Definitely. My coils/cotton last longer, it's exponentially cheaper, and you can customise it to exactly your liking. There's a small learning curve if you're trying to come up with recipes of your own, but it's dead easy to mix up well known public recipes. And for cheap.

Better is subjective.

Do you have more control over the end product? Yes.

Do you save money? Yes, or at least yes in theory

I jumped into mixing exclusively because I was dissatisfied with the liquids I was buying. I wanted stuff that wasn't on the market and I had to go out and make it myself. At this point I don't think I could to back.

I'm new to mixing myself, got into it because of a flavor ban in my state. I found a couple clone recipes for commercial juices I like, ordered the supplies and mixed them. It was very easy and the stuff I mixed is better than the commercial juice I had been paying $25 a 100ml for. I actually feel a little stupid for not doing this years ago. I could have easily bought a car with the money I would have saved not buying premium eliquid all these years. I may get into developing my own recipes down the road, but for now I'm super happy with just having a good vape for cheap and avoiding all the political nonsense. So I would say yes, DYI is better than commercial juice any way you look at it. The quality is better, it is more cost effective and you don't have to worry about any Federal, State or local bans. For now anyway...

That shit aftertaste is sucralose. Store bought leaves a nasty reminder for an hour on my palate.

They load it up.

Most of the time you don't need any, but 0.25-0.5% can help lift some flavor profiles

Does a bear shit in the woods?

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TEN TIPS FOR BEGINNING MIXERS (What I wish I had known when I started DIY by Melody Andrews) (1) Watch some you tube videos on juice mixing so you familiarize yourself with vaping terms and equipment needed (2) Go to E-liquid-recipes.com and look through a lot of recipes deciding ahead of time what you are going to want to make. Then when you do buy your ingredients and raw materials, you will know exactly what you need and you won't waste money on things you don't need, and you'll have everything you do need to get started and you won't be disappointed. (3) Record everything. I'm old school and I record everything down in a notebook that became a juice cookbook. But do what's right for you, whether it's on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or even like me, pen and paper. There are many reasons for this. If you make something you like, you'll want to make it again. If you make something you hate, you'll not want to make it again. Don't count on remembering your recipe. You won't. You also write pertinent information, like recipes you want to try, what flavors you think work well together, how something tastes at different percentages, what watts you vaped it at. I change watts for pretty much every juice. (4) Learn how to make test batches. I make a 5 ml test batch for every new flavor I buy so I can see how each one performs. Is it good at 2%? 5%? You'll record that. You have to get to know your flavors before you start incorporating them in recipes. Also, those standalone test batches are your first juice. If you make small test batches and hate it, you didn't lose too much. It sucks to make 120 ml batch you think looks great in a recipe  and then you hate it. (5) Don't try to make really complex juice at first. One to five flavors is plenty. You have to learn to crawl before you walk, and walk before you can run! (6) Ask others and research where you're going to buy your supplies from to get the best deal and find a reputable business. Myself and hundreds of others all had our money taken by an online Vape business that took everyone's money and didn't send any merchandise. Don't let that be you! (7) When you start mixing, research MANY recipes of the profile you're wanting to create. Many recipes that are posted are terrific, but there are awful ones also. (8) Decide how you're going to steep your juice once it's made. There are hundreds of different methods people use. The best method is TIME. (9) Make sure you pick flavors that can go together well and create many flavor profiles, and don't forget some sweetener if you want to use it (sometimes you need a few drops to complete your recipe) and I always like having whipped cream and various creams on hand. (10) HAVE FUN!! This is not rocket science! Nine times out of 10 you can fix anything you might have messed up. There are great people on these sites that will offer help if you get stuck. Don't be afraid to ask for help! Wishing you great tasting juice and happy vaping.

Absolutely. Any experienced people here can help you find a few good recipies which should fit your flavour preferences to start out, and it doesn't take long and you can read a recipe and have a pretty good idea of what you'll like. I find these days when i pick a new recipe to try i usually get about a 50 50 ratio of 'good, i'd vape it' to 'great, i love it'. With the odd dud here and there, of course.

Rather than buy a mess of flavours to begin with, pick recipes and buy just those flavours and in small sizes till you find the recipes you like.

I have to say that most of the ones i have in rotation are either better than or a LOT better than store bought ones i've ever tried.

Yes.

I had a near-impossible task to try to find juice in stores. So many had off-tastes like strawberry or peach or vanilla, and since I don't vape baked goods (or oddball mixtures that don't belong together, like fruits plus creams), generally any shop would only have maybe a half dozen juices that even fit my profile.. And sometimes, ok, one or two of them might not be bad. The other few would more often than not just not be much good. I'd end up buying something and then not even be able to finish a 30ml bottle without beong nauseated by it. Now, making my own juice, I'm able to control flavors go into my juices and I can male sure that flavors I don't like don't end up in them. Do I have a 100% success rate? No. Sometimes a mix is disappointing, or sometimes a flavor just doesn't taste like I thought it would (in a bad way.) These things happen. Still, if comparing my failure rate to the rate of commercial juices being ones I liked, you'd see it's about the same.

Yes, I think so. Soooo much sweetener is added to most commercial juices. It destroys coils and, after making my own juice, I know that the sweetener is used to cover the fact that many commercial juices usually just aren't very good.

It is definitely cheaper. You'll spend some cash initially, but it's the equivalent of buying maybe 5 bottles of commercial juice, and you'll get tons of bottles before you need to resupply.

I would suggest getting the ingredients for some highly rated recipes before trying to make your own flavors. Then study recipes and flavor profiles when trying to make your own.

I would say yes.
Does my juice taste as good as premium bought juice? Hell no, but it tastes good. I like simple flavors, which can be hard to find. Also store bought kills my coils, we're talking a few days to a week with a new coil.
Also most store juice I find is 30/70 towards VG. I prefer 50/50. Not to mention the amount that is on store is crazy, makes it nearly impossible to browse for something I may want to buy.
I also don't have to mess around going to buy juice, just re-order supplies every like 2-3 month.
With it being much cheaper, you can try flavor profiles you would not normally buy, buy some 10ml concentrates and play around. They are also loads of resources that can help you re-create a particular juice you may want, then you also have control and can tweak it.

It's worth it. Start small. Mix and test in very small batches to save money. Don't go crazy on buying flavors.

As an example I just placed an order and it was just over 50 bucks with free shipping (Yep, nicotine river aka river supply) and I got 1000ml of 48 mg base, 1000 ml of plain VG, one 2 oz bottle of RY4 and some empty bottles and basic mixing supplies.

I actually split this with a friend, and since he vapes 3mg and it only takes 1 ml per 15 mls to make that, that's 500 15 ml bottles and he's going to run out of that 500 ml plain VG long before the 48 mg base.

For me at about 24 mg 80/20 it's roughly 1200ml or 80 15ml bottles for about, oh, $40 total when I add up my PG and very few flavors? Let's say a store bought 15ml bottle is a generously affordable/cheap $10, that's $800ish? Plus tax?

One benefit that a lot of people don't talk about in DIY juice forums is how dead simple it can be to do a low flavor or no flavor mix, and that this also helps keep costs down and makes coils last much longer.

You don't have to chase complicated flavors and recipes. You can just mix up some nicotine base and VG/PG and add a single flavor you like, like RY4, or mint candy, or just plain old vanilla or a berry or something. Or no flavor at all.

And let's be real - vaping artificial flavors is probably the most dangerous part about ecigs besides the nicotine itself and whatever negative health problems plain old non-burnt nicotine may have, like having too much caffeine isn't so great either.

We're probably really not supposed to be inhaling those complex aromatic chemicals all the time, and you can see how they gunk up and carbonize on your coils and stuff.

Low flavor juice or no flavor juice is a whole lot less of that, plus it's just cheaper and easier to mix and make.

And you won't really miss the overdone flavors, I promise you. It's like switching from shitty soft drinks to a nice sparkling mineral water or something.

Your wallet will thank you. Call me the stereotypical fanboy but DIYorDIE has a really good video about the costs of DIYing vs Premium and how it can save you literally hundreds, almost thousands of dollars a year. Also, homemade juice can be just as good or in most cases, better than premium. Most premium recipes involve a lot of sucralose and only use one or two cheap flavorings while most of the diy recipes on the internet involve little to no sweetener and lots of layers of flavor TL;DR If you plan on vaping for a while, DIY is a worthy investment

Everyone has different reasons for it.

Personally, I DIY because it's saves me money first and foremost. A 240 ml bottle of DIY costs less than most 60ml in stores.

I'm also a cook. So I like the idea of making my own recipes (not all are successful).

I also have a pretty sensitive palate, so all the sweetener in retail juices is just foul to me. Way too sweet, way too "Chemical".

Mixing without all those sweeteners also has the bonus that coils last longer. Like, exponentially longer.

I wrapped my own coils when I was buying juice. Started making my own, noticed my cotton/could would last two weeks, not two days. It made it worth the up to replacement coils. Freemax triple coils last me 3 weeks before they are trashed.

It's a bit of an upfront cost to get into, but once base materials are gathered, it gets real cheap.

I jumped over here for all the many reasons stated. I had almost immediate success! So yes I say definitely do it! I'm about two months in and I have experienced a muted flavor problem. It's all about the mixing. You can add too much of Anyhting and it will ruin the batch. I've since stepped back and am learning one or two ingredient recipes now, and it's been much better. The learning curve is not bad, but it can be very discouraging. Don't give up. I kept some store juices to keep me going as I experiment. I've also started mixing 0mg nic as I've had an issue with a peppery vape. I like a 3 or a 6mg, and it's been hard to keep the smooth hit for me so I'm experimenting with adding it after the fact. So my point. Don't be afraid to to scrap it all and start over.

It's way better.

Absolutely.

This is day 3 for me and am about to make mix #3, 100% worth it.

90% of the juice I bought I either didn't like the flavor or the harshness or both.

2nd bottle last night took me less than 3 minutes to mix. 4% flavor, add nic and VG/PG, shake and vape.

What you’d buy from a shop for 20$ you can make for 1.50$-3.00$

Yes it’s worth it

I'll add on to what others say. I've tried to clone recipes that I liked (and failed mostly) but I have a rotation of like 8 recipes that I cycle through. One of my recipes I actually like better than the store brand version. 5 minutes of work, with like $1.50 in supplies and I have 120ML of juice. The biggest difference is I don't add sweetener to any of the recipes and my coils generally don't get gunked up. Only a couple flavors (Cap Marshmallow is the one I think is the root cause the most) gunk up coils but I suppose there is sometype of sweetener in their flavor build.

I can't go back, just sucks when I am lazy or don't have time. I have bought maybe 120ml from shops this year when on business trips, and am always so disgusted by their best juice, the overwhelming taste of sweetener is hard to deal with.

Well you're asking in a DiY sub so of course the majority of answers you're gonna get will be yes lol. It's like asking in a Witcher 3 sub if you should get the game or asking in a PS4 sub if people think it's better than Xbox. That being said, you have far more options, control and ability to fine-tune your recipes with DiY. In addition, you also have the ability to create flavors and blends that you'd never see in storebought juice and you can make them with much less sweetener than premade juices, or no sweetener at all. I've had some fantastic DiY juices, but I also have store bought juices that are my all time favorites and I can't seem to find a good replica for them with DiY.

Definitely, and for several reasons. For me, I like being able to customize my flavors - I'm partial to light, fruity menthol/mint, and finding commercial juices I like takes trial and error. That's easier and cheaper when I can use ingredients I know I like. I can kill a 120ml in 2-3 days, so I just mix juice in liter-sized batches. And while it's not _that_ much cheaper than some of the low-price online stores, the quality is much better. And my coils last sooo much longer without all that sweetener.

I would vape around 10 dollars a day if I bought juice. I vape about 10 cents a day DIY.

Commercial juices use tons of sweetener. I personally don't like it but I guess it's what you're used to. That probably accounts for the aftertaste, and it might gunk your coils faster, idk.

Then there's always the "what if" factor. What if an employee at a juice company is hungover, drunk, high, stupid, or just not paying attention and screws something up? What if an employee is malicious and puts an adulterating substance in the juice? What if they have a mouse problem and mice pee & poop in or near the juice or the equipment? Etc.

As you might have guessed I also cook everything I eat for the same reasons.

I man, this sub is going to be pretty biased towards DIY. That said, yes.

You'll save money, it's stupidly easy to do, and once you have the basics down you can do it very well. Once you get into DIY you're going to realize how much of a rip-off buying store bought juice is. When you start making a Liter of juice for what you were buying single bottle for, and realize that the people making juice are not magical wizards, just dudes/dudettes who tried to make a job of their hobby.

Also, IMO, store brand juice is way too sweet. You can dial it in to just how you like it, and don't have to deal with the coil wreckers, so you save money on hardware too!

It’s a world of difference. Better coil life, custom recipes, more in depth feel towards what you’re vaping. It’s fun and cheap.

If there’s something about store bought that bothers you, it’s possible to formulate a replacement without the drawbacks. Is it objectively better? No. Flavor-wise, you have the option of doing exactly what you want, but if you copied the recipe of the manufacturer you’d get the exact same thing. Though it is objectively cheaper, I will say that.

In my opinion, yes. In DIY, you use less sweetener so your coils don't gunk up in a couple days. Not to mention it's a lot cheaper. And you know what's going into it, so you pretty much know what flavor notes it will have. I just enjoy my handmade juice more.

In my experience you really should take the time to get good flavors. I mean I’ve bought over fifty and out of those maybe two I’d buy again or are part of the couple good recipes I have. And test in small batches when I first started I’d mix up 60 ml of pure dark shit matter and dump it down the drain.

Absolutely! I had thought about doing diy for years, but it wasn't until my state banned flavors that I had to. I am mad at myself for not doing it a lot sooner. A few years ago I started having issues with my cheek and gums swelling and spots on my tongue would get raw. It felt like I had sucked on warheads for a few hours, but it wasn't sour flavors causing it. Desert flavors did it more than most flavors. It started out just happening every once in awhile but then it became 3-5 days a week. I had vaped for years, but it was when I switched to subohm and switched to buying juice online because of the cost that I noticed it happening. After making a few juices I was really happy because they weren't overly sweet and didn't hurt my mouth at all. I boxed up the store bought juice and put it under my bed.

Cost wise you can expect to be able to get it down to under a penny a ML under certain circumstances, you can be sure it will be around 1-3 cents ML regardless. I would suggest if you wanted to see if you enjoyed it. There are quite a few DIY starter kits for around $20-40 and would give you a general idea of what DIY is like without having to sink to much money into it. Then you can either grow your collection or stay small and supplement the juice you buy. I would be happy to help you anytime, if you wanted some help or some ideas. If your interested just let me know I am always happy to help. Happy vaping :D

All depends on you. I've been DIYing for a few years now and i still mix stuff thats not great. But at times i come out with some awesome stuff.

I kinda suck at DIY but that's all I use now because the savings are out the roof. There are a few non-complex recipes that even I can make mix well and they keep me tied up nice. A lot of my friends use store bought though and that stuff is very good as well and they are happy with it. But the major DIY advantage is the quality. You know exactly what you are going to vape.

Both are good options. Depends how much you want to spend and the source ingredients.

Yes.

Thanks to everyone who has posted helpful info. I decided to go through with everything and ordered about 70$ worth of supplies. Totally stoked to get started.

For me I can't buy nicotine juice since it's illegal in my country. But with DIY I can make it legally with no problems. This is why I DIY

I started DIY many years ago because the store bought stuff was not only expensive, but I typically did not like the taste (chemical, off note type flavor) and it was way too sweet. DIY can be much cheaper. You just have to be willing to put the time in and do it safely. Now that One Shots are a thing, I would start there. They are the easiest way to get into mixing. Once you get the hang of that, start with simple mixes and graduate further if you wish

Sorry if someone already asked this. Can DIY vape juice be healthier than store bought? Thanks so much.

The biggest mistake new DIYers make is thinking that more flavoring, will add more flavor-! Adding more flavoring will only MUTE the flavors all together. Follow the juice manufacturers recommended percentages. Most are at 8-10%, and that means total, not just for that one flavor. So if you have say 4 flavor profile, all 4 flavors combined should equal out to between 8-10% Here's my Blue Slushie recipe, Bluerasberry 5% Raspberry 2% Cottoncandy 1% Cooling 1% Sour 1% Note that all 5 flavors combined fall into their recommended 8-10%! Another thing I would recommend is I never add my nicotine until 24 hours prior to using the recipe. I always have plenty of Ejuice on hand, so I will steep it anywhere from a month, or longer.. Just make sure you label your bottle for the amount of nicotine to add to the bottle prior to use from the original recipe so that everything matches.. I like mixing them in 60ML blue glass bottles. I have the above recipe steeping now, with a label on it, saying, add 4.5G nicotine.. My nicotine for that recipe has 9MG strength of 100MG , 100VG nicotine. So when added 24 hours prior to use that will complete the original recipes requirements.

Nothing is better than saving hundreds of dollars and instead making hundreds of dollars.

Yes, although most diy liquids aren't as tasty as commerical generally are.