This is a supposed to be a simple guide and price breakdown for people in the US ($) and UK/EU (£). We’ll cover the equipment needed and the basic ingredients to mix up a simple recipe. There are lots of really good recipes to mix on ATF and ELR, both contain a plethora to choose from. If you choose a well regarded recipe from one of these sites you are almost guaranteed a good first step into DIY (assuming you pick a profile similar to what you enjoy, I’ll safely assume you’re smart because you already want to mix your own juice). Once you have a feel for how the various flavours interact with each other you’ll be mixing up your own recipes in no time.
EQUIPMENT
NECESSARY
Scales – these must measure to an accuracy of 0.01g, 200g capacity is fine for smaller batches but if you’re looking to mix above 200ml of juice in one go you’re better off with 500g capacity. Battery scales are fine but some people prefer a mains powered one. Try to get one without auto shutoff or one that is long enough to not switch off every time you glance away.
US 500g (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20/)
UK 200g (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascher-Portable-Digital-Back-lit-Weighing/dp/B01FQHE25U)
UK 500g (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Weigh-Scale-0-01-Envy/dp/B01MUH5793/)
Bottles – You are going to need bottles, lots of bottles. This has already been written up brilliantly in an FAQ Friday post
Nicotine – due to TPD in the EU you can no longer buy nicotine in any higher strength than 20mg and in no larger quantities than 10ml (you can buy from websites outside of the EU who will ship to you but there’s no guarantee it’ll make it through customs). Outside of the EU you can still get it as normal. We’ll cover both here. Due to Reddit rules we can’t link to the vendors but they’re easy enough to find on Google (other search engines are available).
US Vendors
Carolina Extracts - 120ml ($22.99)
VapersTek - 120ml ($9.99)
Liquid Barn - 125ml ($14.99)
Nicotine River - 150ml ($9.99)
Wizard Labs - 120ml ($15.99)
Ecig Express - 120ml ($14.99)
UK Vendors
Darkstar – box of 18 18mg nicotine shots (£16.00, £0.89 each)
Lucemill – box of 20 18mg nicotine shots (£13.80, £0.69 each)
Flavours – these are what you will mix to create your recipes and are exactly the same as the flavours your favourite premium juices are made from! Flavours are normally suspended in PG but some are available in VG. The vendor list is by no means exhaustive, these are just the most popular at the moment due to pricing and selection. Many of the vendors rebottle the flavours and sell them under a different name for a cheaper price, we have a list here.
US Vendors
EcigExpress – can’t link as sell nicotine
Nicotine River – can’t link as sell nicotine
UK Vendors
Darkstar – can’t link as sell nicotine
Vapable – can’t link as sell nicotine
Base Liquid – This is propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG). You can buy these ready mixed together but you will have much more control over your mixes if you purchase separately. More information here.
US Vendors
VapersTek
Liquid Barn
Nicotine River
Wizard Labs
Ecig Express
Bull City Flavors
Essential Depot via Amazon
UK Vendors
Darkstar
Lucemill
Amazon
Labels – In depth discussion here.
OPTIONAL
Gloves – You don’t want nicotine on your bare skin but not necessary if you’re careful.
Tissues / Kitchen roll – to mop up the inevitable drops you may spill
Syringes/beakers/graduated cylinders – It is much easier, faster and cleaner to mix by weight. More discussion on this here.
Eye protection – Just be careful and this really isn’t needed but is still worth a mention, see here.
NOT NEEDED
Magnetic stirrers
Hot water baths
Ultrasonic cleaners
Any other speed steeping equipment
RECIPE CALCULATOR
There are many juice calculators to use and they all do the same thing.
ATF – Click “Mix” under the recipe description of the one you want to make
ELR - http://e-liquid-recipes.com/create
STEAM ENGINE - http://www.steam-engine.org/juice.html
MIXING
Now we’ve got everything we need to start mixing. We’ll be mixing directly into the bottle and for this example we’ll be mixing by weight to make a 30ml, 70/30 VG/PG mix at 3mg nicotine strength using the Simple Sugar Cookie recipe by u/ID10-T. This is a simple two ingredient recipe just to show how easy it is to make your own delicious juice. It is also very forgiving if you get a little heavy handed and don’t get the measurements just right. Once you’ve added all of your data into the calculator (example images below) you’re ready to start mixing, you’ll see exactly what you need to add. It’s good to get into a habit of shaking your flavours and especially nicotine before mixing.
|Ingredient|Amount in mix|Price for bottle|Price per ml/g|Recipe price| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |Nicotine 100mg|3mg|$9.99 (150ml)|$0.0666|$0.06194| |Nicotine shot 18mg|3mg|£0.69 (10ml)|£0.069|£0.3574| |CAP Sugar Cookie V1|8%|£4.50 (30ml) / $4.00 (1oz)|£0.15 / $13.333|£0.378 / $0.33599| |CAP Vanilla Custard V1|4%|£4.50 (30ml) / $4.00 (1oz)|£0.15 / $13.333|£0.189 / $0.168| |VG|70%|£10.00 (5ltr) / $14.99 (1gal)|£0.002 / $0.00396|£0.05282 / $0.10458| |PG|30%|£9.00 (2.5ltr) / $19.99 (1gal)|£0.0036 / $0.00528|£0.00173 / $0.02497|
^(UK) ^(Pricing:) ^(Nicotine shots – Lucemill, Flavours – Chefsflavours, VG & PG – Darkstar.) ^(US Pricing:) ^(100mg nicotine – Nicotine River, Flavours – Nicotine River, VG & PG - Nicotine River.)
Using 100mg Nicotine – How the calculator looks
· Turn on scales
· Add bottle and tare (zero the scales)
· Add 0.93g nicotine and tare
· Add 2.52g CAP Sugar Cookie and tare
· Add 1.26g CAP Vanilla Custard V1 and tare
· Add 4.73g PG and tare
· Add 26.41g VG
· Put cap on bottle and shake vigorously until fully mixed (little bubbles will form throughout the liquid).
· Label
Total cost of 30ml: $0.70 - This price will be even lower if you get into DIY more and buy your VG, PG, nicotine and most used flavourings in higher volumes.
Using 18mg Nicotine Shots – How the calculator looks
· Turn on scales
· Add bottle and tare
· Add 5.18g of nicotine shot and tare
· Add 2.52g CAP Sugar Cookie and tare
· Add 1.26g CAP Vanilla Custard V1 and tare
· Add 0.48g PG and tare
· Add 26.41g VG
· Put cap on bottle and shake vigorously until fully mixed (little bubbles will form throughout the liquid).
· Label
Total cost of 30ml: £0.98 - This price will be even lower if you get into DIY more and buy your VG, PG, nicotine and most used flavourings in higher volumes.
It really is as simple as that, now go and enjoy! All of the values can be adjusted to suit you desired VP/PG ratio, nicotine level and flavouring. The only difference will be how much of each ingredient is added into your bottle.
Please see the sidebar for many more useful tips and information.
^(All pricing is correct as of August/September 2018. Assumed weight of all ingredients 1ml = 1g.)
For UK, rainbowvapes could be added. They have a good selection of flavours, are slightly cheaper than most places, have really cheap (free for orders over £10) and fast delivery, and they sell nic shots.
Chefs also sell VG and PG so they could be added to the base mix listing?
Regarding syringes -- it -is- much easier to mix by weight, but I still recommend a 10+ ml luer-lock syringe with a widebore blunt needle to dispense nic. It's just easier that way.
I've never tried it, I've always found an amber glass bottle with a dropper nice and easy for smaller or bigger batches.
Good write up, thank you.
Question; In the ingredients table, I don't understand why there is [Nicotine 100mg] and [Nicotine Shot 18mg]. Do you use one or the other when mixing?
Thanks!