A Flood Of Newbie Questions

[ddavelarsen]

Waiting for the budget facet of this to kick in, I'm just wondering what kind of ancilary stuff I need when I start mixing. For example, I know I'm going to want to experiment at small batches so plan to buy a bunch of 3 ml bottles. But I got to wondering...

1. What kind of measuring stuff do you use? I haven't looked yet, do they make lab equip that's graduated in mls and is that desireable?
2. How many drops per ml?
3. Do you keep really specific records?
4. How do you label stuff?

I'm sure I'll think of much more before too long but those are the few questions that have been rolling around in my head this morning (as opposed to work, I guess).

Are there sources that carry everything you'd need to get it going? I mean everything from 100mg juice to vape-specific flavoring, and bottles and pipettes and all the cool lab stuff? Probably not, but one could hope. Thanks for any ideas.

[GDub]

Here I'll give this a go, but I just started mixing my own juice so please take it for what it's worth-

1. I use a syringe w/ needle that is graduated in ml and cc.

2. I believe it's about 15 drops to equal 1 ml.

3. Not really, but I probably should. Maybe get a juice journal!

4. I have a small label maker that works great, just little plastic stickers that you can print on.

If you're looking for a one stop shop to buy everything, I'm not aware of one.

[Jeffb]

Hi dave, check out diyflaovorshack.com, they have all sorts of mixing info and supplies. The store is closed now but will re-open next week.

[nana]

So far I've just been mixing a little bit of extra flavor into my juices. I just put a little bit of juice in a 3ml bottle, add a few drops of flavor, shake, and sample. I haven't kept any records because I'm just trying to get some flavor right now.

I am about to place an order for flavors and some PG because I'm close to doing 0 nic all the time. I do have a link to a site for getting bottles that are really cheap, if that helps any.

The link to the bottles is: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=25040&catid=750

They have labware, too. That link is: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=620&parentcatid=-1

The flavors link: http://capellaflavordrops.com/flavordrops.aspx

It's not all one stop, but it's the best I have for now. If I see anything else, I'll let you know.

[SmokinHammer]

Dave, I'd also suggest DIY Flavor Shack. Like jeffb said, they have lots of stuff. I actually bought one of their little kits. I got 30ml of 48mg base, 4 flavors of my choice, some Pg and VG, and a whole assortment of syringes, droppers, bottles, menthol flakes, measuring spoons, fluval filler... and it all came packed in a little plastic tool box. Just a way to get an assortment of stuff, so I can figure out what I want more of. Like jeffb said, they're closed til the 18th, so I couldn't check to see what I paid for it. By the way, I tried out the clove recipe I posted a link to in this topic and I'm really liking it. I think the key is the Everclear. I made 10ml of 24mg, with an extra drop of clove oil because I don't have any anise oil. It's so much like a real clove I can't believe it. I can't imagine what a 48mg version would be like.

Oh, one more thing, I use 20 drops per ml. Good luck!

John

[ddavelarsen]

Y'all are so freakin cool! Thanks so much for all the great help. Yeah, I've been sitting around for a couple of weeks tapping my feet waiting for DIY Flavor Shack to open the heck back up! I'm also interested in the Flavour Art stuff, which I'm definitely going to check out. Soon as I get email caught up I'm going to check out eBay to see what kind of cool lab stuff looks like it would work for small mixing. Who knows what could happen in the next few weeks... heh

John, I can't wait to try that Clove recipe!!! Makes my mouth water just reading it...

Thanks again, and don't anyone be shy about adding to this great bunch of info!

[nana]

I knew someone would come up with the answer for Dave. Way to go, SmokinHammer! Now I'll be waiting for them to open so I can check them out, too.

[kitsune]

mixing and playing with the flavors is one of my favorite parts of vaping.

I usually just add bits until the flavor is right--keep track initially so if I really like it, I can make a bigger batch.

For me using a couple different dropper bottles--I got approx 30 drops to a ml or 3 drops to .1 ml.

Happy mixing!!!!

[ddavelarsen]

Can't wait to give it a go!

Oh wait - yes I can; "waiting" is central to the vaping experience, isn't it? In fact that sounds like a whole topic of its own, "waiting." Well, not me.

I put some snipes on a couple small graduated cylinders on eBay, that's about as far as I've gotten so far. I'm going to start making a shopping list just to give myself something to do until the budget kicks in again. Thanks for all the help! I'm particularly psyched about the Clove recipe...

Hey - anyone else have their own favored recipes that they'd like to share?

[MickiO]

Waiting for the budget facet of this to kick in, I'm just wondering what kind of ancilary stuff I need when I start mixing. For example, I know I'm going to want to experiment at small batches so plan to buy a bunch of 3 ml bottles. But I got to wondering...

1. What kind of measuring stuff do you use? I haven't looked yet, do they make lab equip that's graduated in mls and is that desireable?
2. How many drops per ml?
3. Do you keep really specific records?
4. How do you label stuff?

I'm sure I'll think of much more before too long but those are the few questions that have been rolling around in my head this morning (as opposed to work, I guess).

Are there sources that carry everything you'd need to get it going? I mean everything from 100mg juice to vape-specific flavoring, and bottles and pipettes and all the cool lab stuff? Probably not, but one could hope. Thanks for any ideas.

I uses a basic syringe for measuring (syringes marked cc = ml. I use small 5ml bottles for testing (flavors and carrying with me, and use 1oz.= 30ml) bottles for main mixes(I like the blue glass ones to protect liquid from light) http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=29 (81¢ for 1/2 oz/15mL bottle, 89¢ for 1 oz/30mL, with glass droppers, bout the the best price you'll find)

For measuring:

1 mL = 20 drops

15mL = 300 drops

30mL = 600 drops

I use this online mixing calculator for calculating amts for me, http://www.todmuller.com/ejuice/ejuice.php All you have to do, is enter the nic strength you have, put in the nic strength you want to make, fill in the size bottle amount you want to make, and put in the flavoring strength % you'd like to try and hit enter, it does all the math and calculations for you. Very helpful.

there's also a free download version of this that comes with some recipes, if you'd like I can send you the info on it.

I bought 100mg nic unflavored VG from here:http://www.myfreedomsmokes.com/diy.html they also sell 60mg,48mg, and lower nic. They have good prices on PG if you use that. I myself, I only use VG, since it makes huge plumes of vapor, and PG make me thirsty all the time, and gave me sore throat if I vaped alot, so I switched to VG. I LOVE it!

I bought 1 gallon of food grade Vegetable Glycerine for $33 plus shipping,(costed me $48.23, but they want like$15-$20 for small bottle in the stores, and that's not even food grade, There's another kind most markets sell, that is pharmaceutical grade and more for topical,skin products. Some people vape with it, but some same it game them a stomach ache. I did alot of research when I started mixing and This is where I bought mine http://www.botanical.com/products/bulkmisc/bulkmisc.html (You'll have to scroll down the page to Vegetable glycerin)

(Here's a couple other places that sell the pure stuff,http://www.morethanalive.com/Vegetable-Glycerin,http://www.starwest-botanicals.com/category/vegetable-glycerin/ but www.botanical.com link I gave you where I bought mine, I believe has the best price (sorry, not sure why these links don't show, but you can copy/paste them into your browser if you want)

I use these Flavorings from : http://www.faeriesfinest.com/extracts.html and these (very potent ones http://www.tastypuff.com/ (you can turn off the music on the website so you'll know, just click on the little speaker next to that little dancing guy, weird I know, but it's good stuff!) 2 drops will flavor a 10 mL batch pretty strong.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/ is a great source as well. I found alot of info on there that helped me alot. My user name on ECF is MickiO, You can pm me if you have any more questions.

Edited January 16, 2010 by MickiO

[ddavelarsen]

MickiO, thanks for the total boatload of information! And for the speaker trick at Tastypuff. I've been buying my juice at My Freedom Smokes and thought about getting 100mg there, but it seems a bit cheaper at Electro Nic Sticks and is also US made. Might support one of the 'local' suppliers for a while unless I decide I want a really big quantity of the stuff. That's one nice thing about freedom smokes, the large quantities available.