Parts vs. Percent

[Saltraker]

I recently saw a post for a DIY juice where the OP listed the ingrediant amounts as "parts." For example, 3 parts this, 2 parts that, 1 part the other thing. I don't understand. How does this relate to percent or drops per mix?

Edit: I appreciate everyone's response. Maybe I should have made it clear that the OP was referring to flavorings only. No reference to total flavoring in the final mix. Maybe I'm still confused, so here goes again....if all I am given is 3 parts of flavor a, 2 parts of flavor b, 1 part of flavor c, can I relate that to say a mix totalling 10 mls without any further information about the receipe? Using the 10 ml example, would this mean 3 ml of flavor a, 2 ml of flavor b, 1 ml of flavor c? Sorry if I'm being dense, but I know with your all's expertise I can get it!

 

[CastleRat]

3 parts PV and 2 parts VG would equal 60% PV and 40% VG ( by volume ). Nic is added by weight i.e. mg. If some one lists Nic by "part" - do not use their product.

 

[Cullin Kin]

Parts are along the same lines, just ratios. Let's say you want 40 mL of 25%PG/75%VG, that would be 1 part PG to 3 parts VG, this case being a part is 10 mL. Parts can be scaled: Same mix except only 10mL total, the parts would be 2.5 mL. Hope this helps. A part is just a generic measurement.

 

[Lurch]

Different people do it different ways. Personally, I prefer liquid measurements, while others prefer weight based measurements....

 

[Aheadatime]

As long as there is a % at the end of the formula, youre fine. For example, 1 part coconut and 2 parts banana, flavoring at 20% total. This equals approximately 6.5% coconut and 13.5% Without the 'flavoring at 20% total' part, the rest of it is pretty useless.

 

[Ryedan]

I recently saw a post for a DIY juice where the OP listed the ingrediant amounts as "parts." For example, 3 parts this, 2 parts that, 1 part the other thing. I don't understand. How does this relate to percent or drops per mix?

Add the parts up first. In your example 3+2+1=6 parts total. If you want to make 10 ml of this, 10/6=1.67 ml which is the quantity of one 'part'. For the first ingredient at 3 parts, 3*1.67=5.01 ml. The second is 2*1.67=3.34 ml. 1*1.67=1.67.

5.01+3.34+1.67=10.02. The 0.02 ml is error from my rounding of 1.666666 to 1.67. I would ignore that and consider 10.02 = 10

To change to percent you need to divide the 'part' by the sum of the parts X 100.

So 3 parts divided by the 6 parts total = 0.5 X 100 = 50. That's 50%.

For the 2 parts, 2 / 6 = 0.33333333 X 100 = 33.33333333%. I would round that to 33.33%.

1 / 6 = 1.667 X 100 = 16.67%.

50% + 33.33% + 16.67% = 100%.

 

[Boletus]

Ryedan has provided a precise explanation above, and if you need more conceptual examples, look at it this way:
1 part out of 2 parts total is 50% (100% divided by 2), 1 part out of three parts total is 33% (100% divided by 3), 2 parts out of 3 parts total is 66% (100% divided by three and then multiplied by 2), 3 parts out of 5 parts total is 60% (100% divided by 5 and multiplied by 3). In each case, the total of all the parts added together is 100%, so one part equals 100% divided by the total number of parts.

The term "parts" can mean anything mathematically, it is just a way of expressing proportions. But it is really only useful for simple calculations, where every ingredient in a mixture can be measured in equal "parts." For example, if a recipe called for 7% flavoring, 23% PG, 18% water, and 52% VG, the only way to express it in parts would be, 7 parts flavoring to 23 parts PG to 18 parts water to 52 parts VG, in which case just using the percentages is easier than thinking of it in parts, since percentages can be expressed as decimal values. For the example I just used (which is not a real recipe), if you wanted to make 50 ml of juice, you would multiply 50x0.07=3.5 ml for the flavoring, 50x0.23=11.5 ml for the PG, 50x0.18=9 ml for the water, etc.

 

[Just Me]

I recently saw a post for a DIY juice where the OP listed the ingrediant amounts as "parts." For example, 3 parts this, 2 parts that, 1 part the other thing. I don't understand. How does this relate to percent or drops per mix?

Edit: I appreciate everyone's response. Maybe I should have made it clear that the OP was referring to flavorings only. No reference to total flavoring in the final mix. Maybe I'm still confused, so here goes again....if all I am given is 3 parts of flavor a, 2 parts of flavor b, 1 part of flavor c, can I relate that to say a mix totalling 10 mls without any further information about the receipe? Using the 10 ml example, would this mean 3 ml of flavor a, 2 ml of flavor b, 1 ml of flavor c? Sorry if I'm being dense, but I know with your all's expertise I can get it!

Using the 10ml example, in answer to your question as posed, yes, that's what it would mean. But that would be 60% flavoring, so I don't think the person who posted the recipe meant that. Without a total percentage of flavoring in a recipe, I think it's unknowable.

If I were making it, I would mix up the "parts" of the flavoring base and consider that one flavor when using the calculator, starting at maybe 5% of the total recipe. If that doesn't suit you, add more until you like it. And keep notes for future reference.

I feel your angst. I've encountered recipes like that myself.

Maybe I'm missing something and someone else has the answer.

 

[FACE MEAT]

Use percentages. Argument over.

 

[Boletus]

Edit: I appreciate everyone's response. Maybe I should have made it clear that the OP was referring to flavorings only. No reference to total flavoring in the final mix. Maybe I'm still confused, so here goes again....if all I am given is 3 parts of flavor a, 2 parts of flavor b, 1 part of flavor c, can I relate that to say a mix totalling 10 mls without any further information about the receipe? Using the 10 ml example, would this mean 3 ml of flavor a, 2 ml of flavor b, 1 ml of flavor c? Sorry if I'm being dense, but I know with your all's expertise I can get it!

If you want 10 ml of combined flavorings (not 10 ml of juice), and the recipe says 3 parts of A, 2 parts of B, and 1 part of C, the math is:

3 parts plus 2 parts plus 1 part = 6 parts total; (always do this first);
One part = 10 ml divided by 6 = about 1.67 ml; (always do this next, even if the recipe does not call for 1 part of anything).

Now you are ready to calculate actual amounts of the ingredients:
3 parts A = 1.67 ml times 3 = 5 ml of A (approximately);
2 parts of B = 1.67 times 2 = 3.33 ml of B (approximately);
1 part of C -= 1.67 times 1 = 1.67 ml of C (approximately).

Now you want to check your math: all of the amounts of A, B, and C should add up to your desired final amount (10 ml in this example):
5 ml + 3.33 ml + 1.67ml = 10 ml.

But if you want to end up with 10 ml of your final e-juice, there is not enough information to calculate that here. You need to know what percentage of the juice will be the flavorings vs. everything else. I can explain that too, if you wish; it is just a little bit more math, but you do need that number to do the calcs. But if this is all the information you have, the best you can do is create a set amount of the combined flavorings, and then add small amounts to your PG/VG/nicotine base until you like the taste.

Do not feel bad at all about having trouble with this; by taking the effort to figure it out, you are more of a mathematician than most people. I love math, and I want other people to like it too (or at least not be terrified by it), so if you want more examples, just say so. It's much better to understand your own limits than assume you know what you are doing, IMO.

 

[Saltraker]

Thanks for all your replies. In general, I get the message that without a total percentage, who knows?

Just Me...great suggestion. Maybe that's what the OP was trying to convey. I will give that a try per your suggestion.

Thanks all. Vape on....

 

[Bunnykiller]

another reason for using "parts" is it is a generic term
lets say I make huge batches, my parts would be in gallon size measures and some one else would use ml.
the neat thing is that both juices would taste the same....

 

[Wingsfan0310]

As others have said without a total percentage of flavor, parts are pretty useless. You could still take a stab at it by trying the total flavoring percentage you usually use and break that down by the parts recipe you are talking about.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[vanillayo]

I don't even miss with parts recipes anymore. It's rare that I find a recipe that I want to spend the time to figure it out.

 

[Ryedan]

I recently saw a post for a DIY juice where the OP listed the ingrediant amounts as "parts." For example, 3 parts this, 2 parts that, 1 part the other thing. I don't understand. How does this relate to percent or drops per mix?

Edit: I appreciate everyone's response. Maybe I should have made it clear that the OP was referring to flavorings only. No reference to total flavoring in the final mix. Maybe I'm still confused, so here goes again....if all I am given is 3 parts of flavor a, 2 parts of flavor b, 1 part of flavor c, can I relate that to say a mix totalling 10 mls without any further information about the receipe? Using the 10 ml example, would this mean 3 ml of flavor a, 2 ml of flavor b, 1 ml of flavor c? Sorry if I'm being dense, but I know with your all's expertise I can get it!

As others have said and I'm sure you understand now too, the information above doesn't tell you how much flavor to add to the juice. It does define the mix of flavorings though, but you'll have to decide how much flavoring to try first and adjust from there to taste.

I use the calculator 'eJuice Me Up'. If I wanted to try this recipe I would use a spreadsheet to help me keep the proportions of flavor ingredients correct so I could translate the whole recipe into percent of each ingredient.

For example, it's easy to see that the proportion stays correct if we use 6%, 4% and 2% and that we then have 12% total flavoring in the juice. The spreadsheet makes it easy to figure out each percentage if we wanted say 14% total. I've never tried this, but I think it would be very workable.