Still pretty new here. I know it’s my nicotine that’s making my juices harsh because when I mix without it the juice is smooth. I have bought nicotine first from Liquid Nicotine Wholesalers and it was clear, still is, looks great but it was harsh. I also got it in 48mg/ml in VG. I tried shaking it religiously but still harsh. So I got nicotine 100mg/ml in PG from liquid barn. It looks perfectly clear nothing looks wrong. I mix at 3mg but I started doing 2mg to make it less harsh. I used to vape 3mg ‘premium’ juices all day with none of this hit. What am I missing to make nicotine not harsh? Is it possibly he crazy amount of sweetener commercial juices use?
Edit a day later: changed my atomizer after getting the new nic. 60% less harsh with a new atomizer. Dropped down to 2mg in my juice and the harshness is completely gone. I also use a cooling agent in every single mix I make so that helps the harshness too. But all in all thank you everybody for your help and I’m happy where my mixes are atm :)
Try nicotine salts. I have folks who request it in everything from 60mg pod to 2mg dripper juice for less harshness. I have also added Malic or Citric Acid to add a sour or tartness to the flavor and found that it made it feel like the throat burn was lighter. Good luck
Didn’t know salt nic was supposed to be less harsh I will try this thank you.
Be careful with nic salts. It's highly recommended that you do not use salts in a sub-ohm device (high wattages) as burning them at higher temperatures can result in dangerous by-products that you do not want to inhale.
0.93g is accurate for 3mg if using 100mg/ml solution in 30ml batch.
Perhaps you just aren't liking the Koolada? I really cannot handle it unless it's below 0.02% at which case I'd likely just leave it out most of the time anyway.
Try Inawera Natural Mint at 1 drop per 15ml to get a minty/cool note without the Koolada throat hit.
I stick with NicSelect 100%. I've noticed some burnt or peppery/spicy notes on other brands that don't translate well for me.
Also, mix your batch very thoroughly and let it steep out at least a day with a couple shake and rest periods to balance out thoroughly.
Stay mixing friends!
Oh wow you might have solved my problem man! I had been using Menthol to cool my juices but at the % I use for a real cool hit the menthol taste was too strong so I read that koolada had no flavor so I got some. This harshness did get a lot worse after I started using koolada but my brain just didn’t connect it. I’m going to make a test batch tonight with 0 nic and just some koolada and see if I get that throat hit!
Maybe your using too much pg or have a pg allergy. The best nic for the best price is Vaperstek.com
I'm having the same issue and for me it's directly related to VG/PG ratios. I've been mixing a lot of 70/30 (vg/pg) mixes and find that most mixes at this ratio are quite harsh. Once I dropped the ratio to 80/20, it made the harshness significantly less, but some of the flavor was sacrificed at 20% PG.
It also really depends on your flavorings and nicotine. Some flavors are fine at 60/40 with no harshness (such as minty/menthol flavors) whereas fruity or dessert types at this ratio would probably destroy your throat.
Another factor is PG sensitivity, some are more sensitive to higher concentrations, others are less. It's really all a delicate balance for your own personal preferences.
First step troubleshooting, can you show us your math?
Math as in what I’m vaping on?
6% tfa pineapple juicy
8% CAP VBIC
.5 CAP super sweet
.5% Koolada 10%
2mg nicotine 100mg/ml PG.
That one’s a bit harsh. These aren’t unvapable but the throat hit is annoying
I also use 8%OSDIY blue raspberry slush
3% tfa strawberry
2.5% tfa sweet raspberry
.25% CAP super sweet
1% Koolada 10%
2mg nic with 100mg/ml
Still vapable but harsh. This one tastes great after a day steep btw
Bottle size, nic volume/weight added?
I have to say that 6% tfa pineapple juicy seems a bit high to me. Maybe try a mix with less flavorings to see if that helps reduce the harshness. Also, change your wicks. I also saw that you have your watts over 100 which is odd to me as well.
My wick is rated for 100-120 watts so I usually end up around 110-120. I changed my wick after getting a new batch of nicotine from Liquid barn just an hour ago. Harshness went down about 60%. I believe my mixes just don’t have that same punch as commercial so the natural throat hit of nic isn’t being smothered anymore. Not sure though. After a new wick with this new nic it’s a lot better. Just not as smooth as commercial juice. I’ll try lowering my pineapple to 4%
What’s your history?
When I first gave up smoking I was vaping 3mg at around 80W but once the chemicals in the cigs started clearing that basically numb everything and stops you feeling the damage being done and I started healing that damage I started finding 3mg unbearable harsh and started dropping.
Currently I vape .6mg freebase, .6mg nic salts (ie 1.2mg/ml total at a 50/50 mix). I do like the “vaping/smoking experience” though so will basically chain vape for 5-10 mins so wanted my nic to be low enough that I can do so.
I have also tended to find that several of other people’s recipes I have tried are ridiculously strong, I’ve not tried that many but so far I’ve found myself up to halving their amounts, I usually find myself staying between 5-10% total flavour.
I also agree that I find your koolada high, I find it pretty strong at 1 drop per 10ml (although that’s 30% so 3x stronger)
I was never a smoker except like an occasional hookah session with my college roommate, few years ago, but he also vaped. I would just hit his vape for fun every now and then and would really enjoy some of the flavors so I got a small SMOK stick and started vaping. The nic has always been 3mg that’s what my roommate used and it was harsh. After years of vaping and getting bigger mods I started to try diy. Also my menthol kick just happened one day I got some Ice Monster from a store and loved it and slowly got juices with more menthol like some Naked frost juices and now I find any juice without .75-1% of a cooling agent to be unbearable.
Edit: I changed my coil and it made the harshness go down about 60%. I’m thinking my recipes just don’t have that same impact that commercial juices do so he nic throat hit isn’t smothered in flavor like it used to be
I also only have one vape rig . A snow wolf MFENG UX. With a free max tank with quad coils made of kanthal by mesh pro. At 110-120 watts
You could try vg based nic. I always use 100% vg nic and never had any problems from any supplier.