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Simply's Simple Guide To DIY E Liquid

April 29, 2022 9 min read

DIY E Liquid Introduction

I guess most people reading this are pretty clued up when it comes to electronic cigarettes however for you newbies out there I will be kind and give you a quick run down...hang on the rest of you, we shall get to the DIY stuff very soon.

Brief Intro to E Cigs

Electronic Cigarettes or E Cigs as they are being increasing known by are the modern way to quit smoking. They are the electronic equivalent to regular cigarettes offering the user the same...or should I say similar smoking experience but without exposing them to the thousands of harmful chemicals. The image below shows an average looking electronic cigarette with its labelled parts:

What e cigs are composed of:

Image of electronic cigarette with labelled parts:

electronic cigarette

Electronic cigarettes contain e liquid and this e liquid usually contains nicotine and an added flavour.

DIY E liquid

I am presuming it’s no accident that you have found yourself here on this page reading this guide; you want to know how to mix e liquid right? Whether you want to mix e liquid because you need a hobby, you are feeling creative and wish to create new exciting and exotic flavours or are just looking to save a few £££ you have come to the right place.

DIY (Do It Yourself) really is a great way to learn and expand your knowledge however its real benefit is the amount of control it provides. While making your own e liquid you have 100% control of the ingredients and how it’s made including the base you use, the flavour/s (and concentration of these flavours) and nicotine level.

Hang On Just A Tad Longer...

It is important to note at this stage that before we get going that you have a basic understanding of electronic cigarettes. Any of you that are new to vaping I strongly recommend that before you start on your journey into the world of DIY E Liquid you purchase and try a few pre-made flavours to see what flavours and strengths you like and vice versa. Remember that a smoker has an inferior sense of taste than that of a none smoker. This is because your gustatory cells (or taste nerve cells) are found in the taste buds of the mouth and throat. The gustatory cells react to food and drinks together with your saliva. The majority of your taste cells are found on your taste buds situated on the tongue and these send information using nearby nerves which relay the message onto the brain. Smoking causes alterations to the process described above and consequently affects the way you taste your food.

Since you have quit smoking your body starts to repair itself, clever thing, which results in you regaining your sense of taste. This means that that apple flavour juice that you couldn’t stand is now your new favourite drink.

DIY Supplies

The supplies that you will need (if you don’t have them already) will depend on if you are going with the basic approach or you are being a little more adventurous and taking the advanced route. Obviously if you are new to the DIY game then you should follow the basic instructions, this will give you a bit of a background into mixing but also if you jump straight in at the deep end you may be put off after many failed attempts.

There are many e liquid DIY kits available to choose from to get you started, however the general contents of these include:

Basic Level:

• Bottle Of Base

• Bottle Of Chosen Flavour

• Syringe/ gauge needle, eye dropper or pipette

• Gloves

Advanced Level:

• Bottle of VG, PG or a 50/50 mix of the two with nicotine.

• Bottle of VG, PG or a 50/50 mix of the two with without nicotine

• Bottle Of Chosen Flavour

• A Few Empty Bottles

• Syringe/ Gauge Needle, Eye Dropper or Pipette

• Menthol Crystals (optional)

• Ethyl Maltol (optional)

• Sweetener (optional)

• Gloves

As you can see from above the advanced level supplies has a few extra bullet points added to it. You may be wondering why gloves have been included –Nicotine can be absorbed into the skin and once you start cutting the higher nicotine level bases down it is important to be careful as only a little bit absorbed can make you feel sick.

Nicotine Bases

Usually there are 3 bases that you will be dealing with. To sum these up in a nutshell:

1. VG (Vegetable Glycerin)

Vegetable Glycerin is the thickest of the three and tends to heat up the atomizer quicker. Using VG you can expect to get more vapour but expect the life expectancy of the atomizer to decrease.

2. PG (Propylene Glycol)

Propylene Glycol is quite runny and generally enhances the flavour of the e liquid. It also provides a good throat hit. Be careful when using PG, as If overfilled, PG can leak onto the battery – however if you have manual batteries that are sealed then there will be no problem.

3. 50/50 Mix

A split mixture between VG and PG...Great tasting, vapour producing, winning combination.

Important Note: Some people are allergic to Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerin or both. If you think you may have had an allergic reaction stop using that particular nicotine base straight away and switch to another (if possible).

Basic Level DIY

DIY e liquid at a basic level is quite straight forward...it won’t be long before you will be vaping away on your own custom made e juice...how exciting!!!

Directions:

1. Decide on your preferred nicotine strength

2. Decide what base (PG, VG, 50/50) you would like the nicotine in

3. Choose a flavour

4. Use an online e liquid calculator to determine amounts (Google the term “e liquid calculator”)

5. Add amount of drops calculated by the online e liquid calculator

6. Make sure its mixed well (give good shake)

7. Enjoy

8. Optional: if the flavour is too weak add more. It is recommended that you always start low on the flavouring as you can always add to the mix however you cannot take away.

Example Basic DIY Mixture

So I have decided after spending a long time looking at the many wonderful flavours that I would quite like to vape a 11mg (medium strength) PG Vanilla flavoured e liquid. So what do I need to do this?

• A bottle of 11mg PG mix (30ml bottle)

• A bottle of Vanilla Flavouring

• A syringe

First I would go online and find an e liquid calculator and type in the relevant information into the correct boxes:

e liquid recipe calculator

If you look towards the top of the image you will see the user input section with five boxes labelled ‘Nicotine Base’, ‘Target Nicotine Level’, Amount To Create’, ‘Water Added (optional)’ and ‘Flavour Percent’. As you can see in the first two boxes I have typed in ‘11’ as I wanted an 11mg e juice and since I bought an 11mg PG mix (30ml bottle) the target box stays the same. The amount to create is how much I want to e liquid I want to create (ml) – since I bought a 30ml bottle I will make a 30ml batch. For now we will ignore the water added section. Finally the flavour percentage is how strong/weak you would like it. This is a personal preference and takes trial and error to find your desired strength.

So according to the e liquid calculator to make my desired e juice I would need to add 2.4ml to my bottle of 11mg PG mix and that’s it. Really it’s that easy!!

Advanced Level DIY

The advanced DIY is a more complicated process but we are not talking rocket science or anything. In fact it’s not complicated at all but with a name like advanced DIY I had to try and make it sound like it was living up to its name. Anyway I will use a similar example to above and stick with my old friend Mr Vanilla. I have decided this time however to have 5mg (nicotine)...what do I need this time?

Directions:

1. Decide on your preferred nicotine strength

2. Decide what base (PG, VG, 50/50) you would like the nicotine in

3. Choose a flavour

4. Use a online e liquid calculator to determine amounts (Google the term “e liquid calculator”)

5. Enter the nicotine base and the target nicotine level, amount to be created (ml) and flavour strength

6. Add the amount of drops/ml as expressed by the online calculator

7. Make sure its mixed well (give good shake)

8. Enjoy

9. Optional: if the flavour is too weak add more. It is recommended that you always start low on the flavouring as you can always add to the mix however you cannot take away.

Example Advanced DIY Mixture

• A bottle of 36mg (high strength) PG flavourless base

• A 30ml bottle of PG no nicotine unflavoured base

• A bottle of Vanilla Flavouring

• A syringe

• Empty Bottle/s

So again go online and find your e liquid calculator. Type in the relevant information into the correct boxes:

e liquid recipe calculator (advanced)

As you can see from the ingredients and image above I want to create a 5mg (weak strength) PG Vanilla flavoured e liquid. Again we have a set of recipe values to make our desired e juice. To make my dream e liquid all I need to do is add 4.2 ml of PG (with nicotine), 23.4ml of PG (without nicotine), no water and 2.4ml of flavouring.

DIY Menthol E Liquid

For those for you that like menthol you can create your very own using a little help from menthol crystals. You can either use a premixed (one that you have bought) or DIY unflavoured e liquid (made to your desired strength). Just drop a few menthol crystals into the bottle, make sure to shake well and then leave to dissolve overnight. To make sure that the crystals dissolve properly try crushing them into small pieces first.

Two important tips to note:

1. If you are using a dropper make sure to test it before using it to measure out your ingredients. Generally 20 drops of water is equal to around 1ml. To test the dropper locate a 1ml container or a measuring jug and see how many drops is equal to 1ml.

2. It is a good idea to always right down your e liquid recipes, even if one of them was a complete disaster. This will help you to recreate that perfect e liquid or prevent you from making the same mistake twice.

Nicotine Testing

This is something that is far too often overlooked; however it is important that if you are mixing your own E Liquid that you should test the nicotine using a nicotine testing kit.

Firstly if the nicotine is too strong it can be hazardous. If you are making your own e
liquid using the amazing directions and examples further up this page and you have purchased a 500ml bottle of 60mg nicotine juice which you plan to mix with 50/50 (half PG and half VG) base with a 2:1 ratio to make around 30mg e liquid (that was a mouth full) – how do you really know your end result is 30mg?? You are just taking the suppliers word for it that the nicotine juice really was 60mg to begin with. If the nicotine juice was mixed incorrectly than instead of having 60mg you

actually could have 100mg – meaning your new e liquid you have just made is 50mg. This is also an important reason to always wear gloves...if 100mg of nicotine gets on your skin it isn’t good.

As stated above you should test your nicotine juice for health reasons however what if the juice is too weak? This can be done both accidently and in some cases purposely by dodgy suppliers which could cost you more money as you are not getting the nicotine your body craves which results in you vaping more.

Sometimes it can be far too easy when making your e liquid batch to lose concentration and forget how much nicotine you have added. Some people in this situation would simply take the risky option and just have a guess while others would be more cautious and throw it out. By testing the batch you will know exactly how much nicotine there is and be able to make a more appropriate action as to add more nicotine or discard the whole batch depending on the result.

Purity of Your Bases

There are 3 varying base liquid carriers that are used in DIY e liquid which are PG, VG and PEG. We have spoke about these earlier on up the page – well 2 of them anyway (PG AND VG).

It is important that you make sure that when you purchase these bases you know exactly what you are buying. These 3 base carriers are made in four grades:

1. Pharmaceutical

2. Agricultural

3. Industrial

4. Food

Out of these four grades only the pharmaceutical is safe to use by inhalation. The food, agricultural and industrial all contain contaminants.

You may be thinking that surely number 4, food, is safe however the contaminates contained within it can be safely handled by the digestive system where as the lungs may not be able to do so.

Cleaning Your Bottles

When you purchase new bottles to use for your e liquid you should wash them out before use...in fact you should so this every time you use them for a new batch. You can do this by simply washing them in hot soapy water and then cleaning them thoroughly to remove any soap residue still contained within the bottles. Some people even after cleaning their bottle with soap and water then give them a quick rise with distilled water to make sure it is as free from as many contaminates as possible.

Happy Mixing and Enjoy...

Simply's Simple Guide To DIY E Liquid

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