DIY for Beginners in a Nutshell

All newcomers welcome to the site first and foremost. If you stick around you will learn a ton of information. Right now you are saying to yourself,” Fuck yeah I am getting into DIY and I am going to have an abundance of liquids on the cheap and at my disposal!! So I am going to dive head long and know that I am going to do this right the first time and buy a ton of flavors and everything is going to go well the first time every time.” Then you start reading about it. “Well fuck me running; there are tons of things I need to get! I have seen the top rated recipes and well fuck I have none of those flavors. Hell this is way too fucking complicated!” Well lets help you get started on the road to success here folks.
The first thing you need to know is your flavor profile. “What the hell is a flavor profile?” A flavor profile is simply what do you want to vape on? Are you a fruit person? Are you a bakery person? Are you a tobacco person? Are you a menthol/fruit person? Are you a cereal person? Are you a dessert person? Are you a complicated person with a ton of likes? Only you can figure this out and no one else. So I am going to take strawberry for just one example. “Okay I fucking love a strawberry vape!! Skully, what fucking strawberry do I get? Which one single flavor is the best? TPA, FW, INW, FA, and CAP pretty much all have strawberry flavors, so which one? FUCKING TELL ME SO I CAN BE THE FUCKING BEST!!!” Well here lies the rub on mixing. Every single flavor company has their own unique flavor for strawberry. If you are starting out I seriously would start with 5 different strawberries from different companies. “Why the fuck would I get 5 different strawberries from different companies?!!?! You make no sense Skully, FUCK YOU!!” Wait hold your horses buckos, here is why. You are just establishing your flavor profile and you are still young to this. Baby steps my friends. So you have your 10ml sample bottles on you now. Make 5 single flavor samples (no nic) in either a 5 ml or 10 ml bottle. Start at 5% flavor the rest VG. ( VG will be coming up soon, not yet though.) Now let it sit for a day or two. Then vape the samples, on a dripper or in a small tank. You will notice nuances from the different companies. “Well Skully when do we get to the fucking part about which is the best one, HURRY THE FUCK UP!!!” One thing people will not tell you is; that tried and true liquids take time to mature. This means you have to have patience young grasshopper. Now which one is the best? “They are all fucking good as hell!!” Okay, yes they are all good, but to make them better use a combination that will make your taste buds water every time you take your mod to your lips. Mix a couple of strawberry flavors together and BAM it will be the best thing you have ever tasted. This will help your flavor profile in the long run and get you off of analogs quicker.
“That is all fine and dandy Skully, but I need the latest flimsy doodle and the corrugated beakers and I NEED like 50 flavors now!!!” Okay folks, okay, SIMMER DOWN NOW!!! Equipment for newcomers that is on the cheap. Amazon, help me out here!

Pipettes: (Used to measure flavors.) https://www.amazon.com/Vktech-Graduated-Pipettes-Dropper-Polyethylene/dp/B00CTJYXHQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1493231171&sr=1-1&keywords=pipettes (Super Cheap!) $2.55

Beaker:( ease of pouring.) https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Beaker-Graduations-Premium-Polypropylene/dp/B00BHLE516/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1493231403&sr=8-6&keywords=plastic+beaker+5ml (Not bad. $4.99.)
Extra PET Plastic bottles: https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Dropper-dropping-Bottles-Removable/dp/B00V479TVE/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1493231570&sr=1-1&keywords=plastic%2Bbottles%2Bfor%2Bliquids&th=1 (5ml $7.86 for 50 and 30ml $16.86 for 50.)

Syringes: (Used to extract the nicotine.) https://www.amazon.com/5ml-Syringe-Only-Luer-Lock/dp/B01N5ABSCR/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1493232536&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=syringes&psc=1 ($6.49 for 10!)

Then you are looking at nicotine and VG/PG and a whole assortment of other stuff. @River_Supply_Co does a nice setup in Kits for new beginners: https://www.nicotineriver.com/products/eliquid-diy-kit

THIS KIT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:
x2 - 500ml bottles of eLiquid Base (PG and/or VG)
x15 - 10ml Flavors (Purilum, Lorann, FlavourArt, Flavor Apprentice, Flavor West, Capella)
x1 - 150ml bottle of 48mg Nicotine in VG or PG base
x20 - Safety Gloves in S, M, L, XL, (x10 Pairs)
x1 - 10ml Glass Graduated Cylinder
x4 - 14 Gauge Blunt Tip Needle
x3 - 16 Gauge Blunt Tip Needle
x3 - 18 Gauge Blunt Tip Needle
x1 - 50ml Glass Beaker
x2 - Polypropylene Funnels
x5 - 10ml Luer-lock Syringe
x5 - 5ml Luer-lock Syringe
x10 - 1ml Luer-lock Syringe
x10 - 60ml PET Clear Bottles With Twist Tops or 30ml Squeeze Bottles

This will definitely get you a good start for $50.00. I would still add the beaker for ease of pouring, the pipettes, the syringes, and the extra bottles. So for roughly $100.00 you have a very good setup right out the gate and a good amount of flavors.
Now you start mixing your liquids. “Skully you said it will take time! I don’t have that kind of fucking time to wait!” Okay, well there are some recipes that are called SNV’s or Shake and Vapes. Meaning you mix it and then shake vigorously for a bit and can vape it. I am a believer that time will make a good juice. I also use a heat method to my mixing. (There are discrepancies to this method. There are also long winded debates about this and about the liquids losing flavor. I know about this and I like this method, this may not be for you. I take an electric kettle, boil water, and place the bottled liquids with cap off in a ceramic bowl. Then pour the hot water over the bottles, just to the point where they do not float all over the fucking place. This can age your liquids for about one week in fast steeping. It also allows the VG and PG flavors meld together more evenly for a finer vape in my opinion. I do not leave them in there very long. 10 minutes tops. Burp the bottle, put the lid on, shake it, and then let cool one day in a dark cool place. I like coffee cans for my steep boxes.) I am however a true believer that custards of all types take a month to steep for true flavor. Hell I have some NETS that take 3 months to finally mature. So IMHO time and patience can make or break a liquid. Also if the liquid is not good do not throw it out. Let it steep for a month and come back to it. Maybe the flavor fairy has not visited yet to give the juice its true potential.
“Holy shit Skully that is a lot to think about!!” Yes it is, but once you get the true hang of it is easy. You always learn something new with flavors. I have been doing this for a while and I am still learning flavor combinations. There are an infinite number of flavor combinations out there. Read up, do your vaping homework and most of all do what will keep you off of cigs!
Also remember top rated recipes may not be your thing or you do not have the flavors for that exact recipe. You can substitute flavors. Just don’t bitch because you did substitute flavorings. There are a ton of recipes out there. Find your flavor profile and look for recipes with that in mind. Or get fucking creative and make your own juice combinations!
One final note to leave you with, this will all take time. If you are not confident always have B&M juice on hand. This way you are still vaping and not dropping to cigs. There are many ways to mix and many ways to skin this cat. Keep at it. I have failed so many times and some of my best juices came out of failures. It just takes time and patience. If you do not like it, well you are now only out about $100. The issue comes when you get your teeth sunk in and you start creating; there are so many flavors to choose from. That is when it gets fucking adventurous. I know this is a long read, but maybe it will inspire or help you to get that foot in the door. If you have questions PM me and I will help out.

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Nice DIY post @Skullblade789.

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Awesome post, great advice.

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Very inofrmative @Skullblade789. Thank you. I know where to knock if I get stuck when I start :smile:

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Wow…, nicely done @Skullblade789 . I wish I could’ve had help like tht in the beginning

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