Can you make your own E Liquids?
The answer is yes, but the realities are tough. Making E liquids is a complex process which involves the accurate measuring and mixing of a number of chemicals. But for the purpose of this article, we will examine just what it takes to make your own E Liquids.
WARNING: This process requires handling several different chemicals that can potentially be harmful if brought into contact with your eyes and skin.
The Main Ingredients
Vegetable Glycerin is an organic liquid that is the vapour base in e liquid. It is very thick and produces all of the natural clouds for your vapour. It has a naturally sweet taste and provides a smooth hit without significant throat hit at low nicotine levels.
Propylene Glycol is the base in most flavourings, it is a very thin liquid and produces little vapour, relatively. although it provides the substantial throat hit and carries the flavouring.
The nicotine added can be purchased at most E vapour stores or on-line. It is sold as a flavourless liquid with a very high nicotine strength. It goes without saying that the more nicotine you add to your cocktail then the stronger the vapour will be.
The flavourings can be bought from a number of flavour vendors. It is recommended that you purchase flavourings with a PG based that contain other ingredients such as ethyl alcohol and water. Try to stay away from ingredients that include diacetyl or oils as these can potentially lead to breathing and asthma like problems. We give a detailed technical guide on e liquid that is useful reading.
E-Juice Measurements
Using the E-juice calculator enter your batch size, fill out the nicotine strength and VG/PG sections and pick your target nicotine strength. Try to start low to avoid headaches and nausea. The calculator will work out what is best for your nicotine strengths, but not your flavouring. This is something you should factor in yourself.
For flavouring you can find recipes online. An example of a recipe would include the banana strawberry recipe.
Strawberry 1.5ml 10%
Banana 5ml 3.33%
Nicotine 2ml 13.33%
Vegetable Glycerin 6ml 40%
Propylene Glycol 5ml 33.33%
Creating the E Liquid
As the flavourings are PG based, we must take that amount into account when looking at the recommended levels of PG suggested by the calculator. Using pipettes add the flavourings, nicotine VG & PG together, in that order.
Once all the liquids are together, they will be formed at different densities. It’s important to mix them together, although by hand this can become tiresome. Try using a clamp attached to a drill to shake up the liquid in a fast and efficient way.
Steeping your liquids in a candle warmer bath will heat the liquids together but not boil them. This allows the flavours to fused together. Some flavours such as banana need to be steeped without the bottle camp to ensure that the ethyl alcohol can evaporate. It may take several days, the best thing is to give your liquid time and keep your liquids in a dark area.
To conclude, yes E liquids can be made at home, if you have the correct equipment and skills to perform such as task. Similarly, beer can be made in your garage, often by inquisitive middle aged men who discover their very own home-brew to be nothing more than brown, tasteless sludge.
Take our advice and stick to the experts. Check out our best e Liquid reviews and buy an e-liquid that has been manufactured in a clean-room laboratory with full transparency of ingredients.
