Guys 'n Gals - With the vape bans on a large number of our fellow vapers, people who like you and me got rid of the horrors of cigarettes by vaping, will be turning to DIY in large numbers to try to keep their juice and stay off the stinkies. We may see a lot of new faces with a lot of new questions, and they may be pretty desperate for help. I know this community and I know that tonnes of you will step up anyway, but this is a time when we all need to do our best, exercise extra patience with newbies, and help out as best we can to make sure that the many thousands affected don't wind up going back to cancer sticks.
What they take from us, we can make for us. Just be extra helpful if you can. Probably didn't need saying knowing you guys, but I figured i'd put it out there anyway.
Excellent post. To any of the newbs to DIY, there is no such thing as a dumb question. We've all started without knowing anything so ask questions even if you think it might sound dumb.
Thank you, as a newb, I’ve spent hours creeping this sub and YouTube gathering info!
I almost read this sub everyday taking notes for what to buy for my first order. I think Friday I can finally place it.
I honestly have no idea what kinds of questions to ask that’s how lost I am on this. I’m from MA we just got the ban and sadly I was out of town so I didn’t get home in time to purchase more juice before it went into effect today. I guess my first question... I don’t want to deal with pure nicotine I would rather buy a nicotine mix so I don’t deal directly with pure nicotine where do I find that? Lol and also there’s only a few juices I actually vape which is Hawaiian pog, brain freeze and fizzy lemonade how and what do I need to buy in order to make those? After all this stuff with online carts and people dying and shit how do I know what is a trusted website and what isn’t. I’m sorry all this sounds dumb but I’m beyond lost and like I said I don’t even know where to start
LiquidBarn will also sell you 500ml of 3mg, 6mg, 12mg, or 24mg salt premixed. I think it’s going for $8 - $15 depending on strength.
Edit: It's going for $9 - $17 before shipping/tax, just google "LiquidBarn Unflavored eLiquid ReFill". You can mix your own cheaper but I prefer to just buy premixed. On LB you can't change the PG/VG ratio, but Nicotine River will also sell you 3mg but then jumps to 48mg, but you can select the PG/VG as either Max VG, 50/50, or Max PG.
Once you have the premixed base you just need some bottles, a scale, and some flavors. You can get away without the scale, but mixing by weight is a lot faster and more accurate thanks to our sad naked caveman eyeballs. The LB-501 is the scale I see recommended most - you can get a cheaper and less accurate scale, but the LB-501 isn't exactly prohibitively expensive at $36 and is very accurate. There's a big list of flavor vendors here and reviews here. You can get the bottles super easy and cheap. LB will sell you 5x 60ml bottles for $5 if you're ordering base from them anyway. You can also get bottles suuuuper cheap on FastTech if you don't mind waiting a few weeks..
All in, the up start cost is kinda high but considering the price of "premium" juices within a few weeks you'll be saving mad cash.
You can buy lower strength nic from wizard labs to mix down to your desired strength. I think the lowest they sell is 12 mg. Wizard labs is a usp certified chemical laboratory. No one in the industry has higher standards, is more trusted or has cleaner nic. Im nit an employee or anything, juat happy customer
You wouldn't buy pure nicotine as it's way to toxic. Most people buy 10% which is 100mg/ml. That level of nicotine is safe to handle with reasonable precautions like wash right away if you spill it on yourself etc. While I don't t wear gloves while handling it I do wash my hands right away after adding it. As with all potentially toxic substances keep it out of the reach of kids and pets. As far as flavors go I myself like single fruit flavors. Right now I'm vaping key lime pie. Next week it might be a peach etc. Vape tool pro is a great DIY app that not only has a juice calculator but it also has a coil and ohm calculator. There is a specific diy reddit, visit there as well, there's lots of good reading to help you get started. Hope this helps.
A ban means nothing to me. I will not obey it. The only effect it will have on me is how easy it is to get devices and nicotine. I will continue to DIY as I have for 6 years. And I've been telling people here for years that they have no excuse not to learn. Especially when it is the difference between $15-30 a bottle to as little as $3 a month.
I just started vaping a couple of months ago, dropping a 30+ year smoking habit of a pack and a half a day...
I was already moving in the direction of DIY, but now I am having to take a crash course.
I REFUSE to let them take this from me.
They can regulate nicotine but it would be impossible to do anything about the sales of batteries, RDAs, RTA's, mods etc. There are too many vendors all over the world that sell the stuff. What are they going to do? Block Fasttech with a proxy server? Intercept and inspect every single incoming small package to check for vaping stuff? It's not going to happen.
This is whats exactly happening in my country. Any kind of vaping product forbidden to sell. All this market being underground. There're many hidden (closed in normal case, i dont know exact statement) social media groups created by sellers. Even all flavours forbidden and they always needs to put they're food flavourings statament.
But, there's a reality that when they makes anything forbidden, people always finds a way to use&reach it.
Vendors never stop trading even when customs officers catch their delivery and punish for each piece (not whole mass wheight or volume)
I guess your situation would create different opportunities for this kind of situations.
I'm 41 years old vaper and old smoker in this situation.
They makes things difficult for us but it never stops us...keep fighting.
Exactly, they can't even stop all the fentanyl being shipped in by China, would seem rather preposterous to go after vaping harder than fentanyl but you never know with these looney politicians.
Well, it still means something to you. Most all of the bans have had a possession charge of some kind. All it takes is your state to go the route of MA and now you can no longer leave your home.
Not to mention you’re now an “illegal drug manufacturer” in the eyes of the law, which could land you in actual prison.
I’m not disagreeing with your stance of not obeying, but to say it won’t affect you... that may or may not be true; it would depend on the law passed.
Well if they go that far then I think we got bigger problems, tons of fentanyl coming into the country and 70000 people last year died of overdoses. Hmm which seems like a bigger problem? I can see it now, man ends up getting 25 to life for illegal ejuice manufacturing, cigarettes still being sold at every convenience store. There are so many laws on the books that the average American breaks at least one a day, some carry stiff prison sentences.
My girlfriend and I have been vaping and off cigarettes for two fucking years. And when I shared with her the news about the flavor ban, she let out a huge defeated sigh and kinda just stared at the floor and said "well... I guess that's it, we're done vaping."
I knew about this sub from when I was thinking about getting into it before about a year ago but just never jumped in. I told her I'll be damned if any fat rich bastard in a suit is gonna determine when I decide to stop vaping, and we will make our own juice. My starter kit will be here tomorrow and I cant wait. I've got about 200ml from Humble in the house right now but I'm gonna have to resist the temptation to just let it sit once the kit gets here.
After seeing the news and learning about the thinly veiled corruption involved with the legislation, I cannot fucking waiiiittt to mix my own juice and give the finger to Washington and big tobacco. I've already learned a lot from the community info and DIY or Die. I think I'm ready to start practicing. Thank you all for the help you've given already without even knowing it.
Allow me to introduce you to my favorite too easy to screw up recipie.
Super simple, super good.
FlavourArt: forest fruit 8-10%
Cappella: super sweet 1-2%
Bring it to your preferred VG/PG ratio, add your nic, and let it steep for about a week.
Very fruity, kind of mixed berry. Basic but good. It's based on a Pinup Vapor Betty clone, that I adapted to be way less coil killing. Should be able to vape 120mls straight on one coil/cotton change.
It can also be easily adapted as a cooling/menthol flavor with a quick add of ws-23, koolada, or menthol.
And yes I know it's basically a single flavor. That's the beauty of it, it just works and it's that easy.
Thanks for the mix brother. I've read forest fruit is basically what they put in Pinup Vapors' Betty. I'm ordering that flavor this weekend so definitely excited to try it out
God damn folks, it’s come to this.
ANYONE WHO PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED JUICE CAN START MAKING THEIR OWN AND SAVE A TON OF MONEY!!!
It’s safe, as long as you are, and you don’t have to have a whole cabinet like many of us. A dedicated box and a clean, safe area to work will do. It’s unspeakably more satisfying when a juice recipe YOU made tastes delicious.
Not to mention this is easily one of the most kind, friendly, and knowledgable subs around.
If you want to take a sliver of a silver lining from this shitty situation, it's that the DIY community is going to explode. I welcome that, as this expanded community will result in a lot more brainpower focused on creating/improving recipes.
Albuquerque NM here, our governor is dumb as bricks and quick to jump on anything other major dem states/cities do, I feel the impending doom so I'll most likely be making the switch to DIY soon (hopefully thats not banned too) and will def be using this sub. Thanks a bunch.
I'm in TX and there aren't many signs of bans coming here but I have been stocking up on everything device-wise but I am about to hop into DIY. I only do fruit flavors so I figure I should be able to learn easily (even though there is dreaded math involved), right?
Absolutely - i'm a fruit guy myself and if i can do it anyone can. There really is no math, the calculators take care of all of that for you and they're simple. It's just a matter of finding some good recipes to start with (there's a billion out there) and giving it a try till you find something you like. Or start with a clone of something you already like. Plug in the recipe to one of the calculators, and the math gets taken care of for you. One of us can help you through the first time you plug in a recipe.
We might not be under a ban in TX, but many suppliers are in states that do have bans and are affected.
No worries Tex. A good calculator does all the work, you just have to put in the correct values (ie target nic strength, nic base strength, VG/PG ratio, amount to mix). The real worry is realizing you want to buy all the flavors available. Still cheaper than buying premium juice however.
Went to unflavored a month ago, stupid easy to put together. the only regret I have is NOT doing it sooner. it's awesome and I don't miss flavors at all. highly recommend a try. dirt cheap and extremely satisfying! nicotine is my major concern going forward and I'm buying in bulk.
As someone who sought this sub out and has been lurking a few days this gives me the confidence to reach out. I just kick cigarettes 2 months ago and I’m weened myself a lot off of what I started with.
So far, my state hasn't banned it yet. But with how quickly states are implementing bans, now without notice, I'm kind of starting to panic. I was originally planning on slowly buying supplies and building up a flavor stash to start diy after the new year. I've just placed orders for nicotine, so I've got that covered. What I'm worried about are the flavor concentrates. I believe I've read that Flavorah is marketed specifically for vaping, so they could be banned. Are there any other flavor makers that could be banned?
Probably not - they're almost all used in other food products. WHich is why it's so common for vape recipes to taste so close to the foods we're copying :) ANd remember, a little concentrate goes a long way and if they do ban one or two you'll have lots of time to find substitutes or new recipes. I would focus on picking a few recipies that are good for you and suit you and get the flavours that are for that recipe to start with.
Thanks. That eases my mind a bit. It's both a relief, and overwhelming that there are so many flavors out there. I think the hardest part now will be picking the first few recipes. Ive narrowed it down to about 60 so far 😂
> Ive narrowed it down to about 60 so far
wow. If you're down to 60 then you've been pretty busy :)
I'd suggest hitting up youtube for some of the mixers who have channels there. They often describe their mixes as they make them and it gives a lot of insight into what the flavour will be like, and what you'll find is very quickly you'll develop a skill for looking at the ingredients of a recipe and being able to get a good idea of it's flavour. Mind you - there's some flavour bending recipies out there which still absolutely blow me away and taste absolutely NOTHING like i thought :)
Also with a flavors ban, adopting the KISS principle of keeping recipes simple might be useful for beginners as well as those looking to save costs now more than ever.
I've adopted it as a preference & personal mixing style, where most of my recipes average 3 to 4 flavors anyway.
very good point, I got into the habit when I first started mixing years ago to throw everything and anything in a mix. I have some mixes with 15+ flavors in there which now I realize is just overkill to say the least.
Lately I've been mixing mostly single flavor juices, 3-4 flavors max otherwise.
Meh.
I've got a few 3-4 flavor recipes, but... well, if cooling agents aren't counted, maybe more than a few... sometimes, a recipe calls for more. I remember when I started, there were plenty of 6-9 flavor recipes coming out. I don't see the problem.
Yeah, the chance of a beginner having all of the flavors for any one recipe that he didn't specifically buy flavors for is kinda low, but oh well. Happens to all of us.
Well I just stocked up on liquid, and been lurking in this sub and on yt for a while. Doesn't exactly seem like rocket science to me, so I will DIY soon.
It's easier than you think. It's literally putting a bottle on a scale, adding an ingredient little by little till you reach the correct weight, and then resetting to zero (tearing as it's called) and then adding the next one. When you're done - shake vigorously and wait for the steep time to be over. It really is that easy.
I just wanted to say anyone who's afraid or trepidatious about starting DIY honestly don't be for $60 The price you would pay for maybe 3 to 4 bottles of e-juice you can easily make yourself over 20 bottles of e-juice. Yes not all of them are going to be great when you first get started but if you follow other people's recipes in played a little safe at first You're going to find out that within a couple weeks you're making vape juices that are just as good as the stuff sold on store shelves. I've only been doing this for about 5 or 6 months in my juices kick the s*** out of anything I've ever bought from a store and it may be cost you 60 to $0.80 to make a 60 ml bottle. Don't be cautious you'll only end up making exactly what you like for less
Well said and I totally agree.
I haven't been around here in forever (been DIY'ing for years at this point), but just re-Subbed the other day when I started seeing these bans around the country. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for anyone new who needs a little guidance.
To anyone considering jumping-in, go for it, it's MUCH easier (and cheaper!) than you probably assume and we're all more than happy to help.
:)
Thanks! Lotsa people needing a little help through the beginning stuff.
I wish we could save the shops, but there's not much we can do there. All we can do is make sure they don't wipe out the vapers, and then we'll see what they think when it's time to go to the polls.
I've been DIYing for going on 7ish years and this is saddening that a post like this even seems necessary. Sad reality is none of the bureaucrats really have a clue or care if they hurt their constituents in the process of "keeping them safe". Bottom line is big tobacco knows vaping is a threat to their bottom line. I'm in tx myself and I'll continue to help my fellow vapers where I can. He'll I get people who ask me questions about vaping and I'm always happy to give advise.
Hey, hopefully this is the right place to throw this. But as important as juice is, coils also might get harder to find, if only because there will be fewer/no shops to get them at.
Is there a subreddit for DIY Coils that is as friendly and accessible as this one is for juice? And if there is, it might be a good idea for the mods to include a link to it in the sidebar; r/coilporn is the closest I saw over there, and their stuff does not look nearly as accessible.
This is a very valid question. Most vapers I meet are terrified of building. A wiki of sorts for types of coils and how to make each would be nice (probably exists somewhere but I haven't seen it). But this is maybe not the sub for it. Not sure where you'd go.
Are you talking about for making your own wire? Like, how to's and such?
If you're just talking about premade wire, there's lots of good suppliers and there's the chinese connections as well such as fastech and such if all else fails. There's a number of american places selling good coils still. You can always try hitthatjuice.com , that's mike vape's store and he's been out in the front lines fighting this stuff, so wouldn't hurt to throw him some love :) If you can buy american right now it's a good thing, some of those guys need all the help they can get.
Awesome post! I joined not long ago but before all this madness kicked off and everyone’s been wonderful and so patient with me. I would especially recommend to any Newbies reading this to get on the Discord, the guys there are legends and will answer your questions in real time.
I joined the discord a few weeks ago to learn but got super overwhelmed. I'm a michigan vaper, gonna have to figure out DIY soon otherwise I'm screwed lol. Does anyone have like, a guide or something that can help me start out?
Absolutely.
Here's hippy vapes making a recipe - you can see every step of the way and it really is this simple. The recipe he's making is in the description (ELR link) so you can see what he's making. He has hundreds of recipes up, so check out his channel. He also has a tutorial for using ELR.
Recipes are all as simple as this to make. The hard part is coming up with a good recipe - but fortunately there's thousands of great recipes out there to choose from already. Including a number from hippy and some awesome ones that can be found on this very forum.
Hope it helps.
I'm one of those newbies. In fact I just joined this sub today. I'm not in a state that has taken any steps yet, but with all that's going on, I figured I might should learn. I came of cigs two months ago completely. And I refuse to go back. I'm super glad to have found this sub. Time to start reading and researching.
So it took America for someone to give a fuck about the bans
Nobody else has bans i'm aware of. It's harder to give a fuck about things that don't exist :)
Estonia for one, we got banned hard and only one article came up about it whilst when America bans it, it has to be the most important news in the world.
I never saw anything about it in the news but i didn't really see much here either. Sorry - Estonia isn't exactly a neghbour and we don't exactly get a lot of news from there. I'm sure there's lots of things that have gone on in Canada you haven't heard about either if we're being fair :)
But hell yeah, if anyone from estonia wants advice on diy, we're happy to help, and if there's anything foreigners can do to help with the ban or political stuff, by all means let us know and we'll help fight.
I’m was looking to start before all the hysteria started, not it seems that I will have no choice within a few years. Having said that... Aren’t they just going after the “Kid Friendly” flavors? If so that will not stop the supply chain of other necessary ingredients.
The vast majority of ingredients we use other than the nicotine are food safe commercial products already in use in many of the foods you buy. Banning them would be pretty hard - you'd wipe out a stunning amount of food products :)
Nicotine is the one thing that might be a weak spot but honestly - i don't think they'll go after that in the near future. Before then, we have to fight back and roll things back a little.
I love in tobacco country (KY) so I don't think a ban is coming here. But I'll be moving to the northeast in the near future, so I'm sure as hell gonna get a minifridge and stock up on premix and flavor concentrates before we move. I'm even toying with the idea of making a raspberry pi-powered "robot" to do my mixing for me so I can hit a button, shake a bottle, and be ready to go with another 100mL.
Might as well drop this here then: storing nicotine. I don't have room in the freezer for a sizeable bottle. Could it be stored in the basement so long as it was a good quality bottle?
Just started mixing this week in wake of legislation. Mixed a recipe from atf that I'm waiting to steep, and made my own that ended up having WAY too much guava flavor in it, so I'm going to have to work on that a bit. It's fun, at the very least, and I'm looking forward to making some good flavors of my own.
I got an email about these new OS flavorings from Nicotine River. Doesn't it seem like an irresponsible move at a time when bunk thc carts and possibly bootleg JUUL pods and the like are being utilized by the weaponized media?
Also, if I'm wrong that it would make sense for shady people to use something like this to make their subpart product even shadier, please correct me. And beyond turpenes we don't know the safety of when vaporized, these we know are not intended for vaporization. I dunno, just couldn't shake the thought since the email came in.
That stuff would be very dangerous to vape. We only use water soluable solutions our bodies can absorb, not oil soluable ones. It does say on it not for vaping, but with it coming from nic river people might not notice that right away. But at least they do have that warning.
Maybe not the best time to launch that product. but they probably planned it months ago i guess. As long as nobody uses it for vaping.
Yeah, I just wanted to point out is seemed like bad timing on their part, and also just release into the aether that is should not be done. Lol
I've been happily mixing juice with the guidance of all the wonderful people here for maybe almost two years now. 👍
I was a DIY-er up until about a year ago when I stopped being able to get nicotine shipped to Utah. Unfortunately I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize so didn’t stock up. Now I am looking for it and am basically up a creek sadly. The local politics here are so church based that I’ll be surprised if they don’t ban it soon
Hey - are you in the valley? I'm in Utah too and looking to start DIY as I'm nervous about this state pulling out suddenly some kind of ban. I read in another thread about someone using a forwarding service to get around the no mail thing and I'm considering that.
I am - I'm trying to get a friend who has a dad living in Idaho she goes to see very often to let me ship nic to her - I'm just frustrated with myself for not paying attention and stocking up the freezer when I still could! I haven't looked at any forwarding services
I'm a Michigan refugee and have really only started visiting here quite often for the past week. Everyone here's seems pretty welcoming and happy to share knowledge. It's always nice to be part of a smaller sub, imo, because it's less circlejerky, and easier to have actual discussions with each other. Thanks guys. 😋
I think diy is too much for alot of people, it took me at least a year to get intuitive with flavors and how they work and buying like 100 to get there wasn't cheap either. For anyone who just wants a plug and play experience, I always mention that one shot extracts can be bought and they take out all the guesswork. To us experienced DIY people we don't see the value, but it's really not that much more expensive for how convenient these are, and they are consistent.
If you don't call your reps and stop this they'll ban DIY too.
Pick up DIY if you want, it's cool, but don't use DIY as an excuse to be inactive.
I'm already smoking 27s out of spite, fug it.
I will read into diy tho :D
LOL - please do, it's better than going back to the cancer sticks. And there's a whole bunch of the best people who're happy to help out a newbie.
lolol yeah im definitely gonna look into it more bro. I honestly hated the cigs a couple days after posting this. everyone here seems super helpful which is great, especially with all the panic these bans are causing!
South Carolina hasn't issued a ban yet but one of our Representatives has prepared a proposition to ban flavors or vaping altogether that she will introduce in December. I've thought about DIY before bc I had a hard time finding my favorite juice for a little over 6 months due to them redesigning their packaging to meet standards. Now I'm considering DIY again. I know what the main flavors are in my favorite juice but that's about all I know. It's a Grape, Strawberry, Raspberry & Blueberry w/ Hard Candy mix to taste kinda like Gobstoppers Candy. It's my everyday juice I just don't know where to start, yet.
About to buy a starter kit from nic river. Looking at flavors and stuff. Found a good article at e liquid recipes to help me get the most flavors that will make the most too rated recipes with the kit. A lot of the flavors have warnings like "not ideal for vaping", "contains acetyl propionyl" "contains acetoin" ... Now I know what I'm doing isn't healthy, but I would like to avoid diacetyl, popcorn lung doesn't sound fun. Thoughts anyone?
Well... lets have a talk about that.
"popcorn lung" is called that because it first appeared at a microwave popcorn factory many years ago. A bunch of employees exibhited the symptoms and it was originally believed they were all exposed to diacetyl (the chemical that gives that 'buttery' flavour in popcorn). They were exposed to massive amounts of the dust every day. So - it was ASSUMED that this might be the cause.
However - it never showed up in other people exposed to that chemcial and it turned out in the end taht a number of the employees weren't actually exposed to the dust as part of their job. No research was ever done and there is a LOT of question as to whether or not it had anything to do with it.
Also - there is 100 times the level of diacetyl in cigarettes. Yet - popcorn lung doesn't show up in smokers. Some say maybe it did and it was mistaken for other illnesses or maybe other illnesses killed people before it could give them popcorn lung. Both seem highly unlikely.
So - if you want to avoid it that's fine. Most of my favorite recipes don't have any in it. However- i really wouldn't lose sleep over it if one of your recipes did have it. It's up to you.
I am one of those people... been reading up and so far it seems relatively straightforward but still feel somewhat overwhelmed by it all. Any tips on suppliers for a newcomer? Or tips in general?
Sure, First off all you REALLY need to get started is a scale (cheap - 35 bucks for a really good one) and some bottles to store your mix in (other than the ingredients of course). THis really is as easy as following the recipe and putting the liquid in the bottle till the weight is correct, then resetting to zero and doing it again. So don't overcomplicate it.
I would say find about 3 recipes that sound good to you. As around here for something that matches flavours you've liked before like orange mango or grape soda or whatever you like. When you've identified three recipes, order just the components needed for them, and do it in smaller batches. Don't order big bottles, order 15 ml or whatever. Grab maybe a litre of vg and a 500 of pg and your nic.
Then just mix up those three recipes. We'll help you through it so you know what you're doing but it's very easy. Try them - chances are you'll like at least one, maybe more. But now you'll begin to have an idea of what it's all about and you'll find after a few more recepies you start recognizing very fast what you'll iike and what you won't. THen you can start making your own recipes :)
Trust me this is easy. The most important thing is just to do it, don't second guess, don't over think, just try it. And keep it simple, don't try to come up with your own recipes day one, take them from people who've been doing this for a while. There's TONNES of great ones on this reddit and at e-liquid calculator (ELR for short) or at all-the-flavors. If you like, ask our opinon about a recipe you find elsewhere before making it, but don't overthink it,
What kind of flavours do you like?
I am a bit short on time to give a long response at this moment but thank you for this advice. It is really good advice to start with and I appreciate it very much.
I am more of a pastry/custard type guy. Muffins/loaves/custards/creams etc. etc.
Is ELR a sub redfit or an app for my phone?
No, it's a stand alone website. But - there are calculators in the subreddit AND there are apps for your phone. I just started with ELR so i tend to keep using it, works well.
Here's the subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/
THere's lots of calculators in the side bar, i use e-liquid recipes (elr) but any of them do a great job.
Have no idea where to even begin. Is there a begginer kit I can buy online. In Washington trying to figure out what I'm gonna do now
BTW - here's a recipe i personally enjoy from hippy vapes (he has a lot of great ones) - but watch the video and you'll see how amazingly easy this is. Here's someone making a complete recipe from scratch and explaining the flavours as he goes, it'll show you exactly what it's like to mix.
Ok - first off, mixing is easy. It can sound complex when we discuss it but it isn't. Here's a breakdown of about the easiest way to do it and then we'll discuss where you go from here.
As far as equipment goes - All you REALLY need is a good scale (15-30 dollars) and some bottles (old ones you have from your juices work great, new ones are cheap)
You can learn to make your own recipes which is fun and a great hobby, but to start you can pick some of the millions of great recipes out there, and we can help you with that if you like.
A recipe is made up of some VG, PG and nicotine (the 'base' ingredients in all juices), and then your specific flavour concentrates. You will enter your recipie into a recipe calculator (very easy, we'll show you how) and you do so by percent. In other words, a recipe will call for 4% of one flavour concentrate, 2 percent of another, and so on.
Once you've done that the calculator will tell you what the weight is for each ingredient based on how much you want to make. So - if you tell it you want to make a 60 ml bottle of juice, it'll say "ok, well you need 4 mg of this flavour, 6 of that, and so on.
So all you do is put your bottle on the scale, and add 4 mg. Then you reset it to zero (that's the tare button) and then you add the 6 mil of the next flavour. Keep going till you've done all the flavours and boom - you've got your bottle of juice :) And it will cost a fraction of the normal costs.
So, if you're going to get into it then grab a scale, we'll help you pick one if you like - amazon has some good ones - and then we should talk about recipes and you should look around at a few and pick some. Then order the flavours those recipes call for, a little vg and pg and nic, and you're ready to go. It's very simple.
I looked around and found a website that sells a whole kit with syringes bottles pgvg and nic for about $30 with 3 different flavors. Is a scale neccesary if I have the syringes?
California just decided to enact the flavor ban "Due to underage targeted advertising" it makes little sense to ban to me. We should focus on underage sale not banning products that help thousands quit smoking. I recently read a study we the professor actuall said smoking cigarettes was better. Im floored i have smoked cigarettes for over half my life 8 years old in foster care "as punishment for pretending to smoke my foster parents made me smoke real cigarettes till i puked" surprise surprise i picked it up as a habit im now 30 and just quit before the ban using flavored vapes.
After doing a bunch of research i found out one of the motivators of banning was 26 reported deaths attributed to vaping, further reasearch revealed the cases reported all tied to knock of cannabis vapes containing vitamin E additives that had a chemical reaction when heating it up.
Why then target all vapes why not tighten regulations on production quality and sales. Because the truth is they dont really care.
groups like mothers against vaping are worried about there kids buying these knock off vapes. With all do respect when did it become everyone elses responsibility to raise your child.
Now a product that has helped hundreds of thousands of people quit cigarettes (which has higher death rates established over decades and is still legal) is banned all because you let your children run wild and expect everyone else to be responsible for it.
But congratulations your children will now go back to buying cigarettes form a addiction that has a much higher rate of health complications.
I was buying my own cigs at the age of 13, all i needed was a forged note from my father and i had 4 different shops i would buy from.
Sorry for the rant, from my research things iv found or read to look out for
If making vape juice .do not use household items, such as oils, water, essential oils as this could lead to health issues, accidents and poping of juices causing burns/blisters
If builing your own coils be carefull of material used for building coils as some metals put off toxic gases when heated, from what iv read kenthal wiring seems to be the best/safest option
Remember when performing diy vape juice/or building your own coils.
Use PPE (personal protective equipment) such as, protective eye wear (safety or wrap around lenses), gloves, ceramic tweezers.
Avoid cross contamination and clean your work areas throughly before using any ingredients that may be consumed/inhaled.
Finally when work is complete make sure all ingredients/products are kept in a safe sanitary place where children/pets cannot reach them
Hopefully everyone can come together and keep this a safe and legal hobby as i believe it has a plethora of positive effects and capabilities.