How does a complete beginner experiment? Do you just create 10ml samples and toss them if they aren’t great? Or is it possible to dilute in water to get the right proportions?
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Before experimenting, you should start by getting a bit informed about what you’re going to experiment with.
This section would be a great place to start. And a quick heads up… don’t mix water in your liquids 
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Hi @Naxy First let me welcome you to the community. I am sure you will get a bunch of SFT responses.
SFT means Single Flavor Testing and I only do 5 ml because there is less waste that way.
So do a punch of SFT’s and then taste them after they have had time to steep. A bit of advice; Let’s say you taste one and you don’t like it. Don’t toss it out because you might like it after putting it into a recipe. That happens a lot. Sometimes though, you will get one that you absolutely hate and you know you’ll never use it. In that case, just give it away.
Let’s say you tested Marshmallow, strawberry, and cheesecake and you liked all of them. What I do is put a bit of each in another bottle, give it a shake and a vape and see how you like it.
That is one way to experiment. I am sure others will answer also. @anon28032772 left a link that will help you a LOT so i recomend reading.
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That’s how I started my journey. 
I did a great deal is reading first… then, jumped in with both feet. Stick to mixing 10ml samples… Waste as little of your supplies as possible while you’re learning.
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That is great advice- whether you choose to SFT or not. It is advice I wish I’d heeded when I started mixing. My research was really relegated to sourcing concentrates and the basics of simply measuring and mixing- nothing about the nuances or proper % use, differences between manufacturers, any of that.
As a result, I simply assumed that all concentrates tasted exactly like their descriptions, all would be wonderful, and I would be a happy, master-mixing genius with little effort. As it turns out, there are very, very few instances where one can close their eyes and toss a dart and hit on a super-winner. Maybe be as little as zero.
So read up, ask away, test small, and have fun.
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Appreciate the advice and tips. I will certainly continue doing lots of research in addition to gathering supplies. I can’t resist the urge to buy equipment and flavors!
Would it be possible to mix in a syringe? Like a 1mL with a blunt tip, shake, drop, let it steep, try again, then start over? Or is 10ml generally the minimum possible? Just trying to get an idea of the minimum so I can tweak a bunch to my preferences?
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You can mix as small as physically possible. When you’re going below 10ml testers, you’ll see that it becomes harder and harder to be accurate with the percentages of concentrates that you use. A single drop of flavor concentrate is on average about 0.02g (or 0.02ml). There are concentrates that are used at 0.1%, so that would mean half a drop for a 10ml recipe, and how are you measuring half a drop precisely? For those recipes, you should ideally mix at least a 20ml tester.
For most recipes however, a 10ml is good. You also want to be able to taste a little, let it steep, taste some more, let it steep some more. That way you can keep track of the steeping process, which is important in getting to know your flavor concentrates.
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Welcome Naxy 
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Hi @muth.
You guys were not wrong about reading up. In the two or three hours of reading, there is a ton of well organized information here. Should help me get going.
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Naxy, I can’t stress enough how important it is to listen to the ones before us. I was stubborn and tried to take shortcuts because I was short on patience. It only backfired on me. I’ve been hanging around this joint for 2 years now and just starting to buckle down and get serious. My mistake was avoiding single flavor testing or just depending on others notes to get me by. It won’t work that way because our tastes vary and you need to know for yourself what works for you. You already seem to be on the right track. I’m just dropping in to warn newbies to not make my mistakes. Good luck and happy mixing. It can be very rewarding when you make your first recipe that becomes an ADV for you. Hope to see you in the threads. This is a great forum with helpful people who also happen to be nice.
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Agreed. I quickly realized I was going about it the wrong way. Mixing by weight is the route I’ll go. This thread is obsolete 
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You will thank yourself a million times over! 
Meh… Who knows? Someone else might stumble upon it and see how easily you fell in the groove.
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Good idea to end this thread. I’m sure your going to want to ask a “few” more pointed questions.
Might want to read if you have not already:
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Thanks for the link. Read it and It sounds like single flavor testing will be a bear but no question there is a consensus that it’s very important.
I’m sure I will have some questions at some point, but the beginners info has been pretty thorough. Really well done.
I already wish I would have bookmarked some of the info that I know I read and can’t find now. A second read may be in my future.
And the stash/flavor/list/search database…amazing.
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re:" I already wish I would have bookmarked some of the info that I know I read and can’t find now. "
This may help:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY_eJuice/wiki/diy_beginners_guide
https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/blogs/dannyv45.130984/
After reading the information above, and if you have additional questions,
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@Naxy sending you a warm welcome sorry its a bit late but all you have to do is listen to what people say and any question even if you think it sounds silly it won’t be if you don’t ask you don’t ever know
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