This sub-reddit is possibly the most useful tool a beginner has at their disposal when making e-juice. All the mistakes ive made could have been avoided if i had spent a little more time reading this subreddit (like buying a 30ml bottle of super sweet fml)
so as of today I've decided I'm going to try my best to give back a bit. This post is just to see if there is any interest in me making a series of posts like this and checking if any of the community veterans would like to contribute to a word document I am compiling with all of the useful advice and top recipes from this subreddit (well only the ones I get permission to use) as well as my journey learning how to DIY
This is my prologue to give a bit more detail:
On my part this is quite a hefty endeavour, I’ve spent many hours reading the top posts on the DIY subreddit and this is my attempt to give back. As I start writing this I have just received my first proper order of DIY supplies. In this I’m going to document my journey and decent into the madness that is the huge learning curve one undergoes when learning to DIY. Most if not all the information I use in this document will either be from my own experiences or useful posts on the subreddit r/DIY_ejuice. As this document is going to be a work in progress I may forget to reference so I do apologize for that
Any who anyone who is interested in helping me with this project please either message me or leave a comment
Best tip I received over there (I'm on my 3rd batch, myself) is to start off small. Make 10-15ml batches to make sure everything tastes good once it's steeped.
ALSO! Cotton candy "flavoring" is really just sweetener. My dumbass mixed a 120ml using nothing but cotton candy and it tasted like cotton for sure, but no candy lmao. Found a recipe with one of the other flavors that I have for 3% flavoring and it's super tasty! Good luck!
Yeah this, also did the cotton candy but not in such a big batch. Also that if you want a good flavor you’re most likely going to use more than one essence. Not always but pretty often, so when you buy you should really look up recipes so you get the right flavors and brands to make really good e juice.
Definitely. I'm about to order me some new flavors tomorrow. Pretty damn legit that a 15ml of flavor is only 1.79usd too! I mixed my last 120 for under 8bucks!
1- Mix using weight to avoid spills and complexity + time saving
2- Do not exceed recommended mixing percentage of flavors
3- Make sure the bottles are completely clean and dry
4- Add nicotine after steeping
5- Koolada and sweeteners have strong effect, use at low percentage.
6- Use high grade PG and VG
Edit: add 6
I agree with adding Nic after steeping. which is great for me because I have 2 ppl in my house that does 0 Nic.. I just fill my bottles I'm going to use after steeping and add the nic to them... another agree.. Scales, so much easier and faster... less clean up too.. and until I can get my hands on a magnetic stirrer ( heated)... I sometimes froth my mixes, heat in a mini crock with dry rice... it really blends well... but sometimes I'm just lazy and put em on the shelf and leave em.... lol
Question on point 3. I often wash out my bottles then dry directly before, but I’m pretty lax about it being 100% dry, I’m sure there’s water still remaining in the bottles. How bad is this?
Water will dilute the liquid and causes a lot of throat hit..
I would definitely love a beginners guide from a beginner. If nothing else to highlight some of the pitfalls a total beginner such as myself will likely face.
I live in Australia and because it's against the law to sell liquid containing liquid with nicotine, I have to resort to importing it from overseas. The zero nic juice here is a rip off too. Getting it from US websites provides the luxury of choice, but shipping fees make it too expensive to do regularly.
This new stuff I have (from Malaysia) is great but it's sweet AF and I think is the reason my coils are barely lasting 10 days. My tank is the Freemax Mesh Pro.
So, I think I want to start to start mixing (by weight) my own juice. Obviously I'll be importing my own nicotine, maybe from HiliQ or similar website. Just not sure what strength to get and what mix of VG/PG I should get.
And then there's flavours, what a minefield that is. I guess I'll just copy some recipes that I like the sound of on http://e-liquid-recipes.com and hope for the best.
Cheers
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Have you checked out the vendors in the FAQ? You might get a better price on shipping by ordering from somewhere like Chefs Flavors (UK) and I’m pretty sure there’s a nic vendor in NZ that ships to you.
Chefs shipping is very cheap especially to destinations in asia including malaysia
*edit- I don't know the laws in that country u/SpicyScotti import at your own risk
Hey dude, I'm in oz and been mixing myself for a few years now. Def recommend hiliq for nicotine. I buy 100mg/ml nic in pure PG in 100ml bottles and use e-liquid-recipes.com to do my dosage calculations.
I highly recommend bullcityflavors in the US for all your flavouring Needs as they have pretty much everything. But only really worth it if you spend at least 70-80$ due to shipping costs, but flavours are usually at least 50% cheaper than in oz. Buy pg/vg locally as you wanna grab a decent amount and it can add on shipping from overseas, local prices are pretty fair in that regard.
If you like strawberry flavours, highly recommend God Milk recipe, it uses only TFA flavours so it's fairly cheap to get locally. Also highly recommend Nana Cream clone by Bombies, deeeelicious and only uses 3 flavours, although the LA Banana Cream is a bit more difficult to get locally but sooooo worth it. Disclaimer, don't usually like banana but this one is the tits.
Any questions, feel free to ask, always glad to help aussies avoid the stupid dumb overpriced domestic companies.
Thanks for the tips mate. Much appreciated. My fav flavours are citrus fruits/melons etc so I'll have a hunt around on that website for those.
I guess by buying nic at 100mg it means you don't have to buy as much of it in order to get to the desired strength. I was going to go with half that amount but I think your way makes better sense.
As it happens I'm heading to the States (Seattle) in May so might try and load up when I'm there. Thanks again
Yeah, it's cheaper to get 100mg/ml nicotine, just remember to not get any of the nicotine on your skin or you're gonna have a bad time!
Funny you mention Melon, I ordered some watermelon flavours today to create these recipes, my first flavouring order in over a year:
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/368745
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/306975
http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/2882860/6%25%20Tiger%27s%20Blood
Well my advice is that if u got large quantity of nicotine high conc ((like me)) take a small portion of it and throw the rest in the freezer ((for pg based nic only)) , keep them in a glass bottle as plastic is not as good
Then dilute that small portion to 100mg/ml or even 50mg/ml so its easier to use, store this diluted solution in the refrigerator
I fucked up a 100ml of 200mg/ml nic cause i didny immediately do this, kept it in room temp and not in a dark place for 2 weeks :')
I freeze my Nic as well... however I don't keep my everyday Nic in fridge... but will be doing that now... I use 100mg...and know exactly how much I need for any given juice.. I also carry a small unicorn bottle of Nic in my Vape bag as I might buy something in 0 and can add... I buy an occasional premium juice from time to time to try and clone it.. lol
I keep a 30ml bottle in the fridge. The rest is in the freezer. My 30ml for mixing is a PET dropper bottle (amber colored). I add my nicotine like everything else, by drops directly into the bottle. I know a lot of people like to keep all of their nic in glass. I say F that. I like convenience. My mixes turn out just fine.
I'm just starting out on this mixing venture as well and would love to learn along the way with other newbie DIY's . I got my concentrates/flavorings from Liquid Barn and NicRiver websites. I also didn't get the VG/PG and Nicotine separately it was already pre-mixed 80vg/20pg and .03% nicotine. I'm not doing so good with making a Caramel coffee flavor. I wanted to use my Capella Mocha, Capella Caramel V2. and Sweet Cream but the flavor just ain't right.
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I used Mocha 7%
Caramel 4%
Sweet Cream at 3%
Have you tried your mocha flavor solo? I haven't heard of that one. But I usually start really low with coffee flavors.
I think I got the Coffee finally right! Used less Mocha went from 7% to 3.5 % , used Caramel at 4%, LB Cream at 5% and Sweet Cream at 2 % and added a little bit of Classic Vanilla at 3 %. Pretty good at the moment! I got it right on the 4th 60 ml bottle lol.
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