I've been DIY for about 6 months and saved astronomical amounts. I was vaping a $20 bottle of juice in stores for months before switching. Well I had to run in the only vape store in my county for a few things. And we started talking about how I DIY juice and he was such an ignorant dummy about the whole thing. "Oh man that's really dangerous" blah blah blah. I kept going on about how it's not any more dangerous than driving, you just have to know what you're doing. And he just kept blah blah blah it's much safer to just buy it in a store. I understand that his business has a bias due to sales from juice but cmon dude. I will not be shopping with this idiot ever again.
To put icing on the cake he goes "but you can inhale that diacetal when you open the nicotine" at which point I laughed and walked out of the store. Idk just put a sour taste in my mouth. God bless this sub y'all have made my vape experience much much tastier.
Sounds like a grade A shithead.
Everyone knows your inhale diacetyl when you open your bag of popcorn.
He can keep his shitty wall of juice :)
Ah. I walked into my local and gave them a list of diy flavour concentrates... And got given said concentrates.. I then discovered that they are a mod of this group.
Diy juice is safer than commercial. In my opinion. Atleast i know whats in my juice.
Assuming you only use TFA.
Mind expanding on this? Are there issues around CAP/FW/INW?
They just don't disclose the different things that are in them. They disclose very specific volatiles sometimes, but not always.
Even TFA doesn't have to list out ALLL the volatiles in their MSDS reports, just what their internal scientists consider to be questionable.
Safest bet is just VG/PG/Nicotine, alternatively just VG/Nic. Be like vaping sugar water.
Not to say that vaping anything else is dangerous, just that theres an indeterminate risk to any of it. I wish the FDA would just regulate the information disclosed in flavorings.
I recently switched to basically all tfa and couldn't be happier. Even the watermelon candy is good instead of the perfume flavor of every thing else.
It's typically cheaper too. CAP flavor prices have become ridiculous, at least where I order them from. $13-17 for 4oz. I can get the equivalent in TFA for $4-7. I haven't noticed much of difference after switching, esp. on some of the more nuanced (creams, bakery stuff) flavors.
Similar experience from one guy at my local B&M.
I liked to support their business for image's sake as it's spot is on the main downtown street of a tourist-y lakes area MN town is not cheap in taxes and looked down upon by the lofty conservative elderly population and it's the better of the two shops in town. I went to buy a new rda. I explained I was looking for a flavor inclined build because I was diving head first into DIY. The guy working was a guy who I was friendly enough with, but he tended to boast about his expertise in a flirtatious and semi-demeaning way that I inwardly rolled eyes at.
The moment I brought up DIY it was like I insulted him. He went into this tirade about the extraordinary dangers of nicotine and how I was sure to poison myself with "toxins" and that I shouldn't try it unless I'd had a full clean room, fume hood and training. I explained how he was overblown in his idea of the danger of mixing and that there are plenty of resources for info for anyone looking to pay pennies on the dollar. Conversation got quiet and I bought my RDA. As I was leaving, he said "Ya ever get tired of vaping sludge, we'll be here." That was at least 3 months ago. Haven't been back since.
A guy selling fake Kanger mods and shitty batteries told me i should stop making my own juice because that can cause my mod to blow up ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Wat.
How does someone even arrive at that as a convincing argument?
People are (mostly) ignorant.
Need to keep in mind, that a lot of these vape store owners are not users/sellers because they believe in electronic cigarettes, they saw it as a booming business opportunity and took it. Some might be ignorant, the rest are uneducated and trying to make a buck. Either are dangerous.
There's no certification or licencing required to open a vape shop. The industry is also a major cash cow.
Those things combined can yield some really brain damaging customer-employee interactions. On the flip side to this, imagine being a well informed employee/owner dealing with customers who were "brought up" by the idiot mall kiosk guy in town.
There is value and a point to regulations of industry. Just the ones proposed so far are bad. Imagine if employees and owners had to pass a basic "food safety" style test, just covering essentials like battery safety, nicotine handling safety, juice ingredient safety concerns (backed with actual cdc data, like they do in food safety for raw/undercooked meat and sushi). Having worked as a cook for a decade, you'd be amazed how much basic stuff you'd expect anyone applying for a job there to know has to be taught, this (and many other) industries are no different.
sorta DIY related - I had some dipshit store tell me that kanthal and SS316 were the same thing. I walked out.
8 or so months ago I wanted to try SS316 out with temp control. So I went around looking for it. I couldn't find a shop that carried it. I got to the last one I was going to try before buying online. I asked why no shop in town carries any and he said "It's really dangerous low resistance wire". "It can melt and fuse together venting your batteries, so this shop owner refuses to carry it for the safety of the public". Nevermind the fact that SS316 melting point is 2552 degrees fahrenheit.
I've been using clapton SS316 since.
Did the shops at least know what it was? I stopped at the vape shop where I use to buy juice, and asked the owner if they have spools of 316l stainless. She looked at me all weird and says "what's that?" I told her it's wire for building your coils. She shows me the premade coils and says oh yeah, here.
This is the same lady that argued with me about wanting the house juice that was a lighter color and not almost a year old and as black and nasty as my mother in law's toenail.
She seriously told me that it's just oxidized and most people prefer it. That was the day I started ordering online lol.
Yeah, the retail employee who told me how scary danger it was uses it in his RDA daily he said...
I've noticed that they don't really take anytime to train vape shop employees on anything vape related but near black colored juice is where I would draw the line...
Probably the same company that charges $25 for 30ml of house juice?? Just have to consider the source with some people man. Just like any business there are god and bad people in all of them, my experience is that I simply vote with my $$ and if they turn me off in any way shape or form I'm not giving them any more of my hard earned cash.
New to this. So what is the danger here? Driving a car, you can get in a wreck and die. And lots of other bad stuff. Unlikely, but possible. What are the bad things that can happen with DIY?
(I know they are unlikely but I don't even know what they are).
Using too much nicotine while measuring improperly? Seriously, that's the only thing I can think of.
If you put too much nicotine in by mistake you will know about it the very first vape you take (high nicotine content vape is very harsh). If anything getting it on your skin poses a larger risk, IMO. Just take care, use a calculator - keep out of reach from children etc.
Yeah I won't go to any of my local shops ever again. To an extent, I get the same demeaning attitudes, but I just don't even entertain those kinds of convos. The markup at vape shops is what really irks me. The typical reasons given for the insane profit margins of vape shops are that they have to pay employees, overhead costs, etc. These are things that apply to every single industry, not just vaping, and somehow other industries exist without this level of price gouging. So I recently needed a new battery charger, and went and bought one at my nearest B&M because I had dying batteries. A few days later, one of the bays on the charger ceased to function. Inside the user manual for the charger, it states that within 90 days, exchanges can be made for manufacturer defects at any Efest dealer. I had my receipt, box, everything as always.
The shop dude argued with me, trying to blame it on everything but the charger. Your batteries must be bad, you must not know how to use the charger, you must have gotten it wet, and so on. I told him that there is literally only a single reason why I would ever come to a local shop, and that is for emergency items that can't wait for 2 day shipping, and if I purchase something here, I expect you to comply with the fucking exchange policy as needed. I'm sure he didn't want to take the charger back because it is counterfeit and he can't actually exchange it with the manufacturer. Not my problem.
Anyway, /rant. Vape shops suck, but on the flip side, there are some badass online vendors and I'm grateful for that. Shout out to Bull City
There's a head shop that recently opened and they are selling a few vape things. Thankfully they are super receptive about vape things and are fully aware that there are things they don't know. Listening and talking about different wires, juices, whats new whats hot, etc. Even tried my DIY stuff and asked what it'd take to be able sell it sell it.
In SE Mass I find the vape only stores to be giant douchy bores and the ones that are a head shop AND a vape shop to be way cooler and laid back and receptive.
Being receptive as a shop owner/worker is very important to me for my continued business.
It's almost like stoners are mellow and inquisitive :)
Remember, there's no lawyer style bar exam you have to pass to open a vape shop (or any other business for that matter). Vape shops can be massive cash cows requiring very little investment compared to other retail markets, just imagine your profit margins if the majority of your hardware is wholesale Chinese and most of your juices come from a "we sell single flavor juice in all flavors by TFA". Combine those and you get at best uninformed info and at worst intentional misinformation.
My local shop is about mid way. Owner is a "sick you pay me" type, but reasonably knowledgeable and carries nice stuff in addition to the lowest common denominator, but the rest of the staff is a mix of rando exsmoker won just needs a job, vape enthusiasts who live on forums, to arrogant used car salesman "if it's not in this store, it's shit and deadly, and we're the only place that doesn't carry deadly shit. Dumbass".
The vape scene in New England has really changed over the past year or 2. I'm in a smaller area outside of Gardner and we finally have some smoke shops stocking vape stuff, but they don't really seem to know anything about their stock. I used to share diy recipes in some of the local vape groups on FB but apparently that is very disliked by the admins... Who all happen to own shops/juice lines.
Sounds like someone doesn't know much about making your own juice. That and he's trying to protect his profits. Some vape stores make their own juice as well as purchase from vendors for resale. He also must not know how the community of DIY is. We look out for one another. The sites used are a wealth of information, including allergy warnings and potential flavor ingredient issues.
My B&M started selling kits to DIY a couple of years ago. They don't sell 100mg nic but you don't need that as a beginner. That dude is just an uninformed ass.
Yeah, my favorite local shop started selling DIY kits early last year and that's how Cat and I fell into this rabbit hole. Sure, we probably overpaid by a lot for that first getup compared to the costs of buying from BCF, etc, but just having the stuff on hand to go "wow this ISN'T as hard as it looks" and staff who genuinely thought DIY stuff was fun and cool made all the difference.
My local shop sells me all of his flavorings, even the ones he sells as his juice line, and the bottles he uses. Nic, vg, of, additives.... he is in the business to make money lol
I go to the store to get Cotton Bacon..some employees are lame, but some employees are cool and knowledgeable. One was talking about all of the juice makers that contact him to sell their stuff and he let me taste a coconut ice cream from some small company and it was the best coconut I've tried. Still not buying it though lol
I visited a somewhat local B&M a while back and was greeted with a very similar amount of ignorance and arrogance from the shop owner. I'm pretty sure he was ordering his "top secret" juices from Mt. Baker and re-bottling them in house. When I tried discussing the "clean room" process, and pointing out that he was re-bottling in back of his own store, he got douchey real quick. He also accused me of peeing in my own juice after offering him to try some. I walked out and promptly left him a super shitty Yelp review.
I was more or less trying to have a civil discussion about making juice, but this guy made an argument out of it instead. Pretty hard to run a business when you're going to treat your potential customers like that.
My shop I go to puts their basic house blends up for $13 per 60 mil. They have more expensive blends, with "premium" blends ranking up to $23 per 60ml. While I know that price has some pretty damn good markup, I also don't produce anything as good. Unless I follow some the recopies here mind you.
The point is that talent costs. Its good to get into DIY, but dont forget to buy good stuff from time to time too. I have found that trying to clone good tasting stuff has forced me to try better combinations.
In the end though, daily vapes? Yeah just make your own shit.
Haha. Yeah okay. That's a bunch of bullshit right there. Do you have duds when mixing sometimes? Sure, but that's why you look at your recipe and fix it, just like anything else in life. People in this sub and mixes I create are leagues above the overpriced crap that's on the market out there. Sounds to me like you just need some practice.
I'll never buy another bottle of pre-made juice ever again. Unless I need to due to some unforeseen circumstances. I used to think along your lines, and bought a bottle of Dinner Lady (£14 for 30ml), it used to be my favourite before I started DIY - and to be honest it was really underwhelming, dare I say inferior to my own, home made juice. I know what I like and I know how to make it.
totally agree with you. Since I switched to diy I havnt bought a single store juice. my favourite used to be a banana custard called "is that a banana in your pocket?" by grinny heaths. since diy I have made several bottles of my own recipe banana custard which tastes much better. even done a side by side test between the 2 using a friends bottle of the store juice.
NOTE: in order to keep this sub clean and searchable, please read the following-
-
If this post is questioning where to buy supplies, what flavors to buy, how to mix, or any other general questions, please delete this post and post in the weekly "New Mixers Questions" link in the sidebar.
-
If this post is requesting a clone recipe, please delete this post and use the monthly "Clone Requests" link in the sidebar.
-
If this post is regarding what you can make with your flavorings, please delete this post and use the "Suggest a Recipe for Me" link in the sidebar.
If your post does not meet any of this criteria, it still may be subjected to utmost scrutiny. Please take some time to read through our wiki and other valuable mixing information in the sidebar if you haven't already. Failure to follow sub rules may result in a ban. Cheers, and happy mixing!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.