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I made an excel sheet with everything needed to start DIY...I think
submitted over 9 years ago by valleygoat

Hi everyone.

As I'm sure some of you are just like me, visiting DIY_ejuice because of the post on /r/electronic_cigarettes about DIY, and lurking like a common caveman, but not actually posting because I'm so overwhelmed and have no idea what the fuck I'm doing....I did a little something that helped me A LOT. I'm hoping it will help others as well.

There's no single thread in the sidebar, or that I could search up (maybe I didn't look hard enough) that had 100% of the information I REALLY needed to make my first purchase. There were many posts with about 95%...but then I had about 15 tabs open, jumping back and forth and reading...wondering what base my nic should be, or how strong it should be...or what flavors I should get....or how much PG to buy? (hint: I cheated and looked at some of the websites pre-built DIY kits to find that out). How many juice bottles, and what size? How many different websites do I need to buy from?

BY WEIGHT OR BY VOLUME? well fuck me. It's confusing. And how much will this all cost? $50? $150?

Sooooo, I compiled it all into a little spreadsheet that helped me a ton. With links. So this should be everything needed to start DIY (by weight). Everyone is free to copy this spreadsheet and make one of their own, add the flavors they'd like etc. I'll be making my first DIY purchase tomorrow morning when I wake up! My lady is yelling at me to come to bed, because I'm busy researching DIY....Good luck!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T6dJO9NrXNvTf1kggD19O93157upA_reNqnEF3XV98A/edit#gid=0

Edit: Just a quick note, I'm pretty sure the "DIY kit" I created is a little on the expensive end. I opted for more quantity than less when I wasn't quite sure, so keep that in mind.

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5 points
 
by Dejenaover 9 years ago

It's not too terribly expensive. Personally, I went way overboard with mine. So there's a few things I noticed with your order.

-You might want to add a nicotine test kit.

-Perhaps change the order to Bull City Vapor or someone else with nice drip tops. BCV has free shipping if you spend 75 bucks or more.

-If your nicotine doesn't come with the fancy bottle, you might want to consider an argon filler, and some 30ml bottles.

It's a bit crazy trying to figure out what you want for supplies, and for flavors. Hate to go old school, but keeping a notepad next to you to write notes down does help. This way you can devote your entire monitor(s) to 15+ tabs!

1 points
 
by valleygoatover 9 years ago

Thanks! I've already edited my list. I'm ordering from ecig express now so I can have the dropper tips, and I won't have to buy stupid dropper things. I'm gonna order my nicotine from nude too I heard they're better.

4 points
 
by TheCatHimselfover 9 years agoPâtissier

Some stuff I wished I knew when I started out:

  • Buy VG and PG at a two to one ratio if you want to mix VG-heavy juice, anything other than 50/50. Two units of VG, one of PG.

  • Don't fuck with 10mL bottles. 15mL or bigger. 10mL bottles are hard to source reliably, and the ones you do get often leak or don't drip right or are impossible to squeeze. Plus, 10mL isn't really a big enough sample size for figuring out what's good or bad about a recipe, and what might need to be adjusted.

Other than that, your list looks pretty complete!

1 points
 
by cswindzover 9 years ago

i agree i dont use 10ml bottles much any more but i couldn't have started without them. the more you test things the better you understand your flavors. ive made my fair share of sub par recipes and I'm glad i started with 10mls

1 points
 
by TheCatHimselfover 9 years agoPâtissier

15mL bottles seem to be manufactured better, and they're easier to find. I've found maybe one source for 10mL bottles, on ebay, and they just suck. Big fat 'eye drops' style tip, and even though they're LDPE there just isn't enough body to the bottle to squeeze.

2 points
 
by cswindzover 9 years ago

i get that. never had an issue with bcv 10 mls. great for single flavor and base testing imo

1 points
 
by contactclosureover 9 years ago

I got some black ldpe 10ml bottles on eBay from China and they work great. I mix standalones in them for trying different pairings.

3 points
 
by Inutopianover 9 years ago

Boy.. I started out much more ghetto than you.

  • 50ml Nic

  • 100ml PG

  • 100ml VG

  • About 5 flavours to make a coupe of high rated recipes

  • Saved juice bottles until i had a random selection.

  • Some syringes

  • 1 pair of gloves which i reused until they fell apart.

IMO this was a good way to start, then get the rest when you decide if DIY is for you. Total cost was about £30 tops.

2 points
 
by helloiamyourpeepawover 9 years agoProud Sidebar Reader!

I wouldn't get Wizardlabs nicotine, had pretty bad experiences with it when I first started mixing. Best bet is VapeClarity or NudeNicotine if starting out

2 points
 
by valleygoatover 9 years ago

Thanks! Will be buying from nude. Little more expensive, but I don't mind. Rather not fuck around when it comes to good quality nicotine.

2 points
 
by EaseDelover 9 years ago

Weight weight weight.

So much easier using a scale. Cuts back on clean up and supplies.

Everyone told me to do this but I didn't, I did what you seemingly are going to do and get a bunch of flavors that sound good but then you are stuck not being able to make a lot of juices.

Find two recipes for juices you think you would like. Something you can see yourself using as ADV. Buy the concentrates for those two flavors. Buy them in larger sizers then 10ml too. 30ml at least until you are comfortable mixing. Then when you find a 3rd or 4th recipe, get 4oz (120ml) of concentrates. This way you are getting flavors you WILL use. Nothing worse then getting a bunch of flavors and running out of them cause you skimped on size or having a bunch of flavors you can't make a decent juice out of cause you didnt buy for a certain recipe.

Next, ditch those 250ml bottles of VG and PG. Go to essentialdepot.com and order straight from there. You can get a quart for $13 or a GALLON of VG for $18. They are even having a 20% of shipping for orders under 15lbs ( code SHIP20 ). You can never have enough VG on hand.

Don't need gloves. A roll of paper towels work.

Don't bother getting 15ml bottles. Go 30ml and up. You can still fill 15ml of juice in a 30ml bottle if you want. You will use these not only for juice you make to to possible keep some of your concentrates in when yuo buy them in larger bottles ( for instance I get 4oz concentrates and ill fill a 30ml to keep on hand when mixing, makes it easier when mixing )

Get a syringe and some 14 or 16g blunt needles for the nicotine. Get a amber/dark glass bottle, like 15/30ml to keep some in for when you are making juice. Keep the rest in a freezer.

Heard a lot of varying reviews on nude nicotine. I use liquidbarn's Nic Select. 120ml of 100mg, blunt needle and syringe comes to $16. Use DIYORDIE for I think 15% off too.

1 points
 
by goldfish18over 9 years ago

Get some squeeze bottles to put your vg and pg into like these

http://m.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?q=Storage+Bottles&utm_referrer=direct%2Fnot%20provided

It makes mixing by weight much much easier.

Also, if you're ordering your flavors from wizard labs, you will absolutely need pipettes because their flavors do not come in dropper bottles. Bull city vapor, gremlin, and ecig express ship their flavors in dropper bottles unlike wizard labs.

1 points
 
by valleygoatover 9 years ago

Hey thanks for the reply but I already have those! They're the 16oz bottles.

1 points
 
by goldfish18over 9 years ago

Hmm maybe I couldn't see the whole list on mobile. I only saw 17 rows

1 points
 
by valleygoatover 9 years ago

Haha thanks though! And I"m changing up my whole order right now...I REALLY don't wanna deal with pipettes. So I'm gonna order from ecigexpress now....

1 points
 
by scotdcover 9 years ago

It's a well thought out list and a great place to start. Sure, it might be a touch more expensive, but you won't have to replace many of the items when you get a little experience.

Only two things I can think of. First get a third squeeze bottle (smaller than 16oz, maybe 2oz) for your nicotine. If you are measuring by weight you'll want to drop that in as well. Personally I would recommend 8 oz squeeze bottles, they are easier to manipulate and drop in the small amounts necessary for 10ml mixes - but they are easy to keep filled.

Second, if you can afford it, I would think about buying a larger quantity of nicotine and some 4 oz amber glass bottles to split it up for storage in your freezer. It will keep for years and be cheaper in the long run.

1 points
 
by poundfoolishhhover 9 years ago

As a couple other people have said, find a few recipes you think you'll find interesting and buy those flavors. I started like you and picked a bunch of random shit that I thought I'd like and quickly realized I didn't know what I was doing and couldn't really make anything good with what I had.

I also suggest buying a 12 pack of 30ml and 60ml droppers from Amazon. Eventually you'll want to get 120ml's too. You'll see that only 15mls just don't cut it in the long run... when you take into account steep times, sometimes you'll have to wait a couple weeks to know how a recipe turns out. When you find a good one you'll want to make way more than 15ml.

May also want to pick up some disposible pipettes like these. I find that even if the flavor has a dropper, they're usually a small diameter and if you're making a big batch of something you'll be there for 10 minutes getting 50 drops out of it. Pop the dropper off and these make the process go much faster.

1 points
 
by ronkyronxover 9 years agoMixologist

I'd recommend a couple funnels for transferring VG/pg to your other containers

2 points
 
by valleygoatover 9 years ago

Funnels. I knew I was missing something! Fuck. Oh well I can just stop by a store somewhhere and grab those. Thanks for reminding me!

1 points
 
by vogel81over 9 years ago

Just curious what recipes your flavor list is to make. Been looking into starting myself, and wanted to know if you can share the flavors your list will make. :)

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