Kind of a semi long post.
Quit analogs over a year and a half ago, and have been dependent on my B&Ms the whole time (with not so great luck online)
I got more flavors from TFA today, like 16 of them lol, and made my favorite flavor right away. Pear. Simple pear. My B&M hasn't had it for months, so I've been trying other flavors and barley liking the "premium" juices. Made a 30ml in 10min. Didn't really measure shit except nic strength and flavor, the rest was VG. Ammmaaaazing. I missed this flavor, and didn't feel comfortable getting online as that's been more miss than hit recently. As of this post I already filled up my TFV4 again. ADV to the max.
I'm surprised more ppl from /u/ecr haven't switched to DIY. I spent a lot of time on the sub for a month or so and only rarely see ppl ask, so they must find this sub easily or have known about it and don't try?
Sorry if this type of post is seen a lot, not meant to spam anything or make a "shit post". I haven't really posted anything other than getting my kit last week and reading other people's posts/questions and reading the info in the sidebar. I just wanted to share my feelings of accomplishment and say thank you to everyone in the sub who have made posts that answered any questions I may have had, and the people who put together sidebar info.
On mobile so excuse fuck ups.
TL;DR- DIY for a week. It's awesome, thanks for the info from this sub, you guys rock. Ecr needs to get more on this. <End of line>
Edit: Hey douchebag specifically downvoting my comments. Fuck off.
> Ecr needs to get more on this
Ehhhhhhh, I'd rather them slowly come over here. Way too many vapebros over in ECR, and I really do believe that DIY is the best community in vaping because we can act like adults. If they trickle over here, they'll learn our way of behaving, and be surrounded by our demeanor instead of there being a group of mature adults and a separate group of children tooting on their ameravoops, twitting about DIY clouds.
I can't buy vendor e-liquid any more. It doesn't matter if they're having a 70% off sale, it is still 5 times what it costs me to make it.
Short answer, people are lazy.
Long answer:
Assuming these prices (some are high, none are low)
- 27$ for a gallon of vg
- 8$ for 500ml
- 4$ for a single 30ml flavor (high end, depending of the flavor it could be 8 for 4oz)
- 2$ nicotine
- $0.50 per bottle
- $7 for 500 pipettes
Assuming you're mixing at 70/30 at 3mg and 10% flavor
- 207.17 30ml bottles worth of vg
- 63.85 30ml bottles worth of pg
- 10 bottles worth of flavoring @10%
- 60 30ml bottles worth of flavoring at 5/5/5%
Nudenicotine runs a first time customer free sample of 100ml of nic (you pay 2 dollars for shipping) assuming it's 100mg/ml
- 111.11 30ml bottles worth of nicotine
Total possible with bare bones setup like this 10 bottles @ $6.1 per bottle not terrible but not great, and we're left over with a ton of extra juice, but add two more flavors for a 5/5/5 mix and it will drop to $1.43 per bottle, for spending an additional 8$ you're getting 50 more bottles and spending $4.68 LESS per bottle and you still have enough nicotine for 51 more total bottles!
The price per bottle only goes down the more you buy, but you asked how much could $1 get you? It COULD get you a total of 1,242ml of juice mixed at 5/5/5, at $1 per bottle(of course you're only ending up with 69% of the 1800ml total at $1.43 a bottle but there you go.
I fucking LOVE DIY.
I'm dumb with calculations (thankfully DIY is forgiving) so I'm very happy you, and /u/hannibalateam took the time to come up with them.
It also gives me ammo to shoot when it comes to friends who still purchase juice. I texted one last night and told him I was making my own...his response..? "Word".
Like dude, seriously? I save so much now (after the initial costs of course, but it's in the same boat as being the first time noob vape kit purchase at a B&M), I can be like "Hey how much did you pay for that 30ml? Oh, $25?, mine costed less than $2. drops mic
I've been doing DIY for over two years now and just recently got a scale and started to understand what I'm doing. Once you get most of the flavors you need and some pipettes of different sizes then it gets pretty easy to make your own juice.
I tried for a while on /r/electronic_cigarette to suggest people try DIY when I saw they were complaining about the prices of juice but it didn't seem to do much good so I stopped. I think most people think making your own juice is going to be really difficult. It's not. You can spend as much or as little as you want and get pretty good juice.
Yes it's taken me a long time to really begin to understand the intricacies of making your own juice but in the beginning I just used a syringe and mixed by eyesight and still made some pretty good juice. Now that I have a better understanding of what I am doing I have found the small things that make a juice really shine.
Most of what I've learned has been here. I have discovered how to make better flavors of the things I like and have increased my juices I vape from the same six flavors to more like 20 different flavors and most of them are much more complicated than the ones I was vaping.
I guess what I'm trying to say is you can make really cheap juice very easy or you can spend a little more money and make really good juice it all depends on what your after.
This is where I'm at right now. It will take time to grow. My wife rolled her eyes as I enthusiastically exhale my newly pear mix all night. She's coming from 2 parents that smoked her whole life and meeting me while I smoked, but she truly appreciates me vaping vs smoking. I saw a post earlier about someone getting a scale and it makes DIY 1000% better. I'm thinking of looking into that and I still have a lot more flavors to combine and make. I have a long way to go but I'm super glad I'm on the path, and thankful for this sub, and my goal is to get her parents to switch to vape. Her dad smokes in his house and when we come and visit I have to throw EVERYTHING I wore there in the laundry because of the smell, even when he goes outside to smoke because I refuse to have my 3 yr old son in his house if he smokes. But the stench is still there...
Yes a scale will make things much easier. I use the juice calculator off of the sidebar (its the last one on the list) and once I got all my flavors in it and my recipes made it is a marvel that I can make consistent juice every time I make it. I have begun to know when I need to tweak a recipe and how to do it so it suits my needs. The learning curve is quite strong in a very short time but you do level out and start to find what you are looking for.
You might want to invest in some pipettes. I use the 3ml ones a lot. I purchase the 100 per package and they last a long time. If some of the bottles you are using have small openings then you might want to consider getting the 1ml pipettes for those. I get mine off of Amazon but you need to be careful and make sure you order from a vendor located in the US as some of the suppliers are from China and take a long time to get them to you. They are quite cheap in price. I think for 100 3ml pipettes I paid about $4. I also purchased my scale from Amazon and strongly suggest you consider the American Weigh Scales LB-501 Digital Kitchen Scale. You can get it [here] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00) for $21.52.
You were smart to start with a single flavor juice that you liked. That is what I've done. I have 6 basic flavors I like and they are all one or two flavor juices. Since then I have branched out to some 4-5 flavor juices and they so far have come out great except for one that was awful but I was able to fix it.
I understand about your clothes and stuff smelling of smoke when her dad visits. I live with two other roommates in a house we rent and both of them smoke. They go out into the garage to smoke but when they come in from out there I can smell the stench. I have the back bedroom for my room and the garage is on the complete other side of the house but I can still smell the smoke even though I keep my door closed most of the time.
I'm looking at that scale right now. 10yr warranty, they aren't kidding around! I'll have to rummage around some posts and other provided sources to get my head around measuring by weight, but since it's close to Christmas, I think I can get away with a $20 scale. Thanks for the info and encouragement!
Edit: Where do you put all of you gear? I will be struggling to find a good place at home, since my almost 4ft 3yr old can reach pretty high up.
Im right there with you, I've placed about 3 orders including several flavors, nicotine, VG, syringes, and etc. I've got a couple of recipes but only one I like alot. Right now I'm in the stage of anticipation of my next recipe. So here I am, asking questions and advice. It seems a bit stressful keeping up with everything, and its hard not to tinker with things when it's not needed.
welcome to the DIY club!
Its fun, its rewarding but most importantly... its hard work.
People will always come around and be like oh I can make that easily! Yes you can but it takes WORK. :) I for one am happy that you enjoy it so it doesn't seem like work.
I've said this a few times and there are really two types of people. Creators and consumers. You either consume everything around you or you create. Much more rewarding on the creation side and much more fun. Spending a few weeks dialing down a recipe that is just a teensy bit off bit finally nailed is exhilarating like nothing else.
Anyways. Welcome friend :) and enjoy
>Its fun, its rewarding but most importantly... its hard work.
Depends how you do it... I just mix pre-mixed 6mg/ml VG with a flavor (marked on the dropper where to fill to), shake it and let it sit, then vape it the next day. Literally takes me 5 to 10 minutes to mix 30 ml of my favorite juices.
I make 10mls of each new flavour that comes in and start at 2% and shake and vape, wait a day, vape again, wait another day, vape again and do it for a week where I increase it by a %.
I also mix ideas and let them sit for a week before I make v2. Usually by the 4th or 5th revision I can get it. At best second version is the nail in the head.
Plus mixing for customers.. lol thats another story though
Ha, yeah that's a whole lot more work. I definitely see people putting their time and money into this hobby. It's an art for them/you.
I just eyeball it and cross my fingers. Sometimes I put more than something I wanted, and it comes out really good. I actually like the luck of it. A happy mistake!
Thanks. That helps my motivation even more. I'm glad to be a creator now!
Quick calculation based on my current costs in GBP:
- PG: 1 Litre = 6
- VG: 1 Litre = 6
- Nic 72 mg VG 100ml = 10
- Apple Flavour 30ml = 6
- Other bits syringe etc = 3
So for a total on average of £31 I can make over two litres of juice, but bear in mind this is a continual process where I would buy things as the run out rather than as a group and I usually mix at 80% VG.
I think I have my calcs correct and could easily reduce this cost by buying larger sizes but don't have the space currently to safely store everything.
edit: on mobile so its hard to format. Will fix when I can.
Even if it were £50, that' still a crapton of juice for the price. I've spent that easy on 2 30ml of store/premium in the past.
Yeah, I have never bought juice considered premium, so maybe I don't know what I am missing. But I usually buy a 10ml of juice of a flavour I think I would like, strawberry milk is next on my list. If I like it, I grab some concentrate from vapeable and mix it up.
Dutch apple pie is great by the way.
I can definitely see why peeps just buy premade, but I honestly would be skint. I'm not a chain vaper but would be heavy enough, so DIY makes much more sense to my budget.
More people don't do it because they are afraid they'll mess it up, or they don't want to put down the initial costs.
I have co-workers I make for, I've told them how easy it is, and they'd still rather pay me than make it themselves.
I want to make juice for my friends that (now I know) overpay for juice. Especially the new sub ohmers who probably have tripled their juice consumption
Premium e-juice prices are the epitome of American consumer laziness imo. The economy sucks, and a lot of the population wouldn't hurt from optimizing their budget. They don't have enough wits to realize the fact that it's a scam, or how the free-market works. "Guess that's just how much it costs, so I'll hand this guy my money."
There's a sucker born everyday, but I'm not gonna be one.
The people in this subreddit are a mix of ingenuity and street-smart. Our intellect told us it's worth researching what the process of manufacturing juice actually consists of.
Oh look at that, we're getting fucked. It's a cheap and rewarding process? Me - 1 The System - 0