PG/VG/Water/Vodka?

[richydraper]

OK... so... this the culmination of a 2 month story about me mixing my own liquid. thing is ive managed to tie myself in knots over percentages and pretty basic mixing. im hoping its a 'forest for the trees' kinda thing so if anyone can help me out id really appreciate it! (hope i dont waffle on too much) TL : DR I screwed up my liquid reciepe for my coils and i need bailing out.

i love Vapables Triple Menthol and ive been thinking about mixing for about 6 months, anyway finally bit the bullet in March and bought myself Vapeables own branded PG, VG, VG Nic, and PG Flavour. emailed Vapable to get advice on what they thought the best ratios for the 3xMentol were. i ended up mixing PG/VG 35/65, on their recommendation, in a variety of strengths, from 10-20% all at 6mg. i ended up sticking with 20% for a while but im having that hair pulling stage at the moment.

ive never vaped the self mix in anything but my Eleaf iStick 20W and Aspire Nautilus Mini (1.8ohm) and for the first couple of coils (the 2 supplied with the Nautilus) it was fine. oodles of vapour(enough to annoy the wife) and massive mentholly hit to keep me satisfied. recently purchased a couple of questionable coils and a 5pk of official ones from my local ElectroMist outlet. since using the replacement coils (not the ones bundled with the tank) its not going too well

after 4 days of frantically trying to find out why the coils 'aint the best'. dry hits, burnt hits, playing with the power (with original coils could run at 5v/13.8w) to no avail etc etc. i found a little gem of info on Aspires Forum about PG/VG ratios. turns out the Nautilus doesnt run well anything under a 60%PG mix.... Great, im running a 35% mix, no wonder its burning. (wish id known it sooner, but it ran fine on supplied coils sooo i wasnt complaining).

i hurriedly mackled together a PG/VG 65/35 5ml mix from the spare PG i have kicking around and the 100ml or so of the 'thick liquid' i mixed up in a batch about 4 weeks ago because everything was going well. Its MILES better now, wicks well into the coils and all my dry hit problems are solved. (obviously vapour production is less due to the lower ratio of VG which saddens me a little)

i made up a 5ml bottle of the 'thick liquid' and diluted with vodka (albeit zubrowka, because thats all i had in the fridge, im actually growing to enjoy the flavour with the menthol) and a 5ml diluted with distilled water (some unopened stuff i had in the garage for battery electrolyte levels, dont judge me ) because i read somewhere that i could do it and i dont want to waste the liquid i already have mixed. plus its all about experimenting and getting right/wrong... isnt it!?

pretty much for the past week ive been vaping bodged liquids just to get me by, Nic levels arent where i want or need them, Vapour production is all over the place, tastes vary with every small batch i make up (generally once a day, im railing through 10-15ml a day at the moment). i need you guys to help me out as you can tell from the above i seem to have lost my way a little bit

i understand PG/VG/Nic/Flavour ratios, and have a basic knowledge of how they hang together but i have zero constructive knowledge of how to go about using Water/Vodka to dilute, or what kind of effects this will have on flavour, Nic content and Vapour production. or if it should be the kind of thing i should be looking at incorperating in future batches to get more value for monies. in an ideal world id like to keep the properties of the PG/VG 35/65, 20%Menthol, 6mg but i just want it thinner so it will wick properly in the Nautilus.

please Please PLEASE help a n00b. i hope i didnt digress too much, i understand sometimes threads like this have the ability to drive people insane, so thankyou if you stuck with it all the way through

 

[davroz]

Pardon me if I'm missing the point but why are you tied to a 65/35 mix .... could you just take a small amount of mix and add some PG to the point where it wicks well ?

Or if you like the addition of Vodka add some of that and treat it like PG for the purpose of calculation.

Personally I don't like adding water because I find it detracts from the flavour.

Once you find the correct balance of mix, do the calculation that transforms your original mix to the new model and tweak. Or, put your original mix to one side and build small amounts from new, then use that model to tweak your original mix.

I'd go for simplicity with a fewer number of ingredients ... if you have lots of different things to balance you can end up trying to solve the three body problem every time you mix

 

[Tubbyengineer]

Forget the water or Vodka, theres really no need of you're mixing a 65%PG liquid. I think you'd be better going with a 70/30 ratio, Assuming your using PG based nic and flavours it becomes a straight forward parts of 10 system. Put 3 parts vg, add the flavours and nic to suit your taste then simply top up to the full 10ml or 100ml or whatever with PG - You'll then have your 30%VG 70%PG ratio without too many complex calculations.
Try using the Ejuice me up calculator as well...

 

[richydraper]

Thanks @davroz , I'm not tied to 65/35 but the highest ratio suggested on the aspire forum for ratios is PG/VG 60/40. I was going to mix a 65/35 just because its not right on the edge of the recommendation...
I tend to mix 5ml just for testing as it will usually take 2ml through the tank to 'cleans the pallet' so to speak and then i get a good representation of what it will actually Sooo... i handed her 10quid dinner money and said 'lacie put *this* in your bag'.... is it in her bag... is it fuck on the remaining 3ml.

Im going to adjust my current 'thick' batch later today. And put a new coil in as the one i currently have keeps giving dry hits every so often and is tainted from so many burns whilst ive been trying to get it right.

Thanks for your thoughts.

@Tubbyengineer also thankyou for your input. Will experiment with 70/30 and drop the vodka. I have a handfull of juice apps on my phone and downloaded ejuice me up program last night. Havent had time to play yet. Currently have VG Nic so will go for PG when next ordering. I had the same thought when looking at mixing predominantly PG

 

[Tubbyengineer]

Thanks @davroz , I'm not tied to 65/35 but the highest ratio suggested on the aspire forum for ratios is PG/VG 60/40. I was going to mix a 65/35 just because its not right on the edge of the recommendation...
I tend to mix 5ml just for testing as it will usually take 2ml through the tank to 'cleans the pallet' so to speak and then i get a good representation of what it will actually Sooo... i handed her 10quid dinner money and said 'lacie put *this* in your bag'.... is it in her bag... is it fuck on the remaining 3ml.

Im going to adjust my current 'thick' batch later today. And put a new coil in as the one i currently have keeps giving dry hits every so often and is tainted from so many burns whilst ive been trying to get it right.

Thanks for your thoughts.

@Tubbyengineer also thankyou for your input. Will experiment with 70/30 and drop the vodka. I have a handfull of juice apps on my phone and downloaded ejuice me up program last night. Havent had time to play yet. Currently have VG Nic so will go for PG when next ordering. I had the same thought when looking at mixing predominantly PG

I mix at 50/50 for my tanks - but I'm using predominantly RTA's or Subtank types but I always start with the 50%VG as all the flavours and nic are predominantly PG based. I find it makes it easier if you use PG based flavours and nic - providing you don't have a PG sensitivity...

 

[richydraper]

thanks Tubbyengineer,

update... had new/more PG/VG/Nic/Flavour turn up today i remixed my 'thick' batch, now running PG70/30 lowered the menthol a little as it seemed to be tasting 'perfume-y' so now at around 17%-ish. a 50ml batch is now upto 130ml and much better tasting, better vapour production and a comfortable throat hit. happy with how it turned out thank you both for your suggestions, as i said i couldnt see the forest for the trees!

looking forward to going at it again with a 'virgin' batch once ive rattled through this little lot in two or three weeks. Now i know what the kit is capable of and what im actually aiming for i guess my mixology journey starts again! who knows might be mixing stuff for the wife before long too

 

[jjde]

@richydraper if you do ever want to experiment again with vodka/water, then I would suggest dropping the PG completely. Start at around VG90/10 ratio. Vodka thins vg down much more than pg does, and this will be the equivalent (roughly) ot a pg60/40 mix. You can then experiment in making the mix thicker/thinner by changing the ratio in 2% increments. The difference is that it will deliver a cleaner taste, with more vapour than the pg mix. However, you lose a bit of throat hit.

Just an option for you in future, should you want a high vg mix that can easily be used in a tank.