Question about premix

I was stupid enuf to order a primix of PG 30 VG 70 and 3% nicotine. And i cant adjust this recipe to work with the calculator. Plz some help

i would like it to be 3 % nicotine

@IckySticky thatā€™s an easy one (I think) you need to change your 'Desired Strength" Nic percentage to 0 (zero) as itā€™s in your PG/VG (no need to calculate) it should look like this

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Yep, like Bo saidā€¦
ELR is THE TOOLā€¦'nuff said !!!

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I always have a pre-mixed base rather than messing with nicotine for every recipe. When I use the calculator I enter the strength of the base in ā€œdesired strengthā€ and only worry about the ā€œTotal baseā€ # when mixing. I never thought that throws off my pg/vg ratio butā€¦does it?

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yeah your nic will be less than 3% because of all added flavorings ā€¦so if 10% flavoring youā€™d have 10% less nic (eww math guess)

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I do the same thing. The way I look at it, who cares?

As long as your mixing works for you, youā€™re making things you like, and itā€™s repeatable, thatā€™s what matters.

If itā€™s wrong, youā€™re not the only one doing it. I donā€™t want to mess with adding nicotine every time I mix something either.

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That explains a lot! lol I never factored that in and I always feel like Iā€™m not getting as much nic as I think I should be.

So basically I need to subtract the total flavor % from the nic?

For example, if I start out with a base of 10mg nic and the recipe has 15% flavoring: 10-1.5=8.5mg total nic? Hmmmā€¦not sure if that is enough for me to notice but I often feel like I need ā€œjust a bit moreā€ throat hit.

you could buy 6% premix and dilute with plain PG/VG but itā€™d be the same math problem

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Ahh, then Iā€™ve fooled my body into thinking itā€™s getting 4% nic, when in reality itā€™s only getting 3.6%.

I guess the good part is, my nic stash will last 10% longer!

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As it seems easier to use, it lacks in control.
Also, the pre-mix will alter your PG/VG ratio as you add the flavorings. There is no place in the calculator to compensate unless you adjusted the ā€˜Desired PGā€™ and the ā€˜Desired VGā€™ā€¦not that it canā€™t be done within reason BUTā€¦if using the pre-mix is to make [it easier], you just shot yourself in the foot.

If you are worried about using liquid nicotine, just get 48mg VG base nic. It is very safe to use. Even if you get some on your skin the VG is thicker than PG, the strength is not deadly, and if you rinse it off right away you will never know it was thereā€¦unless you are an infant or small pet. Although I mix by weight, I use a syringe for nicotine.

When you use separate ingredients you have total control over your batch.

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Thanks for your input. I have enough 100mg nic to last me a very long time so I wonā€™t be buying any more for a while. Just being aware of this will help when making a base. For now Iā€™m usually at 10mg nic and have been lowering my pg %. The next time I make a base I will up everything by ~ 10% knowing that later it will decrease by ~10%. It doesnā€™t need to be exact, just in the the ballpark where it works. I just never factored that in so I appreciate that @IckySticky brought it up and prompted me to discover the error of my calculations! Maybe 6mg will work now that I realize I wasnā€™t getting that in the first place. Mathā€¦

P.S. @ozo I enjoy your posts/wit. Iā€™ve been contemplating using a magnetic stirrer and your post on this topic is very helpful!

Hopefully you realize you can not make a 3mg nic recipe by using a 70/30 3mg premix. Soon as you add anything to the mix your nicotine value will fall below 3mg. Highly recommend you buy your nicotine separate of your VG and PG. For that matter buy your PG separate from the VG as well. Like most of us you most likely will not blend only for yourself which means you will need flexibility in nic, and in the blend (70/30, 60/40, Max VG, Etc). Not only that in order to use a premix blend with nic the flavor percentage would always have to be exactly the same. I think you know this is not gonna happen either. Different recipes call for different amounts of flavor quite often. Hopefully Iā€™m misunderstanding what you mean by a 70/30 3mg nic premix but if Iā€™m interpreting this correctly and the nicotine is already in this premix then everything I just said will be correct. New DIYers very often make this mistake of buying nicotine strength of their desired ending value because they donā€™t realize adding your flavoring or anything else will dilute the nicotine strengthā€¦

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Bwahahahaā€¦ya, I got a lotta people fooled, eh? :smile_cat: :smile_cat:

What I lack in wisdom I make up for in caringā€¦or bullshit, whichever comes first.

Thank you though.

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Ty for the help and I will never buy premix again. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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Q: knowing what you know now, what strength nicotine would you buy?
I use 36mg nic in a 50/50 base. The highest e liquid I make is 18mg so it works well.
If you was to buy a gallon of 36mg base and mix it with a gallon of 3mg base you would get 19.5mg base.

I vape at a real 1.75% to 2.25 %ā€¦ after all the stuff is in there. I measure at zero nic on the calculator.

I accidentally lowered my nic (long story adapting someone elseā€™s recipe and accepting as my recipe ā€œdefaultā€) and vaped at 2mg for like a month. Now I do it on purpose. Especially since Iā€™m neck deep in Test mode and vaping alotta different juices. Iā€™ll probably stay at 2 mg. I can get that [cough] oral satisfaction and not over do nicotine ā€¦overindulging without overindulging.

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Iā€™ve found that lower % nicotine concentrates provide a much more smooth vape. I started using 48mg nic concentrate, as recommended by my local vape shop liquid creator. Then I stepped down to 36mg nic concentrate. Today I am down to 24mg nic concentrate. Each step down made my vape noticeably more smooth. I love a lot of wizard labs products, but the higher concentrated nicotine solutions always tasted peppery to me. When I first started vaping 3 years ago, I started way up at 24mg nic vendor liquids using egos and clearomizers. Now with the newer RTAs, I cannot even vape 3mg nic vendor liquids. Iā€™ve effectively worked my way down from 24mg nic to 3mg nic using vendor liquids in my first year. Then once I reached 3mg nic, I started creating liquids for myself. Today I am down to 0.3 - 0.6mg nicotine in my mixtures. Another note, Iā€™ve found it much easier to work with 100% PG based nicotine. the VG based nicotine is tougher to shake appropriately. The same goes for high concentration nicotine. If you purchase 48mg nic concentrate or higher, you must always shake vigorously before use. The lower nicotine PG solutions are my favorite so far, because they are much easier to use, measure, shake, and in my opinion they taste much better.

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Using your descriptive I am at 0.2

Congrats! 0 is the next big step!!