Confessions of a Noob and an Epic Fail

E-liquids Beginners
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Sit back and hang on. This is about to get stupid funny.

So before I found this forum I was dying to get away from retail purchase of my e-liquid. I had a flavor profile and thought if I searched for some names of e-liquid I liked I could easily find the flavors to make my own. Within minutes I found a site with a flavor by the same name as my favorite e-liquid. Low and behold, they had another. So I wandered the site seeing what other flavors I could find that were the same as my favorite e-liquids.

I found 3 that looked promising, along with a couple others I wanted to try. So I ordered them. It was that same night I found Ecig Express. I browsed around dropping flavor after flavor into my wishlist. My wishlist quickly grew beyond the value of the change in my kids piggy bank. So I picked out a few I really wanted to try and ordered them along with some syringes and some additives like Ethyl Maltol, Sucralose, Vape Wizard, and Malic Acid (based on reviews, I had to have this stuff eventually). Then it was off to ebay. I found some VG and PG being sold for a good price from a reputable seller with very good feedback on his chemicals. I bought my Nicotine from myfreedomsmokes.com (1st smart move so far).

So as I waited anxiously for my shipments to arrive I browsed Amazon for bottles, flasks, gloves, the whole nine yards. I even had an ultrasonic cleaner in my cart (USC in case you pros don’t know what an ultrasonic cleaner is anymore :sweat_smile:). I was ready to start making and selling my e-liquid before I even had everything I needed. Rude awaking coming…

So after all my stuff arrives I found an Android calculator app that is actually quite good and immediately started mixing. I took two of the five flavors I bought from the first site and figured 10% single flavors should be about right, which would be an entire bottle of flavoring. So I mixed up a 100ml batch using flavor #1, and another 100ml batch using flavor #2. Both at 6mg nicotine. I was proud to have my first liquids made. I tasted them. They had almost no flavor except a slight taste of dish soap. Don’t ask how I know what that tastes like.

That’s when I found this forum. I read, and read, and read. I thought I learned enough to mix another flavor. The knowledge learned here taught me to make small batches. Ok, 10ml will do. Not having any 10ml bottles except the ones my first flavorings came in, i used one of the two empty ones after properly cleaning it. I am afterall a professional mixer now I thought to myself. Here is where I first realized I was a moron. After mixing my 10ml concoction in my flask I get my tiny funnel and dump the entire mix into the funnel. As I watch the funnel drain I notice my fingers getting wet. I look down and the bottle is overfilling, yet the funnel still has what looks to be about half of the mix left in it. Wait a second I exclaimed! These are 5ml bottles! Some of you are probably onto why my first two mixes were not good. Others, keep reading. Maybe you will learn somethin’ :wink:

Stupidity continues…
So I grabbed the other 10ml (ha ha) bottle and filled it with the other half of the concoction. Reality hadn’t even set in yet. A day or so later I taste my first two mixes again. Dishwater, but better tasting dishwater. Fame and fortune were on the way!

So while waiting for these mixes to mature to greatness I posted, read, picked out a recipe and ordered the ingredients for Unicorn milk. I tested my first two mixes again a few days after the last test. No more dishwater! No more anything. WTF I exclaimed! I thought about it. Bam! It hit me like a pissed off ex with a baseball bat. 5ml bottles. Not 10ml. My mixes were only made at 5%! So I added some of my highly rated flavors to each. 5% Flavourart Strawberry to one, Something else in the other. I couldn’t tell you if I had to, but it was 5%.

Like 4 weeks after mixing my first two batches (notice, I can’t even narrow it down within a few days), the only flavor I can taste is the second ones I added. Strawberry, and um, oh yes! Watermelon. They actually aren’t terrible now after resteeping. So I still had three of these weak ass flavors left. I grab one and being more experienced and educated by the fine folks here I tasted one of the flavors. Expecting a very strong flavor concentrate I braced myself for my cheeks to implode. Huh. I thought. That’s actually not bad! Wait a minute!

So I go back to the site I ordered them from. Looked at my recent orders…

E-Liquid? I ordered E-Liquid?

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Lol, I was on the fence of whether to wade my toes in the water of mixing or dive in head first. You’ve given me all the confidence I need. :grinning:

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They say you learn through experience :wink: I think I am a genius now lol.

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HAHAHA! Great post, maybe a little …ok a LOT self deprecating, but good. :slight_smile: I’ll tell you sometime how a 50 ml flavor base for Gambit V2 turned into a 150ml flavor base…but not today. Good thing I like apple pie…

Everybody makes mistakes. The most veteran mixers on here have probably trashed more than a few bottles of mix due to a mistake. It is part of the curve. Just be careful when dealing with nicotine. It can hurt you…or worse.

Is the main site down? I can’t connect to it.

B

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I love it :laughing: …That moment when it hits you… :smiley:

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It was. Seems to be working again.

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I knew i was in the right place. Feels just like family DNA and all. Straight up Hill Billy . Great story.

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I was over thinking it, I thought originally you had too much base so your flavors were muted. Then it hit me , I have had a good amount of fails in my time as well. Like over the summer when I went on a hunt for the best distilled water % along with ringling. We both must of gone thru a crap ton of mixes and chucked a bunch bc either too high or too low. I ended up settling with 1-2% point is there is always going to be ups and downs. Thanks for sharing! You write very well it kept me guessing the whole time !

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Nice you ordered eluquid and not flavoring lmfao thank you for the laugh brother.

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Thanks Amy. What made it really funny (to me) was that I discovered my failure in stages. Had I not found this site and learned what I have from you guys I would probably be waiting on those last three flavors to steep. Instead I am vaping them. Maybe I will try vaping some Capella Cheescake straight out the bottle! :grinning:

@GlycerinHack - does it show that bad? I grew up watching the Beverly Hillbillies. When I was a youngin’ I thought I was just watching family videos from my kin lol. Yup, thats me.

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You made me giggle this morning. Thank you! :sunny:

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Haha. Glad ya liked it :smile:

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Great story!

As they say, misery loves company. I doubt there is a single person here who has not made a mistake that, looking back on it, was bone headed as hell. Take myself for example. I had gotten a 500 ml jug of 100mg/ml nic liquid and some flavors. One of the flavors was Capella Sweet Strawberry which I was missing for a base liquid I keep for easy, quick mixes. I had my 30 ml bottle of base. Opened to add the strawberry. I had my previous bottle of CAP SS with a little left in it, so I opened it and used a syringe so as to know how much I had and what I needed to pull from the new bottle. It was exactly what I needed, about 6 ml. So I’m there, caps off of everything. Then I shot the syringe full back into the bottle to look at it, seeing as before I didn’t think it was enough. Oh, ok. Maybe my eyes had deceived me yet again. I thought no worries, I’ll just dump the bottle and then leave it and let it drip out till it’s as empty as it would get. I couldn’t stop my hand! I knew I was screwing up, but my brain wouldn’t make my hand come back and as I watch all 6ml of SS flow into my new 500ml of nic liquid, I let out that horse laugh that few people could understand. Epic fail. Humans are funny this way. I know I am…which may explain why I broke out into a cold-chilled panic once in my truck, digging everywhere looking for my cell phone, when my wife said “what’s wrong” and I said I can’t find my cell phone. She simply replied…look in your hand. I was talking to her on it at the time.

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No lie. When I got to this part right thar… I blew my Starbucks Iced coffee all over my desk at work! :laughing: Gawd that was funny.

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I have a little 30 ml bottle I put VG into so that I can always reach the fluid level with my syringes. Not that long ago I decided to refill it even though it was still about 1/4 full. Topped it off, set the big bottle down, did a double take at the big bottle of PG I’d just set down, rolled my eyes, cussed a little, then went to go dump my new mystery blend down the drain.

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Ooooohh how well I can relate… .on numerous occasions throughout my life! lol

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One more like and I get a badge. Hint hint :smiley:

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badgered! (10char)

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:joy: LOL Very good story.

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AWESOME! LOL HAHAHAHA
I’ve never done that. :blush:

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