Ideas on how to organise flavour stash

[RichJB]

I showed a pic to the guys in the WA group. My cell doesn't do the net and I can't for the life of me figure out how to transfer photos from phone to PC. I can connect the two with the supplied USB cable but if I Explore the phone and look in the Pics folder, I see nothing. I read about some programme you can download to hack the phone and turn it into a USB storage device (it's a Huawei Y3) but I'm way too dumb for this stuff. If anybody in the WA group can post the pic I shared there, that would be great. Otherwise I'll keep trying to find a way to get it onto my PC.

 

[Raindance]

I showed a pic to the guys in the WA group. My cell doesn't do the net and I can't for the life of me figure out how to transfer photos from phone to PC. I can connect the two with the supplied USB cable but if I Explore the phone and look in the Pics folder, I see nothing. I read about some programme you can download to hack the phone and turn it into a USB storage device (it's a Huawei Y3) but I'm way too dumb for this stuff. If anybody in the WA group can post the pic I shared there, that would be great. Otherwise I'll keep trying to find a way to get it onto my PC.

Hi @RichJB. In stead of messing around with cables I use dropbox on all my devices. What you share to dropbox on your phone gets placed in the dropbox folder of each device that has it loaded. Then its just a case of uploading the file from you pc's dropbox.

Hope this helps, regards

 

[RichJB]

Dropbox is net, though, right? Other than WA, my phone doesn't do net at all. I don't ever load data onto it because it's just there to do calls and WA. I'm at my PC all day long so that's where I do all my net stuff. I never got into net browsing on phones, it drives me crazy.

 

[GregF]

@RichJB an extract from a quick google search because I want to see your new toys.......

To copy photos to your computer, plug the device in via a USB cable. (you might have to install your device’s software or drivers first).
Then locate the new drive on your PC. Go to the /DCIM/Camera/ folder Your photos will be stored there.
This may vary slightly between devices, however once you have opened the device’s drive, you can do a quick search for .jpg files which will show you where your photos are located.

 

[RichJB]

If I link the phone to the PC, it registers as a device and will show "Huawei" in "My Computer". I can then Explore the Device. But if I look in the Pictures folder, it only has a folder called Screenshots which is empty. I have another folder called Thumbnails which contains images I've opened in WA (i.e. which other people in WA posted) but none of my own images. I can't find any of the pics that I have taken with the camera and stored in my Gallery. There is no folder called Gallery or anything, the only one that seems to fit is Pictures. I did a google on it and apparently there is some software hack that you can install which allows it to act like a USB stick and be a storage device (which your PC can read) for images. But I'm damned if I know how to get it done.

I can WA the image. So if I WA it to one of you guys, could you please upload it? If you could, please PM me your number and I'll WA it.

 

[GregF]

Here you go....from @RichJB

 

[GregF]

Very nice. Looks like it could work. Makes them a little more portable than I have now.
That is if I need portability.

 

[RichJB]

Aha, there we go, thanks a mill Greg. Not very good photos by me, haha, but it does at least give an impression. In the first pic, you can see how I've marked the different letters of the alphabet, with some letters requiring more than one row. For each letter, I have inserted the concentrates in the order FA - TFA - Cap - FW - Inw - Other, and each brand is also in alphabetical order.

The "numbered list" system is a three-stage process:
1) Glance at the screen/phone to see what concentrate you need
2) Consult your numbered list to see what number you've allocated to that concentrate
3) Go to your box/shelf/carousel/whatever and find that number.

My system is a two-stage process:
1) Glance at the screen/phone to see what concentrate you need.
2) Find it in the rack.

Finding it is easy. Let's say I need TFA Cheesecake GC. I go straight to the C row. The first cluster of bottles in that row will all be FA and they will all have red codes written on the cap as that is the colour I've chosen for FA. I skip straight past them and get to TFA, which has all green codes. I find the bottle with the GC code on the cap et voila, that's Cheesecake GC.

The second pic shows the rack with the lid on. Just take another tray, invert it and cover. It isn't airtight but it will do a decent job of keeping most of the light and dust out.

The size is perfect for 10ml bottles, with each bottle fitting snugly into its compartment. The rows won't all be filled as there won't be exactly 8 concentrates (or multiples of 8) for each letter of the alphabet. But that is fine too, it leaves some room for expansion. All my 170 or so concentrates fit comfortably into two racks, leaving me with a third spare. That gives me major headroom to expand, or spares should one of the racks break or whatever. The racks, with their lids on, stack very comfortably too. For a hundred bucks, it's been a good solution to me.

 

[incredible_hullk]

Aha, there we go, thanks a mill Greg. Not very good photos by me, haha, but it does at least give an impression. In the first pic, you can see how I've marked the different letters of the alphabet, with some letters requiring more than one row. For each letter, I have inserted the concentrates in the order FA - TFA - Cap - FW - Inw - Other, and each brand is also in alphabetical order.

The "numbered list" system is a three-stage process:
1) Glance at the screen/phone to see what concentrate you need
2) Consult your numbered list to see what number you've allocated to that concentrate
3) Go to your box/shelf/carousel/whatever and find that number.

My system is a two-stage process:
1) Glance at the screen/phone to see what concentrate you need.
2) Find it in the rack.

Finding it is easy. Let's say I need TFA Cheesecake GC. I go straight to the C row. The first cluster of bottles in that row will all be FA and they will all have red codes written on the cap as that is the colour I've chosen for FA. I skip straight past them and get to TFA, which has all green codes. I find the bottle with the GC code on the cap et voila, that's Cheesecake GC.

The second pic shows the rack with the lid on. Just take another tray, invert it and cover. It isn't airtight but it will do a decent job of keeping most of the light and dust out.

The size is perfect for 10ml bottles, with each bottle fitting snugly into its compartment. The rows won't all be filled as there won't be exactly 8 concentrates (or multiples of 8) for each letter of the alphabet. But that is fine too, it leaves some room for expansion. All my 170 or so concentrates fit comfortably into two racks, leaving me with a third spare. That gives me major headroom to expand, or spares should one of the racks break or whatever. The racks, with their lids on, stack very comfortably too. For a hundred bucks, it's been a good solution to me.

That's a cracker @RichJB

 

[RichJB]

Thanks @incredible_hullk. It's not the most upmarket storage solution but, for me, functionality trumps everything in concentrate storage. Before this, I put all my concentrates in three plastic baskets which stacked on top of each other inside a clear plastic trunk. It was a very neat and compact storage mechanism. But if you asked me to dig out FA Vienna for you, I would have had no idea even in which basket it was. So I'd have to start going through each basket, concentrate by concentrate, until I found it. That is very inefficient.

I wanted a system where I could find any concentrate within seconds. This is the most efficient one I've been able to come up with.

 

[Silver]

Thanks @RichJB
Looks super and thanks for explaining it all

@Andre, isnt this similar to how you do it in the cupboard, sorted alphabetically?

 

[Andre]

Thanks @RichJB
Looks super and thanks for explaining it all

@Andre, isnt this similar to how you do it in the cupboard, sorted alphabetically?

Thanks for the pics @RichJB and @GregF. I like those trays. Will have a look if I pass a nursery.

Yes, @Silver, mine is sorted alphabetically, irrespective of brand, in rows in a cupboard. The cupboard is low on the ground and rather deep, so those trays will make my life easier.

 

[Raindance]

I have been following this thread for quite some time to get ideas and inspiration for fixing up my own concentrate stash. Whenever I resolve to actually taking some action and doing something about it I get stopped in my tracks right at the onset due to the variety of bottle sizes I need to cater for. To make things worse, even if I were to accommodate the concentrate bottle size in use at present, this may change as the volumes I buy depends on estimated usage. ADV's large, infrequently used and low use ones (specials) are medium sized and experiments small which could become ADV's or specials.

The range of bottles to be catered for.

What to do? this is getting super frustrating. The collection is growing and controlling it is getting out of hand. The searching is one thing, buying restocks just to find there is still a full unopened bottle hiding in the pile is infuriating.

 

[GregF]

I have been following this thread for quite some time to get ideas and inspiration for fixing up my own concentrate stash. Whenever I resolve to actually taking some action and doing something about it I get stopped in my tracks right at the onset due to the variety of bottle sizes I need to cater for. To make things worse, even if I were to accommodate the concentrate bottle size in use at present, this may change as the volumes I buy depends on estimated usage. ADV's large, infrequently used and low use ones (specials) are medium sized and experiments small which could become ADV's or specials.
View attachment 90290
The range of bottles to be catered for.

What to do? this is getting super frustrating. The collection is growing and controlling it is getting out of hand. The searching is one thing, buying restocks just to find there is still a full unopened bottle hiding in the pile is infuriating.

@Raindance if you use juicecalculator by @HotRod19579 to track your stock it will help with your inventory.

 

[Raindance]

@Raindance if you use juicecalculator by @HotRod19579 to track your stock it will help with your inventory.

Thanks @GregF, I do. I end up thinking my inventory must be wrong for I just can not find the stock it reflects, "correct" it just to find it when not searching for it. I have VBIC coming out of my ears as a result of this as but one example.

Active on a solution at the moment. May not be good looking but things can only improve. Will require use the LOCATION function in the app though.

Thanks/Regards

 

[RichJB]

I only buy 10ml bottles. With my alphabetical system, I stock the new bottles directly behind the opened one. Perhaps one option is to have a "working stock" collection of only 10ml bottles and a "surplus collection" of larger sizes. Then, whenever a 10ml is empty, just refill it from a 50ml or whatever in the "surplus collection"? It might require buying some 10ml droppers for those flavours you have in the larger sizes but imo it's a lot easier to store things systematically when they're all the same size.

 

[Raindance]

I only buy 10ml bottles. With my alphabetical system, I stock the new bottles directly behind the opened one. Perhaps one option is to have a "working stock" collection of only 10ml bottles and a "surplus collection" of larger sizes. Then, whenever a 10ml is empty, just refill it from a 50ml or whatever in the "surplus collection"? It might require buying some 10ml droppers for those flavours you have in the larger sizes but imo it's a lot easier to store things systematically when they're all the same size.

I like that idea and I am thinking of how to implement it, possibly keep everything in 10 and 20 or 30 ml bottles. Spent some time making two (optimistically ambitiously) large trays so long. Still not sure if combining them with a hinge (Like a briefcase) or using them as separate trays would be best. Hopefully will have that sorted by the time the wood glue has dried. Come what may, will at least be able to have all the bottles in a single place. That alone will improve things considerably.

Thanks for the ideas and keep them coming!

 

[RichJB]

I'm moving my entire concentrate collection over to identical 10ml HDPE droppers of the type used by Blck, TFM, Carlos and others. Several vendors (Cly, PG, ADV, Vap) supply in 10ml glass bottles with in-built droppers but these are way too slow for me. I don't mind the 10ml PET bottles as used by VV and Vaperite but glass and plastic together doesn't work for me. Additionally, the glass bottles don't fit comfortably into my seedling tray compartments.

I only have one or two concentrates in sizes bigger than 10ml. I keep these in a cupboard together with empty bottles, PG, VG, and assorted mixing accessories. I then just use them to refill the "working stock" 10ml HDPE dropper bottle when it's close to finished. The empty glass 10ml bottles make great single-flavour tester bottles. I take the in-built droppers out and then dispense with a syringe or pipette into my dripper.

I'm interested to know what concentrates DIYers are buying in volumes greater than 10ml. Based on my own experiences, the only concentrates where I would consider the larger sizes are those which are used in many recipes, and then also at a relatively high percentage. The four I've identified so far are Cap VC and SC, and TFA VBIC and Strawberry Ripe. While FA Meringue, FW Hazelnut and several others are used in many recipes, it's inevitably at such small percentages that even a 10ml bottle lasts for ages. On the other hand, flavours like TFA RY4 Double and Peanut Butter are often used at high percentages, but not in many recipes. So, again, 10ml lasts me a good few months.

I'm wary of concentrates aging. Wayne reckons they're good for about 18 months and will then gradually lose potency. So I'd rather buy 5x10ml individually over a period, hopefully getting a fresh batch each time, than buy a 50ml and keep it for ages. It's also why I'm seriously re-evaluating the wisdom of keeping concentrates like FA Cardamom and Anise. It will be many moons before I exhaust my initial 10ml bottles of those.

 

[kev mac]

I have a huge space issue and I need some mobility with my mixing gear, so I have settled for this.

I am slowly converting to nozzled concentrates to make weighing easier, but for now an abbreviation and colour coded categories works pretty well for me.

Sent from my HUAWEI CRR-L09 using Tapatalk

That's quite the haul!

 

[kev mac]

I'm moving my entire concentrate collection over to identical 10ml HDPE droppers of the type used by Blck, TFM, Carlos and others. Several vendors (Cly, PG, ADV, Vap) supply in 10ml glass bottles with in-built droppers but these are way too slow for me. I don't mind the 10ml PET bottles as used by VV and Vaperite but glass and plastic together doesn't work for me. Additionally, the glass bottles don't fit comfortably into my seedling tray compartments.

I only have one or two concentrates in sizes bigger than 10ml. I keep these in a cupboard together with empty bottles, PG, VG, and assorted mixing accessories. I then just use them to refill the "working stock" 10ml HDPE dropper bottle when it's close to finished. The empty glass 10ml bottles make great single-flavour tester bottles. I take the in-built droppers out and then dispense with a syringe or pipette into my dripper.

I'm interested to know what concentrates DIYers are buying in volumes greater than 10ml. Based on my own experiences, the only concentrates where I would consider the larger sizes are those which are used in many recipes, and then also at a relatively high percentage. The four I've identified so far are Cap VC and SC, and TFA VBIC and Strawberry Ripe. While FA Meringue, FW Hazelnut and several others are used in many recipes, it's inevitably at such small percentages that even a 10ml bottle lasts for ages. On the other hand, flavours like TFA RY4 Double and Peanut Butter are often used at high percentages, but not in many recipes. So, again, 10ml lasts me a good few months.

I'm wary of concentrates aging. Wayne reckons they're good for about 18 months and will then gradually lose potency. So I'd rather buy 5x10ml individually over a period, hopefully getting a fresh batch each time, than buy a 50ml and keep it for ages. It's also why I'm seriously re-evaluating the wisdom of keeping concentrates like FA Cardamom and Anise. It will be many moons before I exhaust my initial 10ml bottles of those.

Great idea Rich,the ingenuity of vapers is so cool.I'm always looking for things to utilize for vape related projects and I'm sure we all love when a plan comes together!

 

[Warlock]

I wish someone would post here why some vendors still insist is supplying concentrates in glass bottles. If there are good reasons for it I would like to know

Glass bottles are cumbersome, wasteful and as @RichJB says slow to use. If I can’t find a concentrate I need in a hdpe dropper bottle and am forced to buy it in a glass bottle I decant it into a hdpe dropper bottle immediately.

 

[zandernwn]

The logic is that the concentrate will be better protected and will be beter preserved especially with brown or blue uv filtered glass.

But 1.) My concentrates don't last long enough

2.) It affects where I purchase my concentrates from. I prefer nozzled bottles

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Warlock]

It’s a poor argument by the glass bottle vendors if the UV degradation is the only reason to sell in blue or brown bottles. Just store your concentrates in a cool dark place.


The question then arises :

How do the hdpe vendors store their concentrates once decanted into 10ml droppers in their warehouses?

How old are the concentrates to start with, I have yet to see a batch number on a bottle of concentrate or a ‘use before date’.

And even more cynically is there an international market for bulk concentrates at discount prices for products near to their ‘sell by dates’?


Let’s face it concentrates are not cheap and I would like to know if I’m getting a quality product with some shelf life left in it.

 

[zandernwn]

Well the truth is the concentrates are purchased by the gallon (sometimes larger qty) so it is packed in plastic from the get go.... does the concentrate degrade in plastic... very likely... does it degrade to a point where it will materially affect your mixes... I dont think so....

Nozzles FTW!!!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[RichJB]

How old are the concentrates to start with

This is another reason, along with batch inconsistency, why I prefer 10ml bottles. I can live with a 10ml bottle of a weak/old batch. 50 or 100ml, not so much.