DIY GUIDE: MAKE YOUR E LIQUIDS YOURSELF!

DIY means “Do It Yourself”. We use it here to say “  make your own e liquids for electronic cigarettes”.

Recommendations:

Before starting, you have to take a few precautions: in the PG and VG bases that we offer, there may be nicotine and nicotine is a dangerous product. It is, therefore, necessary to handle nicotine bases with the greatest care, avoid getting them on your fingers, wear gloves, work on a real work surface and above all keep the products in closed cupboards out of reach of children.

The basics :

The base is the main part of your e-liquid (in volume) it is 90% of your composition. A base is generally composed of 3 products: propylene glycol (PG), vegetable glycerin (VG) and nicotine.

Nicotine  : We know nicotine well but we must remember its interest in e liquid in addition to the addictive side. In e liquids, nicotine is responsible for the HIT, that scratching sensation in the throat when you vape or smoke. The more nicotine there is in your liquid, the higher the HIT will be and the stronger the cigarette will be. With a liquid without nicotine, there will be no HIT, much like when you use hookah. With a high level of nicotine, the cigarette will be strong, there will be a big HIT. The HIT also depends on the material used (your electronic cigarette model) but this is largely due to nicotine.

PG and VG  : PG and VG are liquids that evaporate at low temperature and are used in DIY on the one hand as a thinner to make your mixture and also to create the vapor of your electronic cigarette. They are without particular perfume, you can mix them and put in nicotine and flavours to give the Hit and the perfume. It is the base of your e liquid.

They both have different functions and characteristics.

PG: As a diluent, Propylene Glycol will promote the HIT of your liquid (the effect of nicotine) and will retransmit the flavours of your aromas. On the other hand, it produces little steam and can dry out the throat.

VG: Vegetable Glycerin, unlike PG, will produce a lot more vapour but will reduce the HIT and soften the aromas. It will give a more “greedy” side, more “suave” to the liquid, with a large volume of vapor, but the flavors and the HIT will be less pronounced. In addition, vegetable glycerin is a very greasy product and if you put too much in the liquid it can clog your atomizers very quickly and you will have to change equipment more often.

To have the perfect base, you must therefore mix the PG and VG bases, emphasizing what you are looking for. In general, the e liquids sold ready made are composed of 80% PG and 20% VG, this seems to be the ideal mixture to have HIT, flavors and vapor. But you can do whatever you want with the basics and add VG for more vapor, add PG for more HIT… You do what you want, that’s the point of DIY.

The simplest if you don’t know too much is to take a 70% PG-30% VG base, it’s ideal for starting DIY.  

Nicotine boosters:

The nicotine booster is a base, it is the same composition, but in a small bottle (10 ml) and above all containing nicotine in high doses (20 mg/ml). 

The release of the TPD prohibits us from selling bases with nicotine of more than 10 ml. The nicotine booster will therefore allow you to add more nicotine to your base. You have to mix a certain number of boosters with your base to obtain the desired nicotine level. It doesn’t really make sense rather than selling bases with nicotine directly, but it’s an obligation… 

The boosters therefore have nicotine at the rate of 20 mg/ml (20 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter of liquid). For this 10 ml booster , there will therefore be 10 x 20 = 200 milligrams of nicotine inside. 

By mixing several nicotine boosters in your 125 or 250 ml base, you will therefore have a base with nicotine. 

To find out how to mix the boosters with the base, you can look at the indicative table below or use our booster/base number calculator . 

For example, to have a base of 6 mg/ml of nicotine: If you have a base without nicotine of 125 ml, you will have to add 5.4 bottles of boosters, so 54 ml. And you will have a base of 179 ml with a rate of 6 mg / ml. 

You must therefore choose your nicotine level, the interest is to gradually switch to a nicotine-free base by reducing the rate to no longer be dependent. By mixing, you can get exactly the nicotine level you are looking for. 

The aromas :

The aromas will be added to the bases to give a flavor to your e liquid.

Be careful, the aromas are very concentrated and you only need to add a few drops to the bases to obtain a powerful perfume.

In general, it is necessary to put between 10 and 14 drops for 10 ml of the base according to the aroma, it is up to you to dose but it is an average.

Above all, do not use the aroma alone without a base, it will not work and could damage your equipment.

You can mix the aromas in your base as you wish to obtain new mixtures, a few drops of apple, a few drops of mint…

It’s up to you to be creative!

Additives:

Additives are complementary to the aromas and will give a general note to your liquid without changing the flavor. They have no particular taste but give a different appearance to the liquid.

For example, the koolada is an additive that will give an ultra fresh side to your liquid, the flavour will be the same but there will be much more freshness in the mouth (freshness but without the minty side). The Sweetener will give a sweet side to the liquid by also bringing out the aromas better…

Be careful, the additives are potent and you need to add very little to the liquid for effect to occur, generally only 1 drop per 10 ml of liquid.

The manufacture of e liquid:

Now that you know everything, you can start DIY!

First of all, put yourself in a calm and pleasant place to work, a clean workshop where you can do manipulations. And be careful when handling bases containing nicotine.

Take an empty 25 ml or 10 ml bottle in which you will make your mixture.

– First of all the creation of the base:

Depending on your choice and what you ordered, several possibilities:

Either you put the ready-made 70-30 base in your empty bottle, or you mix between the PG and the VG. The nicotine is already present in the base, so you won’t be handling the nicotine directly, which seems less dangerous to us.

If you use the 70-30 base, you can go directly to the next step of the aromas.

If you have 100% PG and 100% VG bases, you can mix them to have the base of your choice.

You can use the droppers from the 25 ml bottles or a graduated syringe (which you can easily find in pharmacies) to make your mixture. 

In an empty bottle you put PG with the nicotine level of your choice, then VG. You can do the dosage you want depending on what we said above about the characteristics of PG and VG.    

For example, to have a 50% PG and 50% VG liquid with 6 mg of nicotine, you have several choices:

You can fill half of the bottle with PG at 6 mg and the other half with VG at 6 mg or put half the bottle with PG at 12 mg and put the other half with VG without nicotine, you You can do this a number of different ways using that good old rule of 3 .

You must then close the bottle and shake to mix and have a uniform base.

Your base is ready, you have just decided on the HIT of your e-liquid, its future volume of vapour and the power of the future aromas.

– Now you have to add the aromas in it: the most creative part

Our bottles of aromas are supplied with a dropper, to flavour your base just put a few drops of aromas in it. Depending on the aroma, you will need to put between 10 and 14 drops for 10 ml of your base . Some flavours are stronger than others but it’s a good average, and if your liquid is not strong enough you can add more.

For example, if you have a full 25 ml bottle of base, you will need to add between 25 and 35 drops of aroma.

If you mix several aromas, you will have to put the same number of drops but distributed them according to the aromas.

If you want to make a liquid with apple, pear, peach flavors in a 25 ml bottle of base, you will need to put between 25 and 35 drops divided into the 3 flavors (9 drops of pear, 9 drops of peach, 9 drops of apple, or whatever you want to get the right number of drops).

Close the bottle and shake well to mix and let stand.

Your e liquid is already ready for testing!

You can vape and see what you think!

Attention: Depending on the aromas, the “let stand” can vary enormously, between 1 minute and 3 days. With some aromas, it will be necessary to wait before doing the tests to have the real perfume.

Then you can add drops of aromas as you wish to obtain the desired result.

Your e-liquid is ready, you can now add an additive to modify the general aspect, and give it a particular note, but it is not necessary.

If you add it you have to be careful, they are very powerful so put only one drop for 10 ml , and therefore only 2 or 3 drops for 25 ml of liquid.

If you want to add an “ultra-fresh” side to your pear liquid, you must for example add a single drop of WS3 to your base.

Now your e-liquid is ready to vape! Treat yourself!

For the rest, it is best to keep a small notebook to write down what you are doing and your recipe, so as not to forget and share your best creations.

DIY is a wonderful world full of possibilities available to you and it seems to be the future of vaping and electronic cigarettes at meager prices.

So treat yourself and don’t hesitate to share your recipe with us and with other vapers!