Concentrates and Price

There will be a difference in price between B&M stores and online vendors as the former have extra overheads. As I see it, it's the vendor's prerogative to charge whatever they like and my prerogative to choose where I buy. If a vendor can make a living and get any sort of market share charging R75 for TFA when it's available for R25 elsewhere, more power to them.

Regarding your recipe, is it your own creation or adapted from something else? 7% TFA Lychee strikes me as too high and I certainly couldn't vape anything with 2.5% Koolada. I would also tend to avoid additives like Ethyl Maltol and Sour. While they have specific applications where they can help a juice (like a leeeetle bit of EM to take the harsh edge off citrus), they are far more likely to mute/ruin it. At least, for my palate. But palates differ. I have seen recipes with % that are just bizarre. But many people like them. So it's a case of finding your happy place and mixing for your palate, not someone else's.
 
Also recently got into DIY and started out with prime nic.... no problems. Second bottlebI got scrawny gecko with no problems. I use VG nic though.

I've had peppery tastes as well and noticed the following: Steeping helps get rid of it and certain flavours has it. I made a diketone free Mustard milk recipe and it seems the Vanilla Bean Gelato of TFA gave the peppery taste. Also not a big fan of the plain Strawberry TFA, too organic and mild and also seems to contribute to the peppery taste. Using Strawberry Ripe TFA instead. The mustard milk diketone free recipe isnjust aweful to me, after two weeks of steeping I still can't stand it.

Moved on and mixed a few more complex recipes tonight. We'll see how they turn out after two weeks



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Good day family
It's been a while. I've put some notches in my belt as far as DIY goes.
I'm happy to say that I've perfected my Strawberry Cream recipe.
I've also built up the courage to try some more and the results have been pretty good.
I've done a Sour Apple which tastes exactly like the Apple Striker sucker with a hint of sour to it.
I also ordered some concentrates for a recipe I saw online but by the time the concentrates were delivered, I had lost the recipe and couldnt find it anywhere. So... I was sitting with a bunch of unmatched concentrates. I realized that I have most of the ingredients for a Dragon Fruit mix of sorts and proceeded to mix with what I had. Wherever it called for something I did not have, I substituted as well as what I could have. Lets say it called for Ice Cream and I did not have ice cream then I'd use something which, at least had cream in it's name :giggle: and would end up using Sweet Cream. When it called for Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and I did not have it, I'd end up using Butter Cream... coz hey... It's at least got Cream in it's name!
I called it "Dragon Fruit Surprise". I didnt have very high hopes for it but!!! OMG!!! This one turned out so good that I ended up making 100ml thereof as soon as the original mix was up.

So, ATM, I've mixed up three mixes - through trial and error - but I've managed to perfect them (for my palate at least) :giggle:

And... WRT the nic which seems higher than whats on the bottle :GODZILLA: - I'm just using 1.25mg in all my mixes since 3mg with this bottle (which is supposed to be 36mg) is just way too harsh for me.
So all in all - The journey continues!
Thanx again to everyone on this forum for their support; advice and just general love for all things DIY. Your love for this hobby of our definitely shows in your responses. :clap:
I said it once and will say it again... I love this community!!!
ECSA FTMFW!!!
 
Good day family
It's been a while. I've put some notches in my belt as far as DIY goes.
I'm happy to say that I've perfected my Strawberry Cream recipe.
I've also built up the courage to try some more and the results have been pretty good.
I've done a Sour Apple which tastes exactly like the Apple Striker sucker with a hint of sour to it.
I also ordered some concentrates for a recipe I saw online but by the time the concentrates were delivered, I had lost the recipe and couldnt find it anywhere. So... I was sitting with a bunch of unmatched concentrates. I realized that I have most of the ingredients for a Dragon Fruit mix of sorts and proceeded to mix with what I had. Wherever it called for something I did not have, I substituted as well as what I could have. Lets say it called for Ice Cream and I did not have ice cream then I'd use something which, at least had cream in it's name :giggle: and would end up using Sweet Cream. When it called for Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and I did not have it, I'd end up using Butter Cream... coz hey... It's at least got Cream in it's name!
I called it "Dragon Fruit Surprise". I didnt have very high hopes for it but!!! OMG!!! This one turned out so good that I ended up making 100ml thereof as soon as the original mix was up.

So, ATM, I've mixed up three mixes - through trial and error - but I've managed to perfect them (for my palate at least) :giggle:

And... WRT the nic which seems higher than whats on the bottle :GODZILLA: - I'm just using 1.25mg in all my mixes since 3mg with this bottle (which is supposed to be 36mg) is just way too harsh for me.
So all in all - The journey continues!
Thanx again to everyone on this forum for their support; advice and just general love for all things DIY. Your love for this hobby of our definitely shows in your responses. :clap:
I said it once and will say it again... I love this community!!!
ECSA FTMFW!!!
Hi guys, first post. Just found this forum, been looking to try my hand at DIY. After reading through this post, I'm definitely going to try it out. Thx playa4life for asking relevant questions and thx for the great answers. Can't wait to get stuck in.

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Hi guys, first post. Just found this forum, been looking to try my hand at DIY. After reading through this post, I'm definitely going to try it out. Thx playa4life for asking relevant questions and thx for the great answers. Can't wait to get stuck in.

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Im glad my thread could provide answers to other DIY noobs.
 
I put together a spreadsheet with a summary of what the different vendors charge for equivalent of 10ml concentrate.

This is by no means a full list as I might have missed a vendor. Feel free to add a link to the vendors website and I will update the list:Concentrate Summary.jpg
 
I put together a spreadsheet with a summary of what the different vendors charge for equivalent of 10ml concentrate.

This is by no means a full list as I might have missed a vendor. Feel free to add a link to the vendors website and I will update the list:View attachment 121480

Wow that's a bit of an eye opener in regards to pricing.
Thanks for that.
 
I put together a spreadsheet with a summary of what the different vendors charge for equivalent of 10ml concentrate.

This is by no means a full list as I might have missed a vendor. Feel free to add a link to the vendors website and I will update the list:View attachment 121480
Nice work, thanks for sharing.

What one also has to consider is the range of flavours each vendor has. Paying an extra R2-R5 for a concentrate often comes out cheaper than paying several delivery costs.
 
and same give free shipping on r1000 and same on r1500
this is good thanks as i sit with a basket checking out at 12pm wen pay day hits
 
True what you say about the range. I will maybe extend the list to say PG VG and Nic as well. Even add delivery costs as well.

I don't play around with a lot of exotic flavours. Don't think I plan to either. My aim was to make me juice that's cheaper than store bought stuff.
 
Nothing in there about local flavours?

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Nothing in there about local flavours?

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I intentionally skipped all the local flavours, as most of the recipes I get from alltheflavors and ELR do not have ZA based local stuff. So kind of useless for me though.

And also the vendors listed, some of them stock their own concentrates, which would not be a like for like comparison.

Intention was to show that Vendor X charges nearly 3 times more for TFA/TPA than vendor Y
 
flavor world has there own range i take it that is local at r15 to r18
and they sell cotton
but dont stock 27 fish or 27 bear
 
True what you say about the range. I will maybe extend the list to say PG VG and Nic as well. Even add delivery costs as well.

I don't play around with a lot of exotic flavours. Don't think I plan to either. My aim was to make me juice that's cheaper than store bought stuff.
good plan
i do mind the waiting so delivery date is important to
 
Nothing in there about local flavours?

ZA Concentrates, listed under Blckvapour, is local. And if I'm not mistaken, Frandy Flavours is Blckvapour's inhouse brand, thus also local.

Also, another shop which offers concentrates, though limited, is Vape Connoisseur (http://vapeconnoisseur.co.za). They stock FA, TFA and ZAC. All at R45 per 10 ml
 
I intentionally skipped all the local flavours, as most of the recipes I get from alltheflavors and ELR do not have ZA based local stuff. So kind of useless for me though.

And also the vendors listed, some of them stock their own concentrates, which would not be a like for like comparison.

Intention was to show that Vendor X charges nearly 3 times more for TFA/TPA than vendor Y
Good job then dude. Much appreciated. Consumer watchdog is a great description for you. This deserves an award I reckon!

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Bought a 100ml TFA VBIC from @ShaneW (Juicy Joes) for R180 and i see Valley Vapour sells it for R351.
What justifies a R170 price difference?

It all boils down to what @Richio said in his thread.

All the additional overheads and quality control measures does add to the cost.

I'm also one to use the cheapest vendors. But I know the risk involved in getting a possible inferior product. Some flavours do taste a bit different from the description from time to time.
 
It all boils down to what @Richio said in his thread.

All the additional overheads and quality control measures does add to the cost.

I'm also one to use the cheapest vendors. But I know the risk involved in getting a possible inferior product. Some flavours do taste a bit different from the description from time to time.

Well i have bought from one of the vendors that tried to justify their higher price. Quality to me is not of any higher standard. Same bottles, shipping packaging was actually of a lower standard than some of the cheaper vendors I listed. Sure there might be a difference in the re bottling procedure, but would one REALLY know what the "lab" looks like and the methodology? As I haven't seen one of the DIY vendors actually post photos.

I work hard for my salary, and I will hunt for the best deal.
 
Sure there might be a difference in the re bottling procedure, but would one REALLY know what the "lab" looks like and the methodology?

I know that Blckvapour uses a lab, Zeftech, to do their bottling. I heard that for their latest addition to their lab they are now planning on going for a ISO-7 accreditation but as is they already have a ISO-8 accreditation (which is the required standard set by most shops) - they may actually already have their ISO-7 accreditation.

FYI for those who may not know, the lower the ISO grade, the better. So a ISO-7 grade is better than a ISO-8 grade. Also, based on the fact that a lot of the nicotine, PG, VG and concentrates we get from overseas being ISO-7 certified, you can make or bottle stuff in a ISO-6 lab in South Africa, but it will not help as your grading of your juice depends on the *highest ISO rating of the products used, *e.g. if your VG is ISO-8 but your concentrates, PG and nic is ISO-7 and your lab is also ISO-7, your ISO rating would be a 8.

Other than Blckvapour, I cannot comment on any other places who sell liquids as I have no idea re their bottling facilities.

*edited
 
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this needs to be updated as there is a price drop Blckvapour is one that dropped there price one more just cant remember who
 
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