DIY:
How To Guide For Dummies
Introduction
Are you new to doing things yourself? Maybe you want to feel more empowered. Perhaps you would just like to get more for your money. It could also be that you’re bored at home and need something to do with your time. No matter what the circumstances, DIY is a BLAST!
Do It Yourself, or DIY, is a great way to expand your knowledge of a product or trade. Not to mention the savings you will notice over a short period of time! It’s amazing how much labor cost really does affect the price of a product or service. With making your own e-juice or e-liquid, you will be able to control all of the aspects of what you inhale. You can control what base you use, the nicotine level, the flavor(s), the concentration of the flavors, all and all your versatility exponentially increases.
Before You Start
Before you start to open up the door to DIY E-liquids you need to have a basic knowledge of a few things. You need to understand the concept of what it entails. You need to be familiarized with the Personal Vaporizer also known as and will be referred to for the rest of this article as the E-Cigarette or E-Cig. It has also been said that you should start with premixed E-Juices so you can get a feel for flavors you may like. Give this some time because you will notice your taste buds changing since you are no longer smoking. Smoking causes damage to the nasal membrane, cause foods to become tasteless, and even stop your ability to smell some aromas. Once you stop smoking your taste may change and you could find yourself liking things you never thought you would. After you get a feel or taste for the kind of flavors you like, you’re off to the races!
Options
With DIY you have a couple of different options for your plan of attack. You can either go with the “basic” or the “advanced”.
With the basic you will be making a smaller batch and use the nicotine level that you would like to vape. In other words you would not cut your nicotine base with no nic bases. You would only add flavor to it and go. If you want to vape a 24mg you would buy the 24mg base. Then you would pick out a flavor measure it out and mix them up! I would suggest this for the true beginner as not to discourage future DIY projects. By doing it yourself you will save about $4 for 30ml. This is just the beginning of what you can do and save if you were to eventually continue to DIY with the more advanced way.
With the advanced method you would be making larger batches, using a higher nicotine level and/or buy in bulk to save money. You would need to use a no nic base to cut your higher nic down to the level you want to vape. Example if you buy 48mg but want to vape 24mg you would do half 48mg and half no nic to get to your desired level of 24mg. If you DIY you will save about $8 per 30ml and once you have your supplies possibly even more!
What am I going to need to DIY? This once again depends on how elaborate you would like to make your “juice”. To start as I mentioned before you should go with the basic form. The most basic form of DIY doesn’t require much. Just your bottle of base and your chosen flavor. (NOTE: If you decided to go with LorAnn you would need to get either a blunt tip syringe, 3ml-18 gauge needle syringe, eye dropper, or a pipette.) You should also get gloves, so you don’t have the nicotine on your hands. The lower levels might not affect you as much but once you get to the stage of cutting your higher nic level bases down, you will want to make sure to be careful. Only a little bit can make you sick.
For the more advanced or adventurist DIY’er we have a great DIY kit. We have the starter kit which includes:
120 ml bottle of VG, PG, or 50/50 mix
30ml of Sweetener
6ml of Tobacco Absolute (Diluted 50% in Pure Grain Alcohol)
20 grams of Ethyl Maltol
3 x 5ml empty bottles
1 3ml syringe with blunt tip needle
20 grams of Menthol Crystals**
**Optional at additional cost
We also offer funnels, graduated cylinders in both glass and plastic, and empty bottles.
Now that we’ve covered the mixing supplies lets talk about the no nicotine bases a little bit. There are three choices we are offering. You may purchase a base consisting of: Propylene Glycol (also known as PG), Vegetable Glycerin (also known as VG), or a 50/50 mix of the two. Just a bit of vaping information on the three bases that we offer:
- PG is a big contributor to throat hit. That is the kick you feel when inhaling the vapor. PG also carries flavor well.
- VG is very thick, and contributes to added vapor. If using all VG, we recommend thinning it out a bit with a small amount of distilled water.
- 50/50 mix is half PG and half VG. This is the best of both worlds. Perfect blend of vapor and throat hit.
When you look at all of the offered flavors you may be overwhelmed. But, instead of looking at it as a confusing and stressful factor look at all of the possibilities! We offer a wide variety of brands and categories, such as: FlavourArt, Flavor West, LorAnn 1 oz, LorAnn Dram, LorAnn Naturals, LorAnn Beverage & Ice Cream, Signature, Tasty Puff, Tobacco, and what’s left of our clearance selection in Capella. Some of the flavors are better alone, others together, and some that are a must have!
Nicotine bases can be found in varying strengths in 30 ml, such as: 6 mg, 12 mg, 18 mg, 24 mg, 36 mg, 48 mg, and 60 mg. We also currently have two strengths in the 250 ML size, 48 mg and 60 mg. All of our nicotine bases are available in PG, VG and 50/50.
Basic DIY
Supplies Needed:
For your more basic form of DIY you do not need to purchase much at all! For one 30ml bottle of juice you would buy whatever strength that you would like to vape, in your base of choice. You would also purchase your flavoring of choice. Please note that if you decide to purchase a LorAnn flavoring to mix with your nicotine base you will also need to purchase a LorAnn dropper, a 3 ml 18 gauge syringe, a blunt tip syringe, or pipettes.
Directions:
- Choose nicotine strength you would like to vape.
- Choose what base you would like your nicotine in.
- Choose what flavoring you would like to mix.
- Purchase any mixing tools needed. (e.g. LorAnn)
- Determine what percentage your brand of flavoring starts at for mixing (See below)
- Use our E-juice calculator to determine how much to add. (Ignore the Water/Vodka/PGA portion)
- Add the amount of drops as directed by the calculator.
- Shake it up really well.
- Vape away!
- Adjust flavor concentration as necessary.
A key thing to remember when adding your flavor is that you can always add more, but you can’t take it away. So don’t be afraid to start low and add more to taste. Not to mention that some flavors get better the longer they steep.
- Flavour Art: 5%
- Signature/Perfumer’s Apprentice: 7%
- LorAnn: 10%
- Flavorwest: 7%
- Tobacco (All Brands): 1%
Example:
If I would like to vape a 24mg 50/50 Cherry flavored E-Liquid I would need the following:
1 30ml bottle of 24mg 50/50 mix
1 Dram of LorAnn Cherry flavoring
So my shopping cart* looks like this:
*Prices subject to change
My DIY calculator tells me just how much flavor to add when I put in my information. I have LorAnn so I will start at 10% with my flavoring. Your base nicotine and your target nicotine will be the same number. Which is the strength that you purchased. The amount to be made for recipe spot is where you enter in how many ML you are making with your current batch. Since I am mixing in the same bottle that I purchased I am making a 30ML batch. The spot that says flavor is where you enter in your flavoring percentage so I entered in 10% since I am using LorAnn. The right side shows how much all of the calculations for your recipe. So I would need to put in 3ML or about 60 drops of flavoring to my bottle of base (Please note that this is almost all of your LorAnn dram bottle). Shake and vape!
Advanced DIY
Supplies Needed:
For a more advanced version of DIY you will need a couple more things as compared to the basic form. You will need a bottle of high nicotine base (For the following examples I will use 60MG), a no nicotine base purchased in 30 or 120ML(best value), your flavoring(s) of choice, empty bottles, and a syringe.
Directions:
- Choose nicotine strength you would like to vape.
- Choose what base you would like your nicotine in.
- Choose what flavoring you would like to mix.
- Purchase any mixing tools needed. (e.g. LorAnn)
- Determine what percentage your brand of flavoring starts at for mixing (See above)
- Use our E-juice calculator to determine how to mix your juice. (Ignore the Water/Vodka/PGA portion)
- Enter in your start MG, your target MG, your flavor percentage, and the amount to be made.
- Add the amount of ML/drops as directed by the calculator.
- Shake it up really well.
- Vape away!
- Adjust flavor concentration as necessary.
Example:
If I would like to vape a 24MG 50/50 Virgina flavored E-Liquid in a 30ML size I would need the following:
1 30ML bottle of 60MG 50/50 unflavored base
1 120ML bottle of 50/50 no nicotine unflavored base
1 10ML bottle of Flavour Art Virginia
Empty 30ML Childproof Bottles
DIY E-Juice Calculator Mixing Measurements for 30ML:
Remember you can always add more flavoring if they’re isn’t enough! With tobacco flavors go one drop at a time.
You would be able to make two 30ML bottles with approximately 6ML of nicotine base leftover.
My DIY calculator tells me just how much flavor to add when I put in my information. I have a tobacco flavoring so I will start at 1% with my flavoring. Your base nicotine and your target nicotine will be different numbers. Which is the strength that you purchased and the target level. The amount to be made for recipe spot is where you enter in how many ML you are making with your current batch. Since I am mixing into the same size bottles that I purchased I am making a 30ML batch. The spot that says flavor is where you enter in your flavoring percentage so I entered in 1% since I am using Tobacco. The right side shows how much all of the calculations for your recipe. So I would need to put in 0.3ML or about 6 drops of flavoring to my bottle of base. Shake and vape!
What if I wanted to make the same juice but only in a 10ML size? What would I need then?
1 30ML bottle of 60MG 50/50 unflavored base
1 120ML bottle of 50/50 no nicotine unflavored base
1 10ML bottle of Flavour Art Virginia
Empty 10ML Childproof Bottles
DIY E-Juice Calculator Mixing Measurements for 10ML:
Remember you can always add more flavoring if they’re isn’t enough! With tobacco flavors go one drop at a time.
You would able to make seven 10ML bottles with approximately 2ML of nicotine base leftover.
My DIY calculator tells me just how much flavor to add when I put in my information. I have a tobacco flavoring so I will start at 1% with my flavoring. Your base nicotine and your target nicotine will be different numbers. Which is the strength that you purchased and the target level. The amount to be made for recipe spot is where you enter in how many ML you are making with your current batch. Since I am mixing into smaller bottles that I purchased I am making a 10ML batch. The spot that says flavor is where you enter in your flavoring percentage so I entered in 1% since I am using Tobacco. The right side shows how much all of the calculations for your recipe. So I would need to put in 0.1ML or about 2 drops of flavoring to my bottle of base. Shake and vape!
MORE USER SUBMITTED DIY E-JUICE RECIPES!
Ethyl Maltol and Menthol Crystals
How do I break ethyl maltol and menthol crystals down to where I can use them in my recipes?
Ethyl Maltol – You would dissolve 10% of ethyl maltol in PG or PGA. So you would have 1 gram for 10ml. This is the base that you would add to your recipes to taste. Use up to 20% ethyl maltol base in your recipes.
Menthol Crystals – You would dissolve menthol crystals by taking a container filling it halfway with your base of choice and the other half with the crystals. Heating the base slightly prior to adding the crystals will help speed up the dissolving process but is not necessary. Shake it up. This will be a very strong concentration of menthol so start with about 5% menthol mix in your recipe.
Conclusion
Now that you have a little bit of background knowledge and DIY know how your vaping world has just exponentially expanded. Try one flavor at a time or mix them up to see what you can create! Just remember to have fun with it and keep track of your recipes and which bottle you put them in! This way if you find something you hate you don’t make it again, if its something you love, you’ll know exactly what was in it. So go and DIY!
This has been a BLESSING to me, as well as many attys I “thought” were “dead”! No more soaks that eat the glues, no more overnite waiting on juice to seep out and best of all….THIS WORKS WONDERS ON CHANGING FLAVORS IN A JIFFY!!!
