I’m the less work guy. I just mix the recipes you people give me, and I am happy with it.
5 Likes
Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that! Mix on, man!
2 Likes
Like both @Plunderdrum and @JMak642 said is good info… Plunderdrum talking about specifically testing SF’s and JMak642 stating they just make recipes created by others. For myself I mostly use(d) recipes others had already created and that gave me a couple of things… first it provided me with learning the many basic things of mixing up a recipe i.e. getting over the fear or apprehension of mixing, using scales, purchasing ingredients etc. Then it also gave me juice that is/was vapable. It also provided a building block to expand on items that were already tried and true while learning about ingredients.
6 Likes
Hi Justin.
Being nervous is quite understandable when thinking about jumping down the rabbit hole. What helped me with the decision was knowing that others had made the plunge. If they could, I could too. And I think you have made the most important steps already; research and reaching out to a known community of mixers.
Not at first. Lol. I admit my first few mixes were just horrible. What actually helped me out was mixing other peoples’ recipes, then modifying them to suit my tastes. That helped me learn about profiles and layering in ways that no YouTube video ever could. Even now after years of mixing there have been recipes and profiles that I struggle with. Tobacco comes to mind. But eventually you develop recipes that are better than what you would normally buy because they are tailored to suit your preferences. I will often say that comparing a well crafted DIY recipe to a bottle from a B&M is like comparing filet mignon to McDonald’s hamburger.
Disposable pipettes and a good digital scale are musts. Measuring by volume is highly inaccurate and syringes can and will clog up when drawing anything with citric acid in it…Not to mention if you intend to reuse them, they are a pain in the ass to clean. (Yes, other DIYers, I had to resort to reusing syringes. Don’t blame me for running out of pipettes.) Be prepared to fail quite a bit. It takes time to get a recipe right. There’s a lot of fine tuning and a lot of waiting on steeping mixes to test. But on the plus side, you get a kid-at-Christmas level of excitement when you are nearing the end of a steep cycle and you get to vape plenty of liquid. And always buy more VG than PG. Personally I order with a 4 to 1 rule in mind. If I order a pint of PG, I also order a gallon of VG.
That is kinda a loaded question. Do you like creams and custards? Or fruits? In any case there is a list floating around here some where with the majority of must have flavors. I could go digging for it if you want. As for recipes, well, if you decide to go through with DIYing I recommend loading the flavors you buy into your stash and then using the “what can I make” feature to search for recipes that look interesting.
10 Likes
There’s more good reading in the thread below (and others), but I’ll start you out here:
2 Likes
You’ve really given great advice until you went off the rails here:
@OP More great info in that thread BTW (and the portion I quoted here is only part of my post).
Bottom line though @RobQ, I’m only taking issue with the line I quoted you on. 
Because it’s putting out incorrect information.
I’m completely cool with being in the minority. But facts need to be accurate.
6 Likes
Lol. Ok. How are you accurate with measuring by volumn when trying to add 0.03-0.04? Do you use the proper syringe for that? Does the majority of volumn mixers use the proper gear? Personally under the use case secenrio they don’t thus being the same accuracy or less then when measuring by volumn. Just a food for thought.
Yes I do agree that when using all the proper gear both measuring by volumn and by weight can be extremely accurate.
However, considering the vast majority of community (use case) mixing by weight would be more accurate when repeatability comes into play tied with the work that goes into mixing 15 recipes in a mix session. Again…we are talking about use case and the world we live in
I do agree that the vast majority of mixers who step up to higher volumn mixing would benefit to mix by volumn when mixing 200ml and up.
Just an opinion. Love yeah buddy
2 Likes
Fair enough. I forgot to mention that measuring by volume can still be useful as a double check on measuring by weight. I often measure out via syringe or pipette and verify by weight. Especially when mixing for others.
1 Like
Part of this discussion stems from statements I made regarding VG and differing thicknesses/ weights I experienced. A lot of this has been “reinterpreted” and taken out of the context of that particular discussion. So lets do the simple math. Lets take a 100 ml quantity at 70% VG.
By volume: 70% = 70 ml by volume. Period. Does not change.
By specific gravity using the calculator. 70% = 70 ml= 70 x 1.261 = 88.27 grams.
But what if the VG does not weigh 1.261 grams and you find that it is 10%off? 10% x .1.26 = .126 so your VG weighs 1.386 grams per ml.
70 x 1.386 = 97.02 grams yet your calculator calls for 88.27 grams. Your 100 ml quantity will be off by 8.75 grams which will be 6.31 ml difference in volume.
I mix flavorings by weight. I weigh VG by volume and then either use weight or volume because THEN they are the SAME. I have had up to approximately 10% difference in the weight of VG products.
So you weigh let’s say 10 ml of VG before figuring out the remaining amount you would put into the 100 ml recipe?
Every time. A 1ml syringe will measure out down to .01ml, and I use it for Mix Mint (Ina) and also a couple others.
If they’re as anal as I am about accuracy, and consistency, yes. But again, I’ve already conceded that I’m in the minority. Even among syringe users.
It’s also why I dedicate 1 syringe to one flavor (no clean up). And so far, the only one I’ve had to replace (in two years) has been the 1ml I use with mix mint. That’s the only one I’ve had issue with deterioration with so far (and I have several citrus flavors). Quality of plunger, or brand may be coming into effect there though, so I haven’t, and won’t say anything definitively.
I know brother! 
All good!
2 Likes
Not exactly but that would work fine. As @Sprkslfly pointed out a 1 ml syringe is very accurate. The point that I’m making is that we are using weight to determine volume and if the 1.261 specific gravity per ml used by the calculator is off, then so is the quantity. The 10% figure I used was for simplicity in demonstrating how far off a 100 ml mix could be due to differences.
Nowadays, after discovering some several ml differences using weight, I have carefully marked containers for volume which I use in connection with mixing equipment few have.
What woke me from this terrible flu going around were statements that mixing by volume is inaccurate and “bad information.” No even when using a scale we are using weight to measure volume.
Edit; I measure 1 ml then weigh it. Then 10 ml and weigh it to determine what my VG actually weighs. Then can mix by weight or volume. 70% VG is always 70 mls in a 100 ml mix.
1 Like
I just remembered something I wanted to bring up in my original reply. Breathing. Breathing is only required when your e-liquid contains flavorings that are diluted in alcohol. Otherwise it is optional. However for most flavors I wouldn’t recommend it. Some flavors, such as most strawberries for example, are highly volatile. In other words the flavor isn’t tightly locked in place by the PG, thus breathing will cause them to lose intensity. In most cases you get a good portion of the benefits of breathing during the measuring process, ie drawing a flavor, putting it in the bottle, moving on to the next. Most videos I have viewed have said that breathing is a must which simply isn’t true and can lead you to using more of certain flavors when compared to not breathing.
2 Likes
I absolutely agree with everything you said bar this, I would say > IF you think breathing is necessary then it is only required when your e-liquid contains flavorings that are diluted in alcohol.
I do not breath anything, ever due to
I arrived there after a conversation I had with @Walt_RealFlavors who recommended that mixes be mixed and capped immediately after mixing (not an exact quote) .
I guess the breathing debate will continue along the lines of mixing by volume, heating mixes, storing flavours we all do it our own way and there is nothing wrong with that. I would suggest that the bottle breathers try capping a bottle immediately after mixing and breathing the same mix as you normally would to see if there is a difference.
6 Likes
It seems simple to me …if your smelling it while stored or during steeping/mixing, you won’t be tasting it in your e-juice …it’s gone
6 Likes
Yes it is a no brainer yet just the other day I saw advice being handed out to a new mixer breath every mix for a minimum of 12 hours (it wasn’t here) SMH.
I have tried this experiment a few times in the past. I found that with breathing I had to use about 20% more (say 7% instead of 5%) when using strawberry flavorings and about 10% more when using certain bananas. Some pastries held up pretty well, others started to taste off. Might have been my imagination, but they started tasting…well…fake and almost plastic like.
5 Likes
I have done the same tests with sb, nana, raspberry and apple and come to a similar conclusion.
3 Likes
@Jmartian I apologize for the slow reply.
Opinions do vary on this subject. The most anal retentive among us will want the specific gravity. Others will go by 1 gm = 1 ml. IMO it doesn’t matter. You will always get the same results if you stick with either method. It’s a matter of consistency. The biggest difference (from the mixer’s standpoint) is with specific gravity, you have to get this information from somewhere. So either you simply trust whatever you find from the manufacturer, or you weigh each flavor and enter your findings. Either way, has it helped in any way to get the most accurate wt/gm? Not for you.
Bottom line - the easiest method of mixing by weight which is 100% repeatable is valuing all flavors as 1gm/ml IMO. It’s consistent and easy. Sure, this is a topic of contention, but I’ve yet to see a solid argument against it for the DIY hobbyist.
6 Likes
I’m still not completely sold on ME mixing by weight, bAsed on my personal experience so far…
But will admit I am quickly leaning towards the scale . The more I read.
Measuring Liquids
When I’m in the kitchen mixing up the ingredients for my grandmother’s delicious chocolate cake, I add vegetable oil to the mixing bowl using a measuring cup. Measuring cups are great kitchen tools for measuring liquid ingredients, like oil. However, measuring cups don’t hold water when it comes to working in a laboratory.Scientific experiments often use liquids that need to be measured to exact amounts. For some experiments, being off by a few milliliters could alter the result. Because measurements need to be exact, a scientist needs the right tool for measuring liquid volume. The tool the scientist selects will depend on how much liquid he must measure and how precise he needs to be.
If he simply needs a ballpark figure, he might use a beaker or flask, which would be like using measuring cups in your kitchen. Beakers and flasks might have volume markings on them, but due to their shape, it’s hard to get a precise measurement using these tools.
In this lesson, we will focus on two tools you can use to accurately measure liquid volume, namely graduated cylinders and burets.
Graduated Cylinders
Graduated cylinders are aptly named because they are cylindrical containers with markings on the side, known as graduations. These graduations vary with the size of the graduated cylinder.If the cylinder is big, and can hold 500 mL of liquid, then the markings on the graduated scale would be divided into 5 mL increments. Five mL is about a teaspoon of liquid. If the cylinder is small and holds only 10 mL of liquid, then the markings would be in 0.1 mL increments, which is a tiny droplet.
Graduated cylinders are typically made of glass or plastic, which is actually significant. It’s important because we know that water and other liquids tend to cling to these materials. This attraction of liquid to the container causes the water level to be slightly higher at the edges and lower in the middle. This creates a meniscus, which is the term we use to describe the curved surface that results when a liquid is inside a container.
When you read the level of water inside the graduated cylinder, you want to measure the level at the bottom, which is the middle, of the meniscus. If you took your reading where the liquid meets the container, your reading would be too high. Speaking of ways to get an accurate reading, it’s important that you take your reading at eye level, so your measurement is not distorted by your view.
As an example, let’s say you have a glass of water, and you want to know the amount you have down to the milliliter. You can grab a 100 mL graduated cylinder and pour the water into the opening at the top of the cylinder. You can then crouch down so your eyes are at the same level of the water surface. This allows you to see the meniscus, or curve of the water level. You can now eyeball the lowest point of the meniscus and take your reading using the markings on the outside of the cylinder.