Mine has finally slowed down substantially. At first I was buying everything that I read and sounded good. I am glad I did because now I have a better understanding of different vendors and have a decent stash built up, but I made a few dumb mistakes. Cap Blueberry cinnamon crumble comes to mind...
> Cap Blueberry cinnamon crumble comes to mind...
LOL How did you mix it and how long did you let it age?
I tried it by itself, and in a mix accenting the bakery cinnamon stuff, and in a mix accenting the blueberry. Its been a while since I've messed with it, but the blueberry flavor is what I didn't care for. I let all of them sit for at least a couple weeks, one I let sit for over a month. I really wanted to like it. Blueberry has been a tough one for me
Okay, I did almost the same thing. But I was reading a thread yesterday (dont remember which forum) and it was said to mix it solo at 12% and then let it sit for at least a month - goes from chemical crap to "divine".
I'm putting that on my list of things to mix and try out though who knows when that will be. I stopped mixing for now since I still have 30-40 bottles of purchased juice still plus another 50-60 DIY bottles already made.
I just can't vape it fast enough :)
I have a ton of TFA stuff because the wholesale is such a damn good price! Any recommendations on where to get other brands cheap? Mostly Lorann, I really love their key lime.
I think ecx sells LA. I've also gotten them off amazon for cheap (~$5 for 1 oz), but I think that is rare.
i bought way too many cola flavorings than i will use. which is to say, i use none of them.
I've just started mixing my own juice, and stupidly bought a bottle of CAP Blueberry Cinnamon Crumble and it tastes like fucking poison, is there any way I can make it taste decent?
The crazy thing is, I actually have saved money. Maybe not much yet, or maybe still a little in the red, but it's WAY cheaper, even if you just go nuts buying and trying flavors and equipment. Thanks again DIY!
My initial investment was close to $100...but I don't make anything exotic and I don't have a scale. I measure by the syringe and I've accepted inaccuracies. For me, and not that you asked, I'm content with making juice I like that is still a small fraction of the cost at my B&M. I was blowing through $90 a month. That has come down to $15 every month and a half or so.
This has been my exp, except I spent 30 on the scale. My initial investment was 130ish. Before that the wife and I were spending 95-125 a month for juice for us both. Its now down to about 30 and thats only because I still buy additional flavors every month to slowly grow my stock.
I'm facing $106 for a quart of PG & VG, 4oz of mango, strawberry, pear, coconut extra, watermelon, and creme de menthe, a 30mL of menthol 10%, 10 syringes with blunt tip needles, and a measuring cylinder
I have tons of bottles from pre-DIY, ranging from 10mL to 120mL, so that's not an issue for me.
I'm thinking if I can just sell 10 30mL bottles for 10 bucks each to friends, it would be like I get 1.5 liters of juice for free...
Until I buy more flavorings.
I spent $7200 making governments wealthy through tobacco taxes in 2013.
There is no possible way that DIY will ever even make the slightest dent in my savings that vaping has brought me!
I may have months where I buy $300 in Medicine Flower flavorings ($22/15mL) but since I sell about 1/2 of the flavoring to others, it really is about $150. And 1/3 of that is for my GF, so call it $100. And that's only during the ramp up stage to acquire all the flavorings -- once I hit mid-May, I expect my monthly buys to drop to $20 or so.
VG/nic is incredibly cheap over time, so that isn't an issue.
I am hopeful, and I'm on the track to get here, that I will eventually be spending around $80 a month on my vaping -- including mixing my own eliquids, replacing batteries, cotton and titanium, and the small stuff.
And that would be awesome.
That's a nice collection you've got going there, it really is easy to go the "gotta collect em all" route. Depending on how long you've been building that collection though and how much you vape I imagine you probably are still netting way below your original average costs. As long as you eventually vape the flavors you have you won't lose money.
DIY has been a great exp for me thus far, for anyone thinking of taking the plunge instead of just buying random flavors to begin with, buy the ingredients to make clones of your current ADVs that way you immediately start saving money. Take half the savings and invest that in new flavors/tools every month. This is a way to sustainably increase your stock of flavors while still saving cash.
Those kits may look like a good deal but they really aren't, I've seen so many new people getting flavors they don't want or don't know how to use. Buy a scale, some 50ml beakers, some 15ml bottles, a pack of pipettes, your bases and flavors that make your current ADVs.
Everything above is available, prime shipping, on amazon except the nic and flavors.
Where did you get your big bottles from? I was ordering the 8ml from wizard labs, but now I know which ones I want and like and would like some flavors in big bottles like thay. Thanks.
The Flavor Apprentice. You can create an account, and upgrade it to wholesale at no cost, just have to read a kind of disclaimer thing. they're the smallest bulk size, at 4oz. And they're only a shocking 5-8$ each. Really a steal.
All my flavors are TFA 4oz bottles. I'm pretty frugal and did a lot of digging around before I landed on those. They're a good bang for your buck. Maybe not the best in every flavor, but solid all around.
Can I get a list or shopping cart of the things you bought?
You mean the flavors? Or other equipment and stuff?
Equipment and stuff please
This may help, I typed this up the other day for a friend's wife that wants to start making juice for him (I'm secretly hoping for a divorce)
http://www.nudenicotine.com/ I buy my nicotine from these guys, you can get it cheaper from many other places, including the first place I will recommend getting flavors, but I've heard NN is more pure and consistent. And really it doesn't cost that much anyway. I get my PG/VG here too, as well as my citric acid solution, and Menthol solution.
http://wizardlabs.us/ I buy flavors for sampling/testing here. 8ml vials are a really nice size since they're big enough to get a couple batches out of them if you like them and give you time to order more (some places have tiny 3-4ml samples) Also a really good resource for some of your lab equipment, pipettes, flasks for mixing, syringes etc.
https://shop.perfumersapprentice.com I use a TON of these guys flavors, and they are one of the few flavor makers that buying right from them is one of your best deals. Just only buy wholesale, you can change your account to a wholesale account easily and then order 120ml bottles of flavors for 4-10$ a STEAL compared to 1.57$ for 8ml.
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/ A really nice juice recipe calculator. All sorts of good options and you can saves notes and your recipes on your profile. Hands down the best one I've found.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-LB-501-Digital/dp/B005UGBG20 Here's a your choice option. Mix by syringe measure? Or by weight? I bought a bunch of syringes at first, but I LOVE my scale. I can mix faster, and with less clean up. Pipettes are much easier to clean quickly than syringes. And quicker to use. I can just throw a 30 ml bottle on the scale, plug 30ml into the juice calculator, and start dumping.
http://packagingoptionsdirect.com/8-oz-cobalt-blue-glass-boston-round-bottle?gclid=CI6H4ZX59sMCFYZffgodlH8AAw I break down my concentrated nicotine into these, pre-mixed with room for 15% flavor compounds (this means your end product may be more or less nicotine depending on your actual flavor %) then I can just pour my pre mix in, add flavors, and vape! No messing with nic/vg/pg each time. Also a good source for other bottles, but there are lots of places you can get those.
Man, anyone that tells you that Vaping will save you tons of money may very well be lying, lol.
I sure feel like I'm saving money. I created a little spreadsheet just to track my cost. I just started DIY in Nov and my to date cost have been $174.59. That's everything needed pg/vg, nic, scale, flavors, a few 60 ML bottles . .absolutely everything needed to produce juice.
I've made 727ML's so far and at cost of .06 cents a mil for my 4 flavor juice that comes out to $43.62. Before I started I was buying 50ML bottles from ECblends for $14.65. Add in shipping and you are looking at about .32 cents a mil. If I bought 727ML's from ECblends that would have cost me $232.64
So just by making what I vape, I've saved $58.05 and that doesn't include the juice I've yet to make. I've only kept track of what I've made so far. I just ordered 4oz of flavoring for my 4 flavors I use for my all day vape. So my savings is going to be much greater.
Lol, cute. Repost when you have 50 + flavors, newb.