I know there are a lot of folks (like Wayne from DIY or Die) who seem to find mixing e-liquid to be a gloriously enjoyable pastime, but I find that sometimes I just don’t feel like messing with all the paraphernalia, and I put it off, even though I’m getting low on liquid. Has anyone else ever experienced this? I will say, though, that since starting mixing by weight, it’s a LOT less fuss. I guess I have trouble overcoming inertia.
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This happens to me constantly cause I blend for a shop. I took the fun out of it unfortunately. In the past others (non Shop Owners) have mentioned this too. It happens so don’t let it worry you. You just need a new idea or incentive to get you going again…
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The worst part for me is digging thru flavoring bottles to find everything I need. Better organization would probably make that a lot less of a chore.
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Yes, agreed, however, when making numerous recipes in the same sitting it tends to get tedious regardless of your organization. Would be a heck of a lot worst if not organized though. I won’t say that gathering all the flavors I need in a sitting is worst than the actual blending, however, it’s close. See for ease I print out all recipes I plan to do during said sitting and then go pick out all the flavors I need. I spend a lot of time doing this process. Not to worry, you forget all about how tough the flavor choosing, printing, blending, labeling is once you start washing the used bottles…lol
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Thank you for the encouragement. Once I get started on something, it’s go go go; it’s the getting started part that’s the sticking point.
My problem, too. I live in a little cottage on the ocean in the Florida Keys (not that I’m complaining!), and I hardly have room for anything, let alone a science lab. All my mixing stuff is in cardboard boxes, and just the thought of having to dig through it all and I’m thinking . . . maybe tomorrow.
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I honestly don’t find mixing as enjoyable as others do it seems and I can only mix on the weekends due to my work schedule.I tend to try and make mix time a marathon of sorts by making about 6-10 mixes at one time and the vast majority are 120ml of ones I know that are good.
I would love to try one of the vortex mixers that are gaining in popularity but waiting 45-60 minutes before I can do another flavor simply will not work for me due to the time needed.10 mixes at 45 minutes stir time for each just eats up too much of my time.Perhaps if and when I am down to only three or four mixes I will give it a chance.
I use a 6 liter USC and set the heater to 45 degree’s Celsius and drop them all in the water until I get all 6-10 mixed.Then I turn the cleaner function on for 15-20 minutes and call it a day.
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I do get alittle tired. But not really. But I’ve only been doing it since October of last year and I mix for myself most of the time.
I do get tired of planning recipies. I spend hours researching and writing before I mix. But my end results are great. I haven’t had to dump a bad recpie in a very long time.
All in all. I find it more fun mixing with new recpies. I always have new ones to make. When I mix I normally have half of them that are my recpies I love but are being tweaked slightly (I call those touch ups). The other half is always new with new combinations and new primary flavors. That way, when it’s time to pick out a vape or two I always have something new to be excited about. The excitement of something new is what always calls me back to mixing every two weeks.
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I use fishing tackle utility boxes. You know, the ones where you can set it up by adding the insert separators. If you are using 30ml flavor bottles you should be able to put numerous flavors in just one box. You can stack then, mount on a wall (I did this), mark the them fruits, creams, etc. Might help you a bit and use about the same amount of space you use now…
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Sounds a bit like me though I mix for a shop. Every Thursday I mix on average at least 8 different mixes. That’s why the flavor choosing and printing starts to get tedious. For ease I blend 100 ml batches. Something you probably don’t do is bottle the juice in 6 15ml bottles, or 3 30ml glass bottles depending on the mix. Max VG and 60/40 are the usual blends. It is no longer a joy for me. I love creating recipes but then the fun stops when I blend it in mass quantities…
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@ringling
Nice set up! My goodness you’re organized. Ever watch Mark Sosin’s “Saltwater Journal”? The ultimate organized fishing tackle box guy.
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Yep…
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That’s me. I love playing around with the ELR calculator based on my stash, but then . . . oh, you mean I have to actually mix this stuff? Once I get all my stuff out, I can mix a bottle in no time, but Lord, digging through all that to get ready.
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Actually, no. Haven’t been into fishing since I was a teenager. I got the idea to use these type boxes because I used to be in the Sterling Silver Charms business. I would use these to display the charms. I had a bunch of them just laying around once I decided to get out of the jewelry business and found the perfect use for them. Though organized, it is still a bitch getting the flavors I need all together and then carrying them to where I blend which is in my kitchen…
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I don’t mind mixing. But…and this is more of a caveat than anything else…
is that I have SO MUCH JUICE to vape, I really don’t see a need to mix in the foreseeable future. I love the custards, and I love them even more when they are well steeped. So I mix 500 ml or a liter of what I like at a time. I don’t need juice, and I’m not going to mix just for the sake of mixing. If I see a recipe that really piques my interest, I may mix a 15 ml test bottle…or being a beta tester for RF, I mix the betas up to test…
I’m not that creative, I have created a few decent mixes, but for my palate, I have more that where created by others than I have created myself and I have plenty to vape on. I don’t sell a lot of juice, but I do sell to a few people, so I don’t even have to mix a lot for them.
I think in my case, need dictates my mixing habits more than anything else.
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@ringling
My organization problem is compounded by the fact that I’ve also got tins of snuff, pouches of pipe tobacco, etc., also lying around, which I use regularly. My desk looks like a medical supply house for the nicotine-addicted. (I’m not anti-tobacco; I just think that cigarettes are surely the absolute worst means of consuming it. I go through phases. I even have a few cigarettes now and then if I feel like it, just as a reminder that I don’t regularly smoke cigarettes because I usually don’t want to, not because I can’t, if that makes any sense. For me, total deprivation creates obsession, even if it’s deprivation of something I don’t much care for in the first place. Maybe I’m weird, but for me vaping can never completely replace the use of actual tobacco. There’s something in that stuff . . . .)
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Make somebody else’s recipe 
I’ve made a few flavour bases from a couple of recipes that I really like, so when I’m in a slump and don’t want to pull out various bottles, I only have to dig out one and add it to my base. My enthusiasm for mixing goes up and down, just like with everything else I do. Sometimes I read nonstop and then I don’t at all. So when I’m in mixing mode and I know I like the recipe, I make a base.[quote=“ringling, post:8, topic:64784”]
mark the them fruits, creams, etc.
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I’ve done that. I’ve got a cool box that is just full of tobacco flavours, numbers on the top so I can find them quick. I’ve got a section for fruit, creams and custards, drinks and miscellaneous, all numbered. I’ve got a list of all my flavours in alphabetical order and the corresponding number in front of it.
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While mixing fatigue doesn’t come to me that often…I do get it as well. That’s when I turn to my friend’s recipes I have hearted on my board as favorites I make them and it gets me through my mixing block. I also surf through the web looking at real food recipes the cook or the DIY’er in me gets inspired one way or another 
As far as being organized this helps abundantly as it cuts down the time and then mixing by weight is in my mind the only way to mix now that it’s been about 8 months since I switched no clean up worked for me.
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I get both mixing and flavor fatigue. I forgive myself for it because I am an artist by trade and you do go through dry spells. Mixing has a “learning” period (where you make many mistakes but learn a lot) and then a “honeymoon period” (where you start having a lot of success and are well satiated with your results) and then the maintenance period where you know you have become good at but want to look for new flavor fun.
I look at mixing like a good marriage - even the best ones require work, discipline and weekend out of town occasionally to keep things interesting
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Truer words were never spoken Maureenie ! I am certainly in the maintenance stage and have found myself going back to old mixes and realizing I have changed my style quite a bit from when I first started mixing !
But nonetheless I still put in effort for fun easy mixes ! Time away does make the heart fonder.
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