Beginner’s Guide To Making The Most Highly-Rated Recipes
Updated Nov 10, 2018
When I first started DIY, I went through a rather time-consuming process of figuring out what I needed to buy for my first purchase. I figured that I’d write a guide which might help another beginner make their initial purchase.
So I decided to analyze the 100 top-rated recipes, and find all the recipes good for a beginner - those with 4 flavors or less.
Below you’ll find some lists of recipes with varying numbers of flavors, along with the flavors used in each, so you can quickly find some recipes to make. I’ve included some info on the amounts of each flavor to purchase, along with some info on determining how much PG, VG and Nicotine concentrate to buy.
I’ve also put together an “economical” first order - a small list of recipes using a common list of flavors so you don’t end up buying a flavor that gets used in only one recipe. This is not going to be perfect for everyone, but it should help some people get started.
Note: In the recipe listings below, flavors that are used in only a single recipe are italicized. These flavors are certainly used in other recipes on ELR, but they’re in only 1 recipe listed in this guide. This is shown simply to help you make a wise purchase. It’s expensive to buy flavors that only get used once.
Recipes with 2 flavors, sorted by Rating
Simply tobacco - 7Leaves Ultimate (FA), Rum, Jamaican Special (Jamaica Rhum) (FA)
Night Shift v1by gcrannel - Cappuccino (Cap), Chocolate Glazed Doughnut (Cap)
Mustard Milk - Simple Strawberries and Cream - Strawberry (TPA), Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TPA)
Atmose Chifles - Banana Cream (TPA), Caramel (Original) (TPA)
Recipes with 3 flavors, sorted by Rating
snowy fuji - Apple, Fuji (FA), Bavarian Cream (TPA), Caramel (Cap)
Bombies 'nana cream - Banana Cream (LA), Dragonfruit (TPA), Strawberry (TPA)
Macho - Dark Vapure (FA), Perique Black (FA), Tobacco, DNB (Dirty Neutral Base) (Inawera)
Custard King - RY4 Double (TPA), Sweet Cream (TPA), Vanilla Swirl (TPA)
Mikes Melons (Cuttwood Monster Melon Clone) - Cantaloupe (TPA), Mango (TPA), Papaya (TPA)
Sinnamon Cookie Kustard - Cinnamon Danish Swirl (Cap), Sugar Cookie (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Cactus Tropical - Cactus (Inawera), Forest Fruit (Forest Mix) (FA), Sweetener (Sucralose/Maltol) (TPA)
Grants Vanilla Custard my way - French Vanilla v1 (Cap), New York Cheesecake (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
nutty coffee - Almond, Toasted (TPA), Espresso (TPA), Graham Cracker (Clear) (TPA)
muffin man clone(spot on) - Apple Pie v1 (Cap), Cinnamon Danish Swirl (Cap), Double Apple (Cap)
Girl With The Dragon Cheescake - Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA), Dragonfruit (TPA), Vanilla Swirl (TPA)
Old Habits - Latakia (FA), Tobacco, DNB (Dirty Neutral Base) (Inawera), Virginia (FA)
Recipes with 4 flavors, sorted by Rating
Strawnana Custard - Banana Cream (Colorless) (LA), Strawberry, Ripe (TPA), Strawberry, Sweet (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
DaMomma’s RY4 Delight - Catalan Cream (FA), RY4 Double (TPA), Sweet Cream (FW), Vanilla Custard v2 (Cap)
strawberry fog - Bavarian Cream (TPA), Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA), Strawberry, Ripe (TPA), Vanilla Custard (TPA)
Candybeca - Acetyl Pyrazine 5% (TPA), Cotton Candy (10% EM/Ethyl Maltol) (TPA), Graham Cracker (Clear) (TPA), RY4 Double (TPA)
Queen’s Cookie Jar (SthrnMixer Original) - Biscuit (Inawera), Pear (FA), Strawberry Shisha (Inawera), Sugar Cookie (Cap)
Birthday Cake - Biscuit (Inawera), Cake Batter Dip (FW), Meringue (FA), Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (Cap)
Glass Apple - Apple, Fuji (FA), Koolada 10% (TPA), Peach (Juicy) (TPA), Strawberry, Ripe (TPA)
Kreed’s Kustard - Cotton Candy (10% EM/Ethyl Maltol) (TPA), French Vanilla v1 (Cap), New York Cheesecake (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Ripe Dragon Cream - Cotton Candy (10% EM/Ethyl Maltol) (TPA), Dragonfruit (TPA), Strawberry, Ripe (TPA), Sweet Cream (TPA)
Carabeca - Acetyl Pyrazine 5% (TPA), Butterscotch (TPA), Graham Cracker (Clear) (TPA), RY4 Double (TPA)
Butter Pecan Custard (BPC wonderfullness) - Butter Cream (Cap), Butter Pecan (FW), Cream, Sweet (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Sparkling Apple Peach Wine - Apple, Fuji (FA), Vienna Cream (FA), White Peach (FA), Wine Champagne (FA)
Blue’addy Yogurt - Bavarian Cream (TPA), Blackcurrant (FA), Blueberry Extra (TPA), Greek Yogurt (TPA)
100% VGOD EJUICE REMIX - Cloud Bros, Instagram Likes, Marketing, Sucralose 10%
cuttwood sugar bear clone - Cinnamon Danish Swirl (Cap), Cinnamon Roll (FW), Cotton Candy (10% EM/Ethyl Maltol) (TPA), Sugar Cookie (Cap)
Frosted Flakes - Acetyl Pyrazine 5% (TPA), Cake (Yellow) (FW), Hazelnut (FW), Meringue (FA)
Creamy Caramel Custard - Caramel (Original) (TPA), Caramel Candy (TPA), Sweet Cream (TPA), Vanilla Custard (TPA)
The Kennedy (clone) - Caramel (Original) (TPA), Pistachio (TPA), Sugar Cookie (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Halo Tribeca Clone - Acetyl Pyrazine 5% (TPA), Cotton Candy (10% EM/Ethyl Maltol) (TPA), Graham Cracker (FW), RY4 Double (TPA)
Ingredient Quantities To Purchase - Flavors
If you were to make a 30ml bottle of each and every recipe above, you will need to purchase 75 flavors.
How much to purchase of each flavor is somewhat difficult to accurately calculate, since some vendors repackage flavors into small bottles, and some manufacturers make large bottles. Generally speaking, you’ll only need to purchase a small bottle (at least 8ml) of each flavor.
However, some flavors are used in many recipes, and some flavors are used in higher percentages.
You may want to consider buying more of the flavors listed below - a second bottle, or a larger size. Note that the amounts listed next to each flavor show how much you need if you made a 30ml bottle of every recipe listed in this guide.
RY4 Double (TPA) - 15ml
Strawberry, Ripe (TPA) - 8ml
Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap) - 10ml
Ingredient Quantities To Purchase - PG, VG & Nic
Calculating how much PG, VG and Nicotine that you will need to purchase is very difficult to do since everyone is different.
Buying the exact quantity need is almost impossible, since these things are sold in certain sizes. I want to make sure that you order enough, not the exact amount required.
There are also many, many variables.
Do you wish to make your recipes at MaxVG? All PG? 70% VG & 30% PG? Or some other ratio?
Do you use 100mg Nicotine concentrate? Or 12mg? Or something in between?
Is the Nicotine in a VG base? Or a PG base? Or a mix?
Therefore I will have to introduce some concepts, and then you’re going to have to do some (hopefully simple) math. I’ve also included some examples.
And I’m going to introduce a rule for this section: When in doubt, buy a larger bottle.
Math And Stuff
Ugh. I know. But I’m going to try to keep this simple. And that’s going to mean that this is going to be a little bit inaccurate. - but hopefully it will be accurate enough to give you a decent idea of how much to purchase.
First let’s consider how much finished eLiquid that you’re planning on making. Let’s say that you decide to make 25 recipes, and each bottle will be 30ml. That’s 25 * 30, so 750ml of finished eLiquid.
Nicotine Concentrate
First, consider the nicotine level you want your finished juice to be. For example, 3mg.
Next, consider the strength of the nicotine concentrate. For example, 12mg.
Lastly, consider the amount of finished juice you’re going to make. In our example it’s 750ml.
Divide your desired nic level (3mg) by the concentrate strength (12mg) which gives us 0.25.
Now multiply this by the amount you’re going to make - 0.25 * 750 ml = 188ml.
You’d need 188ml of 12mg concentrate in order to make 750ml of 3mg juice.
Another Example
First, consider the nicotine level you want your finished juice to be. For example, 6mg.
Next, consider the strength of the nicotine concentrate. For example, 36mg.
Lastly, consider the amount of finished juice you’re going to make. In our example it’s 750ml.
Divide your desired nic level (6mg) by the concentrate strength (36mg) which gives us 0.167.
Now multiply this by the amount you’re going to make - 0.167 * 750 ml = 125ml.
You’d need 125ml of 36mg concentrate in order to make 750ml of 6mg juice.
Nicotine Base - VG or PG?
The Nicotine concentrate can come mixed into VG, PG, or a mix of both. What type should you buy? For now, let’s keep it simple - if you want MaxVG, buy Nicotine concentrate in a VG base. Otherwise, buy it in a PG base.
PG and VG
Remember from above that we’re going to make 25 bottles of finished eLiquid, each at 30ml. That’s 750ml of finished product.
Let’s say that you prefer your juices to have 65% VG, and 35% PG.
For VG, 65% of 750ml is, ummm… calculator… 488ml of VG.
For PG, 35% of 750ml is 263ml.
Easy, right?
Subtract The Nicotine Base
Now you know how much Nicotine concentrate to buy (188ml or 125ml, based on our examples). Since some of this concentrate is PG or VG (or both), you can subtract this from the PG & VG amounts above.
Our example above says to buy 488ml of VG and 263ml of PG. But the Nicotine concentrate is mostly PG or VG, depending on what you chose. You just need to subtract the amount of Nicotine concentrate from the amount of PG or VG, depending on the base you chose.
Let’s say you want MaxVG and need to purchase 188ml of Nicotine concentrate. 488ml - 188ml = 300ml of VG.
Let’s say you want decided to get the Nicotine concentrate in a PG base, and only need 125ml. 263ml - 125ml = 138ml of PG.
Round Up! (The Easy Way)
So those calculations are fairly precise and will get you the (almost) exact amount of PG, VG and Nicotine to buy. But you’re going to want to make more recipes, and you’re going to have a bunch of flavors lying around. So buy more than you think you need.
An “Economical” First Order
NOTE: This section has not been updated, since I did this manually. I will need to revisit this.
You might want to check out the “Analyzing” post for an updated list which contains more flavors.
This will go over an order which will make a fair number of recipes with the least number of flavors to purchase.
These 18 flavors:
Banana Cream (LA)
Bavarian Cream (TPA)
Biscuit (Inawera)
Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA)
Cinnamon Danish Swirl (Cap)
Dragonfruit (TPA)
Ethyl Maltol 10%
French Vanilla (Cap)
Joy (FA)
Meringue (FA)
New York Cheesecake (Cap)
Strawberry (Ripe) (TPA)
Strawberry (TPA)
Sugar Cookie (Cap)
Sweet Cream (TPA)
Vanilla Custard (TPA)
Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Vanilla Swirl (TPA)
Will allow you to make these 10 highly-rated, simple-to-make recipes:
Strawberry Cheesecake - Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA), Strawberry (Ripe) (TPA)
Bombies 'nana cream - Banana Cream (LA), Dragonfruit (TPA), Strawberry (TPA)
Grants Vanilla Custard my way - French Vanilla (Cap), New York Cheesecake (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Sucker punch clone 50ml - Bavarian Cream (TPA), Dragonfruit (TPA), Vanilla Swirl (TPA)
Sinnamon Cookie Kustard - Cinnamon Danish Swirl (Cap), Sugar Cookie (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Girl With The Dragon Cheescake - Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA), Dragonfruit (TPA), Vanilla Swirl (TPA)
strawberry fog - Bavarian Cream (TPA), Cheesecake (Graham Crust) (TPA), Strawberry (Ripe) (TPA), Vanilla Custard (TPA)
Kreed’s Kustard (Custard Cheesecake) - Ethyl Maltol 10%, French Vanilla (Cap), New York Cheesecake (Cap), Vanilla Custard v1 (Cap)
Ripe Dragon Cream - Dragonfruit (TPA), Ethyl Maltol 10%, Strawberry (Ripe) (TPA), Sweet Cream (TPA)
Geography - French Quarter clone - Biscuit (Inawera), Joy (FA), Meringue (FA), Sugar Cookie (Cap)
Other Items To Purchase
If you make a 30ml bottle of each one of those recipes, you’ll need to buy a single small bottle of each flavoring. You’ll have some left over.
If you make your recipes at 70/30 VG/PG and 3mg nicotine, you’ll also need:
250ml of VG
60ml of PG
60ml of 24mg Nicotine concentrate in a PG base
Note: If you want more exact measurements, or use a different nicotine strength or PG/VG ratio, see the section Ingredient Quantities To Purchase - PG, VG & Nic above.
You’ll also need to buy ten 30ml bottles.
And you’ll most certainly want to buy a scale. Many people, including me, recommend the American Weigh Scales LB-501 Digital Kitchen Scale available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UGBG20
The Total Cost
All of these supplies in this section can be purchased - in the US - for just under $100, though shipping costs may push that over the $100 mark.
Considering that 10 bottles of premium commercial eLiquid will cost you about $200, that’s not a bad deal.
Considering that you’ll still have some flavoring left over, and the scale, that’s definitely a good deal.
Note:
Another thread, Analyzing The 100 Top-Rated Recipes, has a list of 40 flavors that will make 31 of the top 100 recipes. They’re not all simple recipes, but the list of flavors may be worth considering. See the section “Maximum Efficiency” near the bottom of the post.
Other Simple Recipes
This guide only considers recipes from the list of the top 100 highly-rated recipes. This was done to narrow the scope of this guide, and keep the guide from overwhelming beginners - and myself!
But there are many, many more simple recipes that are suitable for beginners, and it’s not always easy to find recipes with only a few flavors. I stumbled upon a post from daath that explains a hidden feature that can be used to limit searches to recipes with a specific number of flavors. It doesn’t work everywhere, and it doesn’t work if you click on a button to get to the next page. So I’ve listed a few links below to make such searches a bit easier.
Feeling adventurous? No longer a beginner? Just interested in seeing what can be done with more flavors? Click below…
Conclusion
I hope this provided some info and proved useful to someone.
Don’t forget to rate your favorite recipes!
Updates
9/11/16 - Added section “Other Simple Recipes”
9/11/16 - Added flavors to the recipes listed in An Economical First Order
9/17/16 - Fixed “Other Simple Recipes” to display properly, particularly for non-members
11/10/18 - Updated using current info as of 11/10/18
Updates
9/17/16 - Added section “Maximum Efficiency”
11/10/18 - Updated using info current on Nov 10, 2018
