I ordered the everything I needed to start my DIY adventure last week and received it all last night. I mixed up my first few batches and each one was a hell of a lot better than things I have purchased from various cheap online vape spots (I'll leave the names of these companies out to save their face). With that being said, I first want to thank each and every person contributing on these subreddit - there is a ton of content on here and you can mix your own quality juice if you inform yourself.
That leads me to my tips for n00bs:
- Read the sidebar! - seriously the answer to all basic beginner questions are in there. Don't be lazy. Reach each sidebar item before thinking about getting into DIY and before posting questions.
- Search! - search is your friend. It may not be in the sidebar, but their is a metric fuck ton of information on this subreddit and if you search, you will find. Don't be that guy who asks a questions that's been asked before - doesn't look good.
- Make small batches! - if you're like me you bought a ton of small bottles of flavor from TFA and have no idea how any of them work. Make a ton of small batches that vary in ingredients. Taste them all and start learning their tastes.
- Start with recipes on this subreddit! - you are no pro. Hell, you are a complete and utter n00b. Don't try to get crazy right away. Mix something that has been proven and alter that before doing something from scratch.
- Start with fruit mixes! - fruit recipes are almost all shake and vapes. You will be excited mixing the first time and wanting to try your juice right away. Making fruit mixes will allow you to get started mixing, tasting, and learning quickly.
- Read the flavor reviews! - holy hell do the strength of concentrates differ from flavor to flavor, but also vendor to vendor. Before freestyling a recipe with a flavor you haven't used, try to find a flavor review on it for suggested percentages.
Anyways, thanks to all for the contributions to the thread! Trying to do my part now...
TL;DR - n00bs, read the sidebar, use the search, make small batches, use fruit for beginning recipes, read flavor reviews.
I almost want to sticky this =). Thank you for the post =).
I would be too tickled to see this posted.. I was going to go into much more detail, but I figured it being my second post on the subreddit I wasn't in a position to be making those kind of calls and I didn't want it to be too long.
If its needed, I wouldn't mind putting something more in-depth together for a stickied noobie post.
/u/kirkt, /u/botboy141, /u/returnity,(the Grand Council) I officially nominate this gentleman for moderator consideration to take my place in the sticky spotlight. Let the deliberation commence.
Congrats, you are stickied!. You don't need to make a second post, just edit / add to the current one. FWIW, I think it's just fine as-is.
Haha I'm a guy who came to this sub from a random mention of making your own ecig juice on r/all- the only thing holding me back from getting a setup so far has been watching my friends spend a LOT on quality juices every 2 days of their life. But if you can DIY make your own juices... I think it's time for me to pick up a rig all ready! And this post by this guy was an absolute amazing starter to knowing where to look for any info I'd ever need. Cheers on making it a sticky!
Addendum: Take advantage of the weekly new mixer threads. I'm not a newb anymore, but I always read everything posted in the WNM thread because a lot of information is shared there.
You speak like an HK assassin Droid.....and I love it.
I stayed up way to late wrapping up Korriban in KOTOR2 so that I can head to the droid factory for the first time ever (god bless steam and how easy they made it to put the cut content mod on there).
Anyone have a clone recipe of this post???
- Help yourself 12%
- Search 10%
- Sidebar 7%
- Self sufficiency 5 %
I know the percentages seem high, but if you shake the shit out of it this one turns out to be an ADV!
Ugh I'm out of TFA Help Yourself, can I sub FW Demand Free Help?
Just gave my first gold, but after reading all of the comments in this post, yours got me good :) Happy Friday!
holy shit. is this a grade A post or is this a Grade A+ post?
well done sir. hopefully some new comers will find their way to this one!!
As a noob-point-1, having passed DIY 101 and moving on to the 102 level, thank you for the affirmation and I agree with everything you posted.
I'm at the phase right now where I have ~400ml of my first two recipes aging and I'm ready to place a "f*ck it, that sounds good" order to start experimenting.
What happens when you take Pear and mix it with Apple? Should I add Gummy to make it a candy flavor, or add body to it with cream or nuts?
How many kinds of watermelon do I need? What other recipes are there to try? How can I duplicate some of my favorite juices that don't seem to have clone or tribute recipes out there?
The world is my oyster, all I need are the ingredients to take advantage of it.
Sounds like you're on your way to the top! Here's lookin' at you, kid.
One day... one day I hope someone gives me a free t-shirt for vaping 10ml of juice that tastes like piss and dirty laundry.
I'm amazed he did that. You couldn't pay me to vape 10 straight of honey.
Want to add: Always shake your nic before mixing.
Good thing I love fruit vapes.
But I've also been mixing for a while haha.
Notice my flair? I started right where you did. Now my vaping friend buy their juice almost exclusively from me. $3 for a 15 of 3mg and Max vg, covers the cost of making it by a long shot.
Nice post. I'm a DIY'er that tried, failed, quite, and am now getting back into it.... But this time doing it proper with much better gear and fluids. Still got shipments on there way and am in the process of placing more orders (and finding the money for it).
I've got a noob question for you. It's more of a noob to reddit than DIY. I'm actually super new to reddit. I've read pages before due to google links taking me there... But I never signed up, commented, or subscribed to anything.
I've downloaded a few reddit apps for my iPhone (iAlien, Alien Blue, etc.) and am trying to figure it all out. Very confusing so far, doesn't seem to function like other forums and whatnot I've been a part of (but I think that's the point of it).
Anyway, I saw you mention to read the "sidebars". For the life of me, I don't know what the hell that is or were to find it. I was able to find and subscribe to vape pages/subs I've seen in the past. But I don't see a sidebar on this iAlien app. Maybe I need a better app, not really sure.
Thanks for the help
This issue is likely stemming from viewing reddit on a mobile device. I don't believe the sidebar is displayed on mobile web pages and I haven't ever seen it in any reddit app.
The reddit apps for the most part just allow for reading, not posting. I have a reddit app installed on my 2-in-1 that alerts me when I have new messages, but I always access it directly from the browser.
Sidebar is on the right and has links to the most pertinent and informative posts. Definitely a must read!
Hope this helps!
Sweet, thanks man. Some of the apps seem to help navigate around okay, and show me when someone comments on a post I'm a part of. I'm using one as I write this.
I'll have to check this sub on my PC real good so I can see all the sidebar goodies it looks like.
Edit: looks like the Alien Blue app has the ability to view the sidebar... I'm starting to use that one now instead of iAlien. Anyway, glad to be here.
A big Thank You to you and everyone in this sub. Your post inspired me to make my first order. I just received my gear and whipped up "blueberry creamy".
Wow! I can't believe I have been purchasing juice all these years. My first batch is better than a whole bunch of juice I have thrown my dollars at thru the years.
Again, to all who have contributed to this this sub- a big Thank You!
Cheers!
This way probably the biggest surprise to me. You think these "premium" juices you are paying top dollar for are in no way achievable. Some of them take quite a bit of effort if you are trying to nail down a 100% clone, but you can make some damn good juice for fractions of the what you're paying for these juices.
Great post! Yes thank you to everyone who contributes to this sub!! This is the best sub for learning DIY E juice. I have been doing DYI for about six months but I have never posted on this sub accept to do a thank you too, because every question I have had is already answered and easily found.
I agree most fruit are the easiest to shake and vape and get decent results. But I have found is the taste and color does change. More than some people think. I would often shake and vape my fruits but I was missing out on their full potential big time. A good ten days on fruits( my house is hot this summer) and they are so much better. I do like to taste them as they change.
This is wonderful advice. Thank you! I've been reading a lot in this sub lately and am very, very interested in starting to make my own juices.
Is there any chance you can tell me what you bought (and where you bought it) so that I can make a similar purchase? This seems kind of overwhelming to start from nothing and I'm not positive what things I'll need.
Thanks again for the advice because I didn't know of everything you suggested, though I'd figured out some of it.
I post this comment far too often
Our first stop will be Amazon.com
- Get scale
- Get your PG and VG
- You'll need to get squeeze bottles for your PG and VG (get 2)
Next stop is Bull City Vapor
- Get 15ml or 30ml bottles of flavor that you have picked from this list
- Get bottles here if you need them
- Get a few pipettes to transfer your nicotine to solution
Nicotine Stop
- NudeNicotine or Vapers Tek for nicotine (get 50/50 or more PG than VG). You can get a free sample from Nude. Also, LiquidBarn has free nic samples (it's good stuff!)
Here's what I bought (and all you need to begin):
-
PG from Amazon $14
-
VG from Amazon $13
-
Bottles from Amazon 12 30ml for $8
-
Scale from Amazon $29
-
Nicotine from Nude Nicotine $3 for shipping on free sample
-
Flavors from TFA (the flavor apprentice)
-
Fruit Blast Pack (includes 6 fruits and pipettes - cheaper than buying them separately)
-
Tropical Fruit Pack (same as above)
-
Try another pack or buy some individuals that sound good and/or are highly rated here
It is a lot of the jump, but once you go a couple weeks/months without buying premium juice you've already got your ROI (return on investment)
Awesome. Thank you very much. This is exactly the list I needed. Though there is a lot of excellent advice in the side bar, this helps a lot. Now I also know what TFA stands for. But this will be great and tells me where to get it all. It's just what I needed.
This is just wonderful. I'll be ordering all this in the next few weeks then.
Read the sidebar. It has a list of highly suggested places to buy flavors from.
Order flavors you know you like. Fruits, candies, desserts...etc. only you know what you like, so order what you like. Best place to start. =)
I have been reading the side bar, but it feels a bit overwhelming when I'm still only a few weeks into this sub. Thank you for the flavor advice though. This is going to be a lot of fun.
I agree, it is a tad overwhelming at first. I felt the same. I just took it at my own pace. I thought, "okay... so what is juice made of?... nicotine...pg...vg... flavor. Got it."
Now. Percentages? Weight? What?!
"Ahh I see. If I want 3mg of Max vg (usually a 90/10 vg/pg mix), banana Berry, I need about 80% of the 30ml bottle of vg, 10%pg, that leaves enough room for the flavors, at 5% each, and about 3 drops of nicotine per ml. Got it."
Mixing by weight is easier though.
Just take it step by step, and you'll have your first batch in no time.
I just got my kit in from kidney puncher. It has 2 bottles 5 ml 2 bottles 10ml 2 bottles 30ml 4 syringes (Diff sizes) 4 Diff size blunt tips for the syringes 4 flavors 2 x 250ml base 2 pairs of gloves All that was ~ $40
I haven't even tasted my first testers yet, but it seemed like a great value all in one kit.
Edit: also came with 2 pipettes
Thank you for the input, but I've since already purchased many needed items and have been making juice. I ended up going with mixing by weight so I didn't need as many syringes, but it still helps to have some laying around. It does sound like the kit you have found is good to start with however. Best of luck to you.