Need some help with flavoring etc...

[lasttango]

In effort to make DIY work better for me this time around... I bought the nic liq at my desired strength... 18mg... So... I don't really need to add pg or vg unless I want to... I have 250mls of 18mg liquid... 80%pg/20%vg...

...and I have a handful of flavorings and a few more on the way... I have menthol liquid concentrate... menthol crystals, peppermint, mint candy, wintergreen... koolada... ethyl malto, mary jane, smooth, a few apples an a few more...

here's my new problem...

not sure how many drops... or .mls or... not sure how much to add... I have 2 different... ejuice calculators... but they aren't terribly clear... or I am not using them correctly... and I can't find anyone who really does menthol DIY...

I have a handful of 30ml and 10ml bottles...

What do I do? I experimented with a few of my 10ml bottles... one was okay and the other 2 were garbage...

I was thinking... I was hopeful that I could make a good... strong menthol base with my menthol crystal solution and koolada... and tweak some flavorings like peppermint to make something incredibly vapable...

I tried with a few 10ml bottles... I added 5 drops of my menthol solution... 3 drops of koolada and 3 of peppermint and it tasted fairly nasty - no flavor really... tasted like some kind of ointment I'd rub on sore muscles... I added two drops of ethyl malto hoping it would smooth out the edges and now it tastes like cereal and ben gay...man... I can't seem to get this right.

So... imagine you have 10mls of nic base... and TPA flavorings... how many drops of what might you add?

 

[stashbldr]

I make a menthol for a few of my friends, I make my own menthol drops using the crystals .. it is probably about the same flavoring strength as your menthol flavoring is. To make a 10ml bottle I use 9ml of base + 30 drops (.8 ml if you have a syringe) of my menthol in 10ml of base + 5 drops of Koolada. Your dropper might make bigger or smaller drops than mine does, so it's hard to go based on drops, a syringe is better IMO. Hope this helps.

 

[lasttango]

30 drops of menthol to 9mls of base? thanks, LT

BTW... I filled a 6ml bottle 1/2 with crystals and 1/2 with PG - and the crystals dissolved...

so for a 30ml bottle... I'd do approximately 85-90 drops...

 

[stashbldr]

30 drops of menthol to 9mls of base? thanks, LT

BTW... I filled a 6ml bottle 1/2 with crystals and 1/2 with PG - and the crystals dissolved...

so for a 30ml bottle... I'd do approximately 85-90 drops...

Personally I would not make a 30ml bottle .. I'd make a much smaller amount so you can try it and see if it needs more or less flavoring. Whenever I am making a new flavor, I just make a small 3ml bottle of it first .. so I dont waste tons of base, nic and flavoring on something that I'm going to hate LOL.

The formula I have always used for dissolving my menthol crystals is this:
mix 1/4 teaspoon crushed menthol crystals in 1/2 teaspoon PG, shake bottle then put the bottle into a pot of hot water for 10-15 mins .. shake every few minutes until completely dissolved. Then use 1 - 1.5 drops of the dissolved menthol mixture per 1ml of PG-VG-nic mixture (my menthol crystal dropper is equal to 20 drops per 1ml but yours might be more or less drops per 1ml, you need to check yours to find out).

 

[lasttango]

Thanks stashbldr ;-)

 

[stashbldr]

Thanks stashbldr ;-)

Good luck, let us know how it works out for you. DIY is fantastic, once you get the right proportions for a juice you like. But please don't make a big bottle of anything the first time, a little bit will give you a result that you can then tweak to make it perfect. Also, I am not a menthol expert, I personally dont vape menthol although I did test it many times as I was coming up with my own formula and tweaking it to make it for my friends .. and they love it and have vaped it 24/7 for nearly a year.

 

[glassmanoak]

The 6 ml bottle should last for a while. Even crazy menthol people (like me) only add 1 or 2 drops of the menthol to each ml of a recipe. A 10 ml bottle mixed as you described has lasted me for months. With menthol, less is more. Going to 5% or 10% usually destroys the flavor of what you are trying to make.

 

[stashbldr]

oh .. one more thing .. I've never found a very big difference in it's taste whether it steeps for a week or I vape it right away. I just give the bottle a hot water bath for 15 minutes after I make it,remove it from the hot water and let it cool completely for about one hour and then it's ready to vape. Tobacco's and some other flavorings do need to steep, but my menthol has never changed much for day #1.

 

[salemgold]

I like my menthol much lighter than you do. I think. I use a base of 1 drop of menthol in a PGA base to each 10 mls of my PG/VG/Nic base. Now, that base is very easy to add to. I could easily pour 6 mls of it in another small bottle and add a few drops of wintergreen, fruits, etc to sample if I wanted to and keep adding until I get it just where I like it.

Good luck to you.

Oh, and I found this simple calculator so much easier to work with for simple mixes too http://www.todmuller.com/ejuice/ejuice.php

If you need more complex, this is another good one http://www.ecigvape.com/pgvg_calculator.php

 

[lasttango]

Increasing the menthol definitely helped... I made a smaller batch... of potent menthol with a candy apple twist... (the jolly rancher apple) and it is quite vapable...

The apple doesn't really work for me though - tastes good, but gets my stomach feeling acidic.

 

[salemgold]

Increasing the menthol definitely helped... I made a smaller batch... of potent menthol with a candy apple twist... (the jolly rancher apple) and it is quite vapable...

The apple doesn't really work for me though - tastes good, but gets my stomach feeling acidic.

The apple gives me a sore throat if I vape too much of it. It is a shame because I love it too.

 

[stashbldr]

Increasing the menthol definitely helped... I made a smaller batch... of potent menthol with a candy apple twist... (the jolly rancher apple) and it is quite vapable...

The apple doesn't really work for me though - tastes good, but gets my stomach feeling acidic.

Glad increasing the menthol helped. When I first made some for my friends, one year ago, I made it weaker and they asked me to make it a little stronger, which I did .. then they asked for it to again be a little stronger .. until it ended up being where it is now. They love it and I havent had to change the recipe for them ever since.

 

[Lyndagayle]

I don't vape menthol but I make a menthol tobacco for a friend and he says it's perfect and reminds him of Nuport. I mix a tobacco base of 2% Virginia for 10 ml, that's 4 drops, and 2% tobacco absolute (diluted). For a 10 ml bottle, I add 3 drops of menthol liquid from TFA.