Okay so im looking to get started DIY, money is kinda tight ATM so im looking to purchase just what i need to get started.
Im pretty interested in mixing by weight, and from what im reading all i would need is a scale and flavor bottles with drippers? i have some glass bottles i plan on using to mix in mostly 30ml but some are bigger. I plan on starting off with just 3 juices, a cereal vape, a horchatas vape, and a sweet tobacco vape.
List:
-Scale(http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-Scales-LB-501-Digital/dp/B005UGBG20/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410453758&sr=8-1&keywords=aws+lb-501)
-VG(i plan on mixing max VG juices to start so extra PG wont be needed ATM)
-Nic(i vape 3MG, not sure what strength base i should get)
-flavorings
Any advice on this would be awesome, iv read over most of the stuff on the side bar and from what it seems mixing by weight would be the best way with minimal gear although i could be wrong as im just getting into this.
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. Better yet, find some well received recipes and get the flavors to make those!
- Get bottles here if you need them
- Get a few pipettes to transfer your nicotine to solution
Nicotine Stop
- Liquid Barn or Vapers Tek for nicotine (get 50/50 or more PG than VG). You can get a free sample from Liquid Barn by sending an email to ash@liquidbarn.com
If you buy VG based nicotine, don't come back here asking why your nicotine is harsh.
Why is VG based Nic harsh? i wanna try to keep the PG in my juices to a min. so would buying VG Nic be a bad idea?
Just do a search for something like "nicotine harsh" and you'll come to realize 90% of the time it's due to VG based nic. I've even purchased 100% VG nic before, and it was harsh.
The amount of PG you would be adding, assuming you're buying 100g/ml would be negligible. Unless you have a sensitivity to PG, stay away from VG nic
What nic level are you shooting for? I don't have much experience with anything except tobacco flavors, but if you get some FlavourArt or Vaping Zone super concentrated flavors, you won't need to add a whole lot, which will keep your PG down. I don't know about the harshness of the VG nic, but you could have a finished juice at around 91% VG even using 100% PG nic (assuming you do 3mg.)
Definitely second the Bull City Vapor endorsement. Big fan of buying 30mL bottles from them since they already come in a squeeze dropper bottle which generally makes mixing by weight much easier. Wizard Labs bottles will inevitably leave you with mountains of disposable plastic pipettes or syringes with markings that eventually rub off and/or plungers that wear out.
Glass bottles can be found slightly cheaper on Amazon but sometimes of dubious quality (slanted droppers and cap that never quite tighten all the way). Most of the time the Amazon one's have worked well enough but it's kind of a crap shoot.
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scale (500g X .01g) like you posted should be good. unless you get into mixing 300+ mL at once...not sure how much that weighs.
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droppers/syringes...for VG i recommend a wide nozzle, VG is thick and is very hard to suck up into tiny syringes/droppers.
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squirt? bottles. not sure what they are called. 20-50ml. for storage/mixing. you can use the same bottles that the end result will be in, to place on scale and mix.
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Nic concentrate. I would recommend 100% PG(easier to work with), with a super high mg/mL Nic content(100+ mg/mL) that way you only have to add a small drop or two of this PG. but do some math using the calculator to see if you can get to that ratio you want. you will probably have to go with 100% VG nic to get above 80-90% VG.
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VG
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flavors, these will be 100% PG, and you will use around 5-20% in the end result.
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gloves, it will get messy.
I'm really not sure how mixing by weight makes it easy or have less gear. you need extra equipment(scale), and mixing by volume just needs syringes with marks on them(which you already have to use some form of dropper when doing by weight). Also weight and volume are not equivalent by percent. idk if people factor in the density of the liquids when mixing by weight(or vise versa).
> 1) scale (500g X .01g) like you posted should be good. unless you get into mixing 300+ mL at once...not sure how much that weighs.
VG has a specific gravity of 1.26, which means 1ml weighs ~1.26g. My 250ml boiling flask weighs around 110g, so if I filled it as high as it would go with pure VG the total weight would be 425g. PG and Flavor concentrates have different (lower) specific gravities, so you could easily hit the 300ml mark on the smaller scale.
Now, the really neat thing is that if you want to get into bulk mixing, the 501 is still a really useful piece of equipment primarily because of its accuracy. You can mix your flavorings using the precise scale, and then add those flavorings in bulk to your carrier liquid. At 15% flavoring concentration that 300ml of pure flavoring can be added to 1.7l of nicotine/carrier to make a finished product. And you can use a much larger (and less precise, and cheaper) scale to perform the final measurement.
I didn't buy what most people recommended because i wanted to keep the cost's down to start .
All i did was buy a few 10ml flavorings to make my favorite recipe (about $18.00).
I bought a measuring cup at Walmart that shows ml ( under $2.00)
I bought VG at Walmart (around $3.00)
I bought a 120 ml bottle of Nic in 100mg and followed the recipe and that told me how much ml of each flavor and VG to add .
After i added everything i poured the mix into an old e juice bottle i had and shook it till the cows came home (and cows rarely come home, slow bastards).
Turned out great
This is the route im trying to go minus the wal-mart purchases. I was thinking about buying the Heartland vapes kit but i don't need all the bottles and the PG that is included TBH.
Really what im trying to figure out is the cheapest way to get:
-High Nic base
-VG
-Flavorings for 1-2 juices(already have these in mind/Juices that take 3-4 Flavorings)
-And like 2-3 Syringes to transfer/Measure out the flavorings/VG/and Nic.
I have need gloves(have some)
and i don't need bottles(have enough to get started)
All the kits that im seeing have alot of extra stuff that i just need off bat, i feel comfortable mixing with very minimal gear to start and will add things as i go.
The absolute cheapest way to get started?
Nicotine - Request a "free" (you pay $2 shipping) sample from Nude Nicotine, it'll take some time to get to you and you can only do it once, but it's enough 100mg/ml nic to make about a half-liter of finished e-liquid at 3mg/ml.
VG - Buy a quart of USP Kosher VG (food grade) from Amazon, use Prime to get free shipping, sign up for a 30-day trial if you don't already have prime.
Scale - You already have the link to the best scale to use to get started, combo the purchase with the VG to get free shipping or use the Prime-trial recommendation to reduce the cost of the product.
Flavorings - Pick one recipe to start and buy 30ml bottles from Bull City Vapor. They come in squeeze dropper bottles so you do not need pipettes/syringes for flavoring transfers.
Syringes for Nicotine - Here you have a choice, you can buy a few syringes from Amazon (you're already buying the scale and VG there), or you can swing by your local pharmacy to see if they have a free-syringe program for people that use injectable drugs. Keep in mind that this is a necessary service to provide options for people that would be engaging in extremely risky behavior without access to free/cheap needles, so don't abuse it. Use the juice savings from your first batch to buy a proper set once you know what your requirements are.
So, that's around $45 from Amazon, $2 for NN, and $20 at BCV to make your first 500ml of juice. Your finished juice price will be in the neighborhood of $.13/ml, which isn't great, but it's enough to offset the cost of your initial startup, and your next order will only have to be nicotine and extra flavorings.
I would recommend to buy 120 ml of 100 ml nic from a vendor like Vaporstek or Liquid barn , under $20.00 shipped . Vaporstek is very very clean nic and i buy the (TH version) for $10.00 and thats for 120ml .
The TH version is cheap and better quality than most other premium nic out there.
VG is VG and tons of people but it at Walmart , it's 99.9% pure , works great and cheap .
Syringes can be bought easily at any pharmacy , i also buy those glass dropper thingies (come in a 2 pack for under $1.00) , in the pharmacy dept because you can use the drops method of measuring if you want over using syringes .
Syringes are easier with higher amounts of liquid though like if your recipe called for 11 % of one flavoring .
The dropper method is great for recipes that call for amounts of flavoring that are very low like 0.1 -0.9
If a recipe says 0.3 of this flavoring that equals a total of 4 drops , if a recipe calls for 0.9 of another flavoring that equates to 13 drops .
Kinda looking at this kit, http://www.nudenicotine.com/product/nude-approved-diy-starter-kit-basic/
Just because it has some good starting gear and the choice for 100% VG instead of a 50/50 split, but im kinda under the impression i could get most of this stuff for a little cheaper, no?
Absolutely. You know what you need from reading your comments, just get everything individually. Kits are overpriced.
Don't order flavors by any list of common used flavors. Order flavors by recipes you find.
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/list?exclsingle=0&sort=score&direction=desc
Any new complex recipe from scratch shouldn't be attempted until you have tried multiple recipes that are closer to what people call "premium".Most people want to make something new, but it is harder then you would think.
American Weigh Scales LB-501 Digital Kitchen Scale
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