DIY Juice - How to guide

Snake

Since there's none already I thought it would be a good thread for people who are looking to make their own e-juice. Having the thread here would be a good place for people to come get advice from other forum users who also make their own, and share their recipes and hints and tips, where to buy the equipment at the best prices etc.

Starting off, the first few things you'll NEED to make your own juices are:

PG

PG, or Propylene Glycol is used as a Diluting agent for e-juice. Usually the main ingredient as well. Some people have allergies to it, and can't use a lot, or any at all.

VG

VG, or Vegetable Glycerin, is the base compound for e-juice (its exactly what produces the vapour) and without it, juice would be runny and vapourless! For people who are allergic to PG, this is the main ingredient in their juice. VG is extremely thick and sticky, so if you can't dilute with PG, you'll need to use distilled water, or Vodka, Vodka being probably the better substitute, as it provides the throat hit. But if you don't want to use alcohol, water will do just fine.

Flavouring

Food Grade flavourings, what would e-juice be without them? Well, tasteless.. You only need a small amount of flavouring, so a small bottle will last you a long time. Obviously, some prefer more flavour than others, so it's best to add a shot, and if you want more, add as needed.

A lot of coils.

A lot of vaping, means your coils aren't going to last very long. And when you're first experimenting with DIY juice, you'll be testing a lot of juices so it's safe to say you'll go through a few coils. Don't be lured into the idea that buying some disposable atty's is the cheaper way to go. A lot of online shops, e.g thebestshop.eu offer coils cheap. So shop around, as well as when you go to buy your equipment.

Bottles to store it in!

Well you've made your first batch of e-juice and you're about to put it away to steep, when suddenly it hits you... You don't have anything to put it in! AND IT'S ALL OVER THE FLOOR. Common sense, but not to be overlooked. Buy some bottles. Or reuse old ones.


Some nice to have things

While not essential, these are nice things to have, and they'll make DIY juices, a lot easier to do.



Syringe and Needles

The best way to measure shots of flavour, and the measures of PG and VG you're using. They can be bought anywhere online, or in any chemist. But make sure to keep them away from the kids, or those who aren't as bright as you. Also, adding a label to them so you know what each syringe is for, can also help.

Nicotine

This is really a preference if nothing else. Most PG comes with nicotine, so it's not always essential. Make sure to check before you buy the PG if it has any nicotine, otherwise you could add too much. If the PG doesn't have enough nicotine for you, then buying some extra to add, is obviously, okay.

Rebuildable Atomisers

With all those flavours you've been trying out, it's safe to say your atomiser is going to need a clean every so often, having one that can be taken apart and rebuilt, will really make things easier. Inexpensive, and something that will prove useful, it's not essential.

Patience

DIY juice won't be ready to vape straight away, you'll need at least a few days to let it steep. So having patience will make sure the flavours develop and you get the best juice you possibly can.


Links

www.eliquids.ie these guys offer everything you need to get started on making your own juice, I'm still searching for some other Irish sites (faster delivery cheaper postage) and I'll add more as I find them.


Just one thing I'd like to finish off with, if you use nicotine in your juice, please be careful. Liquid nicotine is highly toxic, if ingested or if too much comes into contact with skin. Always wear gloves when mixing nicotine and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards. And if you're using a syringe to measure with, keep a separate one for nicotine.


Well, hope this helps you out a little!

Gray

Snake

I forgot to mention, you'll need an e-juice calculator as well. If you have a smartphone, you can find a vast array on the App Store or Google Play Store, or a quick Google search will bring up more than enough. Sometimes their not always accurate, so if in doubt, ask your friendly neighborhood boardsie.

aoshea83

Good opening guide, it's definitely something I'd like to start doing as I venture deeper into vaping then just a clearomizer and eGo battery.

I wonder how many people here do the DIY aspect and if a thread of boardsie's recipes might be fun/interesting. I'd be aiming myself for the perfect fizzy cherry cola flavour

Snake

Well a recipe is a how to, and this is a how to guide! so anyone can post whatever information they have on DIY juice.

jonski

If you bought a juice where the flavour was too strong how would you weaken it ? Would making up a PG/VG Nicotine mix and adding it dilute the flavour ?

Snake

jonski wrote: »

If you bought a juice where the flavour was too strong how would you weaken it ? Would making up a PG/VG Nicotine mix and adding it dilute the flavour ?

PG holds flavour better so I'd say VG since it mutes the flavour a little better. If you take 60% of your juice and add 40% VG that should solve it for you! but yeah, adding an unflavoured mix might also do it, but just be careful about how much you put in, so that you don't mute it all together. It won't always go right, so if it was an expensive juice, be wary, but I'd say adding some VG would be the best route, and if it's not strong enough, add some PG and nicotine

ChalyIE

I saw PG has 18 mg nicotine as minimum, so to weaken it (I need only 11 mg) I can use VG with 9 mg, right? I can't find nicotine on this website and also not PG without nicotine for creating Liquid with 0 mg for my wife.

Snake

ChalyIE wrote: »

I saw PG has 18 mg nicotine as minimum, so to weaken it (I need only 11 mg) I can use VG with 9 mg, right? I can't find nicotine on this website and also not PG without nicotine for creating Liquid with 0 mg for my wife.

I can't see for sure but I think this one is nicotine free. I'm on my phone and can't see the photo properly! And yes but I don't think VG contains nicotine at all http://www.ezsmoke.ie/propylene-glycol-100ml-p-436.html

ChalyIE

As far as I see, they offer 4 different strength for VG, but maybe it can be ordered also without - http://www.eliquids.ie/en_IE/p/NICOGLYCER-Unflavoured-Eliquid-VG-80g-/126

jousting with chairs

PG 0%

http://www.ezsmoke.ie/propylene-glycol-100ml-p-436.html

VG 0%

http://www.ezsmoke.ie/vegetable-glycerin-100ml-p-437.html

Good quality stuff and cheapest around for small quantities,their nicotine is kinda dear but they have the full range of T-juice concentrates which are tasty.

Samba

Curious to know if anybody else has experienced something similar to this, sometimes I'd chalk it off to a sensitivity with a flavour but in this case it happened with everything I mixed and some of them I've previously vaped with no problems so I'm wondering if it's one of the base ingredients possibly causing the problem.

I mixed a few different flavours with t-juice concentrates with base ingredients I picked up from a few different vendors. I steeped the batches for around a week and after maybe 5-6 toots of testing out the first one I got hit with a real sharp headache. Granted I didn't test the nicotine levels but it was all measured out very accurately, so I don't think it's a case of too much nicotine, some batches were purposely made weaker and they also caused the same problem.

It wasn't just headache a though, I noticed tightening in the chest and I developed a bit of a bad cough, the headaches seemed to go away after steeping for longer but the cough and tightness remained, since I stopped vaping, I'm all back to normal and if I start vaping my DIY stuff again i get the same problem.

Bad batch of something? I've no idea but I know my body is telling me something isn't right... Of all the ingredients I'm guessing it's the nicotine that's the most likely culprit.

jousting with chairs

I've never experienced anything like that but it does seem like a reaction to something,you could try mixing a small batch with 0 nicotine just to see if that was the cause.

Snake

Samba wrote: »

Curious to know if anybody else has experienced something similar to this, sometimes I'd chalk it off to a sensitivity with a flavour but in this case it happened with everything I mixed and some of them I've previously vaped with no problems so I'm wondering if it's one of the base ingredients possibly causing the problem.

I mixed a few different flavours with t-juice concentrates with base ingredients I picked up from a few different vendors. I steeped the batches for around a week and after maybe 5-6 toots of testing out the first one I got hit with a real sharp headache. Granted I didn't test the nicotine levels but it was all measured out very accurately, so I don't think it's a case of too much nicotine, some batches were purposely made weaker and they also caused the same problem.

It wasn't just headache a though, I noticed tightening in the chest and I developed a bit of a bad cough, the headaches seemed to go away after steeping for longer but the cough and tightness remained, since I stopped vaping, I'm all back to normal and if I start vaping my DIY stuff again i get the same problem.

Bad batch of something? I've no idea but I know my body is telling me something isn't right... Of all the ingredients I'm guessing it's the nicotine that's the most likely culprit.

You're allergic to pg sounds like. Have you tried mixing 100 VG batches and diluting with distilled water?

Samba

jousting with chairs wrote: »

I've never experienced anything like that but it does seem like a reaction to something,you could try mixing a small batch with 0 nicotine just to see if that was the cause.

Yeah I'll have to order more supplies to see if I can isolate the cause, unfortunately I've nothing but nicotine left at this stage.

GrayFox208 wrote: »

You're allergic to pg sounds like. Have you tried mixing 100 VG batches and diluting with distilled water?

It's definitely not a PG allergy as I've vaped pure pg juices many times before with no issues, I can safely rule out PG and flavour.

jousting with chairs

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http://www.vapebase.de/