I wouldn’t say it’s just you. As captain @Grubby said, down the rabbit hole you go.
For me and my purchasing decisions when it comes to gear is this…do I need it? Maybe. Do I want it? Yes. If I didn’t buy it how many flavor concentrates could I buy instead? Generally flavors wins out most times.
But in the end it comes down to is whether or not it makes you happy and off the death sticks. After that it is all vape gravy.
Money spent on vape/DIY gear is certainly better spent than money on cigs which is basically, burning my money. As @City says " be healthy and happy no matter the cost" and that is absolutely correct. I do think I am going to slow down on spending for a bit and focus on learning mixing and my wife just put in a big flavor order at Wizard Labs so I think we’re in good shape even if the Zombie Apocalypse happens.
That is one of the things I like most about about ELR.
great minds think alike…
Yeah baby, yeah!
I feel your pain
I lost 25 years of machinist tools to Katrina in Pascagoula MS we had about 12 feet of saltwater in shop
thank God the company provides Micrometers
But all my Starrett snap gauges extra long I miss
Just too old to buy that high end stuff again lol
Rather buy vaping stuff lol
Man I just gave away 40 flavors because the hole got to deep to see what I use
Bikerdude I am with you.I to was a mechanic for 35 years and have many thousands of dollars of top shelf equipment and tools.Buying good stuff will not slow me down much…
I started on my own with syringes and watched youtube videos.Then started watching diy or die and bough a cheep scale.Now I would like a better one.Concentrates are were the money goes now not as bad as it was.I have found a lot of good info here to keep me on track.I am up to 167 flavors so far.
As far as quick steeping.It has not worked well for me.“Steeping is mixers Hell” the way I have found to get some decent steep time on my mixes it to keep 800 to 1000 ml mixed.When I make something new it goes to the back of the cabinet and it all rotates to the front.I get about a 3 +week steep.Welcome Bikerdude you don’t need a ton of shit to make good juice.You need to let it get old…
For a while, I was buying new vape stuff because I was just buying new vape stuff every two weeks. It was like a “shopping for vape stuff habit” I likened it to what a gambling addiction would be.
When I had new flavors coming I would put plastic down on the table, get out all the mixing stuff and get kind of nervous about making mistakes with flavors…you know get all excited opening new tank boxes and stuff.
When I hit the point where I realized I wasn’t getting anything better than I had I quit shopping but I started vaping when we were using the old versions of Blu and the original kanger stuff where every other coil burned.
I feel the same, I am having to limit myself with a budget each month. Either way being a 40 to 60 a day smoker I am still quids in. I purchased an aromamiser supreme loved it the decided to by another then got spare post decks. Always looking at new hardware. Been making my own claptons, then aliens and now more exotic builds. Been looking at a heated ultrasonic cleaner. Convincing the wife it’s not for vape stuff but it was for cleaning other things ( suggestions of what else I could clean would be great guys) but real question is would I need a mixer if I used a ultrasonic cleaner and would the cleaner mix with the bubbles or not?
I actually have a use for an ultrasonic cleaner other than speed steeping. I do a ton of motorcycle carburetor rebuild work and sorely want to get away from carb acid dip tanks to clean the carbs up. While I’m still money ahead VS cancer stick purchases, I have calmed down quite a bit on the vape spending. It helps that now my first mixes have aged enough to be vaped and my wife prefers my Tiger’s Blood (actually @Lars Tiger’s Blood Clone) over the store bought stuff, she has decided to spend some money each month on DIY supplies/ingredients. She was just asking the other day how much a Gallon of 100mg nic costs, and I told her to hold off until I can research how to store nic long term before shelling out that kind of money. I admit that the spending desire is still there but sitting down to the mix table is as much or more enjoyable than vape spending. For now, a couple of rare earth stir bars in the 2 sizes I use most and a Griffin 25 Plus RTA and a couple of larger beakers should end my spending spree. And a couple of squeeze bottles for VG and PG. And a Boon Grass drying rack. And some SS wire. And… oh hell
From what I’ve read, the ultrasonic cleaner doesn’t mix, it degasses the juice. You still need to mix somehow. I really like my magnetic stirrers and I stir my mixes for 2 hours and let them breathe in the beaker for 10 hours before bottling them up. I’ve looked at my mixes after the 10 hour rest and I’ve never seen any component separation, they look perfectly mixed, perfectly uniform and clear. Having never mixed any other way, I have no way to compare other methods but I do think mag stirrer was the correct choice for me.
Break it down (I bought in liters) into 120 or 250ml amber bottles with as little head space as possible. I also hit mine with some true preserve argon when capping it. I then vacuum sealed each bottle and packed into a cardboard box with bubble wrap between/around the bottles and stashed them in the mini chest freezer I bought for them. I keep 120ml out in a plastic bottle with yorker top for working with. That stays in a ziploz, inside a black plastic back, in a cardboard box, in my flavors cabinet out of the daylight. When that is empty I bring out one 120ml bottle and move it into the fridge for 24 hours before it comes out to room temp. My room temp is lower than most as my freezer and mixing station is in our Michigan brick basement that is much cooler than the rest of the house, even in the middle of summer.
How long do you think it will last in cold storage before it goes bad?
There are people on ECF that are vaping 6 and 7 year old nic that say they can’t tell any difference with new nic. I have 15 - 20 yrs worth (4 liters) for 2 people (we vape 2 and 3mg) in the freezer and will be buying at least 2 more liters this year or next.