Starting off - What to get, What not to get, etc

gopher_byrd said:

Help in your decision making: https://gumroad.com/l/GwMpo#
That is the link to HIC's notes on FA flavors. Don't start mixing FA without it. Best part is it is free! Many thanks to HeadInClouds for the excellent work!

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attackonthebass said:

ok so to make it simple I just need

nicotine unflavored
scale
flavors
gloves
zip ties for my sawzall to mix my juice


anything else?

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Chaotic_Vapes said:

So I'm not experienced or anything at all really. I'm a nobody on this forum but let me give you some advice on my experience.

I got a starter kit similar to yours from DIY flavor shack and it came with flavors which are theirs so, uh, no recipes I could follow really. So from that I learned try to go for more common flavor companies.

I didn't end up buying the kit, like the people in here said, you could get more bang for your buck buying stuff off ecigarettexpress.com, ebay & amazon. Although, I don't always trust what people say on ebay to be true so I bought everything this 1st go around from amazon & ecig x press

Now nic. Mine came with 60mg nic and I got an option for what it's base would be. They don't suggest noobies to work with 100mg nic but hell, I trust you aren't stupid enough to work without gloves ect.
I got it in vg, not because it's better but because of what I would use it for. I'm a fan of max vg juice so having my nic in vg means the only pg in any of my mixes is my flavoring. (Side note) I vaped 100% vg just to see how it is and it's not half bad, I might get some vg flavorings and give it a shot for cloud chasing only though.

I accidentally bought my 100mg/ml in vg, If you or anyone else would like to buy it from me I'll gladly sell it if you are interested.
Its kind of a pain in the ass to to mix pg through a syringe which is what I've been using. Prior to buying any of this stuff I accidentally bought pg nic sample from nudenicotine & it's SUPER easy to work with.

So bottles. My test batches are in 10 ml (since it starts to get hard to measure with syringes below that).
like you I bought a bunch of plastic 10 ml bottles, but after mixing my 1st batch last night I realized that IMO they're too small for my liking. Plus mixing up 10ml of juice seemed like more of a pain in the ass so I mixed up 20ml of juice & @ 1st put the ejuice into the smaller plastic bottles but then I swapped them out & put both bottles into an old 30ml glass bottle that i had.

If you want to mix by weight (supposed to be more precise which imo is only needed if you make complicated recipes or intend to market juice) then you really do just need a scale and some research. I personally haven't looked into it but might in the future.
not sure if it's just the scale I bought that's an issue but the numbers are jumping all over the place. I had a smaller scale but this is the way to go IMO. I technically didn't really use the weight system but I was weighing everything as I went & taking notes but I think in the long run it will be much easier to make exacly what you want the next go around & it will be more precise.


Looking at the kit you posted makes mine a total rip off, oh well right? However I've seen some people take a paper clip in a drill to make a ejuice mixer haha. I took some zip ties & strapped the bottle to my sawzall & pressed the button for 20 seconds & it was well shaken. I know others said simply shaking it with your hand is find but if you have tools why not use them?

Also never use McCormick... I mean if you see the ingredients and they are vape friendly then go for it but they are not as concentrated as what we use so you better prepare to pour a load in. I didn't or don't plan on using it I just thouhgt I saw in one of the diy recipe's & thought it would be great since I could just run to the store & grab a bottle of flavoring but I won't be f'ing around & using McCormicks

Sorry if some of these were already answered or decided on. Too much reading for me right now.
I'm a green horn as well, just made my first batch last night & to be honest I personally love how it taste's, but it did take me several hours to mess around with it & slowly add flavorings to where I had it to my liking's.

Sent from my dos terminal.

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mark said:

Hey everyone! Yes I am a very clueless person, wanting to get into the whole DIY thing. At the Very old age of 55, I feel like I might be in over my head. Learning new things is real struggle for me. I hate to post questions that either appear to be stupid, or are actually stupid. lol But does anyone know of a list, of items that you will need to start off with. I have read so many posts, and I do get the basic supplies. " Gloves, Scale, Bottles etc." But what confuses the hell out of me is, how much, P.G., and V.G. you need to begin with? Also if buying the 100 mg. of nicotine how big of bottle do I need? Is there a huge preference if the Nic is in P.G., or V.G. base? I just don't want to buy, too much, or too little of any of these items. If anyone would like to help me out with these questions, I would really appreciate it. Take care Everyone.

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attackonthebass said:

I attempted to make just a Cheese cake & sweet cream ejuice last night but for some reason the flavor was really really faint. I didn't want to add anything more than 20% as that seems like it's like the threshold that I've noticed on most recipes here so @ the very end I added .5ml of Cap sweet strawberry which seems to be the most dominant flavor out of all of them even though I used 1.6 of the sweet cream & 1.6 of the cheese cake graham crust.

I know it's going to take some tinkering around & I'll get my cheese cake graham crust with cream. I just didn't want to use 4ml of flavoring's on 20ml's of ejuice.

I'm already stoked about making this purchase. I can't wait to make my next juice. I bought flavors for another recipe I saw on here & I'm going to start making that after I post this post

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Chaotic_Vapes said:

Glad to see you're off to a good start, if you ever want simple recipes from DIY flavor shack flavors I've got a thread I'm constantly updating with new recipes as I advance on. Good luck and have fun.


Sent from my dos terminal.

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attackonthebass said:

Thanks, do you have a link?

I made another flavor today but it was just 10% of CAP's horchata & it's delicious. I'm wondering if the flavor's will improve with time.

My goal is to try & make two new flavors a weekend. It's not hard to do, but I've been taking notes & doing all kinds of things that probably aren't necessary but in time it will pay off as to what I didn't like or what I need more of on the next go round.

I don't want to pound my chest, but I was actually pretty happy with my 1st mixture. I know it needs time to develop, but I made a 10ml sample & then I liked it so I went ahead & made a 30ml bottle.

So far I'm happy with my investments.

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attackonthebass said:

do you shake it every day & or steep everyday? & there are ton's of video's on youtube about steeping. My thoughts are just letting the bottle sit for one month is the best way to let things do whatever they need to, in order to reach their optimal taste.

if I'm wrong please let me know because I"m tired of watching steeping videos

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attackonthebass said:

No question is ever a dumb question, & if someone replies with something stupid they should be booted from this group. We're all here to help one another. Also it doesn't matter what age you are, if you can read & mix some ingredients you can do it.


you can buy whatever nic juice you like pre-made if you don't want to mess around with mixing pg/vg. It's more expensive than buying the nicotine by itself but it is available. The only problem is if you prefer a 6mg ejuice & you are making a small batch for a sample to make sure you like the flavor, or flavors you are not going to have a true 6mg ejuice since the flavorings are pg & you'll be knocking down the 6 to a lower nic

http://www.ecigexpress.com/diy-e-liquid/e-liquid-bases/nicotine-bases.html

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BrainJuicedLLC said:

Anyone try the chicken and waffle by TFA? We will be mixing this up with some blueberry today! Would you try it?

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attackonthebass said:

I noticed @ bull city was one of the only sites had "CAUTION" above the flavors that contained
Acetyl Propionyl and/or Acetoin

Figures that a majority of the flavors that I bought from Ecigexpress pretty much all contain one or both of the items above. Is flavor apprentice or any other flavor not contain these items? I'm not sure how harmful they are to you, but I don't want to vape the hell out of something knowing that I can use another brand & or flavor that doesn't contain harmful chemicals.

Are there particular flavors that are usually more harmful than others?

I'm still going to use the flavor's that I purchased but I switched to vaping from analog's because I thought it would be less harmful. I don't want to find out two years from now that that CAP custard was worse than cigarettes because of XYZ. I know I'm being extreme but I'm just inquiring

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attackonthebass said:

I know a lot of people around these parts say "less is more" but what is essentially a good percentage of flavorings to use? it seems like no one goes over 15%

I want to make strawberry & custard this weekend. Should I use 1/2 custard & 1/2 strawberry?

I bought 3 or 4 different strawberry flavorings & I planned on using Custard Cap #1 & Cap#2 for each but I don't want to make 8 30ml bottles only to find out that I used waaay too much strawberry. I noticed on my 1st mixture it didn't really taste like much after I mixed it so I used 2.5% strawberry & it totally overpowered the sweet cream & cheesecake both of which I used 8%

I'm going to go through the DIY recipe list & find one & go from there. I really wish I could put all of my flavors that I bought into "ejuice me up" & be able to hit a button that would tell me which blends & or flavors I could make with the 15-20 flavors I bought.

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attackonthebass said:

I know a lot of people around these parts say "less is more" but what is essentially a good percentage of flavorings to use? it seems like no one goes over 15%

I want to make strawberry & custard this weekend. Should I use 1/2 custard & 1/2 strawberry?

I bought 3 or 4 different strawberry flavorings & I planned on using Custard Cap #1 & Cap#2 for each but I don't want to make 8 30ml bottles only to find out that I used waaay too much strawberry. I noticed on my 1st mixture it didn't really taste like much after I mixed it so I used 2.5% strawberry & it totally overpowered the sweet cream & cheesecake both of which I used 8%

I'm going to go through the DIY recipe list & find one & go from there. I really wish I could put all of my flavors that I bought into "ejuice me up" & be able to hit a button that would tell me which blends & or flavors I could make with the 15-20 flavors I bought.

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Budds said:

Good choice with Rocketpuppy's RY4 !
While I think I only tried her variation once, TFA RY4 Dble. is what got me off Cigs, and store bought juice.

Its been a little over 2 yrs now, and I still make Ry4 Dble. @ 4%.... 100 mls at a time.
Easy to pour off 10 mls and add a little something to it if I wanna change it up a bit like a touch of Acetyl Pyrazine, or Toasted Almond, or Vanilla, or Jamaican Rum, ect... ect...

Also....
By mixing 100mls at a time, you get to see what a good steep does for it.
Its okay a week after mixing, but after week 4 its in its prime !
I only mix two Flavors in such large quantities..... TFA Ry4 Dble, and FA Cuban Supreme.
Always have 100 mls of each in my medicine cabinet !

Good Luck and Have Fun !

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attackonthebass said:

So you just add Ry4 DBL & whatever your pg/vg ratio to your mix & vape it by itself? I know I read a lot of good things about TFA Ry4 double, but I want to try & replicate some of the 22 dollar bottles that I've been buying in the store. I know in time I'll figure it out,

NICE, I think I have some toasted almond, I finally got around to making 1 - 60ml batch, but I think I'm going to make another one with toasted almond in place of the Acetyl Pyrazine.

The 1st batch I made is just @ about a month right now & when I first blended it, I wasn't really impressed. Now I'm mad that I only made a 30ml bottle because I'm actually pretty impressed with how it came out.

FA - Cheesecake Graham Crust
Cap - Sweet Cream
Cap - Sweet Strawberry

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Chrispdx said:

Lots of great replys already. I did see above using a sawzall. That's the method I use to shake after first making up my bottles. However, I would recommend using the plumbing straps over tape or zip ties. They are reusable, secure, and cheep. I picked up acouple from my local hardware store, picked up the stainless steal.

What I mean by plumbing straps...the metal straps that have a screw to tighten the strap. Not sure if I have the term right. But it's a metal strap with a screw doo hickey that you can tighten/loosen the strap.

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Heabob said:

Strawberry needs a good steep to taste right, at least a week but sometimes more, same for custards.
You need to make small test batches to put away for awhile.
TFA Strawberry is OK at 3-4%
Cheesecake depends much on the brand but usually 5-7%.
I don't go above 3% with Sweet Cream.
Some good Strawberry recipes are around here, but most need steeping also.

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attackonthebass said:

The rocketpuppy RY4 is pretty good, I havent' been that impressed with the juices that I've made.

They're good, but they need tinkering & I just haven't had time with the holiday's, I think I'm going to make (2) 120's of the RRY4 because it's only been about 2 weeks & it's really starting to taste great!!!

I can only imagine what it will taste like in another 2 weeks.

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