I’m trying to wrap my head around this shit but it’s completely foreign to me and I have NO idea where to start. I’d like a hobby outside of my career and I’d like to get exactly what I want out of my vaping experience after four years of being disappointed with 90% of the juices I buy, so mixing my own juice will fill a couple needs in my life. But the information out there is so hard for me to understand and there’s so much to learn, I’m having trouble understanding it all, even after reading the sidebar. I learn best with courses, books, and podcasts. Is there anything like that out there for this stuff? Maybe a DIY e juice personal coach??
What is wrong with the top commenters on here? The guy just wanted advice yes there is plenty laid out on the sub but if that format is not a good one for him when it comes to learning or if particular information he wants is not there what's the harm in his request? Has anyone considered maybe he likes books and podcasts and wants to know if there are any on his new hobby? The instant putting people down and making them feel stupid because your pride is hurt your posts aren't what he wants? You have an easy option don't reply. This toxic Reddit response culture is shitty and it can affect people more than you could think. If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. 4th grade logic.
Amen. I can read all I want, but I'm a hands on learner. So until I actually do a thing, I just feel overwhelmed. OP, I do feel you're trying to jump into the deep end. First you need to find a few 2 and 3 flavor recipes that are vape able while you figure out how this all works. Take it slow, you will make garbage, but once you make something awesome (for you) you'll start to get it.
Uh.. Literally no one here has put him down and made him feel stupid. Are you reading the right post?
Zero responses here have been toxic.
Oof people are being kinda tough on you, I get why but it’s still an overwhelming thing to start, there’s a lot of options and I understand why you’d want to feel 100% on stuff before starting. But remember that vape juice is already really subjective even before getting into diy, while there are some really popular recipes, and definitely known bad flavorings, you just gotta try stuff out and see what you like - because that’s also the best part of diy! You GET to play around and customize your juice how you like it. There are some great YouTube channels out there that you can watch to get some knowledge in you, but at the end of the day all you gotta do is try it. The biggest thing I would say, is to start out by making small quantities, that way you don’t waste stuff trying to make juice you end up not liking. It’ll steep a little faster too I think.
Yeah unnecessarily tough. Idk why. Some of those comments were so dickish.
You sound very interested OP,. If you throw a couple bucks at materials you’ll be happy. You might make some less pleasant stuff, of course, but this is really quite so easy that you’re likely to stumble into fantastic recipes too. I doubt you’ll regret trying even if you struggle. I took a reverse engineering approach; I guessed the strength of flavors at first, throwing them together like I was making a salad and let them sit (keeping my total additions to pleasant levels—5-8% for me). Most were good, some were odd but not altogether unpleasant. The things that were weird frequently were just missing a lead role, and instead were kind of culinary moods on their own. In some circumstances I built up depth and nuance with several tiny additions and only at that point made a decision to use them to frame a more prominent addition. After I did this a bunch I made pairs and triads of flavors that I guessed might sing together, and finally made single flavor mixes at which point I felt like I already knew them pretty well. I’m sure this will get downvoted like every comment I ever leave in this sub, but I just wanted to provide a completely alternative perspective for the purpose of showing you that there’s no single correct way to get into this, and that if you give it a shot that’s half as messy and convoluted as my attempt, you’re going to be just fine and have plenty of fun. Cheers OP
After reading the info in the sidebar you still have no idea what to do? I can understand needing a bit more info, but I really doubt you are still lost after reading everything.
i have a cart with very basic stuff that i could make juice with, but i have no understanding of anything more complex and i’d like to start out with a better idea of where i’m going
Well, tell us what exactly you need help with.
i’d really like to learn what flavors do what as far as texture and mouth feel, and i’m interested in more complex recipes and creating my own unique recipes. im also having trouble deciding what brands of nicotine/VG/PG to purchase for the best quality and longevity. i have way too many questions to list at the moment honestly, i’d just like to dive in educating myself and practicing this stuff. i’m sure all this information and more is in this sub, i’m just looking to see if there’s an organized version of this information.
To mix complex recipes (and any recipe really) you need to do single flavor tests (SFT) on every flavor you buy. You could just go by trial and error, but if you don't SFT then you don't know why your new recipe tastes too x/y/z. There are so many variables in complex recipes, with all the ingredients playing off each other. Buy a whole bunch of good flavours (that have been recommended here) and SFT them all. Then, think things like wow that punchy lime I got would go really well with that pineapple. Then you can get info on %'s from the Flavor Reviews, or AllTheFlavors. Also read the New Mixers thread. It's all here mate.
I would say that there are a lot of opinions on juicemixing out there, many of which conflict with each other. After educating yourself, I'd say start out with single flavor juices, then move to 2 flavor juices and stay there for a long time. You've got a long road. No need to rush.
A lot of it is trial and error. I can't tell you how many flavors I've made that sounded good on paper that ended up tasting like laundry or flavorless dust. You've got a lot of mistakes to make before you start making some pretty tasty juices.
I don't want to smash your creativity or so, but I think you should really lower your expectations in the beginning. Recipie development is extremely complex if you are new, and many of the most popular recipies are made by people who have been mixing for many many years. Start by mixing ONLY other peoples recipies, highly rated recipies on ATF or ELR. This is a great way to find out what profiles you like, and what flavors you like. It's also a great way of getting a feel for the most common flavors, what percentages they are usually used at etc.
I only mixed other peoples recipies for the first 2 years, with a few pathetic attempts every now and then to create something of my own, but most of them ended up in the sink.
The DIY_Ejuice community is very friendly, and most people will go out of their way to help you.
A few things I would highlight:
- Get a scale. Mixing by weight is by far the easiest and most fun way to mix. Mixing by volume makes it chore, mixing by weight is fun.
- Read the sidebar. Especially check out "My first Order" flavors and note which ones you feel is interesting for you.
- Check out highly rated recipies on ATF or ELR that includes those flavors, and focus on getting the flavors that are in the recipies that you feel is interesting for you.
If you need help on finding recipies, feel free to post here which profiles you are looking for. For example, do you like strawberries and cream? Do you like tobacco? Do you like nutty recipies? Is cooling something you really like? Try to narrow down what you are looking for and it will be easier to pin point you in the right direction.
I'm not a veteran by any means, but I wish someone had told me this when I first started mixing. It's much harder than you think to create great recipies, so just mix other peoples stuff up so you get used to the whole process and get to know the % of different flavors before you start venturing into your own development.
Go watch hippy vapes channel on youtube. he does it very simple, many of the recipes are fairly basic, take a look at them first, and watch him mix. He does a good job of explaining why he's picked certain flavours. Especially some of his earlier stuff and his 'beginner' recipes.
Diy-or-die is also a good one, although i feel he's a little 'advanced', maybe save him for later.
I get what you mean. It is nicely formatted and easy to understand information, but there is just a lot of it and sometimes other soruces seem to contradict.
For example, I am trying to mix 40% salt nic juices for Juul and some say "tripple the flavour %", others say just use normal % etc.
I personally learn better by having a set of challenges (shoutout to xp grinding and r/runescape).
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Anyway, I would say start with making a 70:30, 3% nicotine, vanilla swirl, 6% some sort of cream, 3% dragonfruit, 2% ripe strawberry (all TPA).
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See how it goes, then try and fine tune it - more vanilla, less strawberry..etc... Move uo to 6%nic and see what happens, and then try and compensate the flavours.
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After you are happy with that, try and add another taste, maybe something nutty or sharp.
Google "e liquid calculator" and go from there. I'd recommend tfa grape soda as a first flavour. It's good without much steeping at 10% flavouring
Actually OP if you like purple flavor, just get INW Grape. You only really need 3% (and some cooling) to have a great beginner mix.
You could probably do that with grape soda at 5% plus it's cheap as dirt