Worthy read for DIY'ers
Source: Bombies blog
http://bombies.com/blog/the-bombies-guide-to-diy/
DIY is one of the deeper facets of the Vaping hobbyist community. It requires patience, time, and countless reiterations of the same process before you get your first recipe just right. But, it also gives you the most possible control over your vaping experience - when you’re making your own e-juice, the only thing you don’t have control over is your desire to buy more flavor components. DIY offers not only an avenue to explore new flavor combinations and profiles, but the ability to save some money. Sure, at first it’s a bit pricey - getting all the supplies is an investment. But once you’re set up with some flavors, some VG, some nicotine, and your syringes and safety equipment - you can make a ton of juice for yourself and your friends. It seems difficult to get into, but it’s pretty forgiving and very fun. That said, there is a process for getting into DIY. You’ll need the right equipment, the time, and a recipe to start from.
DIY is an investment, to start off. You have to buy a bunch of flavors, your mixing tools, bottles, and even invest time into researching recipes you’d like to try - but, once you’ve gotten your initial batch of supplies, the cost of DIY over time is incredibly low. Furthermore, there’s an almost meditative quality to the act of repeatedly mixing a recipe, tasting it, tweaking it, and trying again. DIY is as useful for saving money as it is a relaxing hobby. Everyone here at Bombies is involved in the DIY community - it’s what spawned our Predator line - and we firmly believe it’s worth looking at if you’re interested in vaping as a hobby.
To get started, though, you’ll need to get your resources in order. Starting with finding a recipe or two on reddit’s /r/DIY_Ejuice community, or a similar DIY community. Find something not too complex but still intriguing. Maybe a clone of your favorite juice, maybe a simple strawberry cake. It’s up to you - but find a recipe or two and compile a list of all the flavors you’ll need to purchase. Communities like DIY_Ejuice have a good list of reputable vendors for buying these mixing supplies, so check there for the shop that has what you need. Your shopping cart(s) should end up containing:
Syringes in 1, 5, and 25 ml capacities (for measuring flavor, nicotine, and VG)Bottles for holding your juiceFlavor ConcentratesVegetable GlycerineNicotine in VG (if you’re vaping with nicotine)Nitrile GlovesGoggles (glasses wearing people have the preinstalled advantage here. Getting nicotine, flavor, or VG in your eyes is no fun)
For this tutorial, we’ll be using a recipe for a simple Blackberry Lemonade, but you can easily do a recipe you found online, or came up with yourself, without getting lost. Let’s start by talking about process. Get yourself a sheet of paper and a pencil - or if you’re feeling lazy an excel spreadsheet. You’re going to need to know the exact volume of e-liquid your recipe will produce, as a constant. Around here, we use 30ml to keep things simple. From there, figuring out your ingredient volumes by percentage is easy.
c = total volume (ml)
p = percent of total volume
v = volume (ml)
c*p=v, or 30*.03 = 0.9ml (or, 30[ml]*3%=0.9[ml])
If you’re the weird kind of lazy known as “programmer” you might end up writing some really basic code to do this for you. I know I did. There are also several e-liquid calculators on sites like Steam Engine that will do the work for you. Either way, you need to calculate your ingredient volumes in order to proceed. For our recipe, we’re using a 30 ml end result, and our ingredients are as follows:
Flavorah (FAh) Lemonade@ 3% ( 0.9 ml)
The Flavor Apprentice (TFA) Lemon Water Sol @ 1% (0.3 ml)
The Flavor Apprentice (TFA) Blackberry @ 2% (0.6 ml)
We’re going to write down on our sheet of paper that we’re doing Lemonade version 1, and what the ratios are (seen above). Now, we can get on to mixing.
Get out your syringes, bottles, gloves, VG, nicotine, and flavors - it’s time to mix. Grab all the flavors in your recipe that you’ll need, and a 1ml syringe for each flavor. You’re going to want to label these syringes so use your pen to write down the flavor each syringe corresponds with on the syringe’s package.
This recipe calls for 6% of flavor, but we’re measuring out 24 ml of VG to use as a base (we’ll top off the rest later). I’m mixing at 0mg nicotine here, as doing DIY with nicotine is a good way to over-nic yourself. If you are using nicotine, I’d recommend going with a strength lower than you normally use. I have 100mg/ml nicotine, so figuring out how much is needed for a 3mg bottle at 30 ml is easy - 3mg/ml is the same as 3% or 0.03*30. If I were making a 3mg bottle, I’d need 0.9ml of nicotine. The VG I’d need would then be calculated with the VG amount reduced by the nicotine amount. (in this case, 30 - (30*(0.06 + 0.03)) if you want an equation).
With our VG [+ nicotine] base measured out, we can start using our flavors. Keeping one syringe to each bottle, carefully measure out the calculated amount of flavor you need for your first ingredient. In our case it’s 0.9 ml. Without touching the tip of the syringe to the side of the bottle you’re mixing into (or clean jar, whatever it may be), carefully dispense the flavoring into the bottle. We’re taking care not to touch the side because when we add more flavors to the mix, the risk of contaminating your syringe (and possibly your entire bottle of flavor concentrate) is high. Place the first syringe back in its assigned, labeled spot, and move on to the next - repeating the steps for each flavor until you have added each of them. Now, top off your bottle with VG if you need to, PG also works for this - if you want to keep your juice runnier for tanks. We like VG because it’s one less thing to buy, and produces better vapor. Put a tip in your bottle, and cap it, because it’s time to shake. Shake like you mean it. When you hold your bottle to the light, do you see streaks? It hasn’t been shaken enough, keep shaking. You’ll know you’re done when the solution appears to be one amalgamous mixture - now shake it again for good measure.
Now, on a fresh build, try out the juice. Is it up to your standards? On the first try, it usually isn’t, but that’s OK. Think about why the flavor seems off. Too much vanilla? Not quite fruity enough? Think about what you want for your “endgame” and try to come up with slight changes to your recipe. Mess with the percentages. Our iteration 1 wasn’t quite tart enough for our tastes, so we’ve adjusted some percentages as follows:
FAh Lemonade + .25%
TFA Lemon Water Sol + .5%
Now that we’ve got our next iteration figured out, calculate the volume of each flavor again, and make another bottle of VG/Nic base. Go through the steps of adding your flavors, shaking, and tasting again. Did you get it this time? Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. Iteration is the key with DIY - you have to keep trying, or you won’t get anywhere.
Maybe that last bottle you made tasted “perfect”. Change something in the recipe, just to make sure. Make a slight variation and see if it makes it better or worse. Let’s assume your bottle was the one, congratulations! If you really want to test it, you’ll go and steep it to make sure it holds up well. We ended up going through 3 iterations of the flavor here, and our final recipe goes as follows:FAh Lemonade @ 3%
TFA Lemon Water Sol @ 1.5%
TFA Blackberry @ 2.25%
Now that you know how to DIY, the sky’s the limit! Come up with some truly unique flavors, and share them with the community on forums like /r/DIY_Ejuice. The recipe we’ve given you is by no measure “complete”. Part of the fun of DIY is playing off of ideas, building and taking away where necessary to create the perfect flavor. Do with this recipe as you will, we’re excited to see what y’all can come up with. Welcome to the rabbit hole.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Source: Bombies blog
http://bombies.com/blog/the-bombies-guide-to-diy/
DIY is one of the deeper facets of the Vaping hobbyist community. It requires patience, time, and countless reiterations of the same process before you get your first recipe just right. But, it also gives you the most possible control over your vaping experience - when you’re making your own e-juice, the only thing you don’t have control over is your desire to buy more flavor components. DIY offers not only an avenue to explore new flavor combinations and profiles, but the ability to save some money. Sure, at first it’s a bit pricey - getting all the supplies is an investment. But once you’re set up with some flavors, some VG, some nicotine, and your syringes and safety equipment - you can make a ton of juice for yourself and your friends. It seems difficult to get into, but it’s pretty forgiving and very fun. That said, there is a process for getting into DIY. You’ll need the right equipment, the time, and a recipe to start from.
DIY is an investment, to start off. You have to buy a bunch of flavors, your mixing tools, bottles, and even invest time into researching recipes you’d like to try - but, once you’ve gotten your initial batch of supplies, the cost of DIY over time is incredibly low. Furthermore, there’s an almost meditative quality to the act of repeatedly mixing a recipe, tasting it, tweaking it, and trying again. DIY is as useful for saving money as it is a relaxing hobby. Everyone here at Bombies is involved in the DIY community - it’s what spawned our Predator line - and we firmly believe it’s worth looking at if you’re interested in vaping as a hobby.
To get started, though, you’ll need to get your resources in order. Starting with finding a recipe or two on reddit’s /r/DIY_Ejuice community, or a similar DIY community. Find something not too complex but still intriguing. Maybe a clone of your favorite juice, maybe a simple strawberry cake. It’s up to you - but find a recipe or two and compile a list of all the flavors you’ll need to purchase. Communities like DIY_Ejuice have a good list of reputable vendors for buying these mixing supplies, so check there for the shop that has what you need. Your shopping cart(s) should end up containing:
Syringes in 1, 5, and 25 ml capacities (for measuring flavor, nicotine, and VG)Bottles for holding your juiceFlavor ConcentratesVegetable GlycerineNicotine in VG (if you’re vaping with nicotine)Nitrile GlovesGoggles (glasses wearing people have the preinstalled advantage here. Getting nicotine, flavor, or VG in your eyes is no fun)
For this tutorial, we’ll be using a recipe for a simple Blackberry Lemonade, but you can easily do a recipe you found online, or came up with yourself, without getting lost. Let’s start by talking about process. Get yourself a sheet of paper and a pencil - or if you’re feeling lazy an excel spreadsheet. You’re going to need to know the exact volume of e-liquid your recipe will produce, as a constant. Around here, we use 30ml to keep things simple. From there, figuring out your ingredient volumes by percentage is easy.
c = total volume (ml)
p = percent of total volume
v = volume (ml)
c*p=v, or 30*.03 = 0.9ml (or, 30[ml]*3%=0.9[ml])
If you’re the weird kind of lazy known as “programmer” you might end up writing some really basic code to do this for you. I know I did. There are also several e-liquid calculators on sites like Steam Engine that will do the work for you. Either way, you need to calculate your ingredient volumes in order to proceed. For our recipe, we’re using a 30 ml end result, and our ingredients are as follows:
Flavorah (FAh) Lemonade@ 3% ( 0.9 ml)
The Flavor Apprentice (TFA) Lemon Water Sol @ 1% (0.3 ml)
The Flavor Apprentice (TFA) Blackberry @ 2% (0.6 ml)
We’re going to write down on our sheet of paper that we’re doing Lemonade version 1, and what the ratios are (seen above). Now, we can get on to mixing.
Get out your syringes, bottles, gloves, VG, nicotine, and flavors - it’s time to mix. Grab all the flavors in your recipe that you’ll need, and a 1ml syringe for each flavor. You’re going to want to label these syringes so use your pen to write down the flavor each syringe corresponds with on the syringe’s package.
This recipe calls for 6% of flavor, but we’re measuring out 24 ml of VG to use as a base (we’ll top off the rest later). I’m mixing at 0mg nicotine here, as doing DIY with nicotine is a good way to over-nic yourself. If you are using nicotine, I’d recommend going with a strength lower than you normally use. I have 100mg/ml nicotine, so figuring out how much is needed for a 3mg bottle at 30 ml is easy - 3mg/ml is the same as 3% or 0.03*30. If I were making a 3mg bottle, I’d need 0.9ml of nicotine. The VG I’d need would then be calculated with the VG amount reduced by the nicotine amount. (in this case, 30 - (30*(0.06 + 0.03)) if you want an equation).
With our VG [+ nicotine] base measured out, we can start using our flavors. Keeping one syringe to each bottle, carefully measure out the calculated amount of flavor you need for your first ingredient. In our case it’s 0.9 ml. Without touching the tip of the syringe to the side of the bottle you’re mixing into (or clean jar, whatever it may be), carefully dispense the flavoring into the bottle. We’re taking care not to touch the side because when we add more flavors to the mix, the risk of contaminating your syringe (and possibly your entire bottle of flavor concentrate) is high. Place the first syringe back in its assigned, labeled spot, and move on to the next - repeating the steps for each flavor until you have added each of them. Now, top off your bottle with VG if you need to, PG also works for this - if you want to keep your juice runnier for tanks. We like VG because it’s one less thing to buy, and produces better vapor. Put a tip in your bottle, and cap it, because it’s time to shake. Shake like you mean it. When you hold your bottle to the light, do you see streaks? It hasn’t been shaken enough, keep shaking. You’ll know you’re done when the solution appears to be one amalgamous mixture - now shake it again for good measure.
Now, on a fresh build, try out the juice. Is it up to your standards? On the first try, it usually isn’t, but that’s OK. Think about why the flavor seems off. Too much vanilla? Not quite fruity enough? Think about what you want for your “endgame” and try to come up with slight changes to your recipe. Mess with the percentages. Our iteration 1 wasn’t quite tart enough for our tastes, so we’ve adjusted some percentages as follows:
FAh Lemonade + .25%
TFA Lemon Water Sol + .5%
Now that we’ve got our next iteration figured out, calculate the volume of each flavor again, and make another bottle of VG/Nic base. Go through the steps of adding your flavors, shaking, and tasting again. Did you get it this time? Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t. Iteration is the key with DIY - you have to keep trying, or you won’t get anywhere.
Maybe that last bottle you made tasted “perfect”. Change something in the recipe, just to make sure. Make a slight variation and see if it makes it better or worse. Let’s assume your bottle was the one, congratulations! If you really want to test it, you’ll go and steep it to make sure it holds up well. We ended up going through 3 iterations of the flavor here, and our final recipe goes as follows:FAh Lemonade @ 3%
TFA Lemon Water Sol @ 1.5%
TFA Blackberry @ 2.25%
Now that you know how to DIY, the sky’s the limit! Come up with some truly unique flavors, and share them with the community on forums like /r/DIY_Ejuice. The recipe we’ve given you is by no measure “complete”. Part of the fun of DIY is playing off of ideas, building and taking away where necessary to create the perfect flavor. Do with this recipe as you will, we’re excited to see what y’all can come up with. Welcome to the rabbit hole.
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
