up but just looking for cost to cover that portion. Thank you so much guys for this subreddit. I think I'm going to love it.
Hell to get started?
Self mix?
Buy one empty 4-16oz bottle to make the base you want, Syringe for nicotine base, PG/VG
Buy select flavors you want along with 3ml pippetes to use with them 100pack for dirt cheap on amazon.
Buy like 10-20 bottles 30-50ml ( personally I use 50)
Buy some nitrate gloves, paper towels.
Easily get that for pretty cheap, or get a starter kit and the many of vendors who offer them.
I got my starter kit from Heartland Vapes.It has everything you'd need, and runs $60 bucks. http://wholesale.heartlandvapes.com/diy-kit.html It's really nice and if you make your juice at 3 mg like I do for dripping, the nic will last you a LONG time!
Awesome. I will definitely consider that. How are the flavorings that come with it?
Really good!It's mostly TFA, but some FlavorWest in there as well. I've found out that I really enjoy blueberry or strawberry cheesecake. I don't care for cotton candy, but that's not the fault of Heartland. It seems like a good cotton candy is just really hard to find.
I'm a beginning DIYer' I've seen a few guides on start ups and recipes. There are so many variables to a new guy with manufactures of equipment and liquids. Not to mention tailoring a liquid to ones liking. Is there a "Holy Grail" so to speak, a in depth comprehensive guide to equipment and liquids out there ? Not to get off topic either, you want to talk expense, that in itself can vary quite a bit. I don't know how many bottles I have dumped down the drain trying to create something just the way I want it. As a matter of fact I've made so many crappy recipes I'm not sure if the stuff I'm vaping is actually good or it just less crappy than the stuff I have been making. I thought It would be easy as getting a e-cig and vaping tobacco flavored e-juice. It's not, come to find out I hate tobacco flavored e-juice. My e-juice also tastes different in different e-cigs (variable and fixed voltage). My 2 cents, if its worth anything because of what I just said makes me sound dumb, get an e-cig you can live with, buy equipment and liquids from the same manufacturer, experiment in small quantities. It will keep cost down. Buying flavors from different manufacturers because it was on sale will throw off your recipe if your trying to tailor one to your liking. I'm picky so take that into consideration. This post is to long, sorry about that.
I think of it this way. Around or less than $100 to get started, but you probably won't buy juice again. All the money you did spend on juice now goes to new flavors and those flavors last a good amount of time. If you stick to one recipe and only vape that you will save, but you won't. If you stick with some good recipes found here and get a good juice calculator, you'll have a good time.
Well, there are a couple things I think you should get squared away before you try to estimate the cost.
Are you going to measure by weight or volume?
Do you want to use glass or plastic (LDPE, HPDE) bottles?
Definitely by volume to begin with. And have a small collection of empty glass bottle that I will be using to begin with.
If you do some research on amazon you will be able to get 1ml and 10ml syringes for really cheap. I would not go with pipettes unless you feel like investing in a glass one, or an autopipette. maybe $15 at the most for 100 of each. id say about 30$ for vg and pg, including shipping. flavorings will cost you about $5 for a small size. Like everyone else said, around $70ish dollars. If you want to mix in beakers instead of straight into a bottle, glassware is a little expensive but IMO worth it if you start making for others.
Nude Nicotine has the best prices on VG, PG, and Nic from what I can tell. You should check there. I'm not sure about their pipettes/bottles/etc. though.
No, nude nic is absolutely on the expensive side for everything, but you also get what you pay for. Nude nics nicotine is a cut above the rest, truly, and they always get my thumbs up for nic solution, but for Vg and PG just go through essential depot.