DIY e-liquid advice needed

Neil_Sedaka · 11-02-2012 7:30pm #1

I think I've reached the point where I'm willing to try making my own, cost effective juice.

Menthol 18mg is my poison, so if I were to make some, would I be right in thinking that I need the following:

PG base nicotine (just seems to wick better in tanks)
PG or VG to thin it out/bulk it up
Menthol flavouring

Is Inewara the place to shop?

Thanks for any advice.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 11-02-2012 7:32pm

inawera has some nice flavours although i cant speak to their menthol as I hate the stuff

the best thing to do imo is to buy 100ml of their 36mg flavourless pg liquid, then buy 1 or 200ml of their 0mg flavourless pg liquid so you can make you whatever strength of base liquid you want

Bubba9 · 11-02-2012 7:49pm

I made my first batch of DIY liquid a fortnight ago with flavours I got from Inawera. I got 17 different flavours and made up 5mls of each. I read that you have to steep them for at least two weeks to get the full flavour so tested two of them last night. Black Cherry was horrible but Canadian Maplewood was great...just like the stuff you buy. I used a 52mg base 75% PG 25% VG. 5% flavour. I used the EJuice Me Up calculator which was very helpful. One thing I would advise you is to ignore the drop measures and use a syringe...take the plunger out and pour the liquid in that way you'll get an accurate measure. It's very cheap and fun too. Best of luck with it

tommy2bad · 11-02-2012 8:32pm

Neil_Sedaka wrote: »

I think I've reached the point where I'm willing to try making my own, cost effective juice.

Menthol 18mg is my poison, so if I were to make some, would I be right in thinking that I need the following:

PG base nicotine (just seems to wick better in tanks)
PG or VG to thin it out/bulk it up
Menthol flavouring

Is Inewara the place to shop?

Thanks for any advice.

If you go for Inawera they have Base VPG - POWER which is a 50/50 pg vg mix. You can get it with 0,6, 12, 18, 26 and 36%nic.
Dekang standard is 70/30 pg vg so you can judge how much mix you need by how good you find that for wicking.
Price is based on nic content you could get a 36% and 6% 100 mil of each mix them half and half to have 21%nic 200ml. Cost you about 15 euro.
Add flavor at anything from 5 to 20%, most you would need is 40 mls of flavor
Another 12 euro P&P about a fiver.
10%flavor and you have 19mg nic juice, 200mls for 32 euro.
Assuming you get flavors you can use thats a good bargain.
Inawrea have a good selection of flavors, I'v tried about 12 of them and used 10. 2 were so not to my taste that I left them alone after testing.
Delivery was about 10 days first time and almost 3 weeks the next time (got anote saying that they were out of one flavor and held off till it could be included, could have put that on the tracking but..).

I havn't tried any other supplier but their are some reports in the liquid reviews thread of flavors from Inawera and others.

tommy2bad · 11-02-2012 8:35pm

Bubba9 wrote: »

I made my first batch of DIY liquid a fortnight ago with flavours I got from Inawera. I got 17 different flavours and made up 5mls of each. I read that you have to steep them for at least two weeks to get the full flavour so tested two of them last night. Black Cherry was horrible but Canadian Maplewood was great...just like the stuff you buy. I used a 52mg base 75% PG 25% VG. 5% flavour. I used the EJuice Me Up calculator which was very helpful. One thing I would advise you is to ignore the drop measures and use a syringe...take the plunger out and pour the liquid in that way you'll get an accurate measure. It's very cheap and fun too. Best of luck with it

Where did you get the 52mg base?
I'v never had the patience to wait a fortnight, did you try it fresh to see if it was different?
Please do post your flavor review in the liquid thread, I'm not stopped buying yet.

Neil_Sedaka · 11-02-2012 9:57pm

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

Bubba9 · 11-02-2012 10:23pm

tommy2bad wrote: »

Where did you get the 52mg base?
I'v never had the patience to wait a fortnight, did you try it fresh to see if it was different?
Please do post your flavor review in the liquid thread, I'm not stopped buying yet.

I was wrong, it was 54mg. Got it here:

http://www.ecigwizard.com/shop/en/mixing/227-pure-54-nicotine-base-pg-or-vg.html

You can get higher strengths in China. You can even get 100% pure nicotine which I think is near enough to 1000mg which of course is poison and shouldn't be posted let alone sold. I got the PG & VG from Irish Vapors and just the flavours from Inawera.

No, just bottled it up and put away after mixing. As an old girlfriend told me once anything good is worth waiting for:)

I'll hold off on the liquid reviews until I have this lark perfected cause if something tastes bad it's most likely me than the juice that's at fault.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 11-02-2012 10:26pm

whenever I made juices I just vaped them straight away, bugger that steeping malarky

although I only ever made 5ml, always meant to make 30ml when i perfectedf it.. and then just bought more juice and kept "intending" to mix more in the future

alec76 · 11-02-2012 11:38pm

the best thing to do imo is to buy 100ml of their 36mg flavourless pg liquid, then buy 1 or 200ml of their 0mg flavourless pg liquid

If you go for Inawera they have Base VPG - POWER which is a 50/50 pg vg mix. You can get it with 0,6, 12, 18, 26 and 36%nic.
Dekang standard is 70/30 pg vg so you can judge how much mix you need by how good you find that for wicking.
Price is based on nic content you could get a 36% and 6% 100 mil of each mix them half and half to have 21%nic 200ml.

er... I would say more practical way to do is to get :
- PG eco base 38mg
http://www.inawera.com/pg-ecobaza-38-mg-ml-p-300.html
- Propylene Glycol
http://www.inawera.com/glycol-propylene-12-100-ml-p-18.html
- VG
http://www.inawera.com/pharmaceutical-glycerine-995-vol-100-ml-p-474.html

these 3 items let you make Any type of mix u want
5O/5O , 7O/3O , 75/25 ,65/35 ( PG/VG) etc

Neil_Sedaka · 12-02-2012 1:07am

Thanks again folks, plenty of food for thought there.

Amigaman · 12-02-2012 2:35am

and if you're serious about menthol get some menthol crystals
http://www.reachpharmacy.com/shop/Bells-menthol-aromatherapy.html
available from boots ,other pharmicies or health food shops...boots have them for €2.20
Good for spicing up most premixed juices :-) - enjoy...

derra · 12-02-2012 7:00pm

alec76 wrote: »

- VG
http://www.inawera.com/pharmaceutical-glycerine-995-vol-100-ml-p-474.html

Would it be better to use 0 nic VG?
It is diluted with 15% water.
http://www.inawera.com/vg-biobaza-0mgml-p-306.html

alec76 · 12-02-2012 8:27pm

It is diluted with 15% water

I didn't know that , probably worth a try....
It is probably makes sense when u using only VG based liquid ( as VG very thick in comparison to PG , wicking won't be great without water ) ,but as far as we normally mixing pg- vg 65/35 ,70/30 etc , hardly any need for water IMO ...
I've tried to add some brandy in to the juice(10 %) - not bad at all, not my favorite though

Bubba9 · 13-02-2012 11:52pm

derra wrote: »

Would it be better to use 0 nic VG?
It is diluted with 15% water.
http://www.inawera.com/vg-biobaza-0mgml-p-306.html

Probably a stupid question but are you talking about 0 nic as a base? How do you make a base of 0 or 6 into a juice of 18mg. I'm very new to this and thought you just get a higher base than you vape and dilute it down with PG/VG and add flavour.

alec76 · 14-02-2012 12:01am

You are right , to make 18 mg , u have to get higher base -- 38 mg for instance .
what derra saying is instead diluting it with pure VG u might do it with VG BASE 0mg

Bubba9 · 14-02-2012 12:04am

Cheers Alec...makes sense now.

Anyone ever try Wera Garden flavours from Inawera.

tommy2bad · 14-02-2012 12:57am

Bubba9 wrote: »

Cheers Alec...makes sense now.

Anyone ever try Wera Garden flavours from Inawera.

Super strong, approach with caution.
I got the usa mix one and at 2 drops to 1ml thats about 3 - 3.1/2 % it was horrible so bad I was told I could 'go do that outside'
I mixed some up with 0nic pg at 20% and then used that to add the drops, much better, still a horrible honey taste; this time we could identify the smell (but thats Marlboro for ya) add some karamel and I'll get use out of it admittedly when everything else runs out but still "when all fruit is gone, welcome haw"

Bubba9 · 14-02-2012 9:18pm

tommy2bad wrote: »

Super strong, approach with caution.
I got the usa mix one and at 2 drops to 1ml thats about 3 - 3.1/2 % it was horrible so bad I was told I could 'go do that outside

They say on their site that 1 to 2 drops per 5 ml so maybe 2 drops in one ml was a bit much. Of the two pages only the first has measurements on how much to add, the second page seems to be guess work. Still, next time I'm ordering will get a couple of flavours to see how they turn out.

derra · 15-02-2012 12:10am

Bubba9 wrote: »

Probably a stupid question but are you talking about 0 nic as a base? How do you make a base of 0 or 6 into a juice of 18mg. I'm very new to this and thought you just get a higher base than you vape and dilute it down with PG/VG and add flavour.

Only seeing this now Bubba but i see Alec cleared it up for ya anyway.

That Inawera place is getting more and more popular, taking a lot longer now before they ship your order.

Esel · 19-02-2012 12:43am

tommy2bad wrote: »

.... at 2 drops to 1ml thats about 3 - 3.1/2 % ....

That's 10%. 1ml = 20 drops.

tommy2bad · 19-02-2012 3:58am

Esel wrote: »

That's 10%. 1ml = 20 drops.

Jasus I went mental so! it was only ment to be used at 3% max.
It was still horible only more so tho.
Not inaweras fault more to do with my dislike for honey flavored tobacco.
Anyway least said the beter, posting at 3 am is never clever. I wouldn't attempt it if i were sober

alec76 · 19-02-2012 12:19pm

Esel wrote: »

That's 10%. 1ml = 20 drops.

Not necessary , depends of liquid's thickness.
20 drops for some inawera flavours ~ 0.4-0.6 ml

tommy2bad · 19-02-2012 10:10pm

alec76 wrote: »

Not necessary , depends of liquid's thickness.
20 drops for some inawera flavours ~ 0.4-0.6 ml

Tru Dat!
The karamel comes out in big gloops, the morning rain is a slight mist, well small drops anyway.

Bubba9 · 20-02-2012 1:47am

I think those "drops" are misleading. I measured one dropper bottle into a syrninge and got 32 drops to 1ml and another liquid measured 27. I just go with the ml measurement and use a syringe taking out the plunger and dropping the liquid into the top. 7 of my 17 mixes turned out really well so it's now down to fine tuning and hopefully I'll be getting the flavour of choice at 10% of the cost of normal eliquid....that's the plan anyway.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 24-02-2012 1:18pm

inawera shipped my order \o/

1 x E-FLAVOUR TABACCO - US RED MIX
2 x E-FLAVOUR TABACCO "GOLD DUCAT"
1 x E-FLAVOUR TABACCO "AMERICAN TYPE
1 x E-FLAVOUR TABACCO "NUTTY PRINCESS
1 x E-FLAVOUR TABACCO "MORNING RAIN
1 x Dirty Neutral Base 12, the nicotine content of 12 mg / ml. Cap.

hopefully enough to get a feel for what I oughta order more of to make a big supply of tobacco juices.

Neil_Sedaka · 26-02-2012 7:31pm

This is what I ordered:

PG base, 38 mg/ml 100 ml X1
PG base, 6 mg/ml 100 ml X1
MENTHOL, 5 ml 5 ml X4

I forgot to order a pipette of course! I'm sure I'll manage without one though.

The plan is to mix the PG bases together and end up with somewhere close to 20mg/ml 200 ml
Then start adding the menthol until it tasts right.
Probably a very simplistic attidude, I don't know, never tried this before and am kind of flying blind!

I went for PG as it seems to wick better for me, but thinking about it now, should I add some VG to the mix for vapour?
If so, I've seen glycerine for sale in Tesco. It's Dr. Oetker stuff for home baking!!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 26-02-2012 7:34pm

i iwsh I knew about vg tbh
i think the dekang juices ive been vaping for most of ther last year are 100% pg and i'm more than happy with the amount of vapour that has been produced
i dont even know if it's neccesary tbh, and if it is.. what levels would be advised

youve actually given me an idea
i have 100ml of 36mg and 3 100mlg bottles of 0mg. I might just fill up an entire large bottle of something and make a huge mix of 12mg pg juice instead of having to create the new mix for 12mg every damn time I want to mix something
]
--edit

oh, and i dont know if 5ml of menthol is enough for 200ml of pg base

im nmot saying it isn't im just saying I dont know. maybe try making 30ml first and see how many drops you need to get a satisfying flavour. otherwise you could end up with 200ml of not very mentholy pg liquid.

Neil_Sedaka · 26-02-2012 7:50pm

Thanks, I got 20ml of menthol though, MENTHOL, 5 ml 5 ml X4

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 26-02-2012 7:52pm

oooh right

well then, go nuts I suppose

im gona start with 5ml bottles and see how many drops of flavourings I need, then try to scale up.
I remember when I fisrt mixed a few juices, I had to put 2-3ml of banana flavour into the 5ml of pg to get a decent flavour.

Neil_Sedaka · 26-02-2012 7:55pm

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

im gona start with 5ml bottles and see how many drops of flavourings I need, then try to scale up.

Yeah, was thinking of using a 20ml bottle and counting the drops too.
Thanks.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 26-02-2012 8:07pm

this post got me to dig out my flavours to make up a few mixes, and then I realised I dont have any atomisers to test out my mixes only cartos

rage

eeloe · 28-02-2012 2:08pm

Highly thinking about bulk buying some liquids from Inawera and mixing my own juice.

I'm spending far too much on stuff now from various shops.

I saw a video from GrimmGreen saying he bought VG in Walmart, and i think i read someone here saying they got some VG in Tesco?

Do i even need to buy some VG?

It's all a little confusing?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 28-02-2012 2:12pm

vg gives more vapour but doesn't carry flavour as well, so i suppose a bit of trial and error will find a ratio you like
it's also as thick as golden syrup so can have trouble with some cartos/atties if the juice is too vg heavy

eeloe · 28-02-2012 2:23pm

Would i be better of getting a pre mixed base from inawera then?

1ltr of 12mg should do me for about 8 months, and flavours on top then, in or around 100euro for 8 months worth of juice!!!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 28-02-2012 2:29pm

what I did was get 100ml of pg 36mg juice and then 300ml of pg 0mg, so I could mix 1/3rd 36 and 2/3rd 0 to make 12mg

worked out a little cheaper iirc

but for my latest order, with the tobacco flavours, I just ordered straight 12mg base to test out.. so maybe for your first go.. just order a 100ml of 12mg and create away with that until you get the hang of it

i also picked up 100ml of straight VG from healthcabin in a different order but any time i've tried to mix it into some of my juices for added vapour i've run into serious wicking problems so I'm still not sure how to work it

derra · 28-02-2012 2:49pm

Assuming the juice ya get now is PG based, some people are allergic to PG so they use VG based juices instead

You will need PG base which contains nicotine. (say 18mg 100ml)
You will then need to dilute this with PG and VG which contains no nicotine, both are also 100ml bottles.

Before mixing, you decide what you want your mix to be.
Whether that be 75% PG and 25% VG or 50/50 etc.

Later i will order 100ml of 18mg PG base.
When you click on Bases, e-liquidy.....you will see the PG and VG which contain no nicotine.
100ml of PG
100ml of VG
1 flavor to add to the mix at one drop per ml.

For €20 this will get me 300ml of juice that will be 6mg and 70% PG and 30% VG.
Get some empty bottles from Inawera as well and a couple of 5ml syringes from the bestshop.
I take out the plunger and just fill them up to the amount required and pour into bottle.

Usually get 38mg, but ordering like this i will use up the 3 bottles at a time.
Ya can see below how i got my mix the way i want it.

This is a link to the calculator, read the help which explains how it works and mixing in general.
http://ejuice.breaktru.com/

derra · 28-02-2012 3:56pm

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

i also picked up 100ml of straight VG from healthcabin in a different order but any time i've tried to mix it into some of my juices for added vapour i've run into serious wicking problems so I'm still not sure how to work it

Maybe select 0 VG from the VG base list.
This is diluted with water whereas the other one is just pure VG and is very thick.
Or ya can add distilled water to the pure VG to make it same consistency as the PG.

Like Alec said before, it might not make much difference as the amount of PG your putting (say 75%) would more or less wipe out the thickness of the VG.

But i have read it would be better to use it the 0 VG base that is diluted with water already.

Some do and some don't, few threads below about wicking issues etc regarding VG.

''if your mixing with pure vg, make sure you cut the vg with at least 10% water to help disperse the Nicotine through the full amount of vg. Nicotine can seperate from the vg otherwise giving you hotspots of different strength nicotine through the vg . ''

http://ukvapers.com/topic/14091-is-this-right-about-mixing/

http://ukvapers.com/topic/12655-adding-water/

http://ukvapers.com/topic/13900-mixing-help-please/

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 28-02-2012 3:58pm

just did a little diy mix
2ml 36mg
4ml 12mg
6 drops creamy vanilla
12 drops cappucino

i dont think i really like coffee flavour vapes anymore but i'd probably have loved this when i started vaping

tastes pretty strong of coffee alright, but with a hint of vanilla when you exhale
gona leave it to steep for a week or so and see if anything happens to it

mrplop · 28-02-2012 4:49pm

This vendor is closer to home and all the guys at UKVapers rave about his stuff.
Another good good thing is that his postage prices for Europe are only a quid higher than domestic post:

http://www.cig-eliquid.co.uk/

£37 for 266ml 52mg PG

derra · 28-02-2012 4:57pm

mrplop wrote: »

This vendor is closer to home and all the guys at UKVapers rave about his stuff.
Another good good thing is that his postage prices for Europe are only a quid higher than domestic post:

http://www.cig-eliquid.co.uk/

Expensive so it is, maybe it's superior to the Inawera stuff but i ain't gonna be buying to find out.

Reasonable prices here from the states which a lot of them are buying their nicotine off...
http://www.nicvape.com/store/c/20-Unflavored-Nicotine-Liquid.aspx

Most off UKVapers can just go into Boots and get their PG and VG which helps when it comes to delivery costs in just buying the base liquid.

mrplop · 28-02-2012 5:46pm

What's the postage like from Inawera and Nicvapes?
I've heard the Nicvapes stuff is clean and the Inawera has a slight taste to it.

The UK place is a good option if you don't want to wait too long and I bet the Nicvapes stuff is pricey to send here.

Time is money!

derra · 28-02-2012 5:59pm

mrplop wrote: »

What's the postage like from Inawera and Nicvapes?
I've heard the Nicvapes stuff is clean and the Inawera has a slight taste to it.

The UK place is a good option if you don't want to wait too long and I bet the Nicvapes stuff is pricey to send here.

Time is money!

Postage is reasonable from Inawera and takes on average 5 days for me.
Depends on the weight of the package, again on average it's usually €5 registered when i order, sometimes just over €8.
They have a few base liquids to choose from that would give that slight taste due to them adding a flavour to the base.

I don't know any different tbh as i've only ever tried their nicotine bases.
Their PG base seems fine to me anyway.

Nicvapes seems popular too, might at some stage try their base liquid.
Again, depends on the weight of the package and be probably 7 days before ya get it.

If your mixing your own, ya have plenty of time to order in advance and not be left short so time is not a issue really.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 28-02-2012 6:00pm

shipping was 4 euro for me for 100ml of 12g base and 30ml of flavourings

and around 8.80 for 400ml of pg and 50ml of flavourings some time last year

mrplop · 28-02-2012 6:07pm

Cool, thanks for the info!

Ignore the link I gave so!

derra · 28-02-2012 6:09pm

mrplop wrote: »

Cool, thanks for the info!

Ignore the link I gave so!

DIY e-liquid advice needed

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