@MarianaCC
All four of the basic e-liquid ingredients are either PG or VG themselves (dilutants) or else PG-based or VG-based (flavoring and nicotine). Without nicotine as an added PG or VG based ingredient, you just calculate how much PG is going into your final mix from your flavoring(s) (assuming you’re using PG-based flavoring), and then figure out how much PG and VG dilutant to add from there.
To take a very simple example:
Let’s say you’re making a 10 mL bottle of e-liquid, no nicotine, with a 10% flavoring concentration using PG based flavoring, and you’ve got two flavorings you want to use in equal proportion to each other. Let’s also say you want the final mix to be 70% VG and 30% PG.
10% of 10 mL is 1 mL, so you’re going to need a total of 1 mL of flavoring. In our example, then, we’ll be using 0.5 mL of the first flavoring, and 0.5 mL of the second. Since the flavorings are PG-based, we don’t have any VG at all in the mix yet, so we need to use the entire 70% of 10 mL (7 mL) of VG in the form of VG dilutant. For the PG, we’re going to need a total of 30% of the 10 mL (i.e., 3 mL) in the final mix, but we already have 1 mL of PG in the form of flavoring. That means we’ll need to add an extra 2 mL of PG dilutant.
1 mL of PG-based flavoring + 2 mL of PG dilutant + 7 mL of VG dilutant = 10 mL of e-liquid.
If you’re using the calculator, set your “desired strength” to zero and your “Nicotine Strength” to zero. Then set your “desired PG” to whatever you want, add your flavors, and the calculator will tell you how much extra PG/VG is needed to get to the ratio you want.
Before I ask my question I need to point out I am a complete beginner on this site and at mixing. If I’m posting in the wrong place, please correct me?!
My first impression is that most recipes are VG weighted. I am a MTL vaper and use either 60% PG/40% VG or 50/50 mixes. If I follow the flavour % of a high VG recipe but use a higher PG mix would this adversely affect the flavour?
The reason I ask is my mixes so far (I’ve only tried 5 recipes ) have been lacking in flavour despite being between 10%-15% total flavour amount. The flavours just seem muted. Perhaps I’ve just used unproven recipes (not from this site by the way) or I’m getting something wrong. I’ve also just read that low quality nicotine can mute flavours. How the heck will I know if I have low quality nicotine?
Sorry if there are too many ?? In here!
If anyone can shed some light I would be very grateful THANKS
The general consensus is that PG carries flavor better than VG, so if anything, increasing the PG should increase the flavor. It’s marginal IMO, and either way doesn’t seem to make that much difference. I’ve gone from 50/50 PG/VG to 30/70 and not noticed a difference in the recipe.
If your mixes are flat, I’d suggest trying something like adding a sucralose based sweetener (if it isn’t already in the recipe) at around 2-5%. Also, watch out for Ethyl Maltol/Cotton Candy, as it is thought to mute mixes, too.
@JoJo. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond and for the additional threads.
I’ll gladly take your advice re sucralose sweetener @ 2-5% and see if that helps. I also wonder if your psychic, I have used both EM and Cotton Candy (circus) TFA in my first attempts (not together in the same recipe) I do like a sweet vape but that might just account for the muted fruit flavour.
I’ve never been great in the kitchen so I’m sure it will take me a while to get this right
Great advice , THANK YOU
I use primarily RTAs, so the 70/30 wicks better for me. I rarely drip. Only use my RDAs when taste testing flavors. If I used them more often I’d go Max VG.
) have been lacking in flavour despite being between 10%-15% total flavour amount. The flavours just seem muted. Perhaps I’ve just used unproven recipes (not from this site by the way) or I’m getting something wrong. I’ve also just read that low quality nicotine can mute flavours. How the heck will I know if I have low quality nicotine?
THANKS
, THANK YOU 