Where to start with DIY E-Liquid

[Dulcis Ultio]

Hi everyone.

I am a complete and utter noob to vaping and general and even more so as far as creating my own e-liquid.
I would like to start making my own e-liquid as a means to cut costs as i'm finding that spending in excess of R1000 per month on liquid isn't sustainable. I say R1000 because both my wife and I are vaping as a means to stay away from cigarettes and in the past month we have been through far too much liquid. Both as a result of not knowing what we're buying (stuff we really don't like the taste of) and because we have no idea how long our juices are supposed to last. Right now, I would guess that our average is 1-2 bottles of 120ml each per week.

What I would like to know is the following:
1) What do we need to get started
2) What would be a good budget for getting started with DIY

Right now, we're enjoying the non-ice fruity flavours as well as the "cakey" flavours. As an example, these are the ones we are currently using and enjoying:
1) Onecloud Cinnamon Pancake
2) Revamp Liquids Bunny Milk Strawberry
3) Renegade Blackberry/Lime/Grape
4) RY4Sure Caramel/Vanilla/Tobacco
5) Onecloud Diddly's Strawberry Condensed Milk
6) Slick Mango
7) Smashd Toffee Milkshake

TIA guys

 

[Kevinc1977]

Try find a one shot you like, this can also be an expensive exercise as its trial and error. But once you have a good one it can save you in the long run.

Essentials for me are a scale to weigh your ingredients, and a set of funnels to help pouring, some empty bottles to mix in.

You will need pg, vg, nicotine and flavours of your choice. There are thousands of recipes online.

Check out https://e-liquid-recipes.com/create to calculate your ingredients.

Check out www.blck.co.za for some supplies.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Dulcis Ultio]

Thanks very much Kevin! Much appreciated

 

[Resistance]

Hi everyone.

I am a complete and utter noob to vaping and general and even more so as far as creating my own e-liquid.
I would like to start making my own e-liquid as a means to cut costs as i'm finding that spending in excess of R1000 per month on liquid isn't sustainable. I say R1000 because both my wife and I are vaping as a means to stay away from cigarettes and in the past month we have been through far too much liquid. Both as a result of not knowing what we're buying (stuff we really don't like the taste of) and because we have no idea how long our juices are supposed to last. Right now, I would guess that our average is 1-2 bottles of 120ml each per week.

What I would like to know is the following:
1) What do we need to get started
2) What would be a good budget for getting started with DIY

Right now, we're enjoying the non-ice fruity flavours as well as the "cakey" flavours. As an example, these are the ones we are currently using and enjoying:
1) Onecloud Cinnamon Pancake
2) Revamp Liquids Bunny Milk Strawberry
3) Renegade Blackberry/Lime/Grape
4) RY4Sure Caramel/Vanilla/Tobacco
5) Onecloud Diddly's Strawberry Condensed Milk
6) Slick Mango
7) Smashd Toffee Milkshake

TIA guys

My suggestion would also be one shots, but also check out the premixed bases. It saves alot of PT. You'll also gain a bit of experience till you decide to go full on DIY.

 

[Old_Goat]

A great place to start would be to join us for the first-ever DIY E-liquid mixing meet-up.

https://www.ecigssa.co.za/threads/where-to-start-with-diy-e-liquid.80089/#post-1013341

 

[Stranger]

Try find a one shot you like, this can also be an expensive exercise as its trial and error. But once you have a good one it can save you in the long run.

Essentials for me are a scale to weigh your ingredients, and a set of funnels to help pouring, some empty bottles to mix in.

You will need pg, vg, nicotine and flavours of your choice. There are thousands of recipes online.

Check out https://e-liquid-recipes.com/create to calculate your ingredients.

Check out www.blck.co.za for some supplies.

Good luck and enjoy!

Best advice you can get. I also DIY and played with many recipes to get where I wanted to be. A lot of commercial juice will have sweeteners in them and you need to take that into consideration. For a long time I bought one shots until I settled on a few that I like. Blck is the go to but you can look for specials everywhere. I also go through a crap load of juice as I am RDL and heavy VG, low nic.

 

[Old_Goat]

The best advice I ever got for DIY juice mixing was to ditch the syringes and use a scale instead. It's way more accurate and less messy. BLCK has everything you need to start, but steer clear of the starter kits—they're not worth it. Grab a good scale, some VG and PG (remember, more VG than PG), and a few flavors to start with.

Look online for a simple recipe that catches your eye—nothing too complex. Once you nail that one, experiment with others. After a few successful recipes, try creating your own blend. It's a rewarding journey! Good luck!

 

[veecee]

The best advice I ever got for DIY juice mixing was to ditch the syringes and use a scale instead. It's way more accurate and less messy. BLCK has everything you need to start, but steer clear of the starter kits—they're not worth it. Grab a good scale, some VG and PG (remember, more VG than PG), and a few flavors to start with.

Look online for a simple recipe that catches your eye—nothing too complex. Once you nail that one, experiment with others. After a few successful recipes, try creating your own blend. It's a rewarding journey! Good luck!

Can confirm. Scale for the win. Syringes are awful.

 

[Quintusson]

So much advice, so little time to type everything.

So first,

DIY and played with many recipes

Look online for a simple recipe that catches your eye

Very good advice. Sites like e-liquid-recipes.com is a good place to start. Just note, some of the top rated recipes are very old and so may not be so relevant anymore. Also, do not panic if you do not have the exact ingredients, there are a few which are quite interchangeable, e.g. INW Biscuit vs JF Biscuit (not exactly the same, but you will get almost the same effect). Though there are others which are not, e.g. CAP Vanilla Custard V1 vs TFA Custard V1, those two are chalk and cheese. Unfortunately you would need to figure this out on your own, else you can read the reviews on ELR (they have a section where you can ready people's comments on each flavour) and determine from there if you can interchange something. Or you can just ask here on the forum and someone would be happy to help.

Also, you can look through this forum to see if there are some recipes here which you may want to try out. Many talented mixers have put recipes down here for general use and I am sure there should be something you can use.

Essentials for me are a scale to weigh your ingredients

If you want to mix first to see if mixing is for you or not, use syringes. I know people who wanted to mix to save money but then found, huh-uh, this ain't my scene. Once you get serious about it, a scale is the way to go. My preferred one, and I have been through MANY in the years I have been mixing, is this one from Takealot: https://www.takealot.com/500g-0-01g-digital-pocket-scale/PLID54496792

As for sweeteners, they can be a blessing or a curse. In my humble opinion, most of the commercial juices out there makes too much use of sweetener, but adding a little to your juice does make the flavours come out more. Add a little and work your way up. It's like adding salt to food you're making, you can always add more, you can never take away.

Then look at getting a decent e-liquid recipe app. If you mix in front of you PC, have a look at this one - I've been using it for about 8 years now and swear by it: http://diyjuicecalculator.com/
Else, if you're going to use your phone, check this one out: Vape Tool (icon is a coil)

Steeping.... Sooo many people want to mix and use, don't. For fruits this can work most times, but dessert recipes need time. 2-3 weeks average. Fruits are usually good to go from about 3-4 days. You do not get the full impression of the juice before these times and if you let it stand longer, it usually gets better.

Do not panic if a juice does not taste the way you want it to. Take from it the aspects that you do like, e.g. if you mix a simple Strawberry Watermelon flavour, do you like the Strawberry or the Watermelon, then can you use that in something else, etc. I.e. try and identify the flavours you put in and see which work, and which do not.

Start off with basic recipes. Do not go and mix a 6-8 ingredient juice first time round. You will learn how to combine flavours and what works for you and what not.

Lastly, DO NOT mix a first time recipe in 100ml or such, only mix 10ml. Then test it (an RDA is good for this) and then if you like it, mix 100ml's or more.

 

[Resistance]

https://www.ecigssa.co.za/threads/new-flavorah-flavors-reviewed-by-sessiondrummer.78192/

We have our very own Flavour tester. He's got multiple threads with a gazillion flavours tried and tested

 

[joe42]

I'm new to vaping and want to start making my own e-liquid to save costs. Any advice or tips for a complete beginner like me?
And If you want to buy premium packaging for your vaping product I recommend you to checking out this online store: cbdpackagingstore.com

 

[Old_Goat]

Start here.

 

[Quintusson]

Start here.

View attachment 290662

Alas, I will be in Kenya at the time. Would've been interesting.

 

[Old_Goat]

Alas, I will be in Kenya at the time. Would've been interesting.

If it goes well, I will be doing it again soon.