can you recommend where can i get a kit to start with doing my own e juice?
Have you read the Getting Started guide and checked our vendor list?
Definitely read the FAQ, but I'm bored so here's a link to everything you need for the best prices I'm aware of. Don't buy "DIY kits", they will never be enough.
LB-501 scale (Amazon)
1 Gallon VG (Amazon)
1 Gallon PG (Amazon)
60ml bottles (BullCityFlavors)
3ml Pipettes (BullCityFlavors, for fixing mistakes)
Wash bottle (Amazon, for dispensing PG; VG will not work as it's too thick)
Ketchup bottles (Amazon, for dispensing VG)
Flavors (BullCityFlavors will give you the widest variety for the lowest prices)
Flavor organizer (Amazon, holds 65 30ml flavor bottles)
Labels in case you wanted to be fancy (Amazon)
And for nicotine, you have two main choices that consistently do well. Carolina Xtract's Supercritical Nicotine is the best, period, but it has a premium pricetag. The cheaper but still good option is Liquid Nicotine Wholesalers. Can't link to nicotine due to the rules.
Download eJuice Me Up for calculating recipes into grams per ingredient. It may look like it's from the 90s but I guarantee you it will be the best recipe calculator you will ever use. Just make sure you select 100mg/L.
As for the recipes themselves, your best resources are this subreddit and AllTheFlavors.
Pg and vg are much cheaper with riversupply
Ok sure but River Suppler is one of the worst suppliers there is.
Their nicotine arrives discolored and harsh.
They send out wrong flavors, flavors with upside-down labels or leaking.
Their entire website is ass to navigate through.
I hate them.
I've been ordering from then since 2015 and never had a problem they didn't fix. That said, I prefer other brands of nicotine (RIP VapersTek)
But one of my biggest pet peeves is when people recommend Amazon for VG/PG. It's has never been a good deal and it's actually gotten worse.
What you recommended would come to about $60 for 1 gallon of each. And from RS it would be $28, leaving you with $22 to spend on flavors/etc to reach free shipping and you'd still be saving $10. Is Prime shipping really worth the extra $32?
I don't know how condiment bottles never crossed my mind. That's genius.
Some personal notes on your thorough list. I've been making stuff for 2 years or so now and never used a pipette.
While organizers and a desk is a solid tip, it might be a bit daunting to someone just looking to get into it. I bought a nic riv starter kit way back, and while I didn't user half on the supplies it came with, I have used their buckets for everything since. You can definitely mix on a small scale and not have to devote a lot of space to it. That being said, if you wanna go all in, go all in and get to work :)
All of this ^ I would also add some graduated cylinders, and glass 30 and 100ml bottles to test batches and larger batches of flavors. The glass is nice because when you have finished the juice, you can wash it out and reuse the bottle for the next batch of flavors. The other thing that I don't see mentioned often is a milk frother (amazon) this is a great tool that can be used to agitate and combine the ingredients, and aids in steeping your juices. Good luck!
There’s no need for graduated cylinders. That’s why you buy a scale and mix right into the bottle. Less cleanup, more efficient.
Oh yeah! Forgot to mention the tiny paint mixer. I use this one.
You need pg, vg, nic, flavors, bottles, and tools to measure.
You can get PG, VG, and nicotine from a supplier of nicotine. It's also usually cheaper to get all 3 from the same source.
I dont believe anyone has a better selection of flavors, shipping speed, or price that matches bullcityflavors.
You can buy syringes, scales, blunt tip needles, or bottles from nearly anywhere and may be easily available from your nicotine seller as well.
I would recommend amber glass bottles for your recipes you plan to mix often as they're reusable and will save you money in the long term.
If you want to make your own recipes I'd look at 10ml or 15ml ldpe bottles for sample batches.
Latex or nitrile gloves and paper towels are good to have to keep your hands, tools, and workspace clean.
CarolinaXtracts sells premium nicotine at a premium price.
Liquidnicotinewholesale sells nicotine at maybe the lowest price and plenty seem to like it but it isnt anything fancy.
LiquidBarn sells CNT and NicSelect. I like CNT nicotine, it's usually what I buy and the price point is a little more on the expensive side but worth it imo.
Heartlandvapes sells CNT, chemnovatic, and some inhouse stuff or something. I prefer chemnovatic nicotine, but I have a major distrust of heartland's shopping software as there have been concerns of stolen CC info. If you use privacy or can create a one time use CC through your CC service I'd buy their chemnovatic.
River supply sells nicselect. They're a good overall vendor and people also seem to like their nicotine.
No one is exempt from sending out bad batches of nicotine. It is entirely within probability you could get a bad batch from even the most reputable vendor. Most recommended vendors here will usually make it right if that happens.