New(ish) Vaper - Questions...

[MrDJ]

What do you think the problem with mixing your own was? I don't believe that the ones who make and sell the pre-made liquids have a secret, so what was it that you think made your own mixes not as good? Any theories?

Experience and extensive trial and error.

I did try making my own juice for a while. I like blackcurrant flavours and assumed all I had to do was buy a Blackcurrant flavouring and, once I found out what ratio of blackcurrant to add to VG/PG, would end up with a juicy, refreshing blackcurrant flavour juice, just like the stuff I was buying at my local shop.

the results were pretty awful... It was definitely blackcurrant flavoured, but it was so dry I had to drink water constantly and the flavour definitely had something 'missing', quite frankly it had a lot of something missing.

I tried mixing from recipes - one I tried was Peach Custard. 'Common Sense' tells me this recipe would be Custard and Peach Flavourings. The recipe had Custard AND equal amounts of Bavarian Cream - it did include Peach flavouring - but it was equal amounts of two different types of Peach flavours and, for some reason I couldn't fathom equal amounts of Strawberry flavour, and Vanilla... i can't remember the entire recipe, but it included 8 different flavourings - six of which i wouldn't have expected to be part of a peach custard juice. Yet, after 6 weeks steeping time, this juice was excellent - and it improved with age.

Sadly I never managed to make a fruit flavoured vape that even came close to the 'professional' store bought juices - and following other people's recipes seldom worked for me. Some I could vape - but I never found one I would buy from a shop if any of my favourites were available.

Making good juice requires knowledge and skill. Sadly I don't have either.

exactly the same as above for me. i tried a few fruits but mainly custards. as said they were vapable just, but nothing like shop bought.
mixers are a bit like chefs. they are experts in what they do.

on the other subject. if your in the EU they may have different laws to us in the UK so that would solve the dilution issue but read up on mixing with the strong stuff and wash hands thouroughly if drips get on the skin as its strong.
use a calculator on post 6 found on my link i posted yesterday.

 

[Netvaper]

Hi all,

Also, I've been looking at making my own eliquid.
Do I literally just buy a bottle of Vegetable Glycerine and a bottle of propylene glycol, flavour concentrate and nicotine and then mix it 70VG to 30 PG, with 20% concentrate + whatever nicotine strength I need?

Thanks in advance

If your concentrate is PG then as an example if you mix 100ml with 20% flavour then that's 20ml of PG so you need another 10ml of PG and 70ml of VG to get 70VG/30PG. If you use 10ml 18mg VG nic shots then the max you can add is 7 which will give you a nic strength of a tad over 12mg.

 

[Deadanddripping]

My advice would to be try the shortfill made correctly to 3mg nic and see how you get on with it. With a low ohm direct lung kit, you will get much more vapour and therefore more nicotine with each inhalation. Rather than messing your juice up with mixes it wasn't intended for. Try it and then you'll know if it works for you. If not then look at other avenues.

On a second point, low ohms high power is not likely to be a pleasant experience with high nicotine. I'd rather vape more with low strength than blow my throat out.

 

[Deadanddripping]

I'd also add that the 20mg in the disposables will be nicotine salts which are absorbed faster to satisfy the craving. Freebase nicotine works differently and therefore you don't need such a large amount as you might think. I've used 10 and 20mg salts regularly but couldn't vape 12mg freebase as I liked vaping on work breaks and a few toots was enough, leaving me stood around in the smoke shelter. I lowered my nic level so I could recreate more of a smoking style habit and vape for 20 minutes without my throat closing up. I personally think it's more about following a habit than the actual nicotine consumption, though I've not tried nic free.

 

[Reti]

So I added 20ml of 18mg each nic salts to my shortfil. It diluted the flavour of course, but not so much that it was flavourless. I could do with adding another shot but I know that it would dilute it too much.
I've ordered a flavour concentrate from ebay so that I can add another nicotine, and then the concentrate and hopefully the flavour will be nice and still have enough nicotine.

From what I've learnt here, I don't need to have 20mg strength (the strength that I'm used to from smoking disposables) because the vape I have creates huge clouds, which means I'm getting more nicotine than I otherwise would have. Though to be honest, the clouds from the disposable ones aren't exactly small.

This tank I have really goes through the juice fast though. I'm having to top it up constantly. It is a nice vape though.

The concentrate I ordered is lemon sherbet, I'm going to add it to a lemon & lime liquid. The liquid is like a real bitter lemon and lime. I was expecting a lemon & lime like the one in the Hayati pro's which is really nice. It's sweet with a sherbet taste to it, so I'm hoping I can replicate something like that by adding lemon sherbet to it.

 

[Reti]

Experience and extensive trial and error.

I did try making my own juice for a while. I like blackcurrant flavours and assumed all I had to do was buy a Blackcurrant flavouring and, once I found out what ratio of blackcurrant to add to VG/PG, would end up with a juicy, refreshing blackcurrant flavour juice, just like the stuff I was buying at my local shop.

the results were pretty awful... It was definitely blackcurrant flavoured, but it was so dry I had to drink water constantly and the flavour definitely had something 'missing', quite frankly it had a lot of something missing.

I tried mixing from recipes - one I tried was Peach Custard. 'Common Sense' tells me this recipe would be Custard and Peach Flavourings. The recipe had Custard AND equal amounts of Bavarian Cream - it did include Peach flavouring - but it was equal amounts of two different types of Peach flavours and, for some reason I couldn't fathom equal amounts of Strawberry flavour, and Vanilla... i can't remember the entire recipe, but it included 8 different flavourings - six of which i wouldn't have expected to be part of a peach custard juice. Yet, after 6 weeks steeping time, this juice was excellent - and it improved with age.

Sadly I never managed to make a fruit flavoured vape that even came close to the 'professional' store bought juices - and following other people's recipes seldom worked for me. Some I could vape - but I never found one I would buy from a shop if any of my favourites were available.

Making good juice requires knowledge and skill. Sadly I don't have either.

That makes sense when you think about it, that it would require all those crazy flavours to get the end result. They'll all play a subtle part to get that perfect one. I didn't think it would be as difficult as you described, it's a shame that it is. Maybe making my own isn't the way to go...
But as I said on my last comment, I've ordered a flavour concentrate to make the liquid stronger after being diluted with nicotine. I'll post back here to let you know how it goes, if it goes well I'll keep doing that. I'll also be ordering some of the stronger nicotine from a website I have, that should go a long way in helping with flavour dilution.

 

[vapervince]

My only advice would be to keep notes then your results are repeatable, and if you are going to get hold of the stronger nic, make sure of your quants before you start mixing, measure twice, cut once as they say.
It`s true , the professionals really do do it better, although I haven`t tried it, a brand that I use almost exclusively, IVG, do a lemon & lime.

 

[Reti]

My only advice would be to keep notes then your results are repeatable, and if you are going to get hold of the stronger nic, make sure of your quants before you start mixing, measure twice, cut once as they say.
It`s true , the professionals really do do it better, although I haven`t tried it, a brand that I use almost exclusively, IVG, do a lemon & lime.

Have you tried it? is it a nice one, sweet?

One final question...
If i fancied a rest from DTL and wanted to MTL vape, is it a case of just getting a suitable tank and using the same mod that I have? To clarify, I have the Geekvape Aegis X which goes up to 200w. I know MTL tanks and the higher resistance coils will only tolerate around up to 40w or so, so I can set my mod to that no problems. But will that work? Literally just getting a different tank and using that and swapping back and forth as and when the mood strikes me?

 

[Deadanddripping]

Yep that works! Great isn't it?!

 

[vapervince]

Have you tried it? is it a nice one, sweet?

One final question...
If i fancied a rest from DTL and wanted to MTL vape, is it a case of just getting a suitable tank and using the same mod that I have? To clarify, I have the Geekvape Aegis X which goes up to 200w. I know MTL tanks and the higher resistance coils will only tolerate around up to 40w or so, so I can set my mod to that no problems. But will that work? Literally just getting a different tank and using that and swapping back and forth as and when the mood strikes me?

iI haven`t tried their lemon & lime but I like a sweet fruity vape and they have at least 10 that I`ve tried and enjoyed.
I dont use MTL vapes but I`m pretty certain that higher resistance coils they use are built to vape at between 8 - 15 watts, your mod is probably regulated from 5 - 200 watts so should handle the lower wattages easily.