I am completely new to the DIY scene and looking at ordering my first batch of nicotine ever from liquidbarn.com, so I have a few questions for the DIY community.
I have read that nicotine is usually suspended in PG, but liquidbarn.com also offers a VG solution.
- Is there any benefit to going with one solution over the other?
On their website, they say the purity is 100.1%-100.5%, which doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever.
- How can something be more than 100% pure?
They also say their nicotine has a clear to pale yellow color, whereas I have read that nicotine should be clear.
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Are clear nicotine solutions always better quality than solutions that are not clear?
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Has anybody tried liquidbarn's nicotine before? Is it good quality?
Also, I am leaning towards getting a high concentration of nicotine (100mg/125ml), so that I can make small (10ml-ish) batches of various recipes.
- I was wondering how I go about calculating and converting mg to ml for when I do start brewing?
Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to use two completely different units of measure?
I got mine in PG because VG is way thicker and harder to work with.
As far as calculating: use an online calculator. There are a few in the sidebar, and I use http://www.mixejuice.com/mixer which seems to work well for me.
I mix with vg based nic. It’s thick but I use small amounts. I initially found that pg based nic forced me to do calculations I was too lazy for. I usually mix one big batch of 20/80 pg/vg with my nic and just top off mixes with that.
> I usually mix one big batch of 20/80 pg/vg with my nic and just top off mixes with that.
My god man. I'm going to do this now. That's going to save me like... 15-20 minutes of mixing a month. It may not seem like much, but the fewer measurements I make while spinning up a batch, the better off I am.
wow, super VG heavy eh? since your blends are super VG heavy, is this the reason you were having to do extra calculations or?
Nicotine suspended in VG is a better option if you have sensitivity to PG, or if you want to go for max VG in your liquid. Nicotine in PG is much easier to work with being thinner, and PG is also better at carrying flavors.
Edit- Have a link.
dont get the mg/ml's confused, its most likely not 100mg/1000ml and 100mg/125ml.
it IS most likely 100mg/1ml, the 125ml and 1000ml are just the total amounts. if you are making 10ml batches, you will need .3ml of nic concentrate to make 3% juice.
Once i find my percentage/mix i like for my flavor, i make 500ml batches, so 15ml of nic per batch. Makes it easier to measure everything out.
other thing, i recommend against 100% vg nic base if you are making 10ml batches, it will be somewhat annoying to pull that with a 1ml syringe.
I use PG base for ease of use. for my mixes, i can get up to 15% nic with 100%pg (this is for my salt nic based pod systems)
> i recommend against 100% vg nic base if you are making 10ml batches, it will be somewhat annoying to pull that with a 1ml syringe.
It's also annoying even when used properly, and squeezed from a squeeze bottle into the bottle on the scale. (It comes out very slowly.)
hm on their website they make it seem as if its 100mg per 1000ml, but i know thats not how nicotine is measured, sooo youre prolly right that its 100mg/1ml whereby 1000ml represents the total. if it isnt the normal way thats fucked. but they should really do something to fix the ambiguity of the whole thing. if i hadnt read and watched viddeos and asked questions i would def believe it was 100mg per 1000ml lol
100 mg per 1000 ml would equal 0.1 mg/ml in strength, most people vape 3 mg/ml, so that would be completely useless.
Nic really isn't hard to figure out. It's measured in mg/ml. So if you have 125 ml of nic, 100 mg/ml in strength, then that is 125 ml multiplied by 100 mg/ml for a total of 12500 mg of nic (12.5 grams).
Using this, you can figure out the strength. For example 30 mg of nic in a 10 ml bottle equals 30/10 = 3 mg/ml.
If you want to know how much nic to add, you pick the strength, 3 mg/ml for example, multiply that by the batch amount, say 10 ml, and then divide that by the strength of the source, 100 mg/ml. So 3 mg/ml * 10 ml = 30 mg of nic, divided by 100 mg/ml = 0.3 ml. So you'd add 0.3 ml of your nic source to get 3 mg/ml in a 10 ml bottle.
Wall of text, yea, but if you read through that, you should now have a better understanding of how nic is measured :)
Why would you need to convert mg to ml? This implies you're mixing by volume. Not sure I would want to do that with 100mg nicotine, or anything else for that matter.
I planned to mix by weight, but wouldn't the concentration of nicotine in nicotine solutions still factor in?
Sure but you will don't need to know the ml to use. That's what online calculators are for, just out in what you have and it tells you the weight you need to add.
No. 100mg/ml doesn't weigh anymore than other strengths. Just use the weight of whichever base you get. Most people (me too) prefer PG over VG. If you get 100mg nic, it only takes .9ml per 30ml bottle to make 3mg finished product.
For the last question, I think you are looking for a calculator. ATF or ELR both have one.
Nicotine should be clear. Slightly yellow means that maybe optimum storage practices weren't kept, and it has started to oxidize/degrade. Still ok to use, but I want crystal clear nic. Never used LB before, but they have fans.
The biggest reason to use VG over PG is if you want to mix at a high percentage of VG. Personally I use VG nic...but I'd recommend against it if you don't need it to get to the percentage you want. I mix mine at 85/15 because PG gives me a sore throat.
If you're planning to mix at 80/20 or less, PG nic is probably fine and way less of a pain in the ass.
The only time you need to worry about mg is when you're finally mixing, because it's easier to weigh ingredients as you add them to the bottle you're mixing in, which is on top of your scale. Don't worry, the calculator on ATF will tell you what each ingredient is supposed to weigh, once you've entered the recipe. (If you're referring to the nicotine, the issue is that nicotine is normally a powder when in pure form, so it's measured in grams. Then it's usually diluted into a solution - most often PG - and the concentration of it is thus measured in mg/ml. No different than measuring speed in mph, other than the "/" replacing the "p". )
As to VG nic vs. PG nic : PG is easier to work with, but can raise the PG content of your juice, leading to your juice possibly being brutal to vape. PG will irritate your throat, but some people are into the pain (aka 'throat hit').
being an ex-heavy smoker, i like me some throat hit lol
Honestly if you're targetting max VG, that's a reason to get nic base in VG. Otherwise I agree with /u/Musth that getting it in PG makes it much easier to work with. Depending on recipe, though, getting it in PG might prevent you from going above 70/30 if that's your goal.
I was reading here that PG Nicotine doesn't last as long. Can anyone elaborate on why this is so?