Just starting, what nicotine strength to get?

when i look at some of the recipes on this site, i notice the nicotine strength that people start with are different. some 48mg/ml, 60mg/ml, 100mg/ml… etc

im about to order everything i need to start mixing my own but i was wondering what strength nicotine to order?

should i get 100mg/ml?

how would i use a recipe that calls for 60mg/ml nicotine and use my 100mg/ml nicotine?

and is there any easy way to convert recipies to my strength? like if its asking for 3mg and i want to bump it up to 6mg?

i watched a shit ton of videos but this is still the most confusing part for me

i really appreciate any and all help i can get!

thank you!

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Buying nic in 100mg strength is more cost effective (and space as well) than anything lower. Here’s what you do.

You take the 100mg nic, let’s say 500ml, which should be in 100% PG. You then take a smaller amount to use, let’s say 50ml. Then you add 50ml of PG to the 50ml of nic. You’ll now have 100ml of nic at 50mg. You can then work with this. The other 450ml you can store in glass bottles in a freezer. I put it in 120ml brown Boston bottles.

So, once you have your 100ml of 50 mg nic, you then use the recipe calculator here on ELR. In the box that reads “Nicotine Strength” you enter 50 mg. Then enter 100 for PG content of nicotine. The second box from the top is where you enter the strength you want the juice to be, let’s say 5mg.

That’s all there is to it. Definitely get it in 100mg, it saves money.

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Personally i have always used 100mg, keep in mind that it is dangerous so you will want to use some precautionary measures. I get mine is PG, it is SO much easier to work with and it oxidizes slower in a PG base.

All that stupid math stuff… Thankfully the recipe site does it all for you.

Holler if you need our help. We have some great resources in the beginners section of the forums. Long reads but totally worth it.

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This here is some excellent advice. I put all my nic in 120ml bottles and pop them into the freezer. I have nic that is several years old and titration testing puts them in the same area as when i first got them. I do keep a 120ml in the fridge for regular usage, we go through quite a bit but a bottle can stay in there for months, maybe longer, without any degradation. Years for the freezer. Allow it to come to room temp before using especially in a humid climate.

@letice721 titration is the process of testing your nicotine for strength, i find this to be very important. From time to time companies have sent out batches with lower than 100mg and higher than 100mg. Its the higher part that you really need to look out for. The testing kits can be purchased at several different vendors in the US, i dont know about other places tho.

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If you’re just starting, I highly recommend heading over to #e-liquids:beginners and start reading through all the guides.
They tell you how to work with the calculator, how to adapt recipes you like to your liking (vg/pg ratio, nicotine strength, volume to mix, etc), how to set up your flavor stash, work with flavor %, which flavors are recommended to start with, what the advantages are of mixing with syringes or a scale and so on.
There’s a ton of valuable information, not just on how to mix, but also on safety, where to buy your ingredients and much, much more :smiley:

Welcome to the forums, have fun reading and success with your mixing.
If you have any questions, there are lots of people here, any time of day, that are willing to help.

With regards to your question, when I started, I just bought a 125ml bottle of 72mg/ml nicotine. This lasted me nearly a year and was the strongest I could buy. I’d start small, see how things go and if you like it and get a feel for your consumption, you can adjust your future purchases according to it.

If you start mixing liquids at 3mg, you can fairly easily add 100mg/ml nicotine so it becomes 6mg e-liquid without disturbing the flavor balance in your juice too much.
If you use lower strength nicotine base, the more flavor you’ll have to add afterwards and that’s not always the easiest thing to do.
@CosmicTruth has made a useful calculator for these things:

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Personally I started with 100mg in 100% pg to make it easier to shake up the nic prior to mixing to avoid hot spots as compared to vg.

Beyond that I would say it comes down to your level of respect for nic. If you don’t trust yourself, have a crazy house full of kids and pets, or someone that throws stuff at you when mad…48mg nic may be a good starting point.

Just a thought. You will get lots of folks who say start at 48, 72, etc. but I think for me it was the level of respect you will have working with nicotine.

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that helps so much! im definitely doing it that way haha. i really appreciate it.

so lets say im copying a recipe on here. i input my desired mg strength, my nic base strength, PG/VG ratio…etc

when i get to flavorings, they ask for 5.00% banana cream, 3.00% dragon fruit, and 7.00% strawberry

do i copy the recipes flavoring % into my recipe calculator? or do i have to figure out the percentages on my own?

looking to copy this http://e-liquid-recipes.com/recipe/49573/Bombies%20'nana%20cream but with the 50mg/ml @ 6mg

this is what i put into the calculator http://tjek.nu/r/m0YX

thank you! i really appreciate it.

im going to spend the rest of the day reading up haha

Looks good. You are right. The percentage of flavoring would remain the same, no matter how much you are making, etc. Unless, of course, you WANT the end result to taste different for some reason.

You don’t need to “copy” a recipe, meaning creating a new recipe and copying the flavors with their percentages. If you see a recipe you like and you want to adjust the values to your preferences, click on the wrench and select Adapt this

image

Then set your values in the following screen, i.e. PG/VG/nic level/nic strength/nic PG/VG ratio, steep time, flavors. The first time you do this, you might want to check the checkbox Set these base values as default (values for your base liquids and volume to make) and unless you have a good reason to share the recipe publicly, also check This is a private recipe.

You can share your private recipes if you click on the wrench again, and select Share URL privately. Most people don’t appreciate the dozens or sometimes hundreds of copies of the same recipe. Some people put literally everything public, even bad creations, work-in-progress, different versions of the same recipe with only minor changes like the total volume, and so on. This can make it a daunting task for others to find recipes that are worth making.
But if you copy a recipe, make minor changes and think it’s an improvement over the original, or you make your own recipes that you think others should try… feel free to share them publicly with others.

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jesus this website is awesome! that is super easy haha thank you so much!

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I disagree with the majority here, you do not need to start with 100mg nicotine. as a rule of thumb use a base that is just slightly higher (x2) than what you intend for your finished e-liquid, especially just as you are starting out. If you decide to go along with the suggestions you have received be sure to use safety protective gear when handling your base.


When handling pure nicotine additional equipment will be needed.
I suggest your first nicotine be 36mg in a 50/50 PG/VG diluent. it’s easy to work with, you can easily mix it and is plenty strong enough to make high nicotine finished e-liquid. You still should use safety gear but don’t have to worry near as much about a spill.

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i use pg based 100mg , i started with 48mg and have tried Vag based i like pg bc its easier to shake up , imo and its only an opinion i see no difference in 100mg/ ml and 36 or whatever it all CAN. be dangerous … i like 100mg/ml bc a smaller bottle lasts longer since you use less

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