In today’s discussion we will dive into the what and how on DIY ejuice. Now this will be strictly in my opinion and experience, everyone out there has their own methods. So let’s dive right in.
Ejuice has three to four ingredients depending on personal preference. They all contain propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, flavor concentrate, and depending on need liquid nicotine.
Ingredient one, propylene glycol. This is a thin substance that in our finished product will be our flavor carrier and will contribute to something called throat hit. CAUTION some people are allergic to this so be careful. Almost all flavor concentrates are suspended in pg (propylene glycol) unless otherwise specified by the manufacturer.
Ingredient number two, vegetable glycerin. This is a thicker substance almost like motor oil in viscosity. This product is going to be our major cloud producer but can mute flavor. Depending on how you will use your finished product you may need to have more of this than pg.
Ingredient number three, flavor concentrate. Not really much to say about this because it’s pretty self explanatory.
Ingredient number four (which is optional) liquid nicotine. CAUTION this is a poison in large quantities and could kill you, your children, and pets, please use your fucking brain when using and storing this product. Once again self explanatory ingredient. This will be used in moderation.
So now that we have a idea of what ingredients are in there we can talk about what we want to make which can be more confusing than thought. First let’s figure out what blend we want. Most shop brands are most of the time 50vg/50pg it’s kind of a standard blend.
Some companies of top shelf stuff can be 80vg/20pg,70vg/30pg,and so on. Our blend is all dependant on what type of atomizer we will use, if we are going to tank our juice in a ce4 or evod tank then we want to make a 50/50 blend due to the smaller wicking holes in our coil. Now if we are dripping go to the higher end of the spectrum with higher vg. A rda can handle high vg and creates extremely good flavor. Now we have to find what flavor percentage we want, standard is 20%,although it can be higher or lower depending on preference. So if we are going to have a 20% of flavor in our juice then we use 20% of one flavor or a mixture of flavors that add up to 20%. This can confuse some people so this is where a good ejuice calculator comes in and there are a number of them you can find online or through your phones app store. Next we will figure out what nic MG we want if any. For example when I make a juice for a subtank it’s usually 6mg, a dripper is 3mg, and a normal tank depends on coil resistance well really depends on resistance for all of them but I wanted to give a little more specific examples.
Time to do this thing. We have an idea of what we are going to make for example we will make a 50/50 blend 20% of one flavor and 12mg nicotine, input this into your calculator, now something I haven’t mentioned yet are the tools we will need for measuring and mixing. I keep a few 1ml,6ml,and 10ml oral syringes around, you can get these usually for free at a pharmacy. Bottles I usually recycle, I personally always mix in glass and then transfer into plastic when the product is finished. I like to remove the dropper from glass bottles because when shaking the squeeze top works as kind of like a little mixing chamber. With our clean bottle and syringes out we will measure our flavor first and add it to our bottle, then measure our pg and add that to our flavor in our mixing bottle, now screw on our cap and give it a shake. I always shake the mix as I add ingredients but you don’t have to. Take the cap off and measure your vg, add it to the mixing bottle. Now depending on steeping method you want to use we will hold off on adding nicotine.
There are several steeping methods and I’ll talk a little about each one. There is time steeping, this method means we let our juice sit in a dark place and shake once in the morning and once in the evening, this is the method that takes the longest but gives very good results. If time steeping is what you want to use then a precise measured amount of nicotine can be added when mixing. Hot water bath, my preferred method. Using hot water from the tap, a jar of water on a candle warmer, or a slow cooker with water place the open mixing bottle in the container and fill the container just up to the neck of the mixing bottle and let it sit in the hot water about 120 degrees F. Every hour or so cap the bottle, give it a shake, and place back in the water with the cap off.
So after a few hours I add my nicotine with the bottle out of the water but still warm. This step if wanted is very critical be sure to measure very accurately and double check your values before adding. Now cap again and shake. This method is still used in conjunction with time steeping but can cut it down considerably. The last method is breathing which I don’t really use because it doesn’t yield great results but I will say letting a little fresh air into the mix every so often doesn’t hurt. Basically give your mix a shake and leave it uncapped for an hour and repeat. I use this method if a flavor in my mix is a bit overwhelming or has a chemical taste to it. Remember to never let your juice sit in direct sunlight, the result of that will turn your juice to junk.
In conclusion and thanks for bearing with me, you have now the knowledge on how to be a mix apprentice (not a master yet). A few things to keep in mind are a pad of paper and a pen are always needed to write down recipes, there are several additives out there to better your home made concoction but aren’t necessary to start with, and there is a plethora of places online to help hone your skills as I always say DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
For now this is where I leave you and encourage comments and questions as always. Vape on and continue the climb on being smoke free!
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